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WILMINGTON, Mass. -- The smile spread across Matt Bartkowskis face even before the question was finished. How will it feel to play against his hometown Penguins, the team he rooted for as a youngster? "I cant believe how many times Ive been asked that," the Bruins rookie defenceman said with a laugh. "Its going to be awesome." Especially if Boston upsets Pittsburgh, the club that won two Stanley Cups in the 1990s with two players who became his idols, Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. Now Lemieux is a co-owner of the Penguins and Jagr is Bartkowskis teammate in Boston. The teams begin the Eastern Conference finals in Pittsburgh on Saturday night. "Its kind of cool we get to play playoffs in my hometown," Bartkowski said. "At the end of the day, Im on Boston and thats Pittsburgh. Were there to win." A former standout at Mt. Lebanon High -- a proud school with its own rink tucked away neatly in a suburb south of Pittsburgh -- Bartkowski made his playoff debut in Game 5 of the opening round against Toronto after being recalled from Providence of the AHL to replace the injured Wade Redden. He next appeared in Game 7 vs. the Maple Leafs, scoring the first goal before the road team posted the next four. But he and the Bruins rallied, won 5-4 in overtime, and suddenly, he appeared as if he was there to stay. He played well with this time in all five games of the next round against the New York Rangers. But Andrew Ference, sidelined the last seven games with a lower body injury, could return soon and that could leave Bartkowski out of the lineup. All that said, hes already accomplished more than he could have imagined when he was lightly recruited out of high school. "I knew he could be a pretty good player probably by his junior year," said Paul Taibi, his high school coach. "The NHL was kind of a dream still at that point." As a senior, Taibi said, Bartkowski was the best player in Pennsylvania. But hockeys popularity in the western part of the state had declined by then -- a lull between the end of the Lemieux-Jagr era and the start of the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin era. "At that point, I was probably 14 or so," Bartkowski said. "It died down for a solid four years or so until Crosby got drafted. ... Every time they get big players in Pittsburgh, it seems to jump start all the little kids playing, so its good for the area." The Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 2009, their first championship since they won their second straight in 1992, three days before Bartkowski turned 4. They played then in the Civic Arena -- also known as the Igloo -- located at 66 Mario Lemieux Place, and Bartkowski remembers skating there as a youngster. He finally received some attention at the Chicago Showcase, a tournament for lightly recruited high school players where he was most valuable player. He spent two years in the United States Hockey League before being drafted in the seventh round by the Florida Panthers in 2008. But he chose to play at Ohio State for two seasons. "I was drafted by Florida but I didnt really go to any camps," he said. "So Id watch the Penguins games. I was still a Penguins fan." Before Bartkowski played for the Panthers, they traded him to the Bruins in March 2010. He made his NHL debut on Jan. 10, 2011 in a familiar place, Pittsburgh. The Bruins won 4-2, overcoming a 2-0 deficit with four goals in the last four minutes. And his next two games? Both against the Penguins in Boston. "You could see the potential, but it was raw and he needed some experience. He needed to get himself more confident," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Right now, what weve seen in this guy is he has no fear. "He knows he can play in this league and it shows." With just 27 games in his NHL career, including seven in the playoffs, hes returning to a city where friends and family members will be in the stands. Julien doesnt think that will be a distraction. "He seems pretty excited. Hes looking forward to it," Julien said. "At the end of the day, he knows who hes playing for. He wants to do well for his team. The better he does, the better he looks in everybodys eyes, whether its his hometown thats rooting for the other team or whether its us." Bartkowski knows he has to play physically and be in the right position against the Penguins potent offence. Hes eager to get started. "Im stoked up, pumped up and ready to go," he said. "Im sure the rest of these guys are because everybodys calling them the favourites." For the first time, Bartkowski is getting steady playing time in the NHL. Its allowed him to get into a rhythm and develop teamwork with other Bruins, a crew viewed among the deepest in the league. "Hes playing with so much confidence right now," said Taibi, who talks to him often. "I finally think he believes thats where he belongs. He was playing without that cloud of, Am I going to play the next game? He knew he was going to be in the lineup pretty much the whole (Rangers) series. He just needed a chance to prove himself and I think hes passed with flying colours." And hes playing with his idol. The Bruins obtained Jagr from Dallas on April 2. "Its awesome because I looked up to him," Bartkowski said. "Its pretty cool to be able to play with him now." Any chance Bartkowski had of reaching the playoffs had seemed to disappear a few days earlier. Just before the March 28 trade deadline the Bruins thought they had sent him to Calgary as part of a trade for Jarome Iginla that they hoped would boost their offence. They even scratched Bartkowski from their lineup that day. But Iginla waived his no-trade clause only for Pittsburgh and he went there. "I would not even be playing right now and now weve got a shot at the Pens in the conference finals," Bartkowski said. "It couldnt have worked out any better." His hometown and his new town await. Cheapest Kyrie Shoes .Y. - Nelson Mandela will be honoured by the New York Yankees with a plaque in Monument Park. Cheap Air Max 90 Wholesale . Thousands of Southern California fans enveloped the Trojans to celebrate an improbable win secured by an interim coach, an inconsistent kicker and a thin defence that wouldnt break. http://www.wholesalenikeshoesclearance.com/cheap-max-97-shoes/fake-air-max-97-plus.html . Following a lopsided 5-2 loss against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, Paul MacLean told reporters that "theres a lack of focus, theres a lack of leadership and theres a lack of preparation" with his struggling team. That came on the heels of Bryan Murray taking the unusual step of going into the locker room at the Prudential Center and addressing the players himself. Cheap Nike Shoes Online Paypal . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Cheap Air Max 1 . The 15th-ranked Canadian men lost the opening two games of their European tour: 19-15 to No. 17 Georgia and 21-20 to No. BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU coach Les Miles expects star running back Leonard Fournette to be available for Saturdays SEC opener against Mississippi State.I think hell practice, if not every day, certainly four of those days or three of those days [this week], Miles predicted at his Monday news conference.Fournette sat out LSUs 34-13 win over Jacksonville State after reinjuring his left ankle late in the Tigers season-opening loss to Wisconsin. Fournette participated briefly in pregame warm-ups before deciding not to test the ankle against the FCS opponent.In his place, sophomore Derrius Guice rushed for 155 yards and a touchdown, while Darrel Williams had a combined 51 yards rushing and receiving and Nick Brossette rushed for 40 yards.[Fournette] told me dont be nervous, do what we always do and just seize the moment because its here now, Guice said..dddddddddddd You cant turn back. I just had to step up and take over while he wasnt there.Fournette should be back on Saturday, although Miles said the coaches will monitor his workload against the Bulldogs with LSU playing SEC games each of the next four Saturdays.Were going to be very cognizant of how Leonard feels and whats going on with his health, Miles said. But were fortunate to have -- we used a kind of running back by committee with Leonard missing, and I think it kept Derrius fresh and Darrel fresh and got some other guys in.But yeah, I think were fortunate to have real quality backs to turn to when you have a guy like Leonard Fournette out of the lineup. We are looking forward, though, to seeing him return. ' ' '