Championship Weekend
The Pittsburgh Penguins are NHL champions for the third time, and the Los Angeles Lakers win another NBA title

The United States men's professional hockey and basketball seasons have ended, with great excitement.

In hockey, the championship title went to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings, the team to whom the Penguins lost last year. In basketball, the Los Angeles Lakers won basketball's championship series. That team has spent several years working to win another championship.

Drama on Ice

This year, the Penguins did not plan to let the Red Wings win the prized Stanley Cup. It all came down to the seventh game of the National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Finals last week. In that final game, the Penguins won, 2-1. It is Pittsburgh's third Stanley Cup championship and its first since 1992.

When the game ended, players on the Penguins threw their sticks and gloves in the air in celebration.

"It's a dream come true," said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. "It's everything you can imagine and more."

Crosby is 21 years old. He is the youngest team captain in NHL history to lead his crew to the Stanley Cup.

Kobe Bryant's Mission Accomplished

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant wanted to win a fourth National Basketball Association (NBA) championship badly.

Coming into the 2009 season, Bryant had won three championships while playing on the team with Shaquille O'Neal. The team's last championship came in 2002. Since then, the basketball world wondered if Bryant could lead the team to a championship without O'Neal's help. O'Neal was traded after the 2003-2004 season. He now plays for the Phoenix Suns.

The Lakers came close to another championship last year. They were two games away from achieving it. But the Boston Celtics outplayed them and won.

This year, Bryant and the Lakers met the Orlando Magic in the 2009 NBA Finals. The series was over almost as soon as it began.

Led by Bryant, the Lakers won game five of the NBA championship series on Sunday night. The Lakers won the series of games, 4-1. It is the team's 15th NBA championship.

"It felt so good to have this moment," Bryant said. "For this moment to be here and to look back on the season and everything you've been through, it's top of the list."

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