When it comes to trivia, sports questions are my jam. That said, I'll acknowledge that they're not everyone's jam and every question that jams me up is likely someone else's jam.

But man, even for those that don't know sports, this was an easy Final Jeopardy question. You don't need to know much about soccer to know that the answer is pretty much always Pele. And it's never "Lemieux". Never ever.

Here's the question: "In 2002, his no. 10 jersey from the 1970 World Cup Finals sold at auction for a record $220,850." And here's how it went down for poor Christen Lee, who may have misread 'World Cup' as 'Stanley Cup' and guessed the only hockey name that came to mind. Via Guyism:

Again (and for the video impaired), she answered: "Lemieux."

But here's the real question: did she mean Mario or Claude? I mean, neither ever wore no. 10, and neither played in the World Cup Finals in 1970, but still. I must know. I mean, reason would dictate that she meant Mario, but the correct answer was Pele,

Dan Girardi's defensive secret: crazy eyes (Getty Images)

One of the more frequent criticisms lobbied against the NHL All-Star game is that there isn't much defense.

Well, duh. First of all, a low-scoring game would be a letdown, especially considering the names involved. Second, very few of the players selected earn their spot due to their defensive acumen.

Sure, there are outliers like Dan Girardi, but the game is about the league's offensive superstars, the guys relied on to score and deployed with that outcome in mind. Daniel and Henrik Sedin, for instance, are two of the league's best scorers, but that's effectively all they're counted on to do: they start a staggering 79% of their shifts in the offensive zone. To put that in perspective, only two other players in the entire NHL are above 70% when it comes to O-Zone starts: Marc-Andre Bergeron and linemate Alex Burrows.

This isn't to say they're poor defenders. After all, it's difficult t score while the Sedins are cycling the puck in the corner for a half hour, but if the All-Star Game rosters were selected based on the league's defensive elite, the Sedins wouldn't be in Ottawa. Frankly, the same could be said for Joffrey Lupul a number of the attendees.

But if the criteria were defense-first, who would make the team?

It's not easy to build an accurate, defense-first All-Star game. Some players are known league-wide for their defense and are easy choices. Others are considered defensive stalwarts, even if their underlying numbers and/or usage actually belie that. Others are hardly known at all, namely because their defensive contributions are quiet and unnoticeable. It's a tough go.

But what follows is my attempt. I give you the NHL's Defense-First All-Star roster:

Tim Thomas talks to a referee

• This seems like as good a time as any to caption this photo. Keep it classy, friends.

• One team source on Tim Thomas: "[Expletive] selfish [expletive].'' One assumes the expletives aren't "totally un-" and "team player", respectively. [Boston.com]

• If you want to read every criticism of Tim Thomas, Justin Bourne's rounded them all up. [Backhand Shelf]

• And if you only want to read one more, read the one with the photoshops. [Days of Y'Orr]

• The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed John-Michael Liles to a 4-year contract extension worth $15.5 million. Good deal for Toronto. Liles takes a slightly lower cap hit so that he's easier to move in a package for Jeff Carter in exchange for a longer term. Here's Mirtle on the deal. [The Globe & Mail]

• Antero Nittymaki is on waivers. [@TSNBobMcKenzie]

• Wondering whether Scott Gomez scored last night? Check out "Did Gomez Score?" [DidGomezScore]

• Mark Spector, on the Canucks' reputation for diving and chirping (and biting, apparently, although let's not mistake one bite for full-blown vampirism): "'I think it needs to (change),' Henrik said, for the first time in our recollection, anyhow. 'I think we've grown as a team, and it needs to change. If I would be a referee, and I would see guys do that kind of stuff.'" [Sportsnet]

Paul Coffey - Reddit Hockey

• Hall of Famer Paul Coffey shills hot specialty beverages. [Reddit Hockey]

• How serious are the New Jersey Devils' financial troubles? They're on track lose $20 million this season, they might need the NHL to advance them some money for payroll, and they might trade Zach Parise for draft picks to free up some money. [The Fourth Period]

• Inside Alex Ovechkin's $4.2 million monster house, which features "5 bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms, and a massive 11,000 square feet of space." Finally, a house where, if 5 guests are concurrently occupying bathrooms, there are still two and a half bathrooms available for emergencies. [Business Insider]

• Manny Malhotra just got Keslurked. By Ryan Kesler's baby. [PITB]

• Your companion to this week's Hockey Hugs: the One Sad Hockey player tumblr, which focuses not on the hug, but the guy excluded from it. It's a real downer. [One Sad Hockey Player]

• It hasn't been the best season for the Buffalo Sabres, but at least a lot of people are watching them lose. They have the highest local ratings of any team. Problem is, even that's in jeopardy. Negotiations between MSG and Time Warner Cable are not going so well. [Sports Business Daily]

• Your NHL 3 Stars of the week: Scott Hartnell, and Evgenis Malkin and Nabokov. [NHL]

• Jonathan Toews's arm injury isn't nearly as serious as he is, but he won't be back until after the All-Star Break, and he likely won't participate in the festivities in Ottawa. [Chicago Tribune]

• Speaking of the All-Star Game, Dustin Byfuglien, Mikko Koivu and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are out with injuries, meaning Kris Letang, Jordan Eberle, and Nick Johnson are in. [NHL]

• Evander Kane is not exactly making friends in Winnipeg. [Winnipeg Free Press]

Hockey Hugs is a feature that celebrates the best in hugging from around the NHL, because who doesn't love a good hug now and then?  Seen a particularly good hug photo lately? Send it to puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or tweet @HarrisonMooney.

Super special New Jersey Devils hockey hug - Getty Images

They say that January is the most depressing month of the year. The weather is gloomy, it's just after Christmas when Christmas debt and Christmaslessness is at its peak, and all of our New Year's resolutions have failed. Emotions runs high, and even if you think you're above them, sometimes they sweep over you.

Washington Capitals hug - APTake, for instance, the hug above, as the New Jersey Devils celebrate a goal versus the Edmonton Oilers. At first, it may have seemed like any typical hug, but this photo depicts the exact moment where Patrik Elias and Zach Parise lost themselves in one another.

Look at Kovalchuk and Foster: they have no idea they've become completely tertiary elements of this hug. They're simply no longer there.

Or, as another example, look right, to this mad squeeze between Troy Brouwer and Alex Semin of the Washington Capitals. It's so jam-packed with emotion that they're glowing. Meanwhile, their teammate in the background there has already recognized that no one else is invited to this hug. He just stands respectfully to the side, not glowing.

Coming up, more sudden emotion in this week's edition of hockey hugs.

Saturday afternoon's Boston Bruins game ended the same way as their last Saturday afternoon game: with a dangerous, suspendable hit that led to a major penalty and a game-winning powerplay goal for their opponent. It's something of a Saturday afternoon tradition in Boston, like the ABC movie of the week.

The incident occurred midway through the overtime frame between the Bruins and the New York Rangers, as Andrew Ference chipped a puck into the Boston zone then shoved Rangers' blueliner Ryan McDonagh into the end boards while trying to retrieve it. For this, he has been suspended three games. Here's Shanahan with the explanation:

For those of you keeping a ledger for whatever reason, Ference will forfeit $36,486.48 to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund. Moving on.

What stands out, to me, from this video is Shanahan's observation that McDonagh did nothing whatsoever to contribute to the danger of this play. Typically in these hits, the sudden movement of the victim prior to contact is highly scrutinized. In this case, there is none. "[McDonagh] neither tries to cut in front of Ference nor to reverse hit him," Shanahan says.

Furthermore, McDonagh loses the ability to turn away from either the hit or the impact when Ference made contact with his right skate just prior to the shove. This one's all Ference, from beginning to end.

Panthers and Sabres - Getty ImagesIt's downright inexplicable, really, how low the Buffalo Sabres have fallen. A second-tier contender last season, you'd have thought the offseason spending spree would have put them over the top, not into the basement.

But, as of this writing, Buffalo's tied for last place in points in the East (with two games in-hand). They're a disaster.

So who is at fault for the Sabres' dismal season? While defending Brad Boyes, owner Terry Pegula blamed injuries:

"I don't want to single out Brad," Pegula said. "Look who he plays with every night. It changes a lot. He's another guy [who was injured]. ... I have to believe we're a better hockey team than we were last year. We just didn't have this massive, catastrophic injury problem. Put yourself in anybody's place in the organization. How do you evaluate what's going on?"

Meanwhile, our own Ryan Lambert recently asked why Pegula himself was escaping blame.

For the record, while I love me some Lambert, blaming Terry Pegula for this is a little like suing your father-in-law after you injure yourself on a honeymoon that he paid for.

That said, the major difference in Buffalo between this year and last year is the new money.

Jonathan Toews breaks down after losing a puck battle - Getty Images

No. 1 Star: Dustin Jeffrey, Pittsburgh Penguins

The Montreal Canadiens jumped out to a 3-1 lead in this game, but they couldn't stop the Penguins' dominant centre. No, not Evgeni Malkin -- Dustin Jeffrey, who scored twice and added an assist to keep the Penguins in the game. Speaking of Malkin though, he eventually went into beast mode and scored the game-tying goal.

Rawr! Beast mode! While in beast mode, Malkin also took a moment to score the shootout winner as the Penguins eked out a 5-4 comeback win.