Hanzal faces hearing; Winter Classic liquor news; Time to walk out on Tortorella? (Puck Headlines)
Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
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And at right, we have a photo of Marc-Andre Fleury from 1997. [Reddit Hockey]
• One man's journey from New York Rangers' fandom to New Jersey Devils' fandom. [Star-Ledger]
• Martin Hanzal faces a hearing for boarding Dustin Brown. [USA Today]
• Mike Smith's slash on Dustin Brown, however, is just impressive. The beauty is in the form! It's like the Mona Lisa of slashes! [Backhand Shelf]
• Michael Farber, on John Tortorella's press conferences: "The question-and-answer sessions are hockey's version of Kabuki theater, elaborately stylized and weirdly dramatic." [Sports Illustrated]
• You will likely enjoy this collection of John Tortorella's greatest hits. [SI Red Light]
• Unless you're the media, who find Tortorella's walkouts more than a little frustrating. Is it time for the media to walk out on John Tortorella? [Dean Brown]
• State lawmakers weigh the liquor license request for the Winter Classic in Detroit. [Detroit News]
• Here's a cool study from some Finnish researchers on the effects and effectiveness of the various boards used in hockey arenas. "The results show that the maximum impact force of a body check against a support post was up to 70% higher than the maximum impact force of a similar body check against a protective shield. They also found that the posts were up to five times more rigid than a plastic shield. 'By replacing the widely used tempered glass with a plastic shield, the impact force on players being body-checked against the boards is considerably reduced,' said Professor Janne Avela and researcher Piritta Poutiainen." [Cordis]
• This post on the 5 worst Chicago Blackhawks trades gets extra points for the hockey card graphics. [The Hockey Writers]
• "The IIHF Disciplinary Panel has suspended Canada's defenceman Marc Methot for one game following his reckless and dangerous boarding on Belarusian forward Yevgeni Kovyrshin." [IIHF]
• What the heck happened to Matt Stajan? [Flames Nation]
• Rangers fans are pretty intense. [Star-Phoenix]
• The New Jersey Devils were built largely through free agency. [Edmonton Journal]
• Boston College hockey has received an anonymous $5 million donation to endow the coaching position. That rules. [Boston Herald]
• The CBA expires in four months, and the the NHL and the NHLPA still haven't started talking. That is decidedly not awesome. [Montreal Gazette]
• But the NHL did serve notice that it plans to terminate the current CBA this fall. Yay! [The Globe & Mail]
• You have to like a headline that tries way too hard, and this story on Martin Brodeur and Ray Whitney fits the bill. It's called "40-year-olds surgin.'" [Sportsnet]
• People are still talking about that bear David Booth killed. I especially enjoyed this little hackjob, which manages to use the incident as a doorway into a basic Canuck hack piece. Also, the writer quotes a commenter from Pass it to Bulis without acknowledging where he got it. [Calgary Sun]
• And finally, here's the official song of the IIHF World Hockey Championship mascot, Hockey Bird. Yes, the song is about as uninspiring as the mascot's name.
