Puck Headlines: NBC hopes to avoid another Preakness pity party
Yippee! Blackouts are awesome! If it weren't for some unfortunate power failures on the East Coast, this would have been up this afternoon. Instead, here are your Evening 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.
• NBC took a load of heat for the way it handled overtime on Preakness Saturday during the Eastern Conference Finals last postseason. Well, the Peacock is contractually obligated to leave the Dallas Stars/Detroit Red Wings Game 5 for Big Brown's inevitable win in the Preakness. So its hockey coverage has a three-hour window to complete the game -- good for one overtime, NBC believes -- before action shifts to Versus. [Dallas Stars Blog]
• Yes, Sean Avery is actually an intern at Vogue. And yes, his internship has officially started. Countdown to manufactured romance with L.C. from The Hills in 3...2...1... [Deadspin]
• Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford claims that refusing to give Coach Peter Laviolette a vote of confidence was standard operating procedure, at least before Laviolette met with owner Peter Karmanos. We are quite happy that Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford is not our boss. [Lord Stanley's Blog]
• Tomas Holmstrom, on crashing the crease: "I think the goalies are pretty good, too, to fake when they get hit and stuff like that. Of course, they have their blue paint to be in. But, you know, sometimes they fake it well, too." Also, he doesn't believe he needs to shed any weight from his giant T-Ho rump. [NHL.com]
• Welcome to Randy Jones country, bitch. [Telegraph Journal]
• Barry Melrose wants to coach again, and believes that the job in San Jose is the best one available. OK, here's the deal: The Mullet can coach the Sharks as long as Roenick's on the roster, and they give joint press conferences after every game. [Sharkspage]
• The Ottawa Citizen collects every rumor about John Tortorella whispered in the last two months, tosses them together and decides that Torts is the next head coach of the Senators. [Faceoff]
• Offended with Sidney's facial hair? The good men of the Brotherhood Of Mustached and Bearded Studs Tired of Accepting Criticism for Hairface Endeavors, or BOMBSTACHE for short, would like a word with you. [MYFO]
• Canada and Russia are the last teams standing in the IIHF World Championships, and are scheduled to play a game that will be more entertaining that 95% of what we've seen in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. [Globe & Mail]
• Japers found an awesome Web site: HockeyZonePlus, which offers users the chance to research the salary history of players going back to 1989. So JP took a gander at the Washington Capitals' salary history, and discovered that the Caps have spent more on Adam Oates than they have on Alexander Ovechkin.
• Finally, Flyers fans aren't the strongest spellers. So why, The Hockey Show, did you decide to give that nice young man with the painted chest "V-a-n-b-i-e-s-b-r-o-u-c-k?"
