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.
• With the Matt Cooke situation having signaled a new era on the NHL's supplemental discipline, the League introduced its newly deputized Citizen Ref Brigade at the Coyotes game last night. Here they are, calling holding.
• Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin met the media today to discuss his injury, which will keep him out for about a week. OK, he didn't actually discuss the injury, asking reporters to guess what it is, but did say: "It was our collective decision. We talk about probably two weeks before that and again it was pretty hard. But when we win some games in a row and felt good, we just said: 'OK, it's time to do it right now.'" [Capitals Insider]
• BizNasty dropped the gloves twice last night for the surging Phoenix Coyotes. [Hockey Fights]
• Another day, another emergency goalie: OHL goalie Troy Passingham was nearly the Detroit Red Wings' backup keeper tonight against the Vancouver Canucks, but the team later announced that goaltender Joey MacDonald has been recalled from the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League and will serve as Jimmy Howard's backup. Chris Osgood goes to IR. [USA Today]
• Brian Campbell is back for the Chicago Blackhawks after missing three games, and will be joined in the lineup by Marcus Kruger, making his NHL debut. [Between The Circles]
• Adam Proteau's top 10 most hated players in the NHL. From the Patrick Kaleta section: "Say Kaleta's name to a player from any NHL team outside of Buffalo and you're sure to hear words we can't use in a family publication." [THN]
• Huzzah! Loui Eriksson should back for the Dallas Stars, and not a moment too soon. [Dallas Stars Blog]
• Remember when Todd Richards had removed himself from the hot seat earlier this season, as the Minnesota Wild rallied to contend in the West? They're on a 2-6-2 slide now, and his buttocks are burning again. From Hockey Wilderness: "The current group of players don't seem to care, so I'm not sure what a new coach can do to change that. That said, something has to change, and the easiest way to change the situation is to remove the coach. I don't want to see him fired, but I'm just not sure it is an option to keep him around." [HW]
• Looking at Sergei Bobrovsky, and his recent struggles for the Philadelphia Flyers. [HOTH]
• Stephen Brunt, keeping it real on the Phoenix Coyotes and Winnipeg: "But consider another group who might not be all that thrilled to have a team playing out of the MTS Centre next season. That would be the owners of the six existing Canadian NHL franchises, who are now faced with the prospect of their hockey-loving domain being divided into at least one more slice, and probably two, when Quebec City finds a tenant for its new arena. There's nothing in Winnipeg for them, and at least a little bit to lose." [Globe & Mail, via Wayne]
• Ted Wyman buys into Goldwater propaganda, writes "ante up or go home" column on Matthew Hulsizer: "If Hulsizer truly believes he can guarantee the $100 million will be repaid to the City of Glendale — as he said in the embarrassingly unprofessional letter, full of spelling and grammatical errors, sent to Goldwater last Friday — why couldn't he guarantee to make that money back for himself?" Hulsizer's spelling errors = the Comic Sans of hockey letters. [QMI]
• Satirical Justice with, as one would imagine, a satirical look at NHL player safety. [SJ]
• The end of Wade Belak? Oh noes. [HNIC, Leafs HQ]
• It's possible Matt Cooke's elbow to Ryan McDonagh's head may have triggered some kind of chemical reaction that resulted in Stockholm Syndrome: "Like I said after the game, I don't think he's trying to put his team down with a five-minute penalty. You've got good momentum going for the playoffs and it was a close game at the time. I think he's just trying to make his hit." [Rangers Rants]
• The "History Will Be Made" parodies are at a trickle right now, but Emily Hall found time to create one for Matt Cooke.
• Exiled New York Islanders coach Scott Gordon will lead the U.S. national team at worlds. [NHL]
• Which players might be bound for the IIHF world championships, a.k.a. hockey's NIT? [Senshot]
• Good piece on Mike Komisarek's struggles with the Leafs. Guy Carbonneau: "Early on, when I got the job (in Montreal) we worked with him a lot about not trying to be too aggressive. For some players to play better, they have to do more. With Mike, he has to do less. We worked on that with him. Sometimes he wanted to do everything, make the big hits, change the game, but he'd put himself out of the play to do it. We worked a lot on staying in the middle instead of chasing the game. When he did that, he was a very good defenceman for us." [Toronto Sun]
• Oscar Moller has been called up by the Los Angeles Kings and is slotted on the top line. [LA Kings Insider]
• "Sunrise Sports & Entertainment announced today that Florida Panthers players, led by veteran defenseman Mike Weaver, have donated $10,000 dollars to aid the Japan relief effort in response to the tragic earthquake that recently struck the island nation." [On Frozen Pond]
• Finally, this is trippy and a little awesome: The opening video for Modo, which you can see in the top left corner as it plays on the ice.
Modo Hockey intro from gypsycamp on Vimeo.