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.
• In case you were a little hazy about who won the Internet today, The Royal Half won the Internet today. [TRH]
• "Three Benilde-St. Margaret's students are organizing a pond hockey tournament to raise money for their schoolmate and recently injured player Jack Jablonski and his family. Originally thought to be a small event, to which only 30 Benilde-St. Margaret students were initially invited to, it has now exploded to over 1,000 people "attending", according to the Facebook event page." [KSTP]
• Chicago Blackhawks standout Patrick Sharp will miss up to a month with a left wrist/hand injury. Well that sucks: The reigning NHL All-Star Game MVP might not get a chance to defend the crown. [Sun Times]
• The Dallas Stars are awaiting results from an MRI on Mike Ribeiro's knee. [Defending Big D]
• Dallas Stars left wing Jamie Benn, Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Joffrey Lupul and Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson have been named the NHL's 'Three Stars' for the week ending Jan. 8. Benn sparked the Dallas offense with seven points (four goals, three assists).
• Ken Campbell on the NHLPA/NHL showdown: "Fehr doesn't care what you, I, Bettman or anyone else thinks of him. His primary concern has always been his constituents and if stonewalling this proposal gives the players some extra chips in the next round of collective bargaining, Fehr is simply doing his job. And you can be assured if the players aren't happy with the job he's doing, they'll simply pay him a huge severance package and kick him to the curb. In case you haven't noticed, they have a fairly well documented history of doing that." [THN]
• Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak finally have their Bell Centre showdown on Tuesday night. Said Price: "He led the team to the conference finals, so fans were very attached to him — and it was well deserved." [Canadiens]
• When will the Nashville Predators score their elusive Goo-Goo Goal? [Preds On The Glass]
• "Dale Weise Offers Multiple Excuses for Embarrassingly Refusing to Fight Shawn Thornton." This may shock and awe you, but that headline appeared on a Boston website. [NESN]
• Dave Lozo's Vezina Trophy pick at the midway point in the season: Not Tim Thomas or Jonathan Quick or Jimmy Howard. [NHL]
• Napoleon Dynamite Producer Mike Scully Talks 'Lisa on Ice', His Legendary Hockey Episode of 'The Simpsons.' [Puck The Media]
• Buzzing The Net has five questions with Saskatoon Blades defenseman Dalton Thrower and incredibly not one of them is "dude, how awesome is it to be a hockey fighter with the last name 'Thrower?'" [BTN]
• Really interesting interview with Paul Kelly, current Executive Director of NCAA College Hockey, in which he discusses the future of NCAA games held in Canada. What about a Frozen Four in Toronto, for example? [Arctic Ice Hockey]
• In which Joel Rechlicz of Hershey attempts to fight the Phantoms bench. The target of his ire: Tom Sesito. Rechlicz crushed Sestito with a check late in the third. Sestito went to the bench instead of taking an opportunity to fight. "That's what he does," Rechlicz Told PennLive.com. "He runs his mouth and doesn't back anything up. I wasn't too surprised or shocked about it." [Some Strong Language in Crowd]
• The Edmonton Oilers recalled Magnus Paajarvi and Ryan O'Marra and are trying to get Gilbert Brule through waivers as Jordan Eberle undergoes an MRI on his knee. [Slam]
• The New Jersey Devils, a team for whom "fan relations" used to consist of a magnetic calendar night every season, are getting high praise for their use of social media. [Sports Business Daily]
• Scottie Upshall says his hip/groin/sports hernia/core injury is feeling better. [On Frozen Pond]
• Tom Pyatt gets a new 2-year deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning. [Lightning]
• The Cannon on Scott Arniel's firing: "One question that pops into my mind is whether you can classify this group of players as coach-killers. Without being too dramatic, it seems as though (as they did with former coach Ken Hitchcock) they quit early on in the season. We'll never know for sure if the players tuned him out, and if so, it's strange to think that a coach has lost his room after less than two full seasons." [The Cannon]
• Stat Nerd Alert: Cool stuff on the Cap Hit of Injured Players metric. [Copper and Blue]
• Backhand Shelf says the Los Angeles Kings have hit rock bottom and finally turned the corner in a span of 24 hours.
• Jonathan Bernier will start against the Washington Capitals tonight for the Los Angeles Kings, and Dustin Penner will play barring any breakfast item-related mishaps. [LA Kings Insider]
• Minnesota high school hockey player Jenna Privette's father and coach told the Star-Tribune that his daughter had regained feeling in her upper body and that an MRI had revealed no spinal cord breaks. Great news in a grim situation. [Prep Rally]
• Mike Yeo of the Minnesota Wild on Benilde-St. Margaret's player Jack Jablonski, who is paralyzed after being checked from behind: "We feel we represent the state of hockey and the players that play hockey in this area, the people that support hockey in this area, we have an attachment to. So we feel that this is one of our own here that had this accident, and believe me, we're hurting." [Pioneer Press]
• Finally, we really enjoyed this fans' eye view of Philadelphia Flyers Winter Classic tailgating, right down to the beer funneling.
Winter Classic Tailgate from Ryan Komorowski on Vimeo.