Your savory breakfast links:
- The clock is ticking and it is T-minus a few hours as Tom Wilson awaits his phone hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety. [NHL.com, WaPo, CSNW]
- Brayden Schenn reports that he is “fine” (though questionable for Flytown’s tilt with Columbus), and says Wilson reached out to him by text. [CSNP, The Mercury]
- Wilson has the support of his coach and general manager… [PHT, Philly.com (with Seravalli irony advisory), Yahoo! sports]
- … his teammates… [106.7 The Fan]
- … and even the Flyers‘ general manager, at least in part. [CSN Philly]
- Ah, but the hockey punditocracy is having none of that:
- “This was a 100 per cent illegal hit.” [TSN]
- “Mutant strain” [canada.com]
- “[A] seek-and-destroy demolition.” [Sportsnet]
- Looking at hits through the other end of the telescope. [Vancouver Sun]
- With his 399th career goal on Tuesday, Alex Ovechkin climbed another rung on the ladder of the NHL’s goal-scoring greats. [CP]
- Attention opposing teams – when the game clock clicks through to minutes 31-40, be afraid. Be very afraid. [@jedli]
- And hey, Ovi doesn’t score all those goals unassisted – so give up some love for his sublime setup man, Nicklas Backstrom. [CSNW]
- Here’s how to gear up like the Gr8. [Great Skate]
- “He brought the opportunity on himself.” Dmitry Orlov has earned Calle Johansson’s trust and is getting more ice time and more responsibility. [WaPo]
- All hail Eric Fehr, shootout wizard. [Caps Outsider]
- Hershey clawed its way to two games above .500 with a shootout victory at the Giant Center, and GMGM was there to see it. Hmm. [SHoE, @mlock7]
- Riley Barber, Thomas DiPauli, and Connor Carrick all got ticketed to Sweden at the conclusion of Team USA camp in Minneapolis, though there will be a couple of cuts before the full squad is officially rostered. DiPauli paid tribute to the hockey gods in the final camp scrimmage:
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As Tommy DiPauli appears to spit out a tooth on the bench, Quentin Shore makes some nice moves to tie the game 1-1.
— Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) December 18, 2013
- The OHL put together a nice feature on Andre Burakovsky and Oskar Dansk who will be playing for Tre Kronor on home soil… [OHL (video)]
- … and Burra’s parents will be billeting a few Canadian kids who are traveling with their Bantam squad. [Bench Talk, Elmvale Coyotes]
- Happy Andreas Salomonsson hits the big 4-0 and happy 43rd to Robert Lang.
