It's Wednesday

It's Wednesday. Here's what's happening....

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Today is January 11th, the 11th day of 2012. There are 355 days left in the year. (This is a leap year.)

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All-Stars rosters to be announced on Thursday.

Former Habs assistant GM Caron dead at 82.

Visit the official league website, http://www.nhl.com/.

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Today's Birthdays: Former Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien is 78; Actor Stanley Tucci (Julie & Julia, The Devil Wears Prada) is 52; Singer Mary J. Blige is 41; Actress Amanda Peet (Gulliver's Travels, The Whole Ten Yards) is 40.

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Tampa, FL. -- After three games in four days on the road, the Vancouver Canucks were almost out of gas. Mason Raymond and Cory Schneider made sure they left the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Tuesday night with two points.

Raymond's spinning backhander produced the only goal of the shootout and Schneider stopped all three Tampa Bay attempts in the tiebreaker as the Canucks survived a blown two-goal lead in the third period to earn a 5-4 win against the Lightning.

Read the rest here.

                                                           Stamkos denied in shootout.

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Today is the start of Cuckoo Dancing Week,National No-Tillage Week Conference and National Soccer Coaches Week.

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University of Minnesota Duluth Unanimous No. 1 Selection in USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine 2011-12 Men's College Hockey Poll - #14(first-place votes in parentheses) Rank School Last Week's Ranking 2011-12 Record Weeks in Top 15 1 University of Minnesota Duluth, 510 (34) 1 14-3-3 14 2 Ohio State University, 456 2 14-4-3 8 3 University of Notre Dame, 450 3 13-6-3 14 4 Boston College, 402 4 13-7-1 14 5 University of Minnesota, 378 5 15-7-1 13 6 Boston University, 288 11 11-6-1 11 7 Merrimack College, 285 6 11-4-4 13 8 Colorado College, 236 8 12-7-1 14 9 Cornell University, 215 14 9-4-1 4 10 UMass Lowell, 205 12 12-5-0 2 11 Western Michigan University, 150 9 10-7-5 14 12 Ferris State University, 120 NR 13-8-1 9 13 Union College, 112 NR 10-5-6 12 14 Colgate University, 108 7 12-6-2 8 15 University of Michigan, 62 13 12-8-4 10 Others receiving votes: University of Denver, 58; Northern Michigan University, 15; University of North Dakota, 13; Miami University, 9; Michigan State University, 7; Lake Superior State University 1. NOTES: The University of Minnesota Duluth is atop the poll for the fifth straight week ... The Central Collegiate Hockey Association leads all conferences with five ranked teams, while Hockey East Association has four ranked teams and ECAC Hockey and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association each have three ... A total of 21 teams received votes. ABOUT THE POLL: The 17th annual USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men’s College Hockey Poll is conducted each week in conjunction with the American Hockey Coaches Association. The poll includes input from coaches and journalists representing each of the five NCAA Division I ice hockey conferences, as well as composite votes from officers of the AHCA and USA Hockey Magazine, the most widely distributed hockey magazine in the world. University of Minnesota New No. 1 in USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women's College Hockey Poll USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine 2011-12 Women's College Hockey Poll - #14(first-place votes in parentheses) Rank School Last Week's Ranking 2011-12 Record Weeks in Top 10 1 University of Minnesota, 183 (13) 2 18-3-1 14 2 University of Wisconsin, 170 (4) 1 19-2-1 14 3 Cornell University, 160 (2) 3 12-2-0 14 4 Boston College, 114 4 14-6-1 14 5 Mercyhurst College, 109 5 15-4-1 14 6 University of North Dakota, 103 6 13-7-1 14 7 Northeastern University, 72 7 14-5-1 12 8 University of Minnesota Duluth, 44 9 11-8-1 14 9 Bemidji State University, 33 10 13-8-2 5 10 Harvard University, 31 8 9-5-1 6 Others receiving votes: Dartmouth College, 17; Boston University, 6; St. Lawrence University, 3. NOTES: The Western Collegiate Hockey Association leads all conferences with five ranked teams, while the Hockey East Association and ECAC Hockey each have two teams ranked. Mercyhurst is the only College Hockey America team ranked ... A total of 13 teams received votes. ABOUT THE POLL: The 15th annual USA Today/USA Hockey MagazineWomen’s College Hockey Poll is conducted each week in conjunction with the American Hockey Coaches Association. The poll includes input from coaches and journalists representing each of the four NCAA Division I ice hockey conferences, as well as composite votes from officers of the AHCA and USA Hockey Magazine, the most widely distributed hockey magazine in the world.

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Today is Cigarettes are Hazardous to Your Health Day. It's also National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

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Cortez, Burris aim to bring Grey Cup to Hamilton.

Boatmen sign 2011 draft pick Feoli-Gudino.

Visit the leagues' official website, http://www.cfl.ca/.

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When a policeman in Florida made a routine traffic stop and found large amounts of cash he asked the driver about it. The driver told him, "I don’t have a job. Read between the lines." ["Okay, according to what it says here, you’re incredibly stupid."]

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The 2011 NFL playoffs are underway. Here's the Division Playoff Week schedule:

Division Playoffs

All times Eastern

January 14th

New Orleans at San Francisco 4:30pm
Denver at New England 8:00pm

January 15th

Houston at Baltimore 1:00pm
New York Giants at Green Bay 4:30pm

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Would you clone your pet if money wasn't an object? A woman devastated by the loss of her little dog "Trouble" traveled to South Korea and paid $50,000 to have her beloved dog cloned.

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Jimmy looks down on the masses from his "tree house."

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It's possible to die of a broken heart. The risk of a heart attack is 21 times higher the day after the loss of a loved one. Researchers, who interviewed 2,000 subjects over 5 years, said during the week after the death, the risk is 6 times greater than usual, and it stays higher than normal throughout the month.

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Today in Elvis History:

1956 - Elvis completed his first recording session as an RCA Victor artist.

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POLL: BLUE IVY IS AN "ANNOYING" NAME - In a poll conducted early this week, 78% of Americans think Beyonce and Jay-Z's baby's name -- Blue Ivy -- is "annoying".

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Today in Beatles History:

1963 - The Beatles made their first national TV appearance in the U.K. They performed the song "Please Please Me" on the show "Thank Your Lucky Stars."

2002 - George Harrison's widow Olivia filed a lawsuit to bar Carl Roles from selling the former Beatle's memorabilia. Carl Roles was accused of stealing items from Harrison's Los Angeles home in the 1970's and attempting to sell them the day after Harrison's death.

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The first shipment of rhubarb was sent to the United States from London on this date in 1770.

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Today in Sports History:

1953 - J. Edgar Hoover declined a six-figure offer to be the president of the International Boxing Club.

1970 - Billy Casper became the second golfer in history to top the $1-million mark in career earnings when he won the Los Angeles Open golf tournament.

1973 - Owners of American League baseball teams voted to adopt the designated-hitter rule on a trial basis.

1976 - Dorothy Hamill won her third consecutive national figure skating championship.

1976 - The Soviet Olympic team walked off the ice in protest to the rough tactics of the Philadelphia Flyers.

1995 - NHL owners and Players ended a 103 day lockout. It was announced that the regular season would be reduced to 48 games and would start January 20.

2002 - Muhammad Ali received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2007 - It was announced that David Beckham had signed a five-year $250 million contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

2010 - Mark McGwire admitted that he used steroids on and off for nearly a decade. The timeframe including the 1998 season when he broke the then single-season home run record.

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"Popular Mechanics" magazine was published for the first time on this date in 1902.

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Coming up:

Tonight --

Nothin' Doin'

Thursday --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Carolina Hurricanes 7:30pm EST

Friday --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning at Washington Capitals 7:00pm EST

Saturday --

Nothin' Doin'

Sunday --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Pittsburgh Penguins 1:00pm EST

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That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by, I hope that you'll do so tomorrow too. Thanks again!