It's Friday

It's Friday. Here's what's happening....

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Today is April 6th, the 97th day of 2012. There are 269 days left in the year.

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IIHF releases schedule for WJC in Russia.

Barry's Best of Season: Malkin, Blues, Dineen.

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

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Today's Birthdays: Country legend Merle Haggard is 75; Actor John Ratzenberger (Cliff Clavin on Cheers) is 65; Former candidate for U.S. President Michelle Bachmann is 56; Actor/writer Zach Braff (Scrubs) is 37.

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Toronto, ON. -- Steven Stamkos scored his 59th goal of the season, but Dion Phaneuf scored the game-winner in overtime for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 3-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.

Stamkos is trying to become the NHL's first 60-goal scorer since Washington's Alex Ovechkin had 65 in the 2007-08 season, and just the second player to reach that mark in the last 15 years.

He badly wanted to get the job done in his hometown - "Oh yeah, it'd be special," he said before the game - but heads to Winnipeg instead needing a goal in Tampa's final game on Saturday.

Read the rest here.

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Today is Army Day, Hospital Admitting Clerks Day, Good Friday, National Student Athlete Day, National Walk To Work Day, New Beers Eve, Drowsy Driver Awareness Day, Passover, Tartan Day and Teflon Day.

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FASTHockey to Stream U.S. Men's National Under-18 Team Games at
2012 IIHF Men's World Under-18 Championship in Czech Republic


Coverage Begins with First Preliminary Round Game Versus Finland

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - FASTHockey.com will provide live streaming coverage of the U.S. National Under-18 Team as it looks to win its fourth straight gold medal at the 2012 IIHF Men's World Under-18 Championship. The first broadcast is scheduled for April 12 against Finland at 2 p.m. EDT.

The tournament runs from April 12-22 in Breclav, Brno and Znojmo, Czech Republic. A full schedule is listed below.

Games are being offered on a pay-per-view basis. FASTHockey uses a unique game-credit system for viewing games, offering discounts to customers who watch multiple games. Users who want to watch one or more games must first sign up for a free account at USAHockey.FASTHockey.com. Users can then buy game credits - a single game ranges from $7.99 (when one game credit is purchased) to $5.99 (when 50 game credits are purchased). Game credits can be used to watch live games or archives on-demand and never expire.

For the third consecutive year, Chris Peters will provide play-by-play commentary for Team USA. Peters' has also called the 2011 Five Nations Under-17 Select event in Ann Arbor, Mich. and the 2010 Four Nations Under-17 Tournament in Woodridge, Ill.

Team USA 2012 IIHF Men's World Under-18 Championship Schedule
April 12-22 • Breclav/Brno/Znojmo, Czech Republic

Date Opponent Time (Local/EDT) Live Webcast

Mon., April 9 Sweden (exhibition) 8 p.m./2 p.m.
Thu., April 12 Finland 8 p.m./2 p.m. FASTHockey.com
Sat., April 14 Czech Republic 1 p.m./7 a.m. FASTHockey.com
Sun., April 15 Denmark 2 p.m./8 a.m. FASTHockey.com
Tue., April 17 Canada 8 p.m./2 p.m. FASTHockey.com
Thu., April 19 Quarterfinals TBD
Fri., April 20 Semifinals TBD
Sun., April 22 Bronze-Medal Game 12 p.m./6 a.m.
Sun., April 22 Gold-Medal Game 4 p.m./10 a.m.

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The Classification and Ratings Administration has lowered the rating of high-profile documentary Bully from an R to a PG-13 after the film's producers resubmitted an edited version of the film. Bully -- which details what some call a bullying epidemic in America's schools -- was assigned an R by the Classification and Ratings Administration for six uses of the 'F' word. Rules allow only one use of the word in a PG-13 film. After viewing the resubmitted version, the ratings board is allowing three uses of the word.

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Irving: Full steam ahead for 2012 Bombers.

All eight teams under 2011 salary cap.

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

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IN THEATERS THIS WEEKEND - Titanic 3D (PG-13); American Reunion (R)

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It sure gets loud in here Mommy.

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TEXTS FROM HILLARY - Texts from Hillary.

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Today in Elvis History

1956 - Paramount Pictures signed Elvis Presley to a three-movie deal.

1965 - Elvis Presley's single "Crying In The Chapel" was released.

1968 - Elvis and Priscilla Presley saw Tom Jones' midnightshow at the Flamingo.

1968 - Elvis Presley's single "Stay Away" hit #67 in the U.S.

1970 - Elvis Presley bought a six door 1969 Mercedes limo.

1974 - Elvis Presley's single "I've Got A Thing About You" hit #33 in the U.K.

1992 - The U.S. Postal Service invited customers to vote on which picture of Elvis they would like to appear on a postage stamp.

2004 - The Elvis Presely album "Blue Christmas" was released on CD.

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Love peanut butter and jelly? Like drinking vodka? The Van Gogh company has introduced its own take on the classic PB&J, transforming the timeless flavor into a "delightfully smooth peanut butter and raspberry jelly flavored vodka."

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Today in Beatles History:

1968 - The Beatles opened the office of Apple Corps Ltd. in London.

1968 - George Harrison played his first full-length live concert in the U.K. since the final Beatles performance in 1969. The show was a benefit for the Natural Law Party.

1996 - The Beatles' "Anthology Volume 2" hit #1 on the U.S. album chart.

2006 - The trial filed by Apple Corps against Apple Computer concluded. The judge was expected to rended his decision in the following month. The suit was based on a 1991 agreement between the companies that would keep Apple Computer out of the music business. The suit claimed that Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store was in violation of the agreement.

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WHAT BRIDES-TO-BE DO AT WORK - A new survey reveals 90% of women do wedding planning on their company's time.

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Today in Sports History:

1896 - The first modern Olympic Games began in Athens, Greece.

1970 - Bobby Orr (Boston Bruins) became the first defenseman to win the National Hockey League's (NHL) scoring title.

1973 - U.S. President Nixon threw out the first pitch of the season at a California Angels game. It was the first time that a U.S. President had performed the ceremonial activity in a city other than Washington, DC.

1987 - Sugar Ray Leonard took the middleweight title from Marvin Hagler.

1997 - Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins) announced that he would retire from the National Hockey League (NHL) following the playoffs of the current season.

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It's not looking good for Rick Santorum. [He's probably going to lose his home state, and Ryan Gosling's not stepping in to save him.]

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Coming up:

Tonight --

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees 3:10pm EDT (Regular season opener)

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks 7:10pm EDT

Saturday --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning at Winnipeg Jets 7:00pm EDT (Final game of regular season)

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks 4:05pm EDT

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees 7:10pm EDT

Sunday --

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees 1:40pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks 4:10pm EDT

Monday --

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies 4:10pm EDT

Tuesday --

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays at Detroit Tigers 1:05pm EDT

Wednesday --

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays at Detroit Tigers 1:05pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies 8:40pm EDT

Thursday --

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays at Detroit Tigers 1:05pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies 3:10pm EDT

Friday --

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox 2:05pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants vs Pittsburgh Pirates 4:35pm EDT

Nascar Nationwide Series -- O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway 8:30pm EDT

Saturday --

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox 4:05pm EDT

Nascar Sprint Cup Series -- Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway 7:00pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants vs Pittsburgh Pirates 9:05pm EDT

Sunday --

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox 1:35pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants vs Pittsburgh Pirates 4:05pm EDT

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