It's Friday

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

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Today is January 25th, the 25th day of 2013. There are 340 days left in the year.

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Benn, Stars reach agreement on five-year deal.

You decide: Better celebration ... Yakupov or Fleury?

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

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Today's Birthdays: Adventurer Kay Cottee (first woman to sail solo and non-stop around the world) is 59; Blogger John Meissner (that's me!) is 58; Alicia Keys is 32; Michael Trevino (The Vampire Diaries) is 28.

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Tampa, FL. -- During a 20th Anniversary season in which the Tampa Bay Lightning are celebrating the past, it sure is appropriate that each of the team’s first three games thus far have seemed like turn-back-the-clock night for forward Vincent Lecavalier.

The Lightning captain’s play resembles more and more of that which he put on display from 2005-06 to 2007-08, when he amassed a total of 127 goals and 275 points in a 243-game span.

Read the rest here.

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NEW IN THEATERS THIS WEEKEND - Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (R); Movie 43 (R); Parker (R)

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U.S. National Sled Team Defeats Russia, 4-0, at USA Hockey Sled Cup Farmer, Pauls and Shaw combine for two goals, four assists INDIAN TRAIL, N.C. – The U.S. National Sled Team defeated Russia, 4-0, during the inaugural USA Hockey Sled Cup here tonight at the Extreme Ice Center. Team USA improves to 2-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) with a single round-robin game remaining against unbeaten Korea on Friday (Jan. 25). "Our strong play in all three zones led to tonight's victory," said Jeff Sauer, head coach of the U.S. National Sled Team. "We capitalized on turnovers and then kept our defensive focus once we got the lead." Following a scoreless first period, Team USA opened up a 2-0 lead during the first half of the second stanza. Josh Pauls (Green Brook, N.J.) sped through the slot with the puck before leaving it behind for an uncovered Greg Shaw(Merritt Island, Fla.), who lifted the puck high into left corner of the net at 2:46. At 6:02, Kevin McKee (Davenport, Iowa) scooped up a loose puck at the Russian blue line, beat two defenders around the left side and scored low on goaltender Vladimir Kamantcev. The U.S. boosted its lead to 3-0 on Taylor Lipsett's (Plano, Texas) rebound tally just 18 seconds into the third period. Nikko Landeros (Johnstown, Colo.) and Alex Salamone (Buffalo, N.Y.) received the assists. Declan Farmer(Tampa, Fla.) capped the scoring with a breakaway goal at 10:24. Shaw created the chance by absorbing a Russian double team and dishing off to Farmer inside the offensive zone. Goaltender Steve Cash (Overland, Mo.) racked up 13 saves for the win. His counterpart on Russia had 31 stops. Before tonight's game, NASCAR driver Joey Logano donated $15,000 to the USA Hockey Foundation. The U.S. National Developmental Team lost to Korea today, 5-1. Tomorrow (Friday, Jan. 25), the U.S. National Team faces Korea at 6:50 p.m., in a rematch of the 2012 International Paralympic Committee World Championship gold medal game, which the U.S. won 5-1. At 4:10 p.m., the U.S. National Developmental Team opposes Russia. FASTHockey is providing live streaming coverage for all tournament games. Those interested in watching should sign up for a free account in advance at USAHockey.FASTHockey.com Scoring By Period Team 1 2 3 Total Russia 0 0 0 0 USA 0 2 2 4 First Period – Scoring: None. Penalties: None. Second Period – Scoring: 1, USA, Shaw (Pauls, Farmer), 2:46; 2, USA, McKee (unassisted), 6:02. Penalties: USA, Carron (interference), 9:54. Third Period – Scoring: 3, USA, Lipsett (Landeros, Salamone), 0:18; 4, USA, Farmer (Shaw, Pauls), 10:24. Penalties: RUS, Lysov (checking from behind), 1:38; RUS, Lisov (roughing), 13:08; USA, Landeros (roughing), 13:08. Shots by Period 1 2 3 Total Russia 3 9 1 13 USA 12 11 12 35 Goaltender (SH/SV) 1 2 3 Total RUS, Kamantcev, 45:00 12/12 9/11 10/12 31/35 USA, Cash, 45:00 3/3 9/9 1/1 13/13 Power Play: RUS 0-1; USA, 0-1 Penalties: RUS 2-4; USA, 2-4 2013 USA Hockey Sled Cup Jan. 23-26 - Indian Trail, N.C. - Extreme Ice Center Date Match-Up Result/Time (EST) FastHockey.com Wed., Jan. 23 Korea vs. Russia U.S. vs. U.S. Development 4-2 5-0 Live Stream Live Stream Thurs., Jan. 24 U.S. Development vs. Korea Russia vs. U.S. 1-5 3-0 Live Stream Live Stream Fri., Jan. 25 U.S. Development vs. Russia U.S. vs. Korea 4:10 p.m. 6:50 p.m. Live Stream Live Stream Sat., Jan. 26 Third-Place Game Championship Game  4:30 p.m. 7:10 p.m. Live Stream Live Stream NOTES: Jeff Sauer (Madison, Wis.), former men's ice hockey head coach at Colorado College and the University of Wisconsin, is the head coach of the U.S. National Sled Team, while Guy Gosselin (Grafton, Wis.) is the assistant coach ... Mike MacMillan (Buffalo, Minn.) is the head coach of the U.S. National Developmental Sled Team, whileKip St. Germaine (East Falmouth, Mass.) is the associate head coach ... Follow @USAHockey and@USAHockeyScores on Twitter for live scoring updates during the tournament. For additional coverage, visitusahockey.com and USA Hockey's Facebook ... Media wishing to cover the event should contact Matt Trevor (mattT@usahockey.org) of the USA Hockey communications staff ... Dan Brennan (Colorado Springs, Colo.) is the general manager for the U.S. National Sled Team, while Jeremy Kennedy (Colorado Springs, Colo.) is the general manager for the U.S. National Developmental Sled Team ... The U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team for the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, will be chosen this summer.

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NEW ON DVD THIS WEEKEND - End of Watch (Jake Gyllenhaal); The Paperboy (Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey, John Cusack, Zac Efron); Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren)

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Superman Simon flies to Saskatchewan.

Geroy Simon Trade Reaction from Regina.

Visit the league's official website at cfl.ca.

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HO, HO, HO - It's 11 months till Christmas.

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Tampa, FL. — Rachel Ramirez takes you aboard the 2013 Buccaneers Children's Gasparilla float with GM Mark Dominik, cheerleaders and more..

Read the rest here.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) say that they are close to retiring most of their research chimpanzees. [Good news: they'll be replaced by TV reality stars.]

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Oh Boy! Christmas dinner at IHOP!

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You're reading the Johnny Blog. Almost as much fun as celebrating my birthday, isn't it?

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Today in Elvis History

1958 - Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" became the first single to ever enter the U.K. pop chart at Number One. 

1965 - Principal photography began for the Elvis Presely film "Fun in Acupulco."

2005 - "Love, Elvis" was released. It contained remasted versions of 24 of Elvis' greatest love songs. An unreleased alternate take of "For The Good Times" was included. 

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Facebook is teaming up with Save.org (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education) to study suicide victims' activity on the social network prior to their deaths. Save.org hopes the collaboration will help family, friends, and social networks better identify warning signs.

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Today in Beatles History:

1980 - Paul McCartney was released from a Tokyo jail where he had been imprisoned for nine days after trying to carry a half pound of marijuana through customs at the Tokyo airport. 

1984 - Yoko One donated $375,000 to Liverpool's Strawberry Fields retirement home.

1990 - Paul McCartney (Beatles) was profiled on CBS-TV's "48 Hours". 

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A 16-year-old girl Indiana allegedly drove 60 miles to beat up another girl who spread rumors about her on Facebook. The victim's mother pulled the teens apart and the attacker left, but police arrested her when she later drove by the other girl's home again.

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Today in Sports History:

1924 - The first Winter Olympic Games, also known as the Winter Olympic Festival, were inaugurated in Chamonix in the French Alps. Sixteen countries sent 294 athletes to compete in five sports and thirteen events.

1981 - The Oakland Raiders beat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-10 in Super Bowl XV. The Raiders won the Super Bowl after entering the playoffs as a wildcard team.

1987 - Neil Diamond sang the U.S. national anthem at Super Bowl XXI.

1987 - The New York Giants defeated the Denver Broncos, 39-20, in Super Bowl XXI on NBC. The game featured TV commercials cost $550,000 for 30 seconds.

1988 - Rickey Green of the Utah Jazz scored the 5 millionth point in NBA history.

1995 - The defense gave its opening statement in the O.J. Simpson trial.

1998 - The Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers 31-24 in Super Bowl XXXII. The Broncos had lost 3 previous Super Bowl appearances with quarterback John Elway. The win also broke the 13 game winning streak of the NFC.

2002 - Ken Hitchcock was fired as head coach of the Dallas Stars. He had a record of 277-160-60-6, five straight division titles and two Stanley Cup finals appearances. His post season record was 47-33.

2003 - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won Super Bowl XXXVIII in San Diego. Coach Jon Gruden, at age 39, was the youngest coach to ever win the title.

2010 - Kelly Kulick became the first woman to win a PBA Tour title.           

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NUMBER FOR THE DAY - 4.5 million: Pizzas eaten in America every hour.

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Coming Up:

Tonight --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Ottawa Senators 7:30pm EST

Saturday --

EJHL South Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors at Space Coast Hurricanes 5:00pm EST

Sunday --

EJHL South Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors at Space Coast Hurricanes 11:30am EST

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Philadelphia Flyers 6:00pm EST

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That's all for today. Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow!