It's Tuesday

It's Tuesday. Here's what's happening....

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Today is February 18th, the 49th day of 2014. There are 316 days left in the year.

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Bettman: World Cup of Hockey could return.

Bettman: Olympic decision possible within 6 months.

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

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Today's Birthdays: Yoko Ono is 81; Cybill Shepherd (Moonlighting) is 64; John Travolta (Pulp Fiction, Urban Cowboy) is 60; Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink) is 46; Personal trainer Jillian Michaels is 40.

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Tampa, FL. --Six players (Radko Gudas, Kristers Gudlevskis, Ondrej Palat, Richard Panik, Marty St. Louis, Sami Salo) and nine members of the organization (incuding equipment manager Ray Thill, trainer Tommy Mulligan and GM Steve Yzerman) are representing the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Winter Olympics. As they appear in photos from Sochi, we'll add them to this gallery, so check back often!

Read the rest here.

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Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published in the U.S. for the first time on this date in 1885.

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U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team Defeats Sweden, 6-1, in Semifinals of 2014 Olympic Winter Games Team USA Will Play Canada or Switzerland for Gold Medal on Thursday SOCHI, Russia -- Six players scored and 15 players had at least one point as the U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team beat Sweden, 6-1, in the semifinals of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games at Shayba Arena. The victory puts Team USA into the gold-medal game on Thursday (Feb. 20), when it will play either Canada or Switzerland. "We're very pleased and taking the moment to recognize where we're at and what we're going to be playing for on Thursday," said Katey Stone, head coach of the 2014 U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team. "Again, we're building here and the best is yet to come we hope." Team USA came out strong, scoring three first-period goals while outshooting Sweden, 29-1, in the first stanza. Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.) started the scoring at 6:10 of the opening frame when she one-timed a Kelli Stack (Brooklyn Heights, Ohio) centering feed past Sweden goaltender Valentina Wallner. Kacey Bellamy (Westfield, Mass.) made it 2-0 1:16 later when she put a hard shot on net from the point that made its way through traffic and in. Amanda Kessel (Madison, Wis.) gave the U.S. a 3-0 advantage when she swooped in and knocked a rebound over Wallner at 11:19. The Americans extended their lead to 5-0 in the middle frame on goals by Monique Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) and Megan Bozek (Buffalo Grove, Ill.). Lamoureux scored on a shot just inside the left circle at 5:41 before Bozek ripped a slapshot through Wallner's five-hole at 12:17. Team Sweden's Anna Borgqvist put Sweden on the board at 13:04 of the final period when she converted off an offensive-zone faceoff. Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.) closed the scoring at 16:58. Jessie Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.) turned away eight of the nine shots she faced. The U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team will play in the gold-medal game of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games on Thursday (Feb. 20) against either Canada or Switzerland. Puck-drop is scheduled for noon ET and it will be broadcast live on NBC.NOTES: For today's box score, plus video highlights and photos, click here ... The U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team has medaled in all four Olympic appearances to date (gold-1998, silver-2002 and 2010, bronze-2006) ... ... Amanda Kessel (3-3--6), Kendall Coyne (2-4--6) andBrianna Decker (2-4--6) are tied with two others for the tournament lead in points (6) ... For complete information on the 2014 U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team, including a team roster, player and staff bios, Olympic history and more, click here ... The 2014 U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team is under the direction of General Manager Reagan Carey (Colorado Springs, Colo.) ... Katey Stone (Arlington, Mass.) was named head coach on June 8, 2012, and is the first female to serve as head coach of a U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team ... USA Hockey's international council, chaired by Gavin Regan, vice president of USA Hockey, has oversight responsibilities for all U.S. Olympic Teams. 2014 Olympic Winter Games Game Schedule for U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team  Feb. 8-20 • Sochi, Russia Date Opponent Venue Time (Local/EST)/Result Sat., Feb. 8 Finland Shayba Arena W, 3-1 Mon., Feb. 10 Switzerland Shayba Arena W, 9-0 Wed., Feb. 12 Canada Shayba Arena L, 2-3 Mon., Feb. 17 Sweden (Semifinals) Shayba Arena W, 6-1 Thurs., Feb. 20 Gold-Medal Game Bolshoy Ice Dome 9:00 p.m./noon Boston College Remains No. 1-Ranked Team in USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine 19th Annual Men's College Hockey Poll - #18 (First-place votes in parentheses) Rank School Last Week's Ranking 2013-14 Record Weeks in Top 15 1 Boston College, 509 (33) 1 24-4-3 19 2 University of Minnesota, 477 (1) 2 21-4-5 19 3 Union College, 411 3 20-6-4 13 4 St. Cloud State University, 398 6 17-6-5 19 5 Ferris State University, 360 4 21-7-3 13 6 Quinnipiac University, 356 5 21-6-5 19 7 UMass Lowell, 309 7 20-7-3 18 8 University of Wisconsin, 281 8 17-9-2 18 9 Northeastern University, 217 12 17-10-3 6 10 University of Michigan, 168 11 14-9-3 19 11 University of North Dakota, 144 RV 16-9-3 9 12 Providence College, 129 9 15-9-6 19 13 Cornell University, 110 10 12-7-5 13 14 Yale University, 82 13 13-8-4 19 15 University of Maine, 43 RV 15-10-3 1 Others receiving votes: University of Notre Dame, 34; University of Denver, 14; University of Vermont, 14; Colgate University, 9; Minnesota State University, 7; University of Minnesota Duluth, 5; Clarkson University, 2. Notes: To view past polls, click here ... Boston College is the top-ranked team in the nation for the second week in a row ... The Eagles, who started the year at No. 4, have a 24-4-3 record and are currently on a 17-game unbeaten streak ... The Hockey East Association leads all conferences with five ranked teams, while ECAC Hockey boasts four ranked programs, the Big Ten Conference has three teams in the rankings, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference has two ranked teams and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association is represented with one team in the poll ... A total of 22 teams received votes. About the poll: The 19th 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 six NCAA Division I ice hockey conferences, as well as composite votes from officers of the AHCA and USA Hockey.

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NEW ON DVD - Released February 18

Game of Thrones: The Complete Third Season
The Six Million Dollar Man: Season 5
Nurse Jackie: Season 5

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Back in Green: Williams highlights Riders, Ticats trade.

FA14: Lions take unique approach to free agency.

Please visit the league's official website, cfl.ca.

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Did you tune into Jimmy Fallon's first night as host of The Tonight Show? [Big disappointment. At the last moment Jay Leno had to fill in for him after Fallon came down with pink eye.]

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Tampa, FL. — The period in which NFL teams can utilize their franchise tags on pending free agents began on Monday, but it’s unlikely the Buccaneers will use theirs, and that’s actually welcome news.

Read the rest here.

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"The Big Broadcast of 1938" was released on this date in 1938.

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This is yummy Daddy!

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You're reading the Johnny Blog. Almost as much fun as watching the Lone Ranger, isn't it?

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Today in Elvis History

1956 - Elvis Presley appeared on "Stage Show" for the fourth time. He performed Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" and the ballad "I Was The One."

1959 - Elvis Presley appeared after hours at the Lido Club in Paris while on leave from the U.S. Army.

1970 - Elvis Presley recorded "The Wonder of You."

2004 - It was announced that American Online had released Elvis Presley as it's newest AOL Superbuddy. 

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It sounds strange but, yes, the Pope needs a passport. And because Pope Francis wants to travel the world as a "regular" Argentine and not a privileged citizen of the Vatican City microstate he has asked his birth country to renew his passport and identification card.

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Today in Beatles History:

1933 -  Yoko Ono was born in Tokyo, Japan. She became John Lennon's second wife.

1964 - The Beatles and Cassius Clay were photographed together.

1993 - Paul McCartney began his "The New World Tour" in Milano.

2003 - Paul McCartney announced a new world tour called "Back in the World".

2003 - A 1994 session by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison was released on DVD.

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A tire company in Finland (Nokian Tyres) has built a concept winter tire that has studs that can be deployed by the push of a button. The body of the stud remains in place while the moving part is the hard metal pin in the middle of the stud.

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Today in Sports History:

1918 - Georges Vezina (Montreal Canadiens) recorded the first shutout in NHL history. The event came in the third month of the NHL's first season.

1932 - Sonja Henie won her 6th world women’s figure skating title in Montreal, Canada.

1965 - Frank Gifford announced his retirement from football for a career in broadcasting.

1983 - The Indiana Pacers began a 28 game road losing streak.

1984 - Bill Bradley had his New York Knickerbocker number 24 retired at Madison Square Garden.

1984 - The 4,000,000th NBA point was scored.

1984 - Reed Larson (Detroit Red Wings) became the highest scoring American-born player in NHL history. He passed Tom Williams when he got his 432nd point.

1995 - John Stockton (Utah Jazz) became the first player to register 10,000 assists.

1995 - Deion Sanders was a guest on "Saturday Night Live."

1996 - Frankie Fredericks of Namibia became the first man to run 200 meters under 20 seconds indoors. He set the record at 19.92 seconds.

2001 - NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., was killed in a crash during the Daytona 500 race.  

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"Yours Truly Johnny Dollar" debuted on CBS radio on this date in 1949.

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Coming Up:

Tonight --

Nothin' Doin'

Wednesday --

Nothin' Doin'

Thursday --

Nothin' Doin'

Friday --

NAHL Hockey -- Wenatchee Wild at Johnstown Tomahawks 7:30pm EST

Saturday --

Nascar Nationwide Series -- Drive4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway 1:15pm EST

NAHL Hockey -- Wenatchee Wild at Johnstown Tomahawks 7:00pm EST

Sunday --

Nascar Sprint Cup Series -- Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway 1:00pm EST

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