Monday Morning Meissnervations

It's Monday. Here's what's happening....

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Today is February 9th, the 40th day of 2015. There are 325 days left in the year.

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Around the League notebook for Sunday, Feb. 8.

Beanpot Tournament postponed until Feb. 23.

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

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Today's Birthdays: Singer Carole King is 73. Joe Pesci is 72. Judith Light (Who’s the Boss?, Law & Order: SVU) is 66. Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey) is 28.

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Tampa, FL. -- Brian Boyle scored two goals to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Amalie Arena on Sunday.

Read the rest here.

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On this date in 1909, the first forestry school was incorporated in Kent, Ohio.

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U.S. National Under-18 Team Rolls Past Finland, 5-1, at Five Nations Tournament

Fischer, Jones Score Two Goals Each in Win

PORUBA, Czech Republic - Christian Fischer (Wayne, Ill.) and Caleb Jones (Frisco, Texas) each scored twice and Troy Terry (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) notched three assists to help guide the U.S. National Under-18 Team past Finland, 5-1, here today at the 2015 Under-18 Five Nations Tournament. The two teams battled through a scoreless opening 10 minutes of action before Fischer put the U.S. on the board at 11:15. Michael Floodstrand (Hinsdale, Ill.) and Terry assisted on the play. Finland answered to knot the score at 1-1 just 22 second later, but Jordan Greenway (Potsdam, N.Y.) found the back of the net at 15:33 of the first stanza to give Team USA a 2-1 edge after 20 minutes. ​Jeremy Bracco (Freeport, N.Y.) was credited with the lone helper on Greenway's goal. Neither squad was able to score in the second period before the United States stormed out in the final frame, connecting for three goals while outshooting Team Finland, 17-3, in the period. Jones' collected his first of two goals just 16 seconds into the third with help coming from Luke Kunin (Chesterfield, Mo.) and Tage Thompson (Oyster Bay, N.Y.). Then, 59 seconds after Jones made it 3-1, Fischer notched his second tally of the contest to give Team USA a 4-1 cushion. Terry and Floodstrand earned assists on Fischer's second goal. Jones capped the scoring at 15:53 to give the U.S. a 5-1 win. Terry gathered the lone assist on the final goal of the game. Goaltender Luke Opilka (St. Louis, Mo.) started in goal for the Under-18 Team and made 13 saves. The U.S. National Under-18 Team (1-1-1-0) closes out play in the 2015 Under-18 Five Nations Tournament tomorrow (Feb. 8) when it plays host Czech Republic at 12 p.m. ET. Notes: Team USA outshot Finland, 38-14 ... The U.S. went 0-6 on the power play, while Finland was 0-5 ... Follow @USANTDP for additional tournament coverage following the event and join the conversation by using the #U18FiveNations tag ... Don Granato, head coach of the U.S. National Under-18 Team, is leading the squad in the Czech Republic, along with assistant coach Nick Fohrand intern assistant coach J.D. Forrest ... All 22 players on the roster are from USA Hockey's National Team Development Program ... For the complete Under-18 Team roster, click here ... The U.S. National Under-17 Team trains with The Hockey IntelliGym, a revolutionary software program that trains hockey sense. To learn more, visit USAHockeyIntelliGym.com. 2015 Under-18 Five Nations TournamentFeb. 4-8 | Kravare and Poruba, Czech Republic Date Opponent Time (ET) Wed., Feb. 4 Sweden W, 5-4 (SO) Fri., Feb. 6 Russia L, 4-5 (OT) Sat., Feb. 7 Finland W, 5-1 Sun., Feb. 8 Czech Republic 12:00 p.m.

USA HOCKEY NEWS FEED • U.S. Women's Nat'l University Team Falls to Japan at World University Games • U.S. Men's Nat'l Univ. Team Beats Kazakhstan in Shootout at World University Games U.S. Women's National University Team Falls, 4-1, to Japan in Second Prelim Matchup at World University Games GRANADA, Spain—The U.S. Women’s National University Team fell, 4-1, to Japan in its second preliminary matchup of the 2015 Winter World University Games today at Mulhacen Pavilion. Japan opened the scoring in the first period, and after a scoreless second period, Team USA tied the score about midway through the third frame. But in the final 3:12 of the period, Japan scored three unanswered goals, making it 4-1. For full recap and box score, click here. The U.S. Women’s National University Team will face host country Spain on Monday (Feb. 9) at 2:30 p.m. ET in its final game of the preliminary round. Check USAHockey.com for coverage of both the men’s and women’s squads at the 2015 Winter World University Games. U.S. Men's National University Team Trumps Kazakhstan, 3-2, in Shootout in Second Contest of World University Games GRANADA, Spain—The U.S. Men’s National University Team picked up its first win of the 2015 Winter World University Games, beating Kazakhstan 3-2 in shootout. Goaltender Matt Cooper(Duluth, Minn./Iowa State University) made 26 saves, plus three in the shootout, while Bryce Johnson (Des Moines, Iowa/University of Oklahoma) scored the only goal for either team in the shootout to give the U.S. the victory. For full recap and box score, click here. The U.S. Men’s National University Team will be back in action on Tuesday (Feb. 10) in a game to qualify for the quarterfinal round of the tournament. Team USA’s opponent will be determined tomorrow following the close of the preliminary round and the re-seeding of all 12 competing teams based on points. Check USAHockey.com for updates. USA Wins 2015 World Sled Hockey Challenge Pauls Scores 19 Seconds into Overtime to Defeat Russia, 2-1 LEDUC, Alberta – Josh Pauls (Green Brook, N.J.) scored 19 seconds into overtime and the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team defeated Russia, 2-1, to win the World Sled Hockey Challenge for the second time in three years. “It’s always fun to win,” said Jeff Sauer, head coach of the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team. “With this being only our fifth game of the season, it’s great for our young players to defeat a team like Russia in a meaningful game like this.” Both teams exchanged chances early in the first period. Team USA nearly opened the scoring with five minutes remaining when Adam Page (Lancaster, N.Y.) chased down a loose puck and fired a shot on net that was turned aside by Russia’s Evgeny Plotnikov. Two minutes later, Ivan Berdnik scored off a rebound to give Russia the 1-0 lead, ending Steve Cash’s (Overland, Mo.) shutout streak at 127:01 minutes. The United States evened the score midway through the second frame when Kevin McKee(Chicago, Ill.) collected the puck behind Russia’s net, wrapped around the net and got the puck past Russia’s goaltender. Tyler Carron (Fort Collins, Colo.) was credited with an assist on the play. Team USA continued to apply pressure throughout the third stanza. Pauls nearly set up the game-winner in the final 45 seconds when he found McKee in the slot for a tip-in that forced Russia’s goaltender to make a sprawling save. Despite outshooting Russia 19-9 through regulation and 15-3 over the final two periods, the United States and Russia headed to overtime with the score knotted, 1-1. Just 19 seconds into overtime, Brody Roybal (Northlake, Ill.) entered Russia’s zone and dropped the puck back to Pauls who beat Russia’s goalie with a wrist shot to give the United States the victory. This was the second consecutive international tournament that featured the United States and Russia in the championship game. The United States defeated Russia, 1-0, to win the gold medal at the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. The 2015 U.S. National Sled Hockey Team will be off until it resumes play with a series against Canada March 24-29 in Indian Trails, North Carolina. 2015 World Sled Hockey Challenge • Team USA Schedule Feb. 1-7 - Leduc, Alberta - Leduc Recreation Centre Date Opponent Result Sun., Feb. 1 Russia W, 3-2 Mon., Feb. 2 Korea W, 8-1 Wed., Feb. 4 Canada W, 2-0 Thurs., Feb. 5 Korea (Semifinal) W, 8-0 Sat., Feb. 7 Russia (Championship) W, 2-1 (OT) NOTES: Josh Pauls was named U.S. Player of the Game … Team USA outshot Russia, 20-9 … For full game statistics, click here …. Declan Farmer (3-6--9) finished with a tournament-best nine points while Nikko Landeros (3-4--7) led all defensemen with seven … Brody Roybal (3-3--6) had points in all five games … The United States finished a perfect 5-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) for the first time in tournament play … For complete Team USA coverage, click here. U.S. National Under-18 Team Knocks Off Czech Republic, 6-2, to Clinch Second Place at Five Nations Tournament  Matthews Scores Three Goals, Adds One Assist in Win KRAVARE, Czech Republic - Auston Matthews (Scottsdale, Ariz.) scored three goals and added one assist, while Jeremy Bracco (Freeport, N.Y.), Steven Ruggiero (Kings Park, N.Y.) and Matthew Tkachuk (St. Louis, Mo.) tallied one goal each to help the U.S. National Under-18 Team defeat the Czech Republic, 6-2, here today. With the win, Team USA clinches second place at the 2015 Under-18 Five Nations Tournament with a 2-1-1-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record. Team USA created several quality chances in the opening minutes of the contest, but the Czechs scored the lone goal of the first period on a rebound to the left of U.S. goaltender Luke Opilka (St. Louis, Mo.). The U.S. responded with a strong second period, scoring three times while outshooting the Czech Republic, 15-5. Matthews pulled Team USA back to even when he scored at 12:15 on a backhander. After Nick Boka (Plymouth, Mich.) shoveled the puck behind the net, Tkachuk picked up the puck, avoided a defender and moved it to Jack Roslovic (Columbus, Ohio) in the right circle. Roslovic hit Matthews flying down the slot, and Matthews made a quick move, got the goaltender to bite and then slide the puck into the open net. Matthews scored again at 14:48 to give the United States its first lead of the game. A loose puck in the offensive zone was grabbed by Roslovic, who skated to the net and dropped a pass back to Matthews for an easy tap-in. Then, just 10 seconds later, Bracco took a feed from Jordan Greenway (Potsdam, N.Y.), made a move around a sprawling Czech defender and placed a shot into the top corner to give the U.S. a 3-1 lead after two periods. Joe Masonius (Spring Lake, N.J.) had the secondary assist on Bracco's goal. The Czech Republic scored 36 seconds into the third frame on a power play to pull within 3-2, but Matthews answered at 7:29 to help the U.S. regain a two-goal lead. Casey Fitzgerald (North Reading, Mass.) shot the puck wide of the net, but Matthews stopped it behind the goal and quickly tucked it in from the left side of the net. Ruggiero then made it 5-2 with a laser from the left point.Caleb Jones (Frisco, Texas) and Christian Fischer (Wayne, Ill.) assisted on the tally. Tkachuk closed the scoring when he redirected a Fitzgerald shot into the net from the slot. Matthews was credited with the second helper on the goal. Opilka turned away 19 shots between the pipes for the United States. The U.S. National Under-18 Team returns to United States Hockey League play Feb. 20-21 when it travels to Madison, Wisconsin, for a two-game series against the Madison Capitols. Notes: Team USA outshot the Czech Republic, 36-21 ... The U.S. went 0-1 on the power play, while the Czechs scored once in four chances ... Follow @USANTDP for additional tournament coverage following the event and join the conversation by using the #U18FiveNations tag ... Don Granato, head coach of the U.S. National Under-18 Team, led the squad in the Czech Republic, along with assistant coach Nick Fohr and intern assistant coach J.D. Forrest ... All 22 players on the roster were from USA Hockey's National Team Development Program ... For the complete Under-18 Team roster, click here ... The U.S. National Under-18 Team trains with The Hockey IntelliGym, a revolutionary software program that trains hockey sense. To learn more, visitUSAHockeyIntelliGym.com. 2015 Under-18 Five Nations TournamentFeb. 4-8 | Kravare and Poruba, Czech Republic Date Opponent Time (ET) Wed., Feb. 4 Sweden W, 5-4 (SO) Fri., Feb. 6 Russia L, 4-5 (OT) Sat., Feb. 7 Finland W, 5-1 Sun., Feb. 8 Czech Republic W, 6-2 ************************************************ This is Random Acts of Kindness Week. *********************************************** The Tampa Bay Juniors were in action this past weekend, with the Empire team taking on the Florida Junior Blades, while the Elite team played the Roswell Bulldogs, On Saturday, February 7th in Ellenton, the Empire Juniors scored in overtime to knock off the Junior Blades, 4-3. Peter Lopez scored the game winner 1:10 into the extra session, with Benoit Chin scoring the other three goals. Sam Coleman made 31 saves for Tampa Bay, which went 2-for-7 on the power play and 3-of-3 on the penalty kill. Also on Saturday, the Elite Juniors rolled past Roswell 11-1, scoring 6 times in the second period, on their way to the win. Christopher Astrom scored three times in the second period to lead the attack. Jared Goudreau had 2 goals and 3 assists, Trey Stern scored twice, Brandon Goudreau added a goal and 4 assists, with Ryan Conery, Raven Woodring and Brock Thompson also lighting the lamp. Michael Krch and Nick Levesque combined to stop 15 shots for the Juniors, who went 2-for-4 on the power play and 2-of=2 on the penalty kill. On Sunday, February 8th, the scene shifted to Estero for the Empire game, with the Junior Blades edging Tampa Bay 6-4, with two goals in the latter stages of the third period making the difference. Dylan Longo, Michael Demiceli, Steven Noyes and Benoit Chin scored for the Juniors, with Sam Coleman making 45 saves. Tampa Bay went 0-for-5 on the power play and 1-for-3 on the penalty kill. Back in Ellenton on Sunday, Trey Stern scored twice, Connor Smith, Richard Foy and Jared Goudreau once each, as the Juniors, behind 17 saves from Michael Krch, blanked Roswell 5-0. Tampa Bay went 0-for-7 on the power play and 2-of-2 on the penalty kill. The regular season season comes to a close on Saturday, February 14th, as the Juniors play at the Florida Eels in Fort Myers. The Empire game gets underway at 3:20pm EST and the Elite game starts at 8:45pm EST. Both games can be seen on Fasthockey.com. ************************************************ On this date in 1953, the movie "Superman" premiered. ************************************************

Emry Looking Forward to Resetting in Riderville.

Rumour Mill: Sears to test the market?

Please visit the league's official website, http://www.cfl.ca.

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Saturday is Valentine’s Day.

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Tampa, FL. -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers named Butch Barry as their assistant offensive line coach on Thursday.

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Rosie O’Donnell is leaving The View again. [Her decision comes on the heels of the controversy surrounding her memory of being on a helicopter with Brian Williams.]

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Corvallis, OR. -- Oregon State’s amazing homecourt winning streak continued unabated on Sunday as the Beavers handled Washington 64-50 to improve to 14-0 at Gill Coliseum, thrilling a season-high crowd of 9,114.

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Powerball’s jackpot climbed on Sunday to $450 million, one of the biggest ever offered by the multi-state lottery, after Saturday night’s drawing failed to produce any grand prize winners.

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Hi Daddy. I love you!

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You're reading the Johnny Blog. Almost as much fun as your team beating it's arch rival, isn't it?

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Today in Elvis History:

1960 - Elvis Presley's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was added. The star was one of the original 1,558 to be placed. 

1967 - Elvis Presley bought the Circle G ranch in Walla, Mississippi. 

1999 - The two-disc compilation entitled "Sunrise" was released. The set contained Elvis Presley's studio recordings at Sun Studio from 1953 to 1955. 

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The British accent is the most attractive in the world, according to an international survey. Britain came out ahead of American, Irish and Australian accents by a generous margin. The French accent came in fifth.

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Today in Beatles History:

1961 - The Beatles performed at the Cavern Club for the first time. 

1964 - The Beatles made the first of three record-breaking appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show." 73 million people watched the show. It was their American TV debut. They performed "All My Loving," "Till There Was You," "She Loves You," "I Saw Her Standing There," and "I Want to Hold Your Hand." 

1972 - Wings made their concert debut at Nottingham University in England. 

1993 - Paul McCartney released a solo album "Off The Ground." 

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Police in Union Gap, Washington, say the man who has assaulted women on a popular hiking and biking path while wearing a scuba suit has been arrested.

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Today in Sports History:

1895 - In Massachusetts, W.G. Morgan invented volleyball. 

1895 - The first college basketball game was played as Minnesota State School of Agriculture defeated the Porkers of Hamline College, 9-3. 

1900 - Dwight F. Davis put up a new tennis trophy to go to the winner in matches against England. The trophy was a silver cup that weighed 36 pounds. 

1924 - Frank Nighbor received the first NHL Hart Trophy. The award, that judges the most valuable player to his team, was the first individual award in the NHL. 

1932 - America entered the 2-man bobsled competition for the first time at the Olympic Winter Games held at Lake Placid, NY. They won the Gold Medal. 

1960 - A verbal agreement was reached between representatives of the American and National Football Leagues. Both agreed not to tamper with player contracts. 

1989 - Kevin Johnson (Phoenix Suns) ended an NBA free throw streak of 57 games. 

1992 - Mike Gartner tied an NHL record when he reached the 30-goal mark for the 13th straight season. Only Bobby Hull and Phil Esposito had accomplished the feat. 

1993 - Fourteen people were arrested when violence erupted at the Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl victory parade. 

2005 - NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that a deal between the league and the players' association would have to be in place before the end of the week to save the season. 

2009 - Alex Rodriguez (New York Yankees) admitted that he had taken banned substances from 2001 to 2003.

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The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water debuted in first over the weekend, bringing in $56 million. American Sniper dropped to second with $24.1 million.

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Coming Up:

Tonight --

Nothin' Doin'

Tuesday --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning at Nashville Predators 8:00pm EST

Wednesday --

Nothin' Doin'

Thursday --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs St. Louis Blues 7:30pm EST

NAHL Hockey -- Wenatchee Wild vs Topeka Roadrunners 10:05pm EST

Friday --

NAHL Hockey -- Wenatchee Wild vs Topeka Roadrunners 10:05pm EST

Saturday --

USPHL Empire Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors at Florida Eels 3:20pm EST

USPHL Elite Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors at Florida Eels 8:45pm EST

NAHL Hockey -- Wenatchee Wild vs Topeka Roadrunners 10:05pm EST

Sunday --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning at San Jose Sharks 8:00pm EST

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