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    • Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend’s events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. Ryan Lambert will be back next Monday; today’s WWL is written by Greg Wyshynski.

      “The Book of Mormon” is a tremendous musical, simultaneously goofing on yet embracing the trappings of that ridiculous genre, while skewering organized religion with the pointed dagger the “South Park” boys previously used on L. Ron Hubbard.

      But the Broadway hit also provides us with a salient point about recruiting non-believers: It’s less about the message than the means. If the natives aren't digging the Mormon narrative, drop a bunch of "Star Wars" references into it. This is true in organized faith as much as it’s true in centuries of salesmanship: It’s about tailoring your pitch, providing a comforting environment and understanding what they’re looking to get out of the experience.

      (It’s also a musical about maggots in male genitalia and Mormons being assailed by satanic coffee cups, but that’s less relevant to this column. At least the second example isn’t.)

      As hockey fans, especially in the U.S., we’ve gone on our missions to convert the uninitiated. To grow the flock. To bring the light of puck into the dark hearts of baseball and basketball fans who have stumbled down the wrong path.

      Thing is, we all need to do more of it, especially after Gary and Don drowned the NHL’s momentum with casual sports fans in a tar pit of ego. Yeah, we all came back. Sure, the numbers are strong. But we can’t be the only ones that sense the lockout took hockey off the radar for those casual sports fans that rubberneck the Winter Classic and the Stanley Cup Playoffs; or the ones that are curious about hockey but never took the plunge.

      Fear not. Today’s Lambert-less edition of WWL will provide you with a six-step program for getting a heathen into our temple, drinking our holy water and then sending them out to ring more doorbells.

      It all starts with getting them to the game. A reading from the Book of Gordie …

      (Coming Up: John Tortorella is a meanie; Jake Allen's clutch save; the 101-year-old fan attends first game; Ryan Miller haz a sad; Mike Babcock needs a bucket; more sickness from Ales Hemsky; bombs tossed between Blues and Canucks; Viktor Fasth is humble; and where did Patrick Marleau go?)

      Read More »from What We Learned: Religiously converting your non-hockey friend into a raging puckhead
    • Justin Williams loves Ray Emery.

      No. 1 Star: Pascal Dupuis, Pittsburgh Penguins

      Dupuis had a 3-point night -- 2 goals and an assist -- in the Penguins' 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres. They were big goals, too. Dupuis scored the game's first at 0:35 of the opening frame, then scored the game-tying goal on a beautiful one-timer at 7:06 of the third.

      No. 2 Star: Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks

      There were a lot of great centres in this game, but none better than Jonathan Toews, who led the Blackhawks to a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings, pushing their run of games without a regulation loss to a staggering 15. Toews scored a powerplay goal, set up Patrick Sharp for the game-winner in the second period, and won 13 of 19 faceoffs, including 7 of 8 in the offensive zone. Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith had two-point nights from the back end.

      Read More »from NHL 3 Stars: Blackhawks still unbeaten in regulation; Dupuis leads Penguins over Sabres
    • Scary scene from the American Hockey League on Sunday: Wade MacLeod, 26, of the Springfield Falcons, the Columbus Blue Jackets’ affiliate, had a seizure and collapsed after being boarded by Brandon Manning of the Adirondack Phantoms.

      The game was suspended with 3:42 remaining in second period following the injury.

      Manning hit MacLeod, a Northeastern alumnus, into the glass in the Falcons’ defensive end. Nearly half a minute passed before MacLeod skated to the benches and collapsed onto the ice, suffering convulsions. He was stretchered off the ice by arena medical staff and placed into an ambulance.

      The Falcons released a statement after the game:

      Springfield Falcons forward Wade MacLeod was stable and alert after suffering a seizure following a hit into the glass during the second period of Sunday afternoon's game against the Adirondack Phantoms.

      MacLeod was brought by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Players and coaching staffs on each team unanimously agreed to postpone the game.

      Information on MacLeod's status and a rescheduled game date will be announced when available on FalconsAHL.com.

      The AHL told Yahoo! Sports on Sunday that there hasn’t been an AHL game that suspended play for at least the last decade. (UPDATE: Michael Cignoli found a 2009 game stopped after 20 minutes for bad ice.)

      Read More »from Wade MacLeod suffers seizure on ice; AHL teams suspend game, as Brandon Manning tweets regret (VIDEO)
    • Alexsander Barkov is a 17-year-old that currently plays for Tappara of the Finnish Elite League, the same team that Jannik Hansen played for during the NHL lockout.

      Barkov is eligible for the NHL draft this coming summer, and someone is going to take him, and probably pretty early, because he's very, very good. As evidence, I submit this absolutely nasty shootout goal Barkov scored Saturday versus the Lahti Pelicans.

      That is all kinds of cheeky. Talk about poise, especially for a 17-year-old. At that age, I'd have thrown up in the neutral zone and then escaped to the locker room to have a cry. (I might also do that now. Hockey is stressful.)

      You have to feel for the goaltender. The moment Barkov shows backhand, you can practically see him tense up. A backhander can go anywhere. No surprise then that Barkov's fake backhand, which looks labelled for the top right corner, freezes him completely.

      When Barkov pulls it back, evading a desperate poke check and drifting to the far side of the goal, this thing is over. He casually roofs the puck for the goal.

      One final note: If, perhaps, you're more intrigued by the insane amount of ads on Tappara's jerseys than the goal, here's an interactive photo breaking down what each one of them is for.

      s/t to Reddit Hockey.

      Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney

      Read More »from Watch Finnish star Alexsander Barkov skate in backwards for nasty shootout goal (VIDEO)
    • The Montreal Canadiens have announced that winger Brendan Gallagher, the fifth-leading scorer among rookies, is out with a concussion after suffering a hit at the hands of Philadelphia Flyers' defenceman Luke Schenn:

      The hit occurred just under four minutes into the third period of the Flyers' 4-1 loss to the Canadiens Saturday. With Gallagher up against the boards, Schenn hit the forward from behind, appearing to drive his elbow into the back of his head:

      Gallagher, who had a goal and an assist earlier in the game and was named the first star, would take two more shifts before leaving the game.

      There was no penalty on the play.

      But will the discipline come later? It's a textbook hit from behind, and while it wasn't overly visible to officials in real-time, the replay does appear to catch Schenn driving through the back of Gallagher's head with forearm/elbow area.

      If you watch carefully, you'll see that Gallagher avoids having his head hit the glass on the first contact, but as Schenn follows through with the elbow, Gallagher goes face-first into the glass. That seems like the sort of thing Brendan Shanahan might find objectionable. Might Schenn sit for this, or will the DOPS see as little wrong with it as the on-ice officiating crew?

      If Schenn does get a short ban, it's worth noting that he and Brayden will become the first set of brothers to be suspended within a month of one another during the Shanahan era. History!

      Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney

      Read More »from Habs’ Gallagher concussed after being hit from behind by Flyers’ Luke Schenn (VIDEO)
    • When the San Jose Sharks and the Chicago Blackhawks met for the first time this season, both clubs were riding high. San Jose was 7-1-1. Chicago was 7-0-2.

      The Blackhawks would eventually earn the victory thanks to Patrick Kane, who scored the game-winner partway through the second, then iced the contest with an empty-netter. But until the final buzzer, victory was never assured. It was a clash of the Western Conference's top two teams and it looked like a clash of the top two teams, especially in a dizzying first period that saw both sides score three times apiece.

      Flash forward. The Sharks and Blackhawks met for the second time this year 10 days later, on Friday night. By then, things had changed completely.

      Rather than hitting the ice fresh off a seven-game win streak, the Sharks came into Chicago desperate to end a six-game losing streak, punctuated by an embarrassing 6-2 loss to Columbus. They were unsuccessful, and it wasn't particularly close. The game was anything but a reprise of the battle of elites we had seen on February 5. Instead, it was another embarrassing loss.

      The Sharks were nails two weeks ago. This time around, they got hammered, and just like that, they had managed to follow up their seven-game win streak with a seven-game losing streak.

      The frustration and bewilderment in that locker room was evident after the game. Todd McLellan didn't seem to have any idea what sort of team he had anymore. From CSN Bay Area:

      “It’s amazing what’s happened in 15 days,” said Todd McLellan, referring to the Sharks’ last victory on Jan. 31. “It doesn’t even look like the same team. Not even remotely close. Are we going to rely on what we saw early in the year and the performances that we were receiving, or are we going to take the [last] seven games and evaluate on that? I guess we have to make those decisions.”

      It's a good question. After 14 games, who are the San Jose Sharks?

      Read More »from Seven up, seven down: who are the real San Jose Sharks?
    • Three of the NHL's most notable goalless players are finally on the board, as Shea Weber, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Drew Stafford all scored their first of the season this weekend.

      All three were featured a little over a week ago on our list of the 10 most surprising players yet to score through the season's 10-game mark, and they joined Phil Kessel, Alex Steen, Dion Phaneuf, and Niklas Kronwall as players that have lit the lamp since making an appearance on that ignominious countdown. In fact, those 7 players have combined for 12 goals since then. (You're welcome, fans of those teams.)

      Only three remain goalless: Ryan Suter, Drew Doughty, and Ryane Clowe, who have 22, 25, and 32 shots on goal, respectively.

      With 32 shots, Clowe is actually the leading candidate to win this year's Gilles Marotte Trophy, an accolade I recently made up to honour the player that takes the most shots in a season without scoring. That's my spiffy, photoshopped award you're looking at.

      You might be unfamiliar with Marotte, a defenceman that played 808 games for five NHL clubs between 1965 and 1977. His biggest claim to fame is probably being one of three players traded to Chicago when Boston acquired Phil Esposito in 1967, but that's not the only noteworthy thing Marotte did in 1967-68.

      That season, he also set a little-known NHL record for most shots on goal without scoring, hitting the net 153 times in 73 games without seeing one go in. That's over 2 shots a game, and that's absurd.

      Now, don't feel too bad for Marotte. His luck finally changed that year in the playoffs, where he suddenly went off, scoring 3 times in 11 games. Plus he just got this nifty award named in his honour!

      Clowe probably won't win it. Not when you consider who he plays with, and not considering how often he shoots the puck. Put the on goal 100 times -- and Clowe is on pace to do just that, even in 48 games -- and one is bound to go in goal. In the last 10 seasons, only two players have reached 100 shots without scoring.

      There's really no way of knowing who's going to take home this year's Gilles Marotte Award until the season is over, especially since it's based on luck (or at least the complete absence of it). But, as mentioned, we do know who would have won the last 10. So, to instil the Gilles Marotte with an immediate sense of history, let's go back and retroactively give them their awards.

      Read More »from Introducing the Gilles Marotte Trophy, awarded to the player who shoots, but doesn’t score
    • Intense.

      No. 1 Star: John Tavares, New York Islanders

      Tavares was the difference in a 5-1 defeat over the New Jersey Devils. Seriously. he had 4 points, and 4 which is the difference between 5 and 1. It's basic math. Tavares took over this game in the second period, scoring 2 of his 3 goals and adding an assist on a Matt Moulson goal. Moulson also had a 4-point night, finding himself in on every Tavares scoring play, as you might expect.

      No. 2 Star: Ben Scrivens, Toronto Maple Leafs

      Missing Jason Spezza, Milan Michalek, and Erik Karlsson, the Ottawa Senators still put in a valiant effort versus the Leafs, firing 34 shots on Scrivens. But Scrivens wouldn't be beat. He stopped them all for the first NHL shutout of his career in a 3-0 triumph.

      Read More »from NHL 3 Stars: Hat trick for Tavares; Oilers break franchise single-game shots record
    • There are really only two ways for a goaltender to score in a hockey game. The first way is to get ahold of the puck in the game's dying seconds when the opposition's net is empty, fire it the length of the ice, and pray your aim is true as a young Elvis Costello. The second way is to be the last guy to touch the puck when your opponent scores on themselves.

      On Friday night, late in the first period of a game between the ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones and Trenton Titans, Cylones' backstop Brian Foster became just the 11th ECHL goalie to score. He did it the second way:

      Foster's touch comes right at the beginning of this clip, as he makes a save on a Titans' point shot. Little did he know it would be the save of the night.

      The Titans immediately get the puck back. Meanwhile, the official signals a delayed penalty on Cincinnati, so Trenton swaps out goaltender Scott Wedgewood for a sixth skater. Man on. Net empty.

      Instantly, the Titans forget how to control the puck. They bobble it at the blueline and it squirts out to the neutral zone, forcing them to regroup and re-enter. Titans forward Jacob Drewiske does so, walking the puck down the far wall. Then, he turns and fires it back up the boards to his point man. Another miscue follows, and this time the puck travels the length of the ice and slides into the empty net.

      Worst feeling in the world: the moment the guy chasing the puck realizes it's going to beat him to the goal line.

      The Cylones would pad the lead with a real goal, and it would be all they needed in a 2-1 win over Trenton. The game's first star: Brian Foster, who made 28 saves on 29 shots, and scored as many goals as he allowed.

      s/t to Eye on Hockey.

      Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney

      Read More »from ECHL goalie Brian Foster opens scoring thanks to Trenton Titans own-goal (VIDEO)
    • I like third jerseys. I like the idea of them.

      On one hand, of course, they're little more than a cash grab, an opportunity for a team to hang another merchandise option in their store, something that might catch the eye of the casual shopper, or suck in the collectors who can't help themselves from buying every jersey a team makes available.

      But on the other hand, they're an opportunity for teams to experiment with their look, to see if they can't find something else to either add to or improve upon the look of their franchise.

      Occasionally, this goes horribly wrong. There are some truly terrible third jerseys in the NHL. The New York Islanders' third come to mind, which is unfortunate, because now I'm picturing it.

      But when it works, it really works. There are some great third jerseys in the NHL. In fact, there are a few nice enough that, if I had my way, the teams would simply promote them into regular use.

      Five, to be exact. And they are as follows:

      Read More »from Five NHL teams that need to start wearing their third jerseys full-time

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