Daily Cupcakes: December 17th, 2010

Clearly, these are not the cupcakes you are expecting. Sandie is taking a break from these for a bit, so I'm your cupcake guy for a little while. I'm new at this, so be gentle.

I love stories like this one. Last night, the Coyotes were in need of an emergency goaltender and signed a former college hockey player who works at a local college:

"I was getting my hair cut at the time," he told MSG Network when asked about receiving a call from the Coyotes. "At first, I thought everyone was playing a big joke on me -- a couple of my buddies playing a prank."

My favorite part was that they wanted to use their goalie coach, 43-year old Sean Burke, but they would have had to wait 24 hours for him to clear waivers. A couple of years ago, I was at a Manchester Monarch's game and the Monarch's were so depleted due to injuries or illness or alien abduction (can't remember), a couple members of the staff had to dress (Dane Jackson and Hubie McDonough, if I am remembering it right). No, their coach Bruce Boudreau did not lace them up.

I thought it would be fun to check in on Colby Cohen. Now, the Providence Bruins might have the absolute worst website in the entire world (uh, second worst actually), but it looks to me like Colby Cohen has yet to play for the Baby B's. His reaction: http://theahl.com/stats/player.php?id=3630

With Cohen gone and his former BU partner Kevin Shattenkirk up with the Avs, the Lake Erie Monsters are getting thin on defensemen. Joel Chouinard is out with an injury and now LEM captain David Liffiton will be out at least 6 weeks with an upper body injury.

"We'll know more in the next three to four weeks, when we see how it responds," Quinn said. "But the way things have gone with us, I'm pessimistic. It could be a lot longer than six weeks."

Not sure if it is comforting or frightening that the Avs injury curse extends to its' minor league affiliates.

If you haven't seen the Belfast Giants' YouTube lip-sync video, it's worth checking out. And it has inspired Katie Martinez from Look Ma, No Hands to come up with an Avalanche-themed Christmas wish list. They are all great choices, but she pretty much had me at #1: I want Peter Mueller to be able to play NHL hockey again.

Yes, I want him to return to his former power-play-goal-scoring glory for the Avs. But more than that, I want him to be able to play the game that he loves so much. I’d hate for any of his friends/family to see the heartbreaking emptiness in his eyes when he sees the ice and thinks of what might have been.

Amen.