Copper & Blue has an interesting look at the question: Do teams that fight more win more? Well worth the read.
The NHL and Stan Lee are teaming up to create 30 NHL-themed superheroes. Because...uh...I don't really know why they would do this. I know that I, for one, cannot WAIT for the unveiling of Unipron Man.
Created and developed by Stan Lee, Tony Chargin, Executive Vice President of GME Creative Affairs, and Jake Shapiro, each Guardian has been derived from its corresponding hockey team, complete with special powers representative of each team and city. Every day for the first 30 days in January, the winning Guardians will be revealed at 8 p.m. ET with an exclusive image designed by legendary comic book artist Neal Adams along with their bio.
Meanwhile, and the league has announced that the pre-game performer at this year's winter classic will be Hinder. I was hoping for Heart of Cygnus, but it could be worse. In 1999, my wife gave me a trip and ticket to the NHL All-Star game in Tampa and the freaking Backstreet Boys sang the anthem. How clueless do you have to be to have a boy band sing the anthem at a hockey game? I missed this at the time, but Mike Chen of From The Rink has a great anecdote about this travesty:
The Backstreet Boys were at the height of their boy-band fame and were tapped to sing the national anthem. As they crooned out the Star Spangled Banner, the camera went live from player to player on the both the North American team and the World Team. When it got to the duo of Keith Tkachuk and Ray Bourque, Tkachuk leaned over to Bourque and said, "What the &*!# is this *%$!?"
Still looking for tix for Thursday's game against Minnesota? The Avalanche Guild have discounted tickets available.