It's Saturday

It's Saturday. Here's what's happening....

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Today is January 7th, the 7th day of 2012. There are 359 days left in the year. (This is a leap year.)

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NHL delays realignment after NHLPA refuses consent.

Outdoor game produces largest-ever AHL crowd.

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

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Today is Harlem Globetrotter's Day, I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore Day, International Programmer's Day (Linky Link), Orthodox Christmas and National Tempura Day (Linky Link).

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Tampa, FL. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning have acquired defenseman Brendan Mikkelson from the Calgary Flames today in exchange for forward Blair Jones, Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman announced. Mikkelson will join the Lightning.

Mikkelson, 6-foot-3, 206 pounds, has played in 86 career NHL games with the Flames and the Anaheim Ducks, recording six assists and 40 penalty minutes. He made his NHL debut during the 2008-09 season and played in a career-high 34 games with Anaheim. Mikkelson played in his first NHL game on January 2, 2009 against Philadelphia.

Read the rest here.

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The Bank of North America opened in Philadelphia on this date in 1782. It was the first commercial bank in the United States.

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U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team Advances to Gold-Medal Game with 7-1 Victory over Germany at 2012 IIHF Women's World U18 Championship
Flug, Kennedy-Menefee, Skarupa Each Score Twice to Lead Team USA to Victory.

ZLIN, Czech Republic -- Kate Flug (Roseville, Minn.), MaryAnne Kennedy-Menefee (Lansing, Mich.) and Haley Skarupa (Rockville, Md.) each recorded two goals to help the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team to a 7-1 victory against Germany in the semifinals of the 2012 IIHF Women's World U18 Championship. With the victory, Team USA improves to 4-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) and will play the winner of the Canada-Sweden semifinal in the gold-medal game on Saturday (Jan. 7) at 1 p.m. EST.

"We came out in the first five minutes and played very well to set the pace," said Heather Linstad, head coach of the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team. "We're gearing towards what we wanted to do by making it to the gold-medal game and playing well."

Flug opened the scoring at 4:03 of the first period with a defelection off of a Courtney Burke (Albany, N.Y.) shot. Germany evened the score at 11:24, but Team USA captain Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.) beat German netminder Janina Fuchs with a shot under the crossbar at 12:52 to help the U.S. reclaim the lead. Skarupa found the back of the net at 18:46 to give Team USA a 3-1 advantage entering the first intermission.

Despite outshooting Germany, 32-2, in the second period, Kennedy-Menefee scored the lone goal of the frame when she deflected in a shot from Anne Pankowski (Laguna Hills, Calif.).

Kennedy-Menefee connected on another rebound from Pankowski at 10:45 to put the U.S. up 5-1 midway through the third period. Skarupa tallied her 11th goal of the tournament at 11:03 before Flug scored her second of the night at 14:45 to round out the 7-1 victory.

Brianna Laing (Marblehead, Mass.) made five saves in the win, while Fuchs made 79 saves for Germany.

NOTES: Courtney Burke was named Team USA's Player of the Game ... Haley Skarupa leads the tournament in scoring with 11 points (11-0) ... Team USA recorded 86 shots on goal, while Germany had 6 ... Alex Carpenter is Team USA's captain ... The IIHF U18 Women's World Championship, being played for the fifth time, includes teams from Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States ... Team USA captured gold in each of the first two years of the tournament (2008, 2009) as well as last season (2011). In 2010, the team took home the silver medal ... Heather Linstad, head women's ice hockey coach at the University of Connecticut, is the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team for the 2011-12 season. She is assisted by Joel Johnson and Hilary Witt ... To follow the team in the Czech Republic, check out the U.S. Women's National Program blog by clicking here ... Post-game video interviews can be found by clicking here.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

USA 3 - 1 - 3 - 7
GER 1 - 0- 0 - 1

First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Flug (Burke), 4:03; 2, GER, Spielberger (Delarbre), 11:24; 3, USA, Carpenter (Pankowski, Kennedy-Menefee), 12:52; 4, USA, Skarupa (Burke), 18:46. Penalties: GER, Bartsch (tripping), 4:32; USA, LaShomb (roughing), 16:40.

Second Period -Scoring: 5, USA, Kennedy-Menefee (Pankowski, Carpenter). Penalties: USA, Daniels (slashing), 10:37.

Third Period - Scoring: 6, USA, Kennedy-Menefee (Pankowski), 10:45; 7, USA, Skarupa (unassisted), 11:03; 8, USA Flug (Illikainen), 14:45. Penalties: GER, Kluge (roughing), 2:43.



Shots by Period
1 2 3  Total
USA 31 32 23 86
GER 2 2 2 9

Goaltenders (SH/SV) 1 2 3 Total
USA, Laing, 60:00 2-1 2-2 2-2 6-5
GER, Fuchs, 60:00 31-28 32-31 23-20 86-79

Power Play: USA 0-2; GER 0-2
Penalties: USA 2-4; GER 2-4

Team USA 2012 Women's World Under-18 Championship Schedule
Prerov and Zlin, Czech Republic

Date Opponent Time (Local/EST) Result
Sat., Dec. 31 Russia 5 p.m./11 a.m. W, 8-0
Sun., Jan. 1 Sweden 7 p.m./1 p.m. W, 7-0
Tues., Jan. 3 Czech Republic 7 p.m./1 p.m. W, 13-1
Fri., Jan. 6 Semifinal 1: USA vs. Germany 3 p.m./9 a.m. W, 7-1
Sat., Jan. 7 Gold-Medal Game 7 p.m./1 p.m. Game Blog

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Glenn 'excited' for opportunity with Stamps.

Esks ink veteran Canadian duo to new deals.

Visit the leagues' official website, http://www.cfl.ca/.

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On this date in 1785, French aeronaut/balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard successfully made the first air-crossing of the English Channel from the English coast to France.

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The 2011 NFL playoffs are underway. Here's the Wild Card Week schedule:

Wild Card Playoffs

All times Eastern

January 7th

Cincinnati at Houston 4:30pm
Detroit at New Orleans 8:00pm

January 8th

Atlanta at NY Giants 1:00pm
Pittsburgh at Denver 4:30pm

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On this date in 1789, Americans voted for the electors that would choose George Washington to be the first U.S. president.

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Sherman, no stranger to Bucs, interviews for job.

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant Kirby Wilson 'badly burned' in house fire.

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Thomas Stevens completed the first worldwide bicycle trip on this date in 1887. He started his trip in April 1884. Stevens and his bike traveled 13,500 miles in almost three years time.

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I love my playground Daddy!

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The distress signal "CQD" was established on this date in 1904. Two years later "SOS" became the radio distress signal because it was quicker to send by wireless radio.

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Today in Elvis History:

1956 - Elvis Presley performed at The Louisiana Hayride. He also performed the next day.

1957 - The Elvis Presley single "Don't" was shipped.

2003 - The Elvis Presley movies "Easy Come, Easy Go", "Fun in Acapulco" and "Girls! Girls! Girls!" were released on DVD.

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George Burns and Gracie Allen were married on this date in 1926.

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Today in Beatles History:

1944 - British novelty act Mike McGear was born. He was Paul McCartney's brother.

1964 - The Beatles recorded a session for the BBC Saturday Club program. During the recording they made the only known Beatles recording of the Chuck Berry song "Johnny B. Goode."

1998 - The London "Times" reported that two brass busts had been stolen from the grounds of George Harrison's mansion in Osfordshire, England.

1999 - Paul McCartney appeared at an opening for an exhibit of houseware designs in Atlanta, GA. The designs were by his stepdaughter Heather.

2004 - The family of George Harrison rejected an offer by a doctor to donate an autographed guitar to charity to end a lawsuit. The previous day Harrison's family filed a lawsuit that stated Harrison's oncologist had forced him to autograph a guitar for his teenage son two weeks before he died of cancer.

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Transatlantic telephone service Service began between New York and London on this date in 1927. 31 calls were made on this first day.

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Today in Sports History:

1920 - Joe Malone (Quebec Bulldogs) scored two goals and became the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer with 59.

1927 - In Hinckley IL, the Harlem Globetrotters played their first game.

1972 - The Los Angeles Lakers set a National Basketball Association (NBA) record when they won their 33rd consecutive game.

1980 - The Philadelphia Flyers set a National Hockey League (NHL) record with 35 consecutive games without a loss.

1981 - Marcel Dionne (Los Angeles Kings) scored his 1,000th career point.

1991 - Pete Rose left an Illinois federal prison and checked into a halfway house in Cincinnati. He was completing a sentence for cheating on his taxes.

1994 - Tonya Harding won the U.S. Figure Skating championship.

1994 - Nancy Kerrigan withdrew from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit. The previous day her right leg was severely bruised in an attack following a practice session.

1995 - The NHL Board of Governors threatened to cancel the regular season if the striking players did not agree with raising unrestricted free agency from 30 years to 32 years of age.

1997 - Grambling State University was charged with eight rules violations by the NCAA.

2002 - George Seifert was fired as head coach of the Carolina Panthers after a 1-15 season.

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The debut of "Buck Rogers 2429 A.D." occurred in newspapers around the U.S. on this date in 1929. The title of the comic strip was later changed to "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century."

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Coming up:

Tonight --

Junior Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors Empire South and EJHL South teams at EJHL Showcase at N.E.S.C., Marlborough, Massachusetts.

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning at Montreal Canadiens 7:00pm EST

Sunday --

Junior Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors Empire South and EJHL South teams at EJHL Showcase at N.E.S.C., Marlborough, Massachusetts.

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That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by, I hope that you'll do so tomorrow too. Thanks again!