Monday Morning Meissnervations

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

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Today is February 18th, the 49th day of 2013. There are 316 days left in the year.

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AHL player stable, alert after seizure.

Fort Benning soldiers finding outlet through hockey.

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

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Today's Birthdays: Yoko Ono is 80; Cybill Shepherd (Moonlighting) is 63; John Travolta (Pulp Fiction, Urban Cowboy) is 59; Game-show hostess Vanna White is 56; Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink) is 45; Fitness personality Jillian Michaels is 39.

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Sunrise, FL. -- How easy would it have been Saturday for Lightning players to give up?

The Panthers, with three goals in a stretch of 3:29 to end the second period and start the third, had turned a one-goal deficit into a two-goal lead.

For a team on a six-game losing streak, it had to be a punch in the gut. Instead, it merely set the stage for a dramatic 6-5 overtime victory at the BB&T Center.

Read the rest here.

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A new study in the New Zealand Medical Journal says airline passengers should not try to hold in abdominal gas but let it go to prevent indigestion and heartburn. [So much for that trip to New Zealand.]

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U.S. National Sled Team Edges Canada, 2-1, to Win Series Farmer and Sweeney Score; Cash Makes Seven Saves ROCKLAND, Ont. – The U.S. National Sled Team defeated Canada, 2-1, today to win the three-game series at the Canadian International Hockey Academy Arena. Facing an early 1-0 deficit, Team USA responded with goals fromDeclan Farmer (Tampa, Fla.) and Joshua Sweeney (Phoenix, Ariz.) to take the lead by the end of the first period. "We played a good all-around game, much like we did in Thursday's win," said Jeff Sauer, head coach of the U.S. National Sled Team. "We deserved to get the win. Steve Cash had two big saves for us, but besides that we limited Canada's scoring chances. Also, we stayed out of the penalty box." Canada kicked off the scoring at 4:59 of the first period. Farmer evened the game at a goal apiece less than three minutes after Canada's goal. He was assisted by Josh Pauls (Green Brook, N.J.) and Greg Shaw (Merritt Island, Fla.). At 11:41, Sweeney scored the game-winning goal on a feed from Paul Schaus (Buffalo, N.Y.). Steve Cash (Overland, Mo.) made seven saves for the win, while his counterpart, Corbin Watson, stopped seven shots. Team USA concludes the 2012-13 campaign at the 2013 International Paralympic Committee World Championship in Goyang City, Korea, April 12-20. The U.S. is the defending gold medalist from the 2012 IPC World Championship in Hamar, Norway. Scoring By Period Team 1 2 3 Total USA 2 0 0 2 CAN 1 0 0 1 First Period – Scoring: 1, CAN, Rempel (Bridges), 4:59; 2, USA, Farmer (Pauls, Shaw), 7:28; 3, USA, Sweeney (Schaus), 11:41. Penalties: CAN, Block (interference), 0:50; USA, Salamone (roughing), 2:43. Second Period – Scoring: None. Penalties: None. Third Period – Scoring: None. Penalties: CAN, Bridges (roughing), 10:25. Shots by Period 1 2 3 Total USA 3 2 4 9 CAN 5 1 2 8 Goaltender (SH/SV) 1 2 3 Total USA, Cash, 45:00 4/5 1/1 2/2 7/8 CAN, Watson, 44:34 1/3 2/2 4/4 7/9 Power Play: CAN 0-1; USA, 0-2 Penalties: CAN 2-4; USA, 1-2 2013 Series vs. Canada Feb. 14-16 - Rockland, Ont. - Canadian International Hockey Academy Arena Date Event Time (ET) Thurs., Feb. 14 vs. Canada W, 2-0 Fri., Feb. 15 vs. Canada L, 0-2 Sat., Feb. 16 vs. Canada W, 2-1 NOTES: Jeff Sauer was named head coach of the 2014 U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team on Thursday (Feb. 14). He is in his second season as head coach of the U.S. National Sled Team ... The U.S. improves to 10-2-0 (W-L-T) this season, including a 3-2-0 mark vs. Canada ... For live coverage of the series vs. Canada, follow @usahockeyand @usahockeyscores on Twitter ... Media wishing to cover the series should contact Matt Trevor of the USA Hockey communications staff ... Team USA has won the last three major international events, including the 2009 IPC World Sledge Hockey Championship in Ostrava, Czech Republic; the 2010 Paralympic Games in Vancouver, B.C.; and the 2012 IPC World Sledge Hockey Championship in Hamar, Norway ... Eight members of the 2012-13 U.S. National Sled Hockey Team helped the United States win the gold medal at the 2010 Paralympic Games ... The U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team for the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia, will be chosen this summer … Dan Brennan is the general manager for the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team.

************************************************ Danica Patrick won the Daytona 500 pole Sunday, becoming the first woman to secure the top spot for any Sprint Cup race. ************************************************ FA13: Riders ink Brown and Black; re-sign Sisco. 2013 Free Agent Tracker.

Visit the league's official website at cfl.ca.

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Think you've been smoking too long to give it up? Clara Cowell, of Britain, finally quit the a habit at age 102. Cowell, who had been lighting up for more than 80 years, gave up cigarettes at the urging of her family.

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Tampa, FL. — The annual NFL Scouting Combine is ready to begin, and a large group of Tampa Bay scouts and coaches are heading to Indianapolis to gather as much information as possible.

Read the rest here.

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Tiger Woods and President Barack Obama played golf on Sunday in Florida. Though the two have met before, this marks the first time Obama, an avid golfer, and Woods have ever teed up together.

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Jimmy does some art.

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You're reading the Johnny Blog. Almost as much fun as waiting for friends to fly in from out of town, isn't it?

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Today in Elvis History

1956 - Elvis Presley appeared on "Stage Show" for the fourth time. He performed Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" and the ballad "I Was The One."

1959 - Elvis Presley appeared after hours at the Lido Club in Paris while on leave from the U.S. Army.

1970 - Elvis Presley recorded "The Wonder of You."

2004 - It was announced that American Online had released Elvis Presley as it's newest AOL Superbuddy.

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13,000 unexpired boxes of Girl Scout cookies were crushed to pieces before being shipped off to a landfill. The cookies were from the San Gorgonio Council of the Girl Scouts in Redlands, California, which said their supplier allowed them to return one percent of unsold cookies to the bakery. The council didn't know what would become of the cookies. Local food banks say they would have been happy to take them.

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Today in Beatles History:

1933 - Yoko Ono was born in Tokyo, Japan. She became John Lennon's second wife.

1964 - The Beatles and Cassius Clay were photographed together.

1993 - Paul McCartney began his "The New World Tour" in Milano.

2003 - Paul McCartney announced a new world tour called "Back in the World".

2003 - A 1994 session by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison was released on DVD.

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Two brothers in Wichita, Kansas won a $75,000 lottery pay off so they decided to celebrate by smoking meth. They ended up blowing up the house.

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Today in Sports History:

1918 - Georges Vezina (Montreal Canadiens) recorded the first shutout in NHL history. The event came in the third month of the NHL's first season.

1932 - Sonja Henie won her 6th world women’s figure skating title in Montreal, Canada.

1965 - Frank Gifford announced his retirement from football for a career in broadcasting.

1983 - The Indiana Pacers began a 28 game road losing streak.

1984 - Bill Bradley had his New York Knickerbocker number 24 retired at Madison Square Garden.

1984 - The 4,000,000th NBA point was scored.

1984 - Reed Larson (Detroit Red Wings) became the highest scoring American-born player in NHL history. He passed Tom Williams when he got his 432nd point.

1995 - John Stockton (Utah Jazz) became the first player to register 10,000 assists.

1995 - Deion Sanders was a guest on "Saturday Night Live."

1996 - Frankie Fredericks of Namibia became the first man to run 200 meters under 20 seconds indoors. He set the record at 19.92 seconds.

2001 - NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., was killed in a crash during the Daytona 500 race.

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A Good Day To Die Hard easily captured the No. 1 box office spot over the weekend, grossing $86.5 million around the world. The fifth installment in the Bruce Willis franchise made $25 million in the U.S.

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Coming Up:

Tonight --

Nothin' Doin'

Tuesday --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Toronto Maple Leafs 7:30pm EST

Wednesday --

Nothin' Doin'

Thursday --

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Boston Bruins 7:30pm EST

Friday --

Nothin' Doin'

Saturday --

Empire South Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors vs Florida Eels 5:15pm EST

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning at Carolina Hurricanes 7:00pm EST

EJHL South Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors vs Florida Eels 8:00pm EST

Sunday --

EJHL South Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors at Florida Eels 11:30am

Nascar Sprint Cup Series -- Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway 1:00pm EST

Empire South Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors at Florida Eels 3:00pm EST

NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning at Pittsburgh Penguins 7:30pm EST

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