Monday Morning Meissnervations

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

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Today is March 31st, the 90th day of 2014. There are 277 days left in the year.

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Boston College, Minnesota advance to Frozen Four.

Matchups if NHL playoffs started today.

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

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Today's Birthdays: Shirley Jones (The Partridge Family, South Pacific) is 80; Christopher Walken (Wedding Crashers, Balls of Fury) is 71; Former Vice President Al Gore is 66; Ewan McGregor is 43.

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Detroit, MI. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning ended their season-high 11-game point streak and dropped their first game in regulation since March 6 in a 3-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings Sunday evening at Joe Louis Arena.

Read the rest here.

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Today (Monday), to celebrate her 80th birthday, Shirley Jones is going to take her first skydive. [Statistically speaking, it's a safe sport. The scariest part is being driven to the airport by her son, David Cassidy.]

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U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team Falls to Canada, 5-1,in Gold-Medal Game of 2014 IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship Team USA Earns Seventh Straight Medal BUDAPEST, Hungary - Lexie Laing (Marblehead, Mass.) scored a power-play goal and Erin O'Neil (Minnetonka, Minn.) made 27 saves, but the U.S. National Women's Under-18 Team fell to Canada, 5-1, in the gold-medal game of the 2014 International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women's World Championship here today. "The girls played extremely hard and I'm very proud of our team," said Jeff Kampersal, head coach of the U.S. National Women's Under-18 Team. "We gave it our best but couldn't overcome the second period Canada had or capitalize when we needed to." Laing collected the lone U.S. tally with a five-on-three power-play goal 2:45 into the third stanza. After gathering the puck on the left side, Laing's centering pass redirected off a skate in the slot and beat Canadian goaltender Shea Tiley. Neither team was able to capitalize on several quality scoring chances through the first 30 minutes of action before Canada buried three times late in the second period to grab a 3-0 edge. Sarah Potowak scored a power-play marker when she tapped home a rebound at 15:04 and Eve-Audrey Picard converted on a hard shot from the top of the circles at 16:12. The Canadians extended the lead to 3-0 with just 1:26 to play in the middle frame when Samantha Cogan skated in all-alone and slid a shot through O'Neil's five-hole. Following Laing's goal and a handful of U.S. chances that were snuffed out by Tiley, Picard put Canada up, 4-1, at 15:23 of the third period, and Potowak scored an empty-netter at 17:51 to close the scoring. The U.S. National Women's Under-18 Team finished the tournament with a 4-0-0-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record and captured its seventh straight medal in the IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship. NOTES: For today's box score, click here ... For final tournament statistics, click here ... Taylar Cianfarano and Jincy Dunne earned directorate award honors ... Cianfarano, Dunne, andLexie Laing were named Team USA's three best players in the tournament ... Laing was named U.S. Player of the Game ... Reagan Carey (Colorado Springs, Colo.), USA Hockey's director of women's hockey, is serving as the general manager of Team USA at the 2014 IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship ... Jeff Kampersal (Pennington, N.J.), head women's ice hockey coach at Princeton University, is the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team for the 2013-14 season ... The assistant coaches are Courtney Kennedy(Somerville, Mass.), associate women's ice hockey coach at Boston College, and Katie Lachapelle (Winthrop, Mass.), assistant women's ice hockey coach at Boston University. The team was selected following the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team Winter Camp, held Dec. 27-31, at Schwan's Super Rink in Blaine, Minn. The IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship is being played for the seventh time and will include teams from Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Japan, Russia, Sweden and the United States. Team USA captured gold in the first two years of the tournament (2008, 2009) and again in 2011 before winning the silver medal in 2010, 2012 and 2013. 2014 IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship Team USA ScheduleMarch 23-30 - Budapest, Hungary Date Opponent Time (ET)/Result Sun., March 23 Russia W, 6-1 Mon., March 24 Hungary W, 7-0 Wed., March 26 Sweden W, 7-0 Sat., March 29 Czech Republic (Semifinals) W, 3-1 Sun., March 30 Canada (Gold-Medal Game) L, 1-5

************************************************ In Perth Amboy, NJ on this date in 1870, Thomas Munday Peterson became the first black to vote in the U.S. ************************************************ Wenatchee, WA. – The Wenatchee Wild fought hard but weren’t able to get anything past the Aberdeen Wings Saturday night, dropping a 3-0 decision at the Town Toyota Center, in front of 3,783 fans in the regular season finale for both teams. Aberdeen got on the board early in the contest on a Zach Doerring goal, assisted by Daniel Billett at 3:51, for a 1-0 Wings lead. After a scoreless second period, Aberdeen would add two late in the third. Jordan Heller scored shorthanded from Kyle Haak and Billett at 15:14 to make it 2-0 and then TJ Roo would score unassisted into an empty net at 19:40, giving the Wings the 3-0 win. “The difference was their goaltender tonight” said Wenatchee Wild Head Coach Bliss Littler. “Their goalie played very well and maybe we needed a little more moxie getting to the front of the net. We held them to 18 shots, you hold a team to 18 shots at home, you need to find a way to win. Maybe we lost a little bit of our desperation, the intensity of having a spot wrapped up. Electric atmosphere in the building.” Austin Priebe (Wausau, Wisconsin) stopped 15 shots for the Wild, while Henry Dill had 31 saves for Aberdeen. Wenatchee was 0-for-4 on the power play with a shorthanded goal against and 2-of-2 on the penalty kill. The Wild finishes at 29-23-8; Aberdeen ends up 38-18-4. The Wild now gets ready for their first round Robertson Cup playoff series against the Minnesota Wilderness, beginning on the road next Friday and Saturday, April 4th and 5th. If either team wins both games, game 3 would be in Minnesota, before the series would switch to WEnatchee. If the series is tied 1-1, then game 3 would be in Wenatchee on April 11th. Individual and group game tickets for all home playoff games are on sale now. Call 509.888.PUCK (7825). WILD 2.0 UPGRADE ************************************************ Wabash, IN, became the first town to be completely illuminated with electric light on this date in 1880. ************************************************ McCarty adapting to new role every year. Watson primed to make up for lost time. Please visit the league's official website, cfl.ca. ************************************************ In Paris, the Eiffel Tower officially opened on this date in 1889. ************************************************ Tampa, FL. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin says he feels "great" and expects to be cleared to fully return from the shoulder injury that derailed his 2013 season. Read the rest here. ************************************************ The NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four matchups are set. The two games will be played Saturday with the Florida Gators taking on the Connecticut Huskies and the Wisconsin Badgers taking on the Kentucky Wildcats. ************************************************ St. Petersburg, FL. -- The Rays and Blue Jays will begin the 2014 season today at Tropicana Field with wildly different expectations placed upon them, due in part to their wildly different offseasons. Read the rest here. ************************************************ The W.E. Roach Company was the first automobile company to put an advertisement in a national magazine. The magazine was the "Saturday Evening Post" on this date in 1900. ************************************************ Phoenix, AZ. -- The D-backs have traveled halfway around the world and back before they'll embark on a second Opening Day extravaganza, and the Giants will join them at Chase Field after a much shorter round-trip home to San Francisco and back to Arizona, where they'd just spent six weeks of Spring Training. Read the rest here. ************************************************ Yahoo is working on a plan to build a competitor to YouTube, which is owned by Google. ************************************************ Jimmy tries to stay out of the sun. ************************************************ You're reading the Johnny Blog. Almost as much fun as opening day of the baseball season, isn't it? ************************************************ Today in Elvis History 1966 - The movie "Frankie and Johnny," starring Elvis Presley and Donna Douglas, premiered in Baton Rouge, LA. 1977 - An Elvis Presley concert in Baton Rouge, LA, was postponed after Elvis did not return from the intermission. 1986 - Elvis Presley's "Crying In The Chapel" was certified gold by the RIAA. ************************************************ Teenagers are smoking coffee rather than drinking it and posting videos of the practice online. Only problem: It seems unsafe, with users reporting hallucinations, vomiting, dizziness, and trouble breathing. One Reddit user who puffed coffee a couple years back called it the "stupid idea of the week." ************************************************ Today in Beatles History: 1964 - The Beatles single "Can't Buy Me Love" was certified gold by the RIAA. 1969 - George Harrison and Patti Harrison, appeared in court charged with possession of cannabis. They were fined 250 pounds. 1969 - In Amsterdam John Lennon and Yoko Ono ended their "Bed-In" so they could premiere Ono's new film "Rape" in Vienna. 1972 - The Official Beatles Fan Club closed. 1978 - The Wings album "London Town" was released. 1984 - The Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" hit #53 in the U.K.    ************************************************ At the weekend box office Russell Crowe's Noah was No. 1 with $44 million dollars (North America). Arnold Schwarzenegger's Sabotage debuted in 7th. ... In theaters Friday: Captain America: Winter Soldier. ************************************************ Today in Sports History: 1906 - The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States was founded to set rules in amateur sports. The organization became the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1910. 1923 - King Clancy (Ottawa Senators) played all six positions in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals. He played goalie for 2 minutes while Clint Benedict served a penalty. 1931 - Knute Rockne died in a plane crash. 1968 - Seattle chose the nickname Pilots for their new AL franchise. 1972 - The Major League Baseball Players Association voted to go on strike on April 1. 1973 - Muhammad Ali wore a $10000 robe with "The Peoples Champion" inscribed on it. Ali lost the fight to Ken Norton. Elvis Presley had given the robe to Ali on January 2, 1971. 1990 - Joe Sakic became the youngest person in NHL history to score 100 points in a season. He was also the first to do so with a last-place team. 1991 - Brett Hull (St. Louis Blues) recorded his 86th goal of the season. It was the third best total in NHL history. 1992 - Cotton Fitzsimmons (Phoenix Suns) became the sixth coach in NBA history to get 800 career wins. 1997 - Martina Hingis, 16 years old, became the youngest women's tennis player to reach the world number-one mark. 1998 - The Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks debuted in the major league. 1998 - Pokey Reese (Cincinnati Reds) tied a major league record when he had four errors on opening day. 2003 - Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the season opener between the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates. 2004 - NFL owners adopted a 15-yard penalty for excessive celebrations. The penalty was added to the fines previously in place for choreographed and multiplayer celebrations. Also, if the infraction was flagrant the player would be ejected. The previous day the owners had instituted a modified instant replay system for five years. ************************************************ For the first time in the U.S., Daylight Saving Time went into effect on this date in 1918. ************************************************ MARTINSVILLE, Va. – On Sunday at historic Martinsville Speedway, the driver known as "The Outlaw" committed highway robbery. Read the rest here. ************************************************ The Ford Motor Co. debuted its V-8 engine on this date in 1932. ************************************************  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Will Power made a statement in the Verizon IndyCar Series opening race that will resound throughout the season. Read the rest here. ************************************************ The Soviet Union launched Luna 10 on this date in 1966, which became the first spacecraft to enter a lunar orbit. ************************************************ Coming Up: Tonight -- MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Toronto Blue Jays 4:10pm EDT MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks 9:40pm EDT Tuesday -- MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Toronto Blue Jays 7:10pm EDT NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Montreal Canadiens 7:30pm EDT MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks 9:40pm EDT Wednesday -- MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Toronto Blue Jays 7:10pm EDT MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks 9:40pm EDT Thursday -- MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks 3:40pm EDT MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Toronto Blue Jays 7:10pm EDT NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Calgary Flames 7:30pm EDT Friday -- MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers 4:10pm EDT MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Texas Rangerss 7:10pm EDT Nascar Nationwide Series -- O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway 8:30pm EDT Saturday -- MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers 4:10pm EDT NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Dallas Stars 7:00pm EDT MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Texas Rangerss 7:10pm EDT Sunday -- MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Texas Rangerss 1:40pm EDT Nascar Sprint Cup Series -- Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway 3:00pm EDT MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers 8:00pm EDT ************************************************ That's all for today. Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow!