It's Wednesday

It's Wednesday. Here's what's happening....

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Today is May 21st, the 141st day of 2014. There are 224 days left in the year.

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Blackhawks-Kings could turn on battle of top lines.

Benning expected to be named Canucks GM: report.

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

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Today's Birthdays: Rock Hall of Famer Ronald Isley (Isley Brothers) is 73; comedian and actor turned politician Al Franken is 63; Mr. T is 62; Sarah Ramos (Parenthood, American Dreams) is 23.

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Tampa, FL. -- Bolts Beat Reporter Missy Zielinski gives a recap of the Bolts in the preliminary round of the World Championships and previews the quarterfinals....

Read the rest here.

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Bicycles were first seen in the U.S. in New York City on this date in 1819. They were originally known as "swift walkers."

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Joel Johnson Named Head Coach of U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team

Katie Lachapelle and Brent Hill to Serve as Assistant Coaches

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Hockey announced today that Joel Johnson (White Bear Lake, Minn.), associate head coach of the University of Minnesota women's ice hockey team, has been named head coach of the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team for the 2014-15 season. Joining him as assistant coaches will be Katie Lachapelle (Winthrop, Mass.), assistant women's ice hockey coach at Boston University, and Brent Hill (Troy, N.Y.), assistant women's ice hockey coach at Merrimack College. “Joel has contributed a great deal at the collegiate level and at recent USA Hockey events to earn this well-deserved opportunity,” said Reagan Carey, director of women’s hockey at USA Hockey. “This coaching staff brings a varied and unique perspective that will help our players reach their highest potential." The trio will lead the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team at the 2014 Women's Under-18 Series against Canada in Calgary, Alberta, from Aug. 20-24, and at the International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women's World Championship that is anticipated to take place in the U.S. in the early part of 2015. ABOUT JOHNSON Johnson has previous experience with USA Hockey as a member of the coaching staff for the 2012 IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship and the 2013 Women's Under-18 Series. He has also served as a coach at various U.S. Women's Select Festivals. "I'm greatly honored to serve as the head coach of U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team and have always cherished the responsibility that is associated with representing USA Hockey," said Johnson. "As a coaching staff, we look forward to the challenges ahead and working with our team for the upcoming season of events." Johnson completed his ninth season as an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota in 2013-14, helping lead the women’s hockey team to its third-straight appearance in the national championship game. During two stints, Johnson has been a part of four national titles (2000, 2004, 2012-13) with the Golden Gophers. He originally served as an assistant coach from 1999-2004 and returned to the University of Minnesota in the same capacity in 2010-11 after a six-year hiatus. Johnson also spent six seasons coaching at Bethel University from 2004-10, including three years as the men's hockey head coach. Along with his men's hockey responsibilities, he was also the men's and women's golf coach and prior to that was the soccer coach where he earned MIAC Coach of the Year honors. Lachapelle and Hill Named Assistant Coaches ABOUT LACHAPELLE Lachapelle will be returning for her second consecutive stint as an assistant coach with the 2014 U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team. She has also has coached at USA Hockey camps for the previous five summers, helping at various Girls' Select 14, 15 and 16 Player Development Camps. Lachapelle has been an assistant women's ice hockey coach at Boston University since 2008, after stints at Ohio State, Niagara and Union, and received the 2013 Women's Ice Hockey Assistant Coach Award from the American Hockey Coaches Association. She has helped BU to four Hockey East titles and five consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, including a trip to the 2011 and 2013 national title games. As a player at Providence College, Lachapelle was a team captain, earned All-ECAC honorable mention recognition and was named to the 1997 ECAC All-Star Team. ABOUT HILL Hill will be making his Team USA coaching debut with the 2014 U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team after coaching at various USA Hockey development camps and festivals over the last seven years. Hill recently joined Merrimack College as an assistant coach in preparation for the launch of the women's inaugural campaign in the 2015-16 season. He spent the previous four years as assistant coach of the RPI Engineers women’s ice hockey team and has nearly a decade of coaching and hockey experience. His stops included two years as the director of player development for the Vermont Stars, a Tier I youth girls team; head coach with the 14U Stars in 2008 and 2009; a year as an assistant coach for the women’s program at Saint Michael’s College (Vt.); and two years in an assistant coach role with the Green Mountain Glades, a Tier I youth boys team. As a player, Hill helped lead Saint Michael’s to three consecutive Northeast-10 Championships and was named to the All-Northeast-10 Second Team in 2003-04. NOTES: Reagan Carey (Colorado Springs, Colo.), USA Hockey's director of women's hockey, is the general manager of the 2014-15 U.S. Under-18 Women's National Team ... Approximately 30 players will be invited to the U.S Women's National Under-18 Evaluation Camp Aug. 11-19, in Lake Placid, New York. The camp will culminate with the selection of a 22-player roster that will represent the U.S. in a three-game series against Canada from Aug. 20-24 in Calgary ... The IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship is scheduled to be played for the eighth time and will include teams from Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Japan, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. The dates and location of the tournament will be announced in the near future. Team USA captured gold in each of the first two years of the tournament (2008, 2009) and again in 2011 ... The team has taken home the silver medal in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014. U18 Series vs. Canada IIHF U18 Women's Worlds Year Head Coach Record Year Head Coach Record (Place) 2013 Jeff Kampersal 1-0-0-2* 2014 Jeff Kampersal 4-0-0-1* (2nd) 2012 Jeff Kampersal 1-0-1-1* 2013 Jeff Kampersal 4-0-0-1* (2nd) 2011 Heather Linstad 1-0-0-2* 2012 Heather Linstad 4-0-0-1* (2nd) 2010 Jodi McKenna 2-1-0-0* 2011 Jodi McKenna 5-0-0-0* (1st) 2009 Katie King 1-0-0-2* 2010 Katie King 4-0-1-0* (2nd) 2008 Mark Johnson 2-0-1-0* 2009 Mark Johnson 4-1-0-0* (1st) 2007 Katey Stone 0-0-1-2* 2008 Katey Stone 5-0-0-0* (1st) Totals 8-1-3-9* Totals 30-1-1-3* * W-OTW-OTL-L U.S. Men's National Team Beats Germany, 5-4, at 2014 IIHF Men's World Championship Gaudreau Tallies One Goal and Three Assists; Abdelkader Scores Twice; Team USA Awaits Quarterfinal Opponent for Thursday MINSK, Belarus – Johnny Gaudreau (Carneys Point, N.J./Boston College/Calgary Flames) had a goal and three assists and Justin Abdelkader (Muskegon, Mich./Michigan State University/Detroit Red Wings) scored twice, including the game winner in the third period, to give the U.S. Men’s National Team a 5-4 victory over Germany in its final preliminary-round game of the 2014 International Ice Hockey Federation Men’s World Championship here today. “I’m glad that we were able to find the points that we needed to possibly raise our seeding for the quarterfinals,” said Peter Laviolette, head coach of the 2014 U.S. Men’s National Team. “We knew that this was going to be a tough match for us today. We’re looking forward to moving on from here.” Following a scoreless first period, Abdelkader struck on a shot from the side of the net just 1:44 into the middle frame to give the United States a 1-0 lead. Gaudreau created the play low in the offensive zone by shaking a German defender before sending a no-look pass to Abdelkader that he quickly fired past goaltender Danny Aus den Birken. Germany answered 1:48 later with a goal on a rush, but Drew Shore (Denver, Colo./University of Denver/Florida Panthers) put the U.S. back in front with a shorthanded marker at 7:18. Team USA created a turnover just inside its defensive blue line and Jeff Petry (Ann Arbor, Mich./Michigan State University/Edmonton Oilers) sent an outlet pass to Shore in the neutral zone. Shore raced down the left wing, made a nifty move around a German defenseman and slid the puck through Aus den Birken’s legs to make it 2-1 USA. A Germany power-play marker at 10:29 pulled the game back to even before Team USA answered with a power-play goal of its own at 12:53 to jump ahead, 3-2. Gaudreau picked up the puck at the right circle, turned to his forehand and feathered a cross-ice pass to Matt Donovan (Edmond, Okla./University of Denver/N.Y. Islanders). Donovan one-timed the pass into the net for his second goal of the tournament. An odd-man rush allowed Germany to tie it at 3-3 just 2:20 later, setting the stage for the United States’ third-period heroics. Gaudreau scored at 2:24 of the third frame to put Team USA up, 4-3. With the U.S. on the man advantage, Gaudreau used a quick toe drag to pull the puck between two German defenders. Once he regained complete control of the puck, he fired a shot high off the in-net camera to put Team USA up for good. Abdelkader buried another pinpoint Gaudreau feed in front with 4:16 remaining in the contest to give the U.S. a 5-3 cushion. A German power-play goal with 1:57 to play cut the lead to 5-4, but the U.S. snuffed out Germany's late efforts to tie the game. Goaltender Tim Thomas (Flint, Mich./University of Vermont/Dallas Stars) started his seventh straight game of the tournament and turned aside 22 shots in the victory. The U.S. Men’s National Team (4-1-0-2) will next play in the quarterfinals Thursday (May 22). Team USA’s opponent and game time will be announced later today. NOTES: Tonight's box score, photos and more comments from Head Coach Peter Laviolette are availablehere ... Johnny Gaudreau was named Team USA's best player ... With his four-point game, Gaudreau took over the team lead in points (2-8=10) ... ... The U.S. improved to 8-0-1-2-3 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) all-time against Germany in the IIHF Men's World Championship ... Team USA's captain is Justin Abdelkader. The alternate captains are Craig Smith, Colin McDonald and Tim Stapleton ... Peter Laviolette is serving as head coach of the 2014 U.S. Men's National Team for the third time (2004-bronze, 2005). The assistant coaches are Joe Sacco, Phil Housley and Don Granato ... For Team USA's roster, click here ... Twenty of the 25 members of Team USA played U.S. college hockey ... Seven of the 25 players are products of USA Hockey's National Team Development Program, including Jimmy Hayes, Seth Jones, Jake McCabe, Peter Mueller, Connor Murphy, Drew Shore and Jacob Trouba ... Thirteen NHL teams are represented on the roster: Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, New York Islanders, Phoenix Coyotes, San Jose Sharks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets ... The staff and players of the 2014 U.S. Men's National Team are selected by the U.S. Men's National Team Advisory Group, led by Jim Johannson, assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey. Other members include Stan Bowman (Chicago Blackhawks), Brian Burke (Calgary Flames), Paul Holmgren (Philadelphia Flyers), Dean Lombardi (Los Angeles Kings), David Poile (Nashville Predators), Ray Shero, Dale Tallon (Florida Panthers), and Don Waddell (Pittsburgh Penguins). Tom Kurvers (Tampa Bay Lightning) is also part of the advisory group for this year's championship ... USA Hockey's international council, chaired by Gavin Regan, vice president of USA Hockey, has oversight responsibilities for all U.S. national teams … Sixteen teams are competing at the 2014 IIHF Men's World Championship, divided into two groups of eight. Teams will play a round-robin format among their group with the top four teams from each group advancing to quarterfinals … NBC Sports Network is televising and streaming all Team USA games in the 2014 IIHF Men's World Championship. Team USA 2014 IIHF Men's World Championship ScheduleMay 9-25 • Minsk, Belarus Date Opponent Venue Time (Local/EDT)/Result NBCSN Broadcast Fri., May 9 Belarus Minsk Arena W, 6-1 Sat., May 10 Switzerland Minsk Arena W, 3-2 Mon., May 12 Russia Minsk Arena L, 1-6 Thurs., May 15 Latvia Minsk Arena L, 5-6 Fri., May 16 Kazakhstan Minsk Arena W, 4-3 OT Sun., May 18 Finland Minsk Arena W, 3-1 Tues., May 20 Germany Minsk Arena W, 5-4 Thurs., May 22 Quarterfinals Chizhovka Arena TBD tape delay Sat., May 24 Semifinals Minsk Arena 2:45 p.m./7:45 a.m. 6:45 p.m./11:45 a.m.  tape delay tape delay Sun., May 25 Bronze-Medal Game Minsk Arena 4:30 p.m./9:30 a.m. tape delay Gold-Medal Game Minsk Arena 9:00 p.m./2:00 p.m. Live

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The cartoon, "On the Road to Moscow," by Rollin Kirby won a Pulitzer Prize on this date in 1922. It was the first cartoon awarded the Pulitzer.

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Hufnagel: 'We'll be an improved football team this year.'

Brandon Isaac Rides to Saskatchewan.

Please visit the league's official website, cfl.ca.

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A new graduation policy at a Florida high school is causing outrage. Students at Manatee High School in Bradenton are being required to pay $20 to participate in the event. And if parents want a good view of their child receiving his diploma, the school is charging them $200 for a "premium" seat.

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Tampa, FL. — Following similar wage theft lawsuits filed by other NFL cheerleaders, a former cheerleader for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sued the team over its pay practices on Monday, claiming she was paid less than $2 per hour for the time she devoted to the team over the course of two seasons.

Read the rest here.

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The Chinese government has banned federal employees from using certain software, namely Windows 8. [Government workers breathed a sigh of relief when they realized that the ban didn't include Candy Crush.]

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St. Petersburg, FL. -- How low can they go?

Read the rest here.

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A woman in New Zealand called the police after her cat left a bag of drugs on her doorstep. Police are trying to find out where the cat found its package.

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Denver, CO. -- Madison Bumgarner sounded as if he had just disembarked from a particularly satisfying roller-coaster ride as he discussed the Giants' confrontation Tuesday night with the Colorado Rockies.

Read the rest here.

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On this date in 1927, Charles A. Lindberg completed the first solo nonstop airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The trip began May 20.

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Jimmy on the bases

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You're reading the Johnny Blog. Almost as much fun as taking your son to the school nurse with a scraped knee, isn't it?

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Today in Elvis History

1996 - It was reported that a picture of Elvis Presley hung beside pictures of Hindu gods in a temple in the Indian state of Karnataka. 

2001 - The Elvis Presley Instant Lottery Promotion created by MDI Entertainment, Inc., began. The scratch ticket lottery featured cash prizes upt to $100,000 and "Elvis Experience" VIP trips to Graceland.

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SEASON FINALES - The season's over tonight (Wednesday) for Survivor, American Idol, The Middle, Law & Order: SVU, Chicago PD, and The Americans, to name a few.

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Today in Beatles History:

1968 - Paul McCartney and Jane Asher attended an Andy Williams concert. 

1969 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono began a ten-day "bed-in" in Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel. 

1971 - Paul McCartney released "Ram." 

1972 - BBC's Radio 1 began airing "The Beatles Story."  

  

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A new Guardians of the Galaxy trailer hit the Internet this week and guess who's in it -- Alf! A photo of the '80s TV star appears next to an old cassette deck. Video

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Today in Sports History:

1881 - The United States Lawn Tennis Association was formed in New York City. 

1926 - Earl Sheely (Chicago White Sox) hit his 6th consecutive double. 

1930 - Max Bishop was walked 8 times during a doubleheader. 

1930 - Babe Ruth (New York Yankees) hit three consecutive home runs. 

1943 - The White Sox and the Senators played the fastest 9 inning night game in American League history. The game was finished in 89 minutes. 

1947 - Joe DiMaggio and five of his New York Yankee teammates were fined $100 because they had not fulfilled contract requirements to do promotional duties for the team. 

1948 - Joe DiMaggio (New York Yankees) hit a single, double, triple and home run in the same game. 

1952 - The Brooklyn Dodgers scored 15 runs in the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds. The final score was 19-1. 

1996 - Ken Griffey Jr. became the 8th youngest player to hit 200 home runs. 

1997 - Roger Clemens (Boston Red Sox) got his 200th win. 

2003 - The NFL decided to not vote on expanding the playoffs in 2004.

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The movie "The Empire Strikes Back" was released on this date in 1980.

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Coming Up:

Tonight --

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Oakland Athletics 7:10pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies 8:40pm EDT

Thursday --

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies 3:10pm EDT

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Oakland Athletics 4:10pm EDT

Friday --

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Boston Red Sox 7:10pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants vs Minnesota Twins 10:15pm

Saturday --

Nascar Nationwide Series -- History 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway 2:45pm EDT

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Boston Red Sox 4:10pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants vs Minnesota Twins 10:05pm

Sunday --

Verizon Indy Car Series -- Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway 12:00pm EDT

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Boston Red Sox 1:40pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants vs Minnesota Twins 4:05pm

Nascar Sprint Cup Series -- Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway 6:00pm EDT

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