It's Wednesday

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

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Today is December 3rd, the 336th day of 2014. There are 29 days left in the year.

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Jean Beliveau, Canadiens great, dies at 83.

Gordie Howe hospitalized, did not have stroke: report.

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

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Today's birthdays: Ozzy Osbourne is 66. Julianne Moore is 54. Brendan Fraser (Mummy films) is 46. Amanda Seyfriend is 29.

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Buffalo, NY. -- Tampa Bay entered Tuesday's game against the Buffalo Sabres as the National Hockey League's top scoring team with 90 goals through 25 games, good for a 3.6 per contest average.

Read the rest here.

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A veteran Major League Baseball umpire has become to first to come out as gay. [Initially, everyone thought that he was straight but the video review clearly showed that he was definitely gay.]

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U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Celebration Sold Out

Class of 2014 To Be Enshrined Thursday in Minneapolis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The 2014 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Celebration, set for Thursday (Dec. 4) at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center, is sold out USA Hockey announced today. “This night is one of the most anticipated on the calendar each year,” said Dave Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey. “Our sport has a lot to celebrate, including the extraordinary contributions of those we'll honor on Thursday evening." The Class of 2014 – including Karyn Bye Dietz, Brian Rafalski, Jeff Sauer and Lou Vairo – will be formally enshrined on Thursday evening in the Grand Portage Ballroom of the Minneapolis Marriott City Center. The evening’s festivities will also include the presentation of the Lester Patrick Trophy to Bill Daly, deputy commissioner of the National Hockey League and Paul Holmgren, president of the Philadelphia Flyers. In addition, Bob O'Connor will receive the USA Hockey Builders Award. Full coverage of the 2014 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Celebration will be available online atushockeyhalloffame.com. NOTES: ESPN's Steve Levy will serve as the master of ceremonies for the 2014 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Celebration ... Platinum event partners include the Minnesota Wild, Proskauer, Skadden and the National Hockey League Foundation, while Diamond partners are the National Hockey League Players Association and Philadelphia Flyers ... The U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Museum is located in historic Eveleth, Minnesota. 2015 U.S. National Junior Team Preliminary Roster Announced Thirty Players to Attend Training Camp Dec. 16-19 in Boston COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - USA Hockey unveiled today the 30 players selected to the preliminary roster for the 2015 U.S. National Junior Team. The final U.S. roster will be named by Dec. 24. Team USA will compete in the 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, Dec. 26-Jan. 5, in Montreal, Quebec, and Toronto, Ontario. "We're excited about the group of players that we're bringing to our camp in Boston," said Jim Johannson, general manager of the 2015 U.S. National Junior Team and assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey. "The depth of our talent pool continues to make our job more difficult in getting to a camp roster and ultimately the final roster, and that's really a credit to the great job done at the grassroots level by coaches all across the country." Seven camp invitees were members of the 2014 U.S. National Junior Team, including forwards Jack Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass./Boston University), Adam Erne (New Haven, Conn./Quebec Remparts) and Hudson Fasching (Apple Valley, Minn./University of Minnesota); defensemen Will Butcher (Sun Prairie, Wis./University of Denver), Ian McCoshen (Hudson, Wis./Boston College) and Steve Santini (Mahopac, N.Y./Boston College); and goaltender Thatcher Demko (San Diego, Calif./Boston College). Additionally, nine invitees were members of the U.S. Men's National Under-18 Team that won gold at the 2014 IIHF Under-18 Men's World Championship. The group includes forwards Eichel, Dylan Larkin (Waterford, Mich./University of Michigan), Auston Matthews (Scottsdale, Ariz./U.S. National Under-18 Team), Sonny Milano (Massapequa, N.Y./Plymouth Whalers) and Alex Tuch(Baldwinsville, N.Y./Boston College); defensemen Ryan Collins (Bloomfield, Minn./University of Minnesota), Jack Dougherty (Cottage Grove, Minn./University of Wisconsin) and Noah Hanifin(Norwood, Mass./Boston College); and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic (Parma, Ohio/Plymouth Whalers). The chosen players will attend training camp from Dec. 16-19 in Boston at Walter Brown Arena on the Boston University campus. The camp will culminate with a pre-tournament game against the BU Terriers on Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. ET. Following time in Boston, the U.S. will move to Kingston, Ontario, where it will continue preparations for the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship. The U.S. will be based at the Rogers K-Rock Centre from Dec. 21-24 and in addition to practices, will play pre-tournament games against Germany (Dec. 21) and Sweden (Dec. 23). For a full training camp schedule, click here. NOTES: Practices at Walter Brown Arena will be open to the public ... A total of 24 players named to the preliminary roster have ties to the United States Hockey League ... Team USA has medaled in three of the last five IIHF World Junior Championships, winning gold in 2010 and 2013, plus bronze in 2011. The U.S. placed fifth in last year's tournament ... Mark Osiecki (Burnsville, Minn.), associate coach of the American Hockey League's Rockford IceHogs, is the head coach of the 2015 U.S. National Junior Team. Kevin Patrick (Schenectady, N.Y.), assistant coach for the University of Vermont men's ice hockey team, Don Granato (Downers Grove, Ill.), head coach of the U.S. National Under-18 Team at USA Hockey's National Team Development Program, and Mike Ayers(Hingham, Mass.), assistant coach of the Boston College men's ice hockey team, are the assistant coaches. The video coordinator is Adam Nightingale (Cheboygan, Mich.), head coach of Shattuck-St. Mary's Bantam hockey team ... Jim Johannson (Colorado Springs, Colo.), USA Hockey's assistant executive director of hockey operations, is serving as the general manager of Team USA for the sixth consecutive year ... Mike Sullivan (Marshfield, Mass.) is an advance scout for Team USA ... Ryan Martin (Simsbury, Conn.), Ray Shero (St. Paul, Minn.), Ben Smith (Gloucester, Mass.) and Don Waddell (Detroit, Mich.) are assisting with player evaluation during training camp ... The U.S. will be based in Montreal for its preliminary round games and compete in a group with Canada, Finland, Germany and Slovakia at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship. For more information about the tournament, please click here ... In August, 42 players attended the 2014 U.S. National Junior Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid, New York. Complete details from that camp can be found here.

Boston College Continues as Unanimous No. 1 in USA Today/USAH Magazine College Hockey Poll USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine 2014-15 Women's College Hockey Poll - Regular Season #11 (First-place votes in parentheses) Rank School Last Week's Rank 2014-15 Record Weeks in Top 10 1. Boston College, 190 (19) 1 15-0-1 11 2. University of Minnesota, 171 2 14-1-2 11 3. University of Wisconsin, 152 3 15-2-1 11 4. Quinnipiac University, 126 4 13-0-2 10 5. Boston University, 99 5 10-3-2 11 6. Clarkson University, 89 6 11-5-1 11 7. Mercyhurst University, 64 10 14-2-1 11 8. University of Minnesota Duluth, 52 8 11-5-2 6 9. Bemidji State University, 50 9 8-5-1 3 10. Harvard University, 36 7 3-2-2 11 Others Receiving Votes: St. Lawrence University, 9; University of North Dakota, 7. Notes: The Western Collegiate Hockey Association leads all women's conferences with four ranked teams, while ECAC Hockey has three and the Hockey East Association has two. College Hockey America has one ... A total of 12 schools received votes in this week's poll ... This season's previous polls can be found here. About the Poll: The 18th annual USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women's College Hockey Poll is conducted each week in conjunction with the American Hockey Coaches Association. The poll includes input from coaches and journalists representing each of the four NCAA Division I ice hockey conferences, as well as composite votes from officers of the AHCA and USA Hockey. ************************************************ On this date in 1910, the neon lamp was displayed for the first time at the Paris Motor Show. The lamp was developed by French physicist Georges Claude. ************************************************ Morris: Buono lays out lengthy off-season plan. Steinberg's MMQB: A classic Grey Cup. Please visit the league's official website, cfl.ca. ************************************************ COMING UP - Human Rights Day: December 10. Winter Solstice: December 21. Christmas: December 25. New Years Eve: December 31. New Years Day: January 1. ************************************************ Tampa, FL. -- Sunday's revelation that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are among several professional sports teams using unpaid, destitute "indentured servants" as concessions workers has led to swift action on behalf of government bodies as well as the Rays and their stadium services contractor Centerplate, but the Bucs and Raymond James Stadium concessions provider Aramark are refusing to talk about the allegations. Read the rest here. ************************************************ A teddy bear collector preparing to move from Britain to Hong Kong is putting his $157,000 collection of vintage Steiff bears up for auction. Jena Pang, who named all of the bears in his collection, said the 32 vintage bears from German manufacturer Steiff will be auctioned December 24. ************************************************ San Francisco, CA. -- The Pac-12 All-Conference Team and end of the year awards were announced Tuesday. A pair of Oregon State volleyball players took home honors with Mary-Kate Marshall being named All-Pac-12 while Arica Nassar earned honorable mention. In addition, Marshall was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year while head coach Taras Liskevych was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year. Read the rest here. ************************************************ Forget the limited-time Olive Garden pasta pass — Starbucks wants to give you drinks for life. Until January 5, customers can enter the coffee giant’s “It’s a Wonderful Card Ultimate Giveaway.” Ten customers in the U.S., three in Canada and one in the U.K. will score the big prize, which includes a personalized 10 karat hammered gold Starbucks card. ************************************************ Go through those doors and take a right.... ************************************************ You're reading the Johnny Blog. Almost as much fun as doing early-morning laundry, isn't it? ************************************************ Today in Elvis History: 1960 - Elvis Presley's single "Are You Lonesome Tonight" hit #1 in the U.S.  1968 - Elvis Presley's NBC-TV special "Elvis" was aired.  1983 - The Elvis Presley album "A Legendary Performer Vol. 4" hit #91 in the U.K. ************************************************ Police in China say a man’s excuse for speeding takes the cake — or, at least, the cookie. Authorities say the driver blamed his driving problems on an errant cookie. He told them that a cookie had just slipped from his fingers as he dunked it in some tea and that he was trying to fish it out when he lost control of his car. ************************************************ Today in Beatles History: 1961 - The Beatles met Brian Epstein for the first time at his record store in Liverpool.  1969 - John Lennon was asked to play the title role in "Jesus Christ, Superstar." The offer was revoked the next day.  1973 - Ringo Starr released the song "You're Sixteen." It was his second straight number one single. ************************************************ Today in Sports History: 1929 - The Boston Bruins began a 14 game winning streak.  1950 - Tom Fears (Los Angeles Rams) caught an NFL-record 18 passes against the Green Bay Packers. Terrell Owens (San Francisco 49ers) broke the record with 20 catches for 283 yards and a touchdown against the Chicago Bears on December 17, 2000.  1961 - George Blanda (Houston Oilers) kicked a 55-yard field goal.  1968 - The rules committee of Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that in 1969 the pitcher's mound would be lowered from 15 to 10 inches. This was done in order to "get more batting action." The strike zone was also reduced from the knees to the shoulders to the top of the knees to the armpits.  1988 - Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State University won the Heisman Trophy.  1991 - Hulk Hogan won his fourth WWF championship when he defeated Undertaker.  1994 - Greg LeMond announced that he was retiring. He was a three-time winner of the Tour de France. ************************************************ On this date in 1931, Alka Seltzer was sold for the first time. ************************************************ Coming Up: Tonight -- Nothin' Doin' Thursday -- NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Buffalo Sabres 7:30pm EST NAHL Hockey -- Wenatchee Wild vs Fairbanks Ice Dogs 10:05pm EST Friday -- NAHL Hockey -- Wenatchee Wild vs Fairbanks Ice Dogs 10:05pm EST Saturday -- USPHL Empire Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors at Palm Beach Hawks 3:00pm EST USPHL Elite Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors at Palm Beach Hawks 6:00pm EST NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Columbus Blue Jackets 7:00pm EST Sunday -- USPHL Empire Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors at Palm Beach Hawks 9:00am EST USPHL Elite Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors at Palm Beach Hawks 12:00pm EST NFL Football -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Detroit Lions 1:00pm EST NAHL Hockey -- Wenatchee Wild vs Fairbanks Ice Dogs 8:05pm EST ************************************************ That's all for today. Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow.