It's Wednesday

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

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Today is January 7th, the 7th day of 2015. There are 358 days left in the year.

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Maple Leafs fire Randy Carlyle as coach.

EPIX captures memorable day at NHL Winter Classic.

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

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Today's Birthdays: Kenny Loggins is 67. Katie Couric is 58. Nicolas Cage is 51. Jeremy Renner (The Avengers and a Bourne movie) is 44. Dustin Diamond (Saved by the Bell) is 38.

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Montreal, QC. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning have served notice to the Montreal Canadiens that they will not be brushed aside this season.

Read the rest here.

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The new members of Congress have taken over. [It hasn’t even been a week and already they’ve tossed a sofa into the swimming pool and peed off the balcony.]

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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 #14 (First-place votes in parentheses) Rank School Last Week's Rank 2014-15 Record Weeks in Top 10 1. Boston College, 190 (19) 1 17-0-1 14 2. University of Minnesota, 171 2 17-1-2 14 3. University of Wisconsin, 152 3 17-2-1 14 4. Boston University, 125 4 12-3-2 14 5. Quinnipiac University, 113 5 15-1-3 13 6. Harvard University, 100 6 8-2-2 14 7. University of Minnesota Duluth, 81 7 12-5-3 9 8. Clarkson University, 54 8 12-6-1 14 9. Mercyhurst University, 26 10 16-4-2 14 10. Ohio State University, 15 n/a 12-8-2 1 Others Receiving Votes: Cornell University, 12; Bemidji State University, 6. 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. U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL UNDER-18 TEAM EARNS 3-0 SHUTOUT OVER CZECH REPUBLIC Goals by Woken, Lonergan and Samoskevich fuel Team USA victory BUFFALO, New York – Three players scored and Brittany Bugalski (Lake Worth, Fla./Assabet Valley) made eight saves to help the U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team shut out Czech Republic, 3-0, in preliminary round action tonight at the 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women’s World Championship. “I was really pleased with our effort and I thought we played very well tonight,” said Joel Johnson, head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team. “The Czech Republic had a good game plan against us and their goalie played well.” Alex Woken (Fargo, N.D./Shattuck St. Mary’s) opened the scoring 3:34 into the game whenMekenzie Steffen’s (White Bear Township, Minn./Hill Murray) breakout pass sent Woken in on goal alone and she fired a wrist shot by Czech Republic goaltender, Katerina Zechovka. With three seconds left in the second stanza, Team USA nearly doubled its lead when Grace Bizal’s(Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins High School) spin-around pass from the right circle found Patricia Marshall (Thief River Falls, Minn./Shattuck St. Mary’s) alone in the slot for a shot that was denied by Zechovka. After a pair of shorthanded attempts, Team USA made it 2-0 with 11:59 left to play whenSamantha Davis’ (Pembroke, Mass./Tabor Academy) pass from the corner found Caitrin Lonergan (Roslindale, Mass./Assabet Valley) in front of the net for her first goal of the tournament. With 24 seconds left in regulation Melissa Samoskevich (Sandy Hook, Conn./Shattuck St. Mary’s) picked off a clearing attempt and fired a shot past Zechovka to give the U.S. the 3-0 victory. Team USA closes preliminary-round action Thursday (Jan. 8) against Russia. Puck drop is 7 p.m. ET, and the game can be seen live on FASTHockey.com. Notes: Caitrin Lonergan was named the U.S. Player of the Game … Team USA outshot Czech Republic 34-8 … The U.S. has won 10 straight games against the Czech Republic, outscoring them 105-3 over those games … Team USA is first in Group A with five points … For complete Team USA coverage visit www.usawomenshockey.com … Follow @USAHockeyScores for in-game updates.  Join the U.S. Under-18 Women’s World Championship conversation on Twitter using the hashtag#U18WWC.

************************************************ On this date in 1926, George Burns and Gracie Allen were married. ************************************************ Picard excited for second go-around with Blue Bombers. Paopao among coaches that won't return with Lions. Please visit the league's official website, http://www.cfl.ca. ************************************************ Ever wake up really full and find crumbs in the bed? You might be sleep eating. Sleep researchers say that some of us are “sleep eaters” — people who, while still asleep, raid the fridge. Some sleep eaters even devour stuff like cat food and medicine. ************************************************ Tampa, FL. -- Impossible. Read the rest here. ************************************************ On this date in 1927, transatlantic telephone service began between New York and London. 31 calls were made on this first day. ************************************************ Corvallis, OR. --The Oregon State women’s basketball team is ranked No. 11/13 in this week’s polls. The Beavers moved up two spots in the AP rankings, jumping from No. 13 to No. 11. They remain static in the USA Today/WBCA Coaches’ poll, coming in at No. 13 for the second-straight week. Read the rest here. ************************************************ On this date in 1929, the debut of "Buck Rogers 2429 A.D." occurred in newspapers around the U.S. The title of the comic strip was later changed to "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century." ************************************************ Jimmy makes a great sheep, don't ya think? ************************************************ You're reading the Johnny Blog. Almost as much fun as doing more laundry, isn't it? ************************************************ Today in Elvis History: 1956 - Elvis Presley performed at The Louisiana Hayride. He also performed the next day.  1958 - 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. ************************************************ A man who tweeted that he had knocked over a cyclist but could not stop because he was “late for work” has been fired from his job at a brokerage firm in Wales. ************************************************ 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. ************************************************ TV TONIGHT: SEASON PREMIERE: AMERICAN IDOL - Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick, Jr. return as judges for the 14th season and Ryan Seacrest hosts. The auditions begin in Nashville. (8p ET, FOX) ************************************************ 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. ************************************************ TV TONIGHT: PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS 2015 - Mom stars Anna Faris and Allison Janney host this awards show where the winners are voted on by the fans. (9p ET, CBS) ************************************************ Coming Up: Tonight -- Nothin' Doin' Thursday -- Nothin' Doin' Friday -- USPHL Elite Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors vs Islanders Hockey Club 8:30am EST USPHL Empire Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors vs JUnior Bruins 1:20pm EST USPHL Elite Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors vs Bay State Breakers 6:20pm EST NHL Hockey -- Tampa Bay Lightning vs Buffalo Sabres 7:30pm EST NAHL Hockey -- Wenatchee Wild at Lone Star Brahmas 8:30pm EST USPHL Empire Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors vs P.A.L. Junior Islanders 9:50pm EST Saturday -- NAHL Hockey -- Wenatchee Wild at Lone Star Brahmas 8:30pm EST USPHL Empire Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors vs Adirondack Wings 8:30pm EST USPHL Elite Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors vs Jersey Hitmen 9:10pm EST Sunday -- USPHL Empire Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors vs Rochester Junior Americans 7:30am EST USPHL Elite Hockey -- Tampa Bay Juniors vs Junior Bruins 10:10am EST ************************************************ That's all for today. Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow.