Tarasenko, Laich injured; Selling hockey to women; Sean Avery’s DWTS debut (Puck Headlines)

Posted on by Jen Neale

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

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• Jaromir Jagr is the best. “I thought he was going to leave it for himself, not put it out to the Internet.” [NJ.com]

• An in-depth explanation of Rich Peverley’s heart condition in terminology for non-medical professionals, and what it means for the rest of his hockey career. [Undisclosed Injury]

• Excellent piece by Gregg Sutch, former teammate of Terry Trafford who committed suicide after being dismissed by his team, on how the mindset of hockey as a whole needs to change: “For many of us, the words “I am a hockey player” have become a social stigma. Hockey has become so overwhelming and blown out of proportion that it consumes our lives. We grow up playing hockey and after a while we allow hockey to define us. Hockey becomes who we are. Everything about us is related to hockey – the way we carry ourselves, the way we dress, the way we act and talk. It’s become so prevalent that people can pick hockey players in a crowd. Is that really good anymore?” [Buzzing the Net]

• Big loss for the St. Louis Blues. Vladmir Tarasenko is out at least six weeks with a hand injury. He’s having surgery Monday. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

• Brooks Laich will not be joining the Washington Capitals on their trip out west. He’s headed to St. Louis to see a groin specialist. [Capitals Insider]

• Dallas Stars fans can breathe a little easier, Kari Lehtonen is healthy enough to resume playing. Sorry, Cristopher Nilstorp fans. He’s headed back to the AHL. [Defending Big D]

• In the NCAA women’s quarterfinal, Wisconsin goalie Alex Rigsby makes a stick save that requires the creation of a new word to describe it: “a fusion of shopworn sports superlatives suc has stellabulous, a combo of stellar and fabulous”. [Buzzing the Net]

• Your three stars of the week are … wait for iiiit … Sergei Bobrovsky, Kyle Okposo, and Antti Niemi [NHL.com]

• Heart-warming read of the day: Columbus Blue Jackets forward Ryan Johansen credits the support of his best friend from childhood as a big reason why he’s been successful throughout his hockey career [FoxSports Ohio]

• On marketing directly to women: “… female sports fans are not a niche market. Depending on the sport, [women] make up a third or more of the fans. As a Twitter friend of mine pointed out, ‘women are not the untapped market sports think they are. Most sporting events I go to are not all that heavily male-skewed. It’s just that people seem to ASSUME that all those women are dragged there by their male counterparts.'” [Eyes on the Prize]

• For the fantasy hockey GMs, the ‘Geek of the Week’ is Travis Harmonic [Dobber Hockey]

• Is it time for Craig MacTavish to trade Nail Yakupov or continue to allow him to develop with the Edmonton Oilers? [Edmonton Journal Blog]

• Jeff from Puck Buddys previews Sean Avery on Dancing with the Stars. The pictures alone are worth the read. [Puck Buddys]

• Oh, Canada. It’s way too early to be asking Mike Babcock about signing up to coach Canada in 2018, but it’s ok to ask him about his experience in Sochi [Tim Wharnsby]

• A look back at the best alternate-third jerseys of the 90’s (spoiler alert: Wild Wing busting through the ice didn’t make the list) [The Hockey Writers]

• Finally, via Kukla, a look at a coach’s life through the eyes of Barry Trotz: