Here are your Evening 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.
• Winger Devin Setoguchi has 12 points for the first-place San Jose Sharks. His name is not on the NHL All-Star Game ballot. So Battle of California has kicked off one of the first "Vote for Rory"-esque fan campaigns of the season, asking folks to write in Setoguchi's name. "Thanks to the magic of the inter-tubes and text messaging, we can manipulate, erm, boost the results to give us all the Chomp We Need." [BoC]
• The Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL nearly predict the winning percentages in the U.S. presidential election through a rather infallible methodology: Bobblehead doll giveaway. [Griffins]
Preview: Tampa Bay Lightning at New Jersey Devils (7 p.m. EST; TV: SUN. MSG). Some have jokingly started calling tonight's game the first of the Kevin Weekes Era for the Devils. Hell, if he plays like he did against Buffalo on Monday, the job is his. But if he falters, then it'll be the Scott Clemmensen Era; and if he falters, it'll be Jeff Frazee Era and so on. It won't be the Nikolai Khabibulin Era, because that would be about as financially irresponsible a move as the Devils could make. Mike Smith will be in goal for the Bolts; Radim Vrbata won't play tonight, but is close to coming back to continue his awful season.
• By far our favorite story of the day: The Vancouver Sun takes the famous "Slap Shot" quote about penalties ("You go to da box for two minutes, ya know, by yourself ... you feel shame ... and then you get free.") and asks Vancouver Canucks players if they feel shame when they're in the sin bin. Kevin Bieksa: "I maybe just squirt them with the water if they are getting a little too mouthy ... But that's how I ended up getting that beer dumped on me." [Vancouver Sun]
• Samuel Adams teams up with the Boston Bruins for Bru Fest, a celebration of hockey and beer. Pre-game booze, Boston fans, a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs that night ... what could possibly go wrong? [Bruins]
Preview: Edmonton Oilers at Columbus Blue Jackets (7:30 p.m. EST; TV: TSN, FSOH). Bethany's Hockey Rants is reporting that Steve Mason will be in goal tonight for the Jackets, making what would be his NHL debut. Columbus also announced that Nikita Filatov will not be going to play in juniors, and will remain in the AHL. Smart move. Meanwhile, everyone's trying to figure out which of the Oilers' three goalies will be shipped out at some point. We'd play guess the attendance on this game ... but we're not sadists.
• Yes, that's Stephane Veilleux of the Minnesota Wild smooching the helmet (uh ... technically speaking) of teammate James Sheppard during a Kiss-Cam joke in Phoenix. For those of you who've wondered why Jacques Lemaire teams are always clutching and grabbing ... [Melt Your Face Off]
SportsWrap
The top sports headlines of the day
• Great news for the Los Angeles Kings, as defenseman Jack Johnson could be back sooner than first thought. [Inside the Kings]
• Matt from Battle of Alberta takes on two interesting sports media stories in one post: Megapundit's "Sports Journalism, Heal Thyself" story about the boring state of sportswriting, and Theo Fleury's new column for the Calgary Herald that. Has. A lot of. Stops. And. Starts. [BoA]
Preview: St. Louis Blues at Anaheim Ducks (10 p.m. EST; TV: FSMW, FSPT). Manny Legace has made the West Coast trip with the Blues, which is really good news for a St. Louis team that has plummeted back to earth after its hot start. Even that much-heralded power play has dropped to second in the NHL. Chris Mason seeks his first win as a Blues goalie tonight. You'd figure the hook here would be the usual "return of Paul Kariya" story; we were pleasantly surprised to see that, instead, we're treated to some Teemu Selanne/Keith Tkachuk/Winnipeg Jets nostalgia.
• Interesting column by Michael Farber of SI that deals with the "hidden MVPs" of the season so far, like Nashville Predators Coach Barry Trotz and Montreal Canadiens goalie coach Roland Melanson. It's smart, inside and well-thought out. [SI]
• Oh, and it occurred to us that we never posted a link to that killer SI goalie mask gallery. Does J.S. Giguere have some kind of Terminator duck on his lid? [SI Vault]
• Finally, it's the evolution of the Marty St. Louis Bobblehead Doll. Yes, it's as epic as it sounds.
