Thursday Links - Stuff And Things And Whatnot

The Rags are about to be eliminated not by the Penguins, but by attrition.

BLUES NEWS:

• The mutual option between the Blues and Ken Hitchcock was picked up, so Hitch will be back in 2014-15. It was also announced that Associate Coach Brad Shaw and Assistant Coach Ray Bennett would return for next season. The same could not be said for Assistant Coach Gary Agnew (who is taking the fall for the shitty power play down the stretch and in the playoffs) and Goaltending Coach Corey Hirsch (who is taking the fall for, presumably, Ryan Miller). Lou has as much detail as he was given. [In The Slot / Lou Korac]
• Oh, and before all that happened . . . a slightly more sober episode (than the last one) of Beyond Checkerdome went to air. We actually DID discuss the coaching situation. It's like we knew something was going to happen and just kinda waited for it. Or. Something. I dunno. Give it a listen! [SLGT]
• Quasi-Blues related . . . Thomas Steen, father of Alexander Steen, is taking a leave of absence from his seat on the Winnipeg City Council as he is facing an assault charge stemming from an incident at a Boston Pizza restaurant in Winnipeg. [Winnipeg Free Press]
• Just for your information . . . Canada has restaurant chains called "Boston Pizza" and "New York Fries" (which, as I found when I visited Calgary, has AWESOME poutine). America doesn't. Weird.
  

HOCKEY NEWS:

• The Rangers were playing their fifth game in eight nights, which no matter what the MSG schedule is . . . is absolutely fucking ridiculous for the playoffs. Penguins won 4-2, take a 3-1 series lead. THE BOSTON-MONTREAL SERIES STARTED BEFORE THIS ONE AND HASN'T EVEN PLAYED GAME FOUR YET. WHAT THE FUCK. (And yes, the latter point had something to do with Lana Del Rey.) [PensBurgh]
• Speaking of the Bruins and Canadiens . . . they continue their series tonight. Meanwhile, Game 3 of the Ducks-Kings series should be something. By the way . . . DUCKS-KINGS GAME THREE HAPPENS AFTER RAGS-PENS GAME FOUR. WHY?!?!?!?! THEY'RE ALMOST GODDAMN LITERALLY ACROSS FUCKING TOWN FROM EACH OTHER. [NHL.com 05/08/14]
• It was known for a while that Ron Hextall would be the General Manager of the Flyers. It was NOT known (though suspected) that Paul Holmgren would become team president. Well, those things actually happened yesterday. I'm gonna miss Holmgren's Shrooms, man. [Flyers]
• Ryan Lambert's Puck Daddy Power Rankings are excellent this week. Until the Rangers sweep the Penguins from the rest of their series and laugh about it, I guess. (NOTE: THAT IS NOT LIKELY TO HAPPEN) [Puck Daddy]
• Blue Jackets defenseman James Wisniewski basically admitted in an exit interview with Aaron Portzline that he skirted concussion protocol intentionally. Nice. And then he rambled on about things. Even nicer. Boy, I hope Wisniewski doesn't plan on suing the league for his concussion problems later, because this will be Exhibit A against him, in that case. [Blue Jackets Xtra]
• Marek Malik, who had been playing in Europe for the last five seasons, officially retired yesterday. This caused Puck Daddy to remember the good times, as it were . . . like that one time Malik was literally one of the last guys off the bench to participate in a shootout . . . then pulled out a dazzler. (By the way, the list of players that participated in this shootout reads like a list of freshly dead NHL souls or something. It's insane.) [Puck Daddy]

OTHER SHIT:

• So the Evansville Courier had a bit of a typo in yesterday's sports page. Oops. (First thing I thought of was Dr. Evil's line about a "shorn scrotum" from the first Austin Powers movie.) [Deadspin]
• As of yesterday, it had been 25 years since that time Michael Jordan completely owned Craig Ehlo and buried "The Shot" that won the Bulls a playoff series over the Cavs. Ehlo discusses getting absolutely schooled on that play. (Yeah, this happened back when I gave a shit about pro basketball.) [Deadspin]
• Remember the XFL? Well, its' run was so short, it now has an extensive oral history. [SB Nation / Longform]
  

VIDEO:

Get out the tissues. (No, not for that, you pervert.) The WWE honored young Connor "The Crusher" Michalek, who unfortunately succumbed to cancer recently . . . at WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY too Goddamn young an age. I don't even like wrestling and couldn't keep my eyes dry while watching this one. (S/T to UIWWildThing):

Damn. RIP, Crusher.

And for good measure . . . FUCK CANCER.

That'll do it for me this week. J-Mill has your weekend. Got links? Got vids? Got other random shit to disseminate, other than . . . y'know . . . ACTUAL shit? He's the guy to send it to. Like this:

• jasonmcadams1120 AT gmail DOT com
• @JMill1120

And hey, remember that bracket contest J-Mill peer-pressured you into entering is running? He'll have an update on that in a couple hours, so be sure to come back for that.