Puck Headlines: Penner, Richards fallout; trade deadline review

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.

• Pass or Fail: The Chicago Wolves St. Patrick's Day jersey. [Wolves, via Hockey Broad]

• Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews(notes), San Jose Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi(notes) and New Jersey Devils goaltender Johan Hedberg(notes) have been named the NHL "Three Stars" for the month of February. Johan Hedberg. No. 3 star for an entire month. As the Devils goalie. Incredible.

• New Jersey Devils GM Lou Lamoriello on Zach Parise(notes): "Zach Parise will be seeing the physician on [March 2] and we will have knowledge of exactly where he's at, and what he can do, and when he can skate, when he can't skate. ... The results of the examination, that will say everything." [Devils]

• Long interview on 1310 The Ticket in Dallas featuring Brad Richards(notes) of the Dallas Stars, in which he says he never agreed to waive his no-trade clause for the New York Rangers; talks about his concussion recovery; and discusses housemate James Neal(notes) being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins. [Stars]

• Kings GM Dean Lombardi on whether Richards was in play: "No, I don't think he was ever a viable option, pretty much (since) early last week. I think it was probably pretty far-fetched, given where Dallas is and that we're in the same division. That was highly unlikely." [LA Kings Insider]

• Is Jason Arnott(notes) the new Sergei Fedorov(notes) for the Washington Capitals? We'll assume they aren't talking about skating ability. [Capitals Insider]

• The threat of legal action by the Goldwater Institute is really raising the price tag for the Phoenix Coyotes for the city of Glendale. [AZ Republic, via reader Solo]

• Great piece by Jeff Z. Klein on 37-year-old Donald Brashear(notes) and the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey, considered "the toughest hockey league in the world." [NY Times, via reader 'the immortal reg dunlop']

• "My question is...does throwing up everywhere and then passing out in it, at a sold out hockey game, in front of thousands of people get this guy laid?" [Barstool and viewer discretion is advised; via Dave McBrayer]

• Analyzing the Los Angeles Kings' big trade: "The Penner is Mightier than the Sturm." [Royal Half]

• Another take on the Dustin Penner(notes) trade: "For those who were clamoring for a big deal at the deadline, you got it.  For those who didn't want to see chemistry or core compromised, you got it." [Pro Sports Blogging]

• Interesting piece comparing Penner's trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs' choice to hang on to Clarke MacArthur(notes) at the deadline. [PPP]

• Nice work out of Phil Kessel(notes), as the Toronto Maple Leafs star donated $5,000 to Brendan Burke Internship, USA Hockey announced Tuesday; money one assumes had come from his "Mr. Irrelevant" windfall at the NHL All-Star Draft. [The Star]

• Why, exactly, are the Vancouver Canucks and Florida Panthers trade buddies? [Pass It To Bulis]

• If you missed it, the Twitter dust-up between Florida Panthers president Michael Yormark and Miami Herald writer George Richards. Randy Moller, Panthers announcer, told us on Puck Daddy Radio Tuesday that they shared a laugh about it Tuesday morning. [Pro Hockey Talk]

• The Montreal Canadiens lose Jaroslav Spacek(notes) for 4-6 weeks to surgery. Said Spacek: "The situation is that I went to see the doctor yesterday and we decided to go for a clean up of my knee.  I think it's a good thing for me because at least I can come back this season." [Canadiens]

• Quebec's new hockey arena would be called the Videotron amphitheatre. Look, if this means lightcycle races when the New Nords are on the road, we're all for it. [Y!]

• Following up on this great piece by Leahy: "The Checkers today announced ‘Facebook Fandemonium 2,' an online fundraising initiative with the goal of raising $25,000 for Zach 'Bug' Bennett and his family. For every new ‘like' the Checkers get on their Facebook fan page, the team will donate $2 to the Bennetts, up to $25,000, as they continue to gather the resources needed to move to Charlotte." [Checkers]

• Darren Eliot on the trade deadline: "It was hard to wow or surprise anyone with anything that went down. I mean, how much wonder can there be in a cap era where exchanging assets is done under much narrower parameters and players send tweets as they walk out of a GM's office, as defenseman Brent Sopel(notes) did when he was sent from Atlanta to Montreal? The world was aware of the move before Sopel had gathered his gear and left the building." [SI]

• Down Goes Brown presents deadline winners and losers. "Loser: Vancouver Canucks -- Despite a handful of minor moves, still completely failed to address the team's most obvious flaw, a distinct lack of depth on the sixth line." [DGB]

• Steven Ovadia on the NHL trade deadline's meaning this season: "So while a slow deadline day is always kind of a bummer, it really is a sign of the NHL's overall health. The league has achieved parity and while that doesn't always make for exciting games, it gives the fans plenty to root for over the course of a very long season." [Puck Update]

• Are the Carolina Hurricanes a playoff team? [Canes Country]

• NOT HOCKEY: As we pour a little out for our mates at NHL FanHouse Tuesday, a great look back at the Great Fantasy Sports Girl Mutiny. [Deadspin]

• Via Scotty Hockey, a look at what the $1.575 billion stadium complex in Las Vegas would look like. [Wired]

• A podcast featuring Bourne, Lambert and Sean Gentille of The Sporting News? Yes please. [JTBourne]

• Finally, using Blur's "Song 2" can spice up any highlight of a 9-year-old scoring. But why is the title of this "Ice-Hockey Crack"?

Related: Jaroslav Spacek, Jason Arnott, Antti Niemi, Phil Kessel, Jonathan Toews, James Neal, Clarke MacArthur, Dustin Penner, Zach Parise, Sergei Fedorov, Johan Hedberg, Brad Richards, Brent Sopel, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, Phoenix Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals

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NFL sets up rare conference call to review officiating blunders

As first reported by Jay Glazer of FOXSports.com, the NFL has made a rare move by scheduling a conference call involving all the league's officials. The call will take place Friday, and the primary discussion point will be the wave of controversial calls made recently. Glazer brought up two calls that will likely be at the head of the agenda: The Ben Roethlisberger(notes) fumble-that-was-not-a-fumble call in the Steelers-Dolphins game, and the overturned Visanthe Shiancoe(notes) touchdown catch in the Vikings-Packers game.

Both calls have been ripped in the media, and though Vikings head coach Brad Childress was recently fined $35,000 for calling the Sunday night contest "the worst-officiated game I've ever seen" and revealing the content of confidential conversations with the league's officiating arm, the fact that those calls may have decided close games in each case is most likely the main reason for the increased focus.

First-year VP of Officiating Carl Johnson went over both of these calls on Wednesday's "Official Review" segment, the NFL Network's weekly conversation between Anderson and Rich Eisen.

Johnson said that the Roethlisberger play was properly handled by the officials on the field (another "good call/bad rule" situation in that the officials were tasked with clearly seeing a Miami recovery in this case, which is nearly impossible in the scrums you see after fumbles), but he did say that he wished the Shiancoe touchdown had stood instead of being overturned. There was no talk of the holding that the Vikings' offensive line got away with late in the game, but certain Favre-protection-related things will likely go unspoken into the future.

It will be interesting to see what is said in this conference call, and what the effects of the call will be. Here's my question: Why aren't these types of calls to go over blown penalties and rule review a regular (perhaps even weekly) NFL staple? We know that these guys all have day jobs, and that the league doesn't seem intent on making officials work full-time, but perhaps it would be possible to coordinate everybody's lunch breaks once a week so we're sure everyone's on the same page.

Related: Ben Roethlisberger, Visanthe Shiancoe

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2010 Year In Entertainment Review: July

Love was in the air in July as a host of celebrities walked down the aisle - Spanish stars Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem tied the knot in the Bahamas, while Emily Blunt became Mrs. John Krasinski after marrying The Office star in romantic Como, Italy.

A pregnant Alicia Keys said 'I do' to Swizz Beatz, while Orlando Bloom and Australian model Miranda Kerr became husband and wife in a secret ceremony. Wedding bells also rang in Georgia as country sweetheart Carrie Underwood married her hockey hunk, Mike Fisher.

But there was also plenty of heartache in Hollywood - Kelly Osbourne called off her engagement to model Luke Worrall over allegations he had cheated on her, and Frasier star Kelsey Grammer's wife filed for divorce after almost 13 years of marriage. R&B singer Christina Milian picked July to announce she was splitting from her producer husband The-Dream - less than a year after the couple wed in Las Vegas.

Celebrations were in order for Christina Applegate after she revealed she was pregnant with her first child, while Vince Vaughn, Zac Hanson, Ugly Betty star Becki Newton and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor also announced they were expecting babies with their respective partners.

Director Sam Taylor-Wood and Aaron Johnson became the proud parents of a baby girl - their first child together - while Australian pop star Dannii Minogue welcomed baby boy Ethan with her partner Kris Smith.

But July was not without scandal - Paris Hilton was questioned by authorities at the World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa over allegations she was smoking pot. Just two weeks later, she was held by police in France after she was allegedly caught carrying cannabis in her handbag.

The heiress' former pal Lindsay Lohan also hit headlines for all the wrong reasons - just days after turning 24, she was ordered to spend 90 days in jail for violating the terms of her probation stemming from a 2007 DUI arrest.

Former Wham! star George Michael also had a run-in with the law - he was arrested after driving his car into a shop in London, and Foxy Brown was also taken into custody after allegedly violating a protective order.

Meanwhile, Rosemary's Baby director Roman Polanski was freed from house arrest after officials in Switzerland threw out a request to extradite him to the U.S. for sentencing on a child-sex charge.

Mel Gibson's marital woes continued into July - Los Angeles police launched an official investigation amid claims the Braveheart star punched his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva during a heated altercation. It came after the leaking of a series of audio recordings in which a man said to be Gibson unleashes a series of foul-mouthed rants at his ex.

There was a health scare for British singer Cheryl Cole as she was diagnosed with malaria after collapsing at a photoshoot, while movie legends Tony Curtis and Zsa Zsa Gabor were also hospitalised. Pink was rushed to the emergency room after a stage stunt went wrong, sending the pop punk flying into a metal barrier during a concert in Germany.

Courtroom battles loomed for bad boy actor David Boreanaz, who was slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit from a former extra on his hit TV show Bones, and Casey Affleck, who was sued by a producer of his movie I'm Still Here over sexual harassment allegations.

Click for more great Mel Gibson pictures:

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2010 Year In Entertainment Review: January

2010 was an incredible year in the world of showbiz, with the usual headline-grabbing antics, scandal, sleaze, celebrity births, star weddings, and bitter break-ups.

Here, WENN takes a look back at 2010...
January
Matthew McConaughey became the first new celebrity dad of 2010 when he and Camila Alves welcomed baby Vida into the world, but they weren't the only couple celebrating births. Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell experienced the joys of fatherhood all over again, while supermodel Claudia Schiffer and actress Monica Bellucci were bursting with excitement after announcing their pregnancies.
Love was certainly in the air - actor Josh Duhamel renewed his vows with Fergie, and British model Sophie Dahl became Mrs. Jamie Cullum. Russell Brand confirmed plans to wed Katy Perry, and Michael Buble got down on bended knee to propose to model Luisana Lopilato.
The same couldn't be said for Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend - they called it quits after nine years together. A cancer-stricken Dennis Hopper filed for divorce from his wife, and sporting pair Chris Evert and Greg Norman finalized the dissolution of their 18-month marriage.
There were new troubles for embattled celebrity offspring - Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal's boy Redmond was jailed after another drugs bust, and the future was bleak for Michael Douglas' actor son Cameron, who prepared for a lengthy prison sentence after pleading guilty to drug trafficking charges.
Meanwhile, illusionist David Copperfield was cleared of rape allegations, and actor Rip Torn was arrested after he was found passed out on the floor of a Connecticut bank, clutching a gun. "Diff'rent Strokes" star Gary Coleman was arrested on allegations of domestic assault and then hospitalised following a number of seizures.
Bad health also struck Dexter's Michael C. Hall, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, just as Andrew Lloyd Webber revealed he had overcome prostate cancer.
The music industry mourned the death of R&B legend Teddy Pendergrass when he lost his battle with colon cancer, while the literary world was hit hard with the passing of beloved author J.D. Salinger.
Awards season was in full swing and Beyonce, Kings of Leon and Taylor Swift ruled the 2010 Grammy Awards, while director James Cameron's "Avatar" collected top honours at the Golden Globes and the Critics' Choice Movie Awards.
In the TV world, Simon Cowell confirmed he was stepping down as an American Idol judge, Miley Cyrus announced she was turning her back on "Hannah Montana," and "Ugly Betty" got the axe from network executives.
Elsewhere, George Clooney led the Hope For Haiti Now telethon to raise funds for the Haitian victims of the 12 January earthquake, enlisting pals Jack Nicholson, Ben Affleck and Mel Gibson to man the phones as Madonna, Bono and Beyonce performed for charity. Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock and Gisele Bundchen all led by example and donated huge sums to the relief efforts, and the telethon raised more than $57 million.
Jessica Biel and Emile Hirsch fronted another big charity drive when they joined a team of stars to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, drawing attention to Africa's chronic water shortage. They reached the Tanzanian peak for the Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro campaign on 12 January, six days after embarking on the challenge.

Photo Credits: PR Photos; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved Download Avril Lavigne's New Single, 'What The Hell,' Free On New Year's Day 2010 Year In Entertainment Review: February

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'Law & Order: UK' 2.03 'Community Service' Review

Nothing ever ends well that starts with someone walking alone late at night. In the case of this week's of this week's Law & Order: UK, you find a severely beaten homeless guy face down on the lawn. Brooks and Devlin quickly identify the victim, but who attacked him is a particularly thorny question.

Matt and Ronnie discover that Roland Kirk also happens to be manic depressive and isn't exactly on the best of terms with the neighborhood. Everyone seems to conveniently have gone deaf and blind when it comes to the crime. One particularly annoyed man is unashamedly pleased to hear about it. Our boys poke into the neighborhood business and what they find isn't pretty. Each resident seems to have a motive, if not several motives. This annoys Matt, but not as much as other things have recently; his episodes-long case of permanent personality disorder seems to have come to an end, much to my relief. Not that I don't love him either way, but it just couldn't have been good for his blood pressure to be that wound up on a consistent basis.

Steel finally singles out Harry Morgan (Pirates of the Caribbean's Kevin McNally), who describes Roland as having "made my life a living nightmare." Yes, that's right, James Steel does his own investigative work, and doesn't just send his second chair out to do it for him. Ben Daniels spends a considerable part of this episode reacting to other people's monologues, and he does it beautifully; he doesn't get to say much, but you can see the wheels turning in his head. It's a prime example of what's great about Law & Order: UK - even when nothing appears to be happening, something is always going on. You just have to pay attention to the subtleties.

Further breaking the Law & Order mold, Morgan isn't arrested until the beginning of the final act, at which point he starts claiming self-defense, much to James' disbelief. Colin Salmon (Prime Suspect, Keen Eddie) makes his second appearance as defense attorney Doug Greer (following "Buried"), and takes far too much glee in needling James when his key witness recants in open court. It's another one of those moments where it'd be perfect to see Ben Daniels deck somebody, but of course, Steel is too polite to do that, and I love him for it. Daniels is not the guy who's going to go into histrionics; he's got poise and class, and that's what makes Steel a memorable character. Unfortunately for him (and for us), he loses this round, but you can't win them all. Even if the bad guy basically admits his guilt to your face after the verdict.

The fact that I'm seeing this episode at this time is cause to get a little somber; "Community Service" is based on 1993's "Volunteers," which was the second episode of Michael Moriarty's final season. It's also the first Law & Order: UK episode I've watched since having to break the news that Ben Daniels and Bill Paterson are both leaving the series. It's an inadvertent reminder of one departure at the same time I'm preparing myself to deal with another. At least I've got two and a half more series of Ben Daniels' work to take solace in. No matter what the case or circumstances, Daniels and the rest of the Law & Order: UK cast always bring their 'A' game. This episode is no exception to that standard. It only makes me wonder: when the cast changes, is that impeccable quality going to change with it? I certainly hope not. I just hope the new people can keep up.

Need to catch up with Law & Order: UK? Full show coverage is available in the Law & Order: UK category on my blog, DigitalAirwaves.net.

Sarah Jessica Parker Talks About Aging, Meeting Her Twins & Her Role At Halston Starpulse Is Movie Obsessed

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'Black Swan' Review: 'Two Jews On Film' Have A Happy Halloween With 'Masterpiece' 'Black Swan' (Video)

'Black Swan' directed by Darren Aronofsky, simply put, is a masterpiece.  Natalie Portman, in the performance of her career. Portman portrays Nina, a beautiful, fragile ballerina with The New York City Ballet.  Like all great artists, Nina is obsessed with perfection.  When she gets the chance to to dance the lead in a new ballet created by the artistic director, the wonderful Vincent Cassel,  this obsession takes her and the audience on a journey into a dark, nightmarish world.  Aronofsky has cast this film perfectly.  Barbara Hershey portrays Nina's controlling, suffocating mother, Mila Kunis is the young ballerina waiting for Nina to fail and Winona Ryder, in a great comeback role, is aging prima ballerina, Beth who Nina has replaced. You don't have to love ballet, to love this film.  All you need to do is sit back and enjoy the ride. 'Black Swan' will certainly be on the top of the list when Oscar season heats up.  Opens in theaters, December 3, 2010.

 

Photo Credits: Fox Searchlight Celine Dion Names Her Twins Mandela And Marnay

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'Lombardi,' Part 5: The Review

We close our tribute to the life and legacy of Vince Lombardi with a review of the Broadway play about his life. And few people are more qualified to review that play than my good buddy Aaron Nagler -- not only is Aaron a New York resident with theater experience, he also runs Cheesehead TV, the finest online gathering place for those interested in hardcore Green Bay Packers analysis. Here, with our sincere thanks, is Aaron's take on the "Lombardi" experience.

My earliest memory in life involves the Green Bay Packers. When I was three years old, my grandfather took me to Lambeau Field for a game against the Detroit Lions. All throughout my childhood, he regaled me with stories of Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Jim Taylor and all the other Packer greats who made the 1960's so thrilling for so many Packer fans both in Wisconsin and around the country.

I found myself thinking quite a bit about my grandfather as I watched "Lombardi", the firecracker of a play that opened Thursday night on Broadway here in New York City. I think he would have been in awe of what I saw transpire on stage. Vince and Marie Lombardi have taken up residence at Circle in the Square. These are not imitations. These are not impersonations. Dan Lauria and Judith Light are Vince and Marie. More than just expert actors, Lauria and Light reveal one of the most honest relationships you'll see anywhere on Broadway. The supporting roles, even finely played ones like Keith Nobbs' turn as a fictional journalist from Look magazine named Michael McCormick (loosely based on W. C. Heinz), fade from memory and leave Vince and Marie, and their tough but resilient relationship, burned into the memory. Aptly directed by Broadway veteran Tommy Kail, the production flows as well as can be expected within its "in the round" confines. What really makes the staging work though is David Korins's sparse set design. It is a work of near-minimalist genius. (I swear my grandparents had that exact same couch...)

I don't expect New York's theatrical press to be kind to this play. Having worked for both Off-Broadway and Broadway theaters, I know exactly what to expect. You see, there is a long list of "Dos" and "Don'ts" when it comes to Broadway, and this play ticks the box on many of the "Don'ts". Don't play in the round. Don't set your play anywhere but the Upper East Side. And for heaven's sake, don't have an unlikable protagonist. (Shocker - Vince is gruff and likes to yell.) These are but a few of the "rules" that "Lombardi" breaks. I don't doubt the likes of John Simon and Charles Isherwood will make the production "pay for their sins", so to speak. I can only hope that "Lombardi" finds an alternative audience to the crowd that rises and falls on the strokes of their pens because "Lombardi" is as entertaining and as moving an experience as you'll find on Broadway this season.

Vince Lombardi was no picnic. That is clear to anyone who has read what might be the greatest sports book ever written, When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss. The play has sprung up from the book, and Eric Simonson's script does a commendable job of compressing hundreds of pages worth of Maraniss' prose into three or four lines of dialogue. It's an impressive feat. There are two choices Simonson makes that disappoint me. One is the absence of Bart Starr. David Robinson makes an appearance...and Starr doesn't? The other is the exclusion of Lombardi's children. One of the things Maraniss' book reveals is the tension between Vince Jr. and his famous father, a relationship that could have produced its own two hour drama - perhaps the reason for its exclusion.

The action takes place mainly in two locations - the Lombardi household and the football field, with occasional visits to Lombardi's office or a bar where the players hang out, play pool, and talk about football, life and, of course, Lombardi. Yes, even when Lauria is not on stage, Lombardi hovers over the proceedings. We are always waiting for his next appearance, for his next lesson on the importance of teamwork.

The greatest of these lessons comes during a sequence that sees Lauria take to the chalkboard to diagram out Lombardi's famous power sweep - only the "chalkboard" is projected on the stage floor, the play diagram moving each X and O as Lauria barks out commands for each players responsibility on the play, every one working in concert toward a common goal. Here is where the affiliation with the National Football League, a partner in the production, pays off in spades as we watch actual footage of Lombardi's Packers making the power sweep work. For the uninitiated or novice football fan, it will be an impressive sight. For football die-hards, it will be akin to a religious experience.

But while the football is great, it is nowhere near the best part of the play. That distinction belongs to the relationship between Lauria and Light as Vince and Marie. It can't be overstated. There won't be a night that "Lombardi" plays when several wives don't turn to their husbands and give them a playful "That's just like you!" jab when presented with Lombardi's single-mindedness. There also won't be a night when those same husbands and wives recognize a real married couple of many, many years, a couple who know love in a way that seems to have disappeared in this country of the 50 percent divorce rate.

What Vince and Marie share on the stage at Circle in the Square is unconditional and forgiving of fault - a surprise when you think about how unforgiving Lombardi was. But that complexity is part of what makes the man - and the play named after him - such a fascinating story.

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