This title applies equally to the hearts of Canadian hockey fans (many of whom are no doubt still sullen about their Junior team's Chernobyl) and to the state of several Leafs players. Most Leaf-related articles today focus on injury updates for Mike Brown, Jean-Sébastien Giguère, and John Mitchell, but Mirtle has gone a step further to bring up a topic that perhaps hasn't received enough attention yet; it seems that the butterfly style of goaltending is much harder on a goalie's knees, hips, and groin than the old stand-up style.

"Every time you go on your knees, you hit the ice so hard," Giguère said, demonstrating by smacking his hands together. "With that force, you can imagine, you’re maybe two or three feet from the ice and you hit it so hard, every time.

"It drives through your bone, hits the hip bone and there’s always a bone spur that’s formed. That can be really, really painful."

There are lots of links today from around the league, so head on over the jump and tack some hackey.

Leaf Links:

On Mitchell, Brown, and Giguere
An update from Mirtle on their respective injury statuses, and a quick look at the Leafs' depth chart at forward. He also has audio from a Wilson interview. There's a good deal of snark there, although Wilson did mention that he hopes Canada wins the WJC, since Luke Schenn will probably depressed for a while if they don't. I guess this audio was before the game. He also mentions that the Leafs will probably call someone else up. Please don't make it Kadri.

On Mitchell, Giguere, and Brown
Jonas Siegel at AM640 has much the same information, but with a few extra quotes from Brown.

Gustavsson Far From Being Satisfied
Well. I suppose that's good.

The Leafs haven’t always been lousy since '67
VLM reminds us (in case by now you've forgotten) that the Leafs haven' always been horrible.

Leaf Musings
Karina ponders away over at Frivolous Ornamentation; the blog trapped in a Piet Mondrian painting.

Nigel Dawes scores four times as Griffins pound Marlies 9-3
Eee. On the bright side, Kadri scored.

Other Hockey Links:

Canada Collapses as Russia Roars to World Juniors Title
Hooo boy. Did they ever. It's not as if this is news to many people at this point, but I had to include at least one link.

Puck Headlines from Greg Wyshynski
Apparently, Daryl Sutter hasn't spoken to his brother Brent lately. He's not even answering text messages. (Snicker.)

IOC Won't Compensate NHL Owners for Olympic Participation
Brian Burke won't like the sound of that.

The Heavy Lifter Index - Behind The Net
An interesting way of measuring the effectiveness of 'shutdown role' players. Check it out.

NHL Power Rankings, Week 13
Why does it seem that the Leafs are always ranked lower than their actual position in the standings? Are the Leafs actually out-performing anyone's expectations causing voters to think that the Leafs are due for a downturn?

Report: Reinprecht to Germany - Litter Box Cats
Yet another example of a player agreeing to play in Europe to get more playing time, and in the process, taking their salary off the books for the team. Here's looking at you, Jeff Finger, Brett Lebda, and Mike Komisarek.

Steven Stamkos Falls During Penalty Shot
It's nice to laugh at someone else's expense for a change.

Post-Crossbar-Post.
Poor Viktor Stalberg.

NHL Capsules
Scores and notes from around the league at The Hockey News.

The Great Blue & White North: Reality
The Maple Leaf Forever tells you to keep your chin up.

Facebook_16 Twitter_16