We've had a couple of days of breaking news. While the MSM completely missed the boat, birky broke the news that Justin Bieber wasn't just taking advantage of his popularity to skate with his favourite team but that he was being brought in to centre the top line between Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul. Tuesday birky used his sources to break the news of Colby Armstrong's battle with boneitis. As one of the premier proponents of the work for a cure, Rob Pizzo and Justin Bourne invited me onto the Backhand Shelf podcast to discuss what the average person can do as well as to discuss the state of the Leafs.

Topics:

* HBO's 24/7 episode two tonight - will we see the Pronger story unfold?

* Ratings were down for the show from season one. What the hell?

* Colby Armstrong hid his concussion from the Leafs

* Colby Armstrong has "boneitis," a (fictional) condition first explained on the excellent TV show Futurama

* Marcus Foligno made his NHL debut last night againsthis brother Nick

* Four-way tie atop the NHL scoring leaderboard. Guess who I think will win?

* Should the Habs hire Patrick Roy as their head coach? (No.)

More links after the jump.

Teaching an old dog new tricks: I learn to play hockeyDanny Gray is learning to play hockey! Now his opinions on the sport are valid.

VINTAGE LEAF MEMORIES: The Habs, language sensitivities and an attempt at understanding

Michael shares a bit about how his family's background (and father's front-running) shape his thoughts on the Habs' language kerfuffle.

Wednesday Night Notes " Toronto Maple Leafs Hot Stove

Some good stuff from Alec in here including a Leafs-centric breakdown of the following link.

NHL Strength Of Schedule - On the Forecheck

Good news: The Leafs have played a decently tough schedule and done well and they have a pretty easy one the rest of the way.

Looking at the standings a year ago: the direction of every NHL team | Backhand Shelf

The Leafs are up 8 points over last season. Last season they missed the playoffs by 8 points.

Your official Backhand Shelf preview of the World Junior Championships | Backhand Shelf

WARNING: Ryan Lambert wrote this so while it is informative you'll probably want to stab him at some point.

World Junior Hockey Championship: Why Do We Care So Much? - SBNation.com

Basically, the USSR cheated the Canadians out of one gold medal so we decided to win basically all of them in the future.

Puck Daddy’s Top 10 shootout goals of 2011 - Puck Daddy - NHL Blog - Yahoo! Sports

Harrison Mooney has excellent taste in shootout goals.

KuklasKorner : VIDEO - Ryan Kesler Makes A Dirty Play In Retaliation To A Clean Hit

My favourite is either how he pretends he doesn't know what anyone is talking about post-game, how he pretends nothing happened on the ice, or he might not remember anything happening because earlier Niklas Kronwall jacked him up.

Special Teams Efficiency Update - The Copper & Blue

The Leafs' PP has been the team's saving grace, to an extent, which has mitigated the devastating impact of their incompetent PK.

Oilersland Vol. 2, Tambellini & Tencer Go to the Movies - The Copper & Blue

These comics are great.

How NHL decided controversial Avalanche goal vs. Blues - Puck Daddy

The refs could have also ruled that the Blues pushed the net off and the puck would have gone in if the Blues hadn't knocked the net off on purpose. Don't have time to look up the rule but I remember the Leafs having a goal called against them in a game against the Isles even though the Islander knocked the net off.

Watch Sharks score strangest, squirmiest goal of night (VIDEO) - Puck Daddy - NHL Blog - Yahoo! Sports

Boy, that 1-3-1 sure isn't what it is cracked up to be with an over the hill goalie.

Henry Aubin: Anglo coach a 'gesture of contempt'

Wah wah wah

Chris Selley: Montreal’s hockey politics aren’t unique

A more considered response than mine from a fellow Leafs fan.

The Kiss - 12.26.11 - SI Vault

This story was pretty good.

CanLII - 2011 ONSC 7297 (CanLII)

Tie Domi features in a lawsuit! As a witness I think.

Cold War Echo | The LeafsNation

A Russian is not impressed with John Steigerwald. Sidney Crosby is a vampire.

From The Branches