Terrible Hockey Profile Picture: Avalanche Prospect, Duncan Siemens

Nothing will ever top Johan Jonsson's absolutely horrific profile picture, but Duncan Siemens scared the shit out me today while looking at the Avalanche prospect's Hockey DB page. The 11th overall pick from the 2011 NHL Draft looks like he hasn't slept in days because he was on a bender that possibly ended with a murder or brutal crime. This picture seriously looks straight out of a criminal psychology textbook I have from university and is quite a different look than the one he had going for him at the 2011 Draft:

HBO 24/7: Leafs-Red Wings Episode 3 Recap

HBO's 24/7 Red Wings-Maple Leafs: Road to the NHL Winter Classic airs Saturdays at 

10pm on HBO in the US or on most illegal streaming sites in Canada. It also airs Sundays 

on Sportsnet in Canada at 7:30pm with censors and commercials for some reason.

This was the one episode of HBO 24/7: Red Wings-Maple Leafs: Road to the NHL Winter Classic we were most looking forward with the holiday break a part of this week's episode. We knew this would mean more off-ice scenes and it didn't disappoint on showcasing the players personal lives. While the episode was heavy on the Maple Leafs-Red Wings game, there were some holiday traditions revealed as well as some pond hockey action in what was a nice little preview leading up to Winter Classic on New Year's Day.

Players You Won't Be Seeing At 2014 World Junior Hockey Championships

While players such as Mathew Dumba, Elias Lindholm and Mikhail Grigorenko have been loaned from their NHL clubs to represent their countries at the 2014 World Junior Hockey Championships in Sweden, you can't help but notice who's not there. There's those special players that are already shining in the NHL at 18 or 19-years-old, those headscratchers that probably should be at the tournament instead of riding pine or sitting in the press box, and then there's Zemgus Girgensons who won't be there because Latvia got relegated. Regardless of how you look at it, the World Juniors could have been absolutely stacked this year.

Players To Watch At The 2014 World Juniors

We were inspired to fill you in on some players to watch at this years World Juniors after reading a 10 Players To Watch article by the National Post. It was published today and features two players not even in the tournament (William Nylander and Kaspari Kapanen) and a goaltender who might serve as Canada's backup. Sure it's nice to write about former NHLers sons, but do some research. The tournament may not feature the top U20s in the world with many teens sticking with their NHL clubs through the holidays, but there is some talent other than the beautiful girls in Sweden that you might want to keep an eye on over the next two weeks.

2014 Dirty Dangle World Junior Hockey Pool!

Exhibition games and selection camps are all wrapped up and the 2014 World Junior Hockey Championship is set to begin on December 26th. This means it's time for you to pick your squad for the 4th edition of the Dirty Dangle World Junior Hockey Pool! With lots of top talent staying in the NHL this year, the tournament is wide open to see which country has the best team of teenagers. The tourney is a popular one so why not add a fantasy hockey aspect to it and join us for the 2014 Dirty Dangle World Junior Hockey Pool.

The rules are simple:

• Pick one player from each box for a team of 10 skaters and 2 goaltenders.
• Goal or Assist = 1 point
• Win = 1 point
• Shutout = 2 points
• All stats are taken from the official IIHF World Junior website.
• Deadline to enter is December 26th at 7:30am ET before the first tournament game.

There are a few ways to enter:

• E-mail your team to dirtydangle@hotmail.ca
• Tweet your roster to us @dirtydangle 
• Like us on Facebook and either send us a message or comment on our wall. 

The Prizes (remember we make just cents a day on this website):

• 1st place: A Dirty Dangle hoodie
• 2nd place: A Dirty Dangle t-shirt
• 3rd place: A copy of Don't Call Me Goon: Hockey's Greatest Enforcers, Gunslingers, and Bad Boys

Make sure you follow us on Twitter and Facebook for daily pool updates following the games played that day.

Here are the boxes of players to choose from. Pick one guy from each box and send your roster in. Feel free to make any roster changes up until the 7:30am December 26th deadline!

Forwards #1		Forwards #2		Forwards #3
Jonathan Drouin (CAN)		Bo Horvat (CAN)		Nicolas Petan (CAN)
Elias Lindholm (SWE)		Mikhail Grigorenko (RUS)		Alex Wennberg (SWE)
Pavel Buchnevich (RUS)		Artturi Lehkonen (FIN)		Nic Kerdiles (USA)
Ryan Hartman (USA)		Adam Erne (USA)		Teuvo Teravainen (FIN)
Radek Faksa (CZE)		Filip Forsberg (SWE)		Ivan Barbashev (RUS)
Forwards #4		Forwards #5		Forwards #6
Anthony Mantha (CAN)		Andre Burakovsky (SWE)		Curtis Lazar (CAN)
Saku Maenalanen (FIN)		Connor McDavid (CAN)		Jacob de la Rose (SWE)
Riley Barber  (USA)		Stefan Matteau (USA)		Martin Reway (SVK)
Sebastian Collberg (SWE)		Marko Dano (SVK)		Anton Slepyshev (RUS)
Valentin Zykov (RUS)		Bogdan Yakimov (RUS)		Dan O’Regan (USA)
D-Men #1		D-Men #2		Goalies #1
Derek Pouliot (CAN)		Matt Dumba (CAN)		Zach Fucale (CAN)
Nikita Zadorov (RUS)		Rasmus Ristolainen (FIN)		Andrei Vasilevski (RUS)
Ville Pokka (FIN)		Brady Skjei (USA)		Anthony Stolarz (USA)
Connor Carrick (USA)		Robert Hagg (SWE)		Oscar Dansk (SWE)
Christian Djoos (SWE)		Jan Kostalek (CZE)		Juuse Saros (FIN)
Goalies #2		Sleepers		Young Guns
Jake Paterson (CAN)		Parker Tuomie (GER)		Sam Reinhart (CAN)
Marcus Hogberg (SWE)		Marco Muller (SUI)		Anton Karlsson (SWE)
Ville Husso (FIN)		Markus Soberg (NOR)		Jakub Vrana (CZE)
Marek Langhamer (CZE)		Fabrice Herzog (SUI)		Aaron Ekblad (CAN)
John Gillies (USA)		Leon Draisaitl (GER)		Jack Eichel (USA)

HBO 24/7: Leafs-Red Wings Episode 2 Recap

HBO's 24/7 Red Wings-Maple Leafs: Road to the NHL Winter Classic airs Saturdays at 

10pm on HBO in the US or on most illegal streaming sites in Canada. It also airs Sundays 

on Sportsnet in Canada at 7:30pm with censors and commercials for some reason.

Coming off a lackluster Episode 1 there really was only one place for HBO 24/7: Red Wings-Maple Leafs: Road to the NHL Winter Classic to go and it didn't disappoint. Injuries continue to pile up for the Red Wings and the Maple Leafs continue to carry the series off the ice before it turns into the Sidney Crosby Show. While we do get a glimpse at a Toronto win, both teams continue to lose making for an epic climax at the end of the episode in what might be the biggest outburst yet in the entire HBO 24/7: Road To The Winter Classic series.

Hockey Viewing Schedule For The Holidays

I don't know about you, but the holidays and hockey go together pretty damn well. There is plenty of international hockey on with the 2014 World Junior Hockey Championships headlining the holidays, but don't forget about the Spengler Cup and some marquee NHL games on the schedule as well. With most of the games airing throughout the days there will be more than enough time for a quick shinny game to be had before getting serious at night with family and friends. Enjoy the holidays and remember, don't drink and drive.

HBO 24/7: Leafs-Red Wings Episode 1 Recap

HBO's 24/7 Red Wings-Maple Leafs: Road to the NHL Winter Classic airs Saturdays at 
10pm on HBO in the US or on most illegal streaming sites in Canada. It also airs Sundays 
on Sportsnet in Canada at 7:30pm with censors and commercials for some reason.

While 24/7 Red Wings-Maple Leafs: Road to the NHL Winter Classic didn't live up to any of the HBO premieres of the Capitals-Penguins and Flyers-Rangers editions, it was still a solid episode that had its classic behind the scenes moments. As Liev Schreiber narrated, you could sense the premiere would be all about facing adversity as both teams battled injuries and losing streaks. There was a definite difference revealed between the two organizations as Detroit have Mike Babcock and the Maple Leafs actually have personality. Seriously Detroit, step it up.

Jarome Iginla Breaks Finger, Tries To Fight Again

No, that's not Jarome Iginla doing the Vulcan salute. I'm no doctor, but that looks dislocated. After delivering a solid hit on Ryan Kesler, Iggy got the shinpad tap and dropped the gloves in what would be a pretty entertaining fight with the Canucks forward:

Both exchanged some pretty good punches off each other's visors and Iginla came out of the fight with his finger going in a direction it's not supposed to. It could have been one of the uppercuts he gave Kesler at the end of the fight or could have happened earlier in the scrap meaning Iginla still landed some punches with a broken finger. Pretty badass. Even more badass is the fact that Iginla returned to finish out the game and even tried to fight Canucks defenceman, Dan Hamhuis, after receiving an elbow near the goal mouth.

Brad Marchand Taunts Vancouver Like Only Brad Marchand Can

Brad Marchand is well-known thorn in most teams side. He's an effective pest and he went all out on Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks when his Boston Bruins rolled into town for the first time since their 2011 Stanley Cup win. It was something we hadn't seen before, but something we weren't surprised to see one of the most hated guys in hockey do.

Greatest Drinking Game Ever: Alco-Hockey

No spillage, no ping pong balls flying all over the place, no dirty pucks from hitting the ground, and it's hockey-related! We're not sure of the rules for Alco-Hockey, but we hope you just simply play until you've sunk a set score as guarding the last cup would be incredibly easy unless you're Vesa Toskala. Kudos to the inventor for making a great hockey-related drinking game, although a perfectly good air hockey table is now ruined.

Hockey Book Review: Don't Call Me Goon

The fine folks at ECW Press were kind enough to send us a few copies of Don't Call Me Goon: Hockey's Greatest Enforcers, Gunslingers, and Bad Boys for our first ever book review on Dirty Dangle. Co-authored by Greg Oliver and Richard Kamchen, the book doesn't disappoint in celebrating the role of the hockey enforcer. Through numerous interviews and extensive research, Don't Call Me Goon delivers in sharing the controversial subject of fighting in hockey.

Fantasy Hockey: Don't Give Up

It's that time of the fantasy hockey season where GMs in your leagues start falling off the radar. They might be occasional roster checkers to start who are now finding themselves sitting in last place. This usually leads to them never logging in again during the season and being a waste of space in the league. Or there's the GM's who've battled so much adversity in the first two months of the season that they've simply walked away with all hopes lost. Sure losing one of Stamkos, Rinne and Quick are hurting your team, but you can plug those holes and stay afloat until they return.

Whatever you do, don't give up. After all, that's a cardinal sin in fantasy hockey for us. You screw over your league with your Scott Howson-like GMing when you do that and it could result in you not receiving a future invite. Dig through some fantasy hockey sites for advice, look for line combinations, player trends and turn your team around. It's still early in the season to stay in the hunt and if you have money riding on your pool then it's in your wallet's interest to stay competitive.

December Is Going To Be A Great Month

December is always a special month for hockey fans with so much happening around the world and this year will be no different. It's that time of year when the temperature starts to dip below zero allowing the lakes, ponds and outdoor rinks to freeze over giving us the opportunity to return to our roots with friends and family to play a little outdoor puck. With the holiday season starting up there will be plenty of gatherings in which alcohol will be consumed and a game of hockey needed at the local rink to sweat it out of your system.