FanHouse Blake Wheeler

FanHouse brings you full coverage of the 2009 NCAA Men's Frozen Four in Washington, D.C.

As the Frozen Four begins late Thursday afternoon, there will be 22 players showcasing their skills that have been drafted by NHL teams. While many of the others will be, as the NCAA says, "going pro in something other than sports", a good number of them will showcase their talents in an effort to join a growing population. Every year, more and more college players end up getting a shot at the NHL. Not only that, but a greater number of them are making a real name for themselves when they get there.

Just one day after signing his new contract extension, Boston's Tim Thomas stopped all 31 shots he faced to pick up a 1-0 shutout win over the New York Rangers. He also made some highlights with another epic meltdown, this one sparked by Rangers super-pest Sean Avery.

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Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead.

Blue Jackets 2, Predators 1: Raffi Torres may only have 12 goals this season, but he sure has a knack for getting them when they count. His goal at the 4:05 mark of the third period in Columbus' 2-1 win over Nashville was his sixth game-winner of the season, helping get the Blue Jackets back in the win column after dropping three of their past four games. Steve Mason turned aside 21-of-22 shots in net to earn his 32nd win of the season.

One of the biggest events in college hockey takes place this weekend in St. Paul, Minn. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association crowns its tournament champion at the annual Final Five, which begins Thursday at XCel Energy Center.

Current NHLers such as Blake Wheeler, Phil Kessel, Thomas Vanek, Jonathan Toews, T.J. Oshie, and Paul Stastny have played in the Final Five before, and now it's time for a crop of potential future NHL stars to take their turn under the bright lights.

We're less than one year away from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Once again, the NHL will take a mid-season break and allow its players to participate in the Games.

After a wonderful run to silver in Salt Lake City back in 2002, Team USA was nothing short of disappointing in Torino three years ago. The Americans went just 1-3-1 in pool play, including an inexplicable tie against Latvia, before dropping a 4-3 decision to Finland in the quarterfinals. Heading into 2010, general manager Brian Burke has plenty of decisions to make, mainly surrounding the question of age.

As the NHL All-Star Break continues, keep up with FanHouse's coverage of hockey's unofficial midway point.

Plenty of exciting goals throughout the first half of the NHL season, and here are the top five that stood out above the rest:

5) Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals -- December 26, 2008: It wouldn't be a list of best goals if it didn't contain at least one from Alex Ovechkin. In a game in late December against Buffalo, Ovechkin took a loose puck coast-to-coast, undressed a defender, and ripped a shot behind Patrick Lalime while in the process of falling down. Vintage Ovechkin. Check it out right here.

When I was in high school, we would always ask "Who did you kiss?" when we found out someone we knew had mononucleosis. I'm a bit older now, and I understand that you don't just get mono from kissing, so I'll avoid the sophomoric joke when reporting this story. I'm sure you appreciate this.

It's been a season of great play and great fortune for the Boston Bruins. Young guys have stepped into key roles and played really well, and they have gotten great goaltending from an unlikely veteran tandem. The news they got Monday is probably the first real bad news they have received all season.

Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn recorded his first career hat trick on Saturday night, while Carey Price stopped 31 shots, including 16 in the third period to lead the Canadien's to a 3-2 victory in Pittsburgh. With the win, Montreal moves ahead of the Penguins in the Eastern Conference standings, while the Penguins failed to win consecutive games yet again -- they haven't won two in a row since November 13-15. Just sayin'.

Kostitsyn scored a pair of goals in the first period before completing the hat trick early in the third period with a quick slap shot that beat Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury through the five-hole.

Following Kostitsyn's goal, Price turned into a brick wall, as the Penguins had a trio of power plays in the final period, and peppered the Montreal netminder. Of course, if you're Pittsburgh, you have to be a tad frustrated you failed to convert on five power plays, after going 0-for-5 one night ago in New Jersey. How a power play that features Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Petr Sykora and Ryan Whitney, among others, can consistently have so many 0-for-5 and 0-for-6 nights seems to defy all logic. Yet, here we are.

Crosby and Pascal Dupuis each finished with a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh.

It's been a rough season for the St. Louis Blues, a young team that's been decimated by injuries --ranging from the ridiculous, to the absurd -- so you'll have to excuse head coach Andy Murray if he's just a tad bit annoyed following 6-3 losses at home.

After Blake Wheeler and the Bruins completed their goal-scoring assault on Sunday, the St. Louis bench boss decided to go down the roster -- at least that's the way it seemed -- and point out the players who didn't exactly put on a strong showing against the top team in the Eastern Conference. Some guys played so poorly -- in his eyes -- that he mentioned them twice. And poor David Perron, I think that may have been the worst call-out of the bunch.

Jeremy Rutherford from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has the post-game carnage:

"I didn't think (Patrik) Berglund was good, I didn't think (David) Perron was good, I didn't think (Keith) Tkachuk was good ... I didn't think (Brad) Boyes was good," Murray said. "I thought (David) Backes was all right." "I expect Jeff Woywitka to be a lot better than he was today," he continued. "David Perron ... where's he? Berglund, I expect him to be better. Am I being a little hard on them here? That's just the way that it is."

Of all the big offseason moves over the summer, Boston's signing of Blake Wheeler is looking to be like quite a steal. Wheeler, if you'll recall, was a former first-round pick of the Phoenix Coyotes (fifth overall) and, well, it didn't exactly work out as he never signed with Phoenix, instead electing to become a free agent this summer. In early July, he inked a deal with the Bruins, made the roster out of camp, and thus far has been quite a contributor to the best team in the Eastern Conference.

The 22-year old forward scored a pair of goals in Sunday's 6-3 win in St. Louis, both of which came in the games first five minutes. Through Boston's first 32 games, the rookie has 11 goals and nine assists, placing him fifth among NHL rookies in points, five behind Columbus' Derick Brassard, who, by the way, could miss the remainder of the season due to a shoulder injury.

Anyway, back to the Bruins, they've now won five in a row, and 10 of their past 11, while scoring a boatload of goals in the process. During their current five-game winning streak, for example, the Bruins have lit the lamp 29 times. Granted, those games have been against Atlanta (twice) , Toronto and St. Louis, but, hey, 29 goals in five games is still 29 goals in five games.