Dallas Stars Daily Links: The Olympic Hockey Bracket Is Set

It has begun.

The world's best have gathered for the greatest tournament there is, and everything is on the line.

In order for Earth to be invaded, the humans have to lose 10 tournaments in a row.  They have lost 9.

No...wait... wrong tournament.

Ah, here we go... the hockey tournament.  With USA, Canada, Sweden, and Finland grabbing the top four seeds in the brackets, it's possible that Russia could be eliminated before they even reach the medal rounds.  Canada still has to get past the Swiss and team USA, while the U.S. of course has to get past Canada.

There's no doubt that whoever makes it to the gold medal round will have earned their spot.

Now, while I enjoy what is the first holiday I've had off in the month of February throughout my entire professional career, read these links, and enjoy the last week of the Winter Games.  I'm predicting a flawless victory for Canada.

• My favorite weekend article, the NHL Grab Bag. Do Canadians get a little worried about their gold medal chances? [Grantland]
• Russia is still reeling from their loss to the U.S. Good thing they put in their 3rd string goalie, who can make hits like this one. [Fourth Place Medal]
• We all worry about our team's NHL players getting hurt while they play in the Olympics. NY Rangers fans nearly had the worst of it, when Henrik Lundqvist went down in the middle of an Olympic practice. [Puck Daddy]
• Want to figure out who will win the gold?  Just use the P.U.T.I.N. model of probability. Bears and machine guns not included. [Puck Daddy]
• Apparently the Russians are a little upset about their game winning goal being waved off against the U.S. Internet memes are cropping up everywhere about that goal, and some of them are great. Of course, the Russians should have just asked Dustin Brown to do one last dumb thing instead, and he probably would've obliged. [Fourth Place Medal]
• Did you know Russians drink a lot of vodka?  I'll drink to that. Hey, it's my day off. I'll do what I want. [Grantland]
• Anonymous in Sochi continues with the latest installment. [Grantland]
• The answer to what everyone wants to know -- why Curlers scream so much. Besides the fact that "HARD! HURRY HARD!" is fun to say. [Fourth Place Medal]
• In NBC's quest to force unnecessary drama into these games, the interviewers have been asking every American athlete about a recent lost loved one. And if you've been recording every channel and watching every program obsessively like I have, you know I'm not kidding about that. Well, they successfully drove an athlete to tears, when they wouldn't stop asking Bode Miller about the death of his brother. Obviously, the Internet reacted. [Fourth Place Medal]
• And finally, in your only non-olympic link of the day, could Seattle get an NHL team any time soon? [Seattle Times]