NHL

"It's not necessarily that I think Ward's here illegally and thereby inherently unable to compete in our league," said Thomas, who refused to visit President Obama in the White House because of his political beliefs. "I'm just a concerned citizen who wants to make sure Joel Ward is not ineligible to score a decisive overtime goal on me."

Following a season in which Chicago's power play crippled the franchise, the league has recognized the Blackhawks' ineffectual special team by awarding it the Vezina Trophy, normally reserved for the top goalie in the NHL.

The pressure of the playoffs finally got to Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville as his infamous mustache spontaneously burst into flames during the first period of Monday's pivotal first-round playoff contest against the Coyotes. Coach Q calmly extinguished the blaze and continued coaching. In less than five minutes the mustache had fully regrown.

Newly suspended Phoenix Coyotes winger Raffi Torres is turning to a new outlet to unleash his violent streak. Since being handed a 25-game suspension, Torres was immediately contacted by WWE and offered a guest spot during their “Extreme Rules” event at Allstate Arena, Sunday, April 29. Torres agreed to terms almost immediately.

After suffering a humiliating 4-1 first-round playoff series loss to Nashville, Red Wings GM Ken Holland is looking to sign the ultimate Predator-stopper, NBC News' Chris Hansen.

His beard is weird, his stash is trash ... but he doesn’t care, because John Tortorella’s graying playoff beard has landed him a lucrative endorsement deal.

Inspired by the terrible job NHL officials are doing during the 2012 playoffs, friendless annoying little kid Bobby Phillips has been inspired to become a league referee someday when he's old enough to make the kind of awful decisions that negatively impact the lives of players and fans on his own.