Sunday Links: Feelings and football

Read of the week

Why players willing to be first on the puck are the toughest in hockey
(Justin Bourne, theScore)

Justin explores why getting on the puck first is so important and so difficult, and why even the conventional tough guys aren't ones who do that all the time:

If you’re a hockey team that lacks toughness, you shouldn’t be looking to add raw size, or a fighter, or anything of the sort. You need players, no matter their size, who are tough enough to take those hits to make those plays. Hockey games are decided by five or ten plays that often come down to an inch, or a "barely." The problem is, you rarely know when you’re in one of those moments. So all you can do is be first on the puck over, and over, and over again.More stuff

The Flames have won five games in a row! Here's the photo gallery from last night, so you can revel in the joy a little longer.

Last week Trevor of Arctic Ice Hockey wrote a moving post about struggling with depression for Bell Let's Talk Day. We've promoted it a lot, but in case you missed it, now's the time.

At St. Louis Game Time, Laura gets righteous about how it shouldn't matter how other franchises have done historically when your own hasn't gotten the job done.

And in non-hockey news, there's a moderately large sporting event happening later today. Mile High Report checks out the Broncos in Super Bowl History, and Gwen Knapp at Sports on Earth sidesteps the Richard Sherman controversy to remind us that he's also just really good at football.

by Ruhee Dewji