NCAA men's field set; Gopher women champs again; Preds waiting on Vesey (Puck Headlines)

Here are your Puck Headlines: A glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

• Hertl best.

• The NCAA men’s tournament kicks off Friday with 16 teams. Minnesota State, North Dakota, Boston University, and Miami are your top seeds. Here’s the full bracket. [College Hockey News]

• For the third time in four years, the Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s team are national champions after beating Harvard 4-1 in Sunday’s title game. [AP via Yahoo]

• The Nashville Predators and David Poile are waiting on Harvard scoring machine Jimmy Vesey to finish up his season and choose between staying in school or heading to the NHL. [TSN]

• The NHL has fined Craig Smith of the Predators $5,000 for a high stick on Jerry D’Amigo Saturday night. [NHL]

• Really great letter by former Harvard captain Ryan Grimshaw, who is hanging up his skates after spending time in the AHL, ECHL and EIHL. [Dear Hockey, Goodbye]

• Ondrej Pavelec, Kyle Turris and Ben Bishop are your NHL Three Stars of the Week. [NHL]

• To help get Devan Dubnyk and his family settled when they arrived in Minnesota, Zach Parise gave him a great deal on a house he had on the market. [Star Tribune]

• After the Stanley Cup is awarded at the end of the 2016-17 season, the names of Gordie Howe and Maurice Richard will be gone from the trophy. [Greatest Hockey Legends]

• The ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays extended their league record on Saturday night by winning for the 21st consecutive time. Goaltender Jeff Jakaitis had his shutout streak end after a remarkable 321:46. [ECHL]

• Do the “change of scenery” trades in the NHL work out for both the player and team? [Fox Sports Columbus]

• Kris Letang is the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Masterton Trophy nominee. [Post-Gazette]

• Good read on the backstory of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. [The Content Strategist]

• Shawn Szydlowski scored five times for the Fort Wayne Komets during their 6-4 win over the Missouri Mavericks Saturday night. Three of of those goals were shorthanded. [Journal Gazette]

• With only 11 games left in the regular season, the upcoming road trip for the LA Kings could be a make-or-break one for the defending champs. [The Hockey Writers]

• On Saturday night, Shawn Thornton joined Dave Creighton and Jim Morrison and became the third player to play 600 regular season games in both the NHL and AHL. [AHL]

• From Shea Weber to Duncan Keith to Josh Gorges to Tyler Myers, the Kelowna Rockets are becoming known as a factory that pumps out quality defensemen. [NHL.com]

• A Newfoundland junior team was forced to forfeit a playoff series due to the actions of one over-aggressive fan. [Buzzing the Net]

• There’s a tournament being held ranking the best dogs of the Los Angeles Kings and YOU BET YOUR BUTT WE’RE GOING CHALK AND ROOTING FOR GUSTL KOPITAR! [The Royal Half]

• There likely won’t be a 100-point scorer this season in the NHL. Is the dead puck era creeping back in? [Dobber Hockey]

• Finally, here’s Kael Mouillierat of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers pulling the lacrosse move during a 7-1 win over Binghamton:

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