Welcome to the PHT Morning Skate, a collection of links from around the hockey world. Have a link you want to submit? Email us at phtblog@nbcsports.com.
Animal Crossing and Hockey? Of course.
Despite being a video game nerd (more on that later on Tuesday, actually), I’ve figured that Animal Crossing: New Horizons isn’t quite for me. Yet, with people piling up adorable, relaxing-looking photo after photo on social media, I’m starting to wonder. Making matters worse/better is the invasion of hockey-type stuffs.
Russian Machine Never Breaks’ Rachel Cohen provided a nice little roundup of Animal Crossing-hockey connections, which maybe we should call Animal Cross-Checking?
Perfectly named Reddit user “Goomba Face” created a collection of NHL jerseys (and sometimes extras) for you to adorn your adorable avatars with.
Cohen went the extra mile and drew NHL mascots in the style of how they’d look like as Animal Crossing villagers (your little town is built to draw in various cute critters, from what I gather).
I am SO UNBELIEVABLY HYPE for Animal Crossing: New Horizons coming out next week so I've decided to take a crack at drawing all the NHL's Mascots how I think they'd look as an AC Villager. 🍃 pic.twitter.com/wkHoPr2eNf
— ✨🌸 Rachel 🌸✨ (@kat326) March 9, 2020
Inevitable COVID-19 related links
• In many corners of the world and Internet, people are taking COVID-19 seriously. Yet, there are also many embarrassing people who are flaunting warnings about social distancing, or reacting in downright tragic ways.
It’s nice to see people in the hockey world take the coronavirus outbreak seriously, and do their part in helping others. In a surreal but kind of sweet twist, Shea Weber is contributing robocalls to help inform the Montreal public. (Montreal CTV News)
https://soundcloud.com/gouvernement-du-quebec/message-from-shea-weber-about-covid-19
• As a reminder, NBC News presents running updates for the pandemic. Please take this seriously, everyone. (NBC News)
• Olympic Talk explains that the Tokyo Olympics have been postponed to 2021. (Olympic Talk)
• The Blues addressed the fact that a relative of a team employee tested positive for COVID-19. (Blues)
General hockey links
• Great stuff on 20-year-old Kiara Scott, who became the first woman hired as scout for an OHL team. Scott hopes to eventually work for an NHL team. It’s part of William Douglas’ “Color of Hockey” feature at NHL.com, which is absolutely worth your time. (NHL.com)
• As part of The Score’s “Without Hockey” series, John Matisz looks at how the Lightning’s chance at redemption was put on hold. No doubt, they were a strong contender to win it all after dealing with early bumps in the road. (The Score)
• This one might hit you like a laser-beam slapper: an argument for the return of “FoxTrax"-inspired Glow Pucks. (Forever Blueshirts)
• How the Sabres can remodel their roster during the offseason. Should the Sabres try to send stealth Selke candidate Anthony Cirelli an offer sheet? (Die By The Blade)
• Rating Penguins jersey designs, from worst to first. I knew the “gradient” Penguins look would be low, but I’ll probably always have a soft spot for that tacky little thing. (Hockey By Design)
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.