Photo from NHL.com

The Weekly Links post highlights important or interesting writing from the hockey blogosphere and media. Enjoy!

• Get all your NHL All-Star commentary in one go! [Vice Sports] has a nice synopsis of the skills competition. The [LA Times] and [Puck Daddy] reflect on a record-setting All-Star Game and its MVP.
• Former Ottawa Senator, Andre Roy talks about about the scary side of hockey. [Canoe Sports]
• If you aren’t following the [Player’s Tribune] yet, what are you waiting for? Last week John Scott wrote a great piece about his reasoning for taking part in the All-Star game and this week we have a reflection by James Neal about being a sniper in the NHL.
• In case you haven’t had enough of John Scott talk at this point, check out this piece from [Arctic Ice] and this one from [Vice Sports] about how the NHL tried to use Scott’s kids against him.
• Team Canada’s Jenn Wakefield talks about the 2018 Olympics with [The Victory Press].
• Here’s a good one for the hockey trivia buffs: Mexico defeated the South African national team in the IIHF U-20 Div III world championship last week. [Color of Hockey]
• It doesn’t really matter what you think about Gary Bettman because he will be around for another six years…[CBC Sports].  Jeff Blair encourages us to rethink Bettman’s legacy. [Sportsnet]
• One we missed from mid-January about Shannon Szabados tearing it up for the Cottonmouths. [Sports Illustrated]
• On an audio note, a friend recommended that I check out a podcast called [Wintered] specifically for the episode titled “WTF is Shinny?”  I assume that our regular readers are more than familiar with the concept of shinny (this one references women’s shinny in Toronto) but I suggest listening to it because the episode is like a hug for your ears. The sounds of hockey (particularly of the outdoor sort) are so crisp that they instantly made my smile. Not sure if it is available in the states, the hyperlink is for Canadian iTunes.
• HIS contributor Courtney Szto also wrote a different type of post about how the “hockey Gods” found her while travelling in South America for her own blog, [The Rabbit Hole].
• Hockey in the Himalayas, it’s a real thing and it continues to garner interest. Check out these photos from [The Hockey Foundation’s] camps in Shimla and Ladakh.
• The Boston Bruins are getting involved in growing the game in China. [Stanley Cup of Chowder]
• Dennis Wideman cross-checked a linesman from behind and is sticking with his “I just saw him at the last second” defence. [Canoe Sports]
• A Russian junior player has succumbed to his injuries after having taken a puck in the neck. [TSN]
• Semyon Varlamov has defended his case from a lawsuit put forth by a woman claiming that he beat her after a Halloween party. [ESPN]
• The class action against the NHL for post-concussion issues now climbs to over 100 ex-pros. [CBC News]
• Exciting news for Nova Scotians! The government is investing $3 million in a hockey heritage centre. [CTV News]
• The KHL is looking to expand and the Swedish Hockey Federation is having none of it. [Today’s Slapshot]
• Here’s a cool piece about the boom of beer league hockey in Silicon Valley. [Sportsnet]
• We recently featured a piece about the Pride Tape, and here out referee Andrea Barone explains that he consistently receives homophobic comments on the ice. [CBC]
• An important conversation about Canada’s colonial history, residential schools, and the role that hockey played. [Active History]
• Dennis Wideman is blaming his crosscheck on linesman, Don Henderson, as concussion related. [Pension Plan Puppets] uses the opportunity to critique the NHL’s “broken system”.
• [Sportsnet] recently did a tape piece on the Montreal Canadiens essentrics workouts, which is a combination of ballet and dance moves to help with flexibility and mobility.
• Daniel Sedin generously gave away all of his All-Star winnings to the Vancouver Canucks training staff. [VanCity Buzz]