The infamous fisheye from the IIHF live stream of the Women’s U-18 Championships

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

• The USA defeated Canada in OT at the U-18 Women’s Championships on a goal by Kiara Zanon. [USA Hockey]
• Unfortunately, the only way to see that game was an online stream which began as a single fish-eye lens and ended as a single broadcast camera with no commentary (which still peaked at over 10,000 viewers). Kirsten Whelan of the Victory Press spoke with CBC News Network about what the difficulties in viewing the game means for women’s hockey.
• Sign the Change.org petition to broadcast the U-18 women’s hockey championships next year!
• Meanwhile, the men’s world junior championship receive a ton of coverage, so much that Lindsay Gibbs wrote in her must-subscribe Power Plays newsletter “it’s been hard for me to grasp just how seriously Canada takes the men’s juniors tournament. And then I saw this music video. Oh. My. Goodness. I thought it was a parody at first. It is not. The men’s tournament gets an uncomfortably earnest official song and music video. Women get a fish-eye lens.”
• In the much hyped men’s U-20s, Canada defeated Russia 4-3 on a late goal by Akil Thomas, who also co-operates a clothing company. [Bardown]
• One Russian channel showed Russia’s 2011 WJC victory simultaneously with the game (yes, there’s more classic men’s WJC games on TV than live women’s games). This led to some celebratory Russian social media posts and an uncanny experience for St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko who “watched the 2011 game for 10 minutes in the belief it was live — at least ‘until he saw himself in the game.'” [CBC Sports]
• In 2011, Vancouver Canucks star Elias Pettersson’s best friends, Valerik, Davit, and Hayk Danielyan were deported from Sweden to Armenia. Their community fought to bring the family back and last month, the Danielyan brothers traveled to Vancouver on Swedish visas. [David Singh, Sportsnet]
• Former Dallas Stars head coach Jim Montgomery, fired last month under vague circumstances, has entered an inpatient residential program for alcohol abuse. Montgomery says “losing my job as head coach of the Dallas Stars last month was a wake-up call. It was also the appropriate call.” [Dallas Morning News]
• Sonny Sachdeva interviewed popular NHL resource CapFriendly founders Jamie Davis and Dominik about creating and operating the site. [Sportsnet]
• Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne scored the first goalie goal in the NHL since 2013 [TSN]
• See why defender Melanie Desrochers says “It’s important to know that you lose talent every year there’s no league” in Kirsten Whelan’s feature “The Year is 2020 And We Would Like A Pro League, Please”. [Victory Press]
• The PWHPA’s Dream Gap tour continues this weekend in Toronto. Tickets are available on the PWHPA’s website.
• The Dream Gap documentary, directed by Camryn Kern and produced by Ailish Forfar debuts tomorrow at the Paradise Theatre in Toronto. Hockey in Society Senior Editor Courtney Szto will be one of the co-panelists discussing the state of women’s hockey before the film. Tickets available at Homestand Sports.