Marcus here, just wanted to wish the Dobber community a Merry Christmas and happy holidays. Good luck to everyone in the new year and I hope you all win your pools, except for those in pools with me. An hour to go til the WJC.

Congrats Dobber on the new baby girl!!!

I'm on top of the world right now. Words cannot aptly describe how fantastic I feel. My beautiful little baby girl was born yesterday – you couldn't ask for a better Christmas gift.  Avery Dobbs was born at 9:46am on December 25, 2008. Mommy and baby are both healthy. We will be in the hospital for another day yet. Needless to say, I won't be contributing a whole lot to DobberHockey for the next two days or so (see – she timed it for the hockey break – a born Dobber!).

Bring on the Sean Avery jokes – I'm ready for them. But long after he's just a hockey footnote, my angel will have this beautiful name ;)

Angus here, just wanted to send my congratulations to Dobber and his family!

Today is shaping up to be quite a nice day for me. Some fresh snow, and lots of hockey to watch tonight!

Patrick Marleau, currently with 18 goals, is only one off of his total of the entire 2007-2008 season. Amazing what a new coach/system can do in some cases.

Canada's first test in the 2009 World Juniors is on today at 7:00 PM EST. I am looking forward to watching Cody Hodgson and John Tavares work together on the power play.

With Paul Stastny now done for a while, look for the Avalanche to count on both Wojtek Wolski and TJ Hensick to pick up the slack. Wolski has always had the talent but has sometimes coasted because of it. He will get a shot at earning a top scoring role in Stastny's absence.

Things have gone from bad to worse for the Senators. Already struggling, they have lost both Filip Kuba (groin) and Anton Volchenkov (face, upper body). Kuba's status is unknown but does not seem as serious as Volchenkov's, who I wouldn't expect to see back any time soon.

Milan Michalek is still battling an unknown head injury, which gives Jonathan Cheechoo an opportunity to earn back a top-six role. Cheechoo has been white hot before, so keep him in mind as a second half sleeper.