Turn him loose… Turn him loose, I say*

Supposedly hotly pursued forward Fabian Brunnstrom is a Dallas Star. (Well, not right away. That’d violate bylaws.) Late-blooming Swedish talent, or at least Dallas now hopes so now that it signed him as a free agent.

Day off in the AHL. All four series resume Friday, and as noted, three of ’em can end.

Patrick Williams discovered the rebirth of Andrew Ferraro’s Houston blog.

A bit on Figren from the Edmonton Sun.

Interesting note in the AHL’s “Morning Skate”: Syracuse has never played a multiple-OT game. Ever. Another link from there: Therrien vs. Stevens goes to the next level.

A messed-up day for the locals at the Worlds. The United States blows 3-0 and 4-2 leads but wins 6-4 on a late Zach Parise goal and an empty-netter. Canada battles to the finish with Norway — yep, Norway again — but wins 2-1 on a Rick Nash goal with 3:58 to play. Think that clinches a berth in the quarterfinals. Henrik Lundqvist shows up and only needs 17 saves to beat Denmark; a goal and three assists for Mattias Weinhandl, and one-and-one for Marcus Nilson. And the Czechs shut out the Swiss.

ECHL’s Columbia won’t be back next season.

*-Sorry.

Michael Fornabaio