Joe Thornton Does His Best "Italian Soccer Teammate" Impression

The West Captain on All-Star teammate Roberto Luongo: "[He's] a nice, dark, good-looking Italian guy." I choose to take this as conclusive evidence of his homosexuality.

Two players who won't be rating each other's attractiveness-levels this weekend are Red Wings' vets Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk, who have decided to forego the All-Star festivities (which get under way in Montreal ce soir). And they'll be happy to know that they can extend their break even further, as NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell has suspended each of them for one game for their rebuke.

The various skills competitions take place tonight, and the game goes tomorrow afternoon. Sidney Crosby won't be playing in it (he's got nagging minor injuries), but Gary Bettman forced him at gun point to requested he attend anyway.

Joe Thornton thinks Roberto Luongo is hot...and he's good, too [Examiner]

NHL: All-Star Game No-Shows Suspended [Globe and Mail]