NHL

On Wednesday night, New Jersey Devils broadcaster Sherry Ross made history when she became the first female broadcaster to provide play-by-play in English for an entire NHL game.

Ross, who is usually the color commentator on Devils radio broadcasts, took over the play-by-play when fourth-year New Jersey announcer Matt Loughlin took time to be with his family after the passing of his father-in-law. Ross called the game, with former Devils forward Rob Skrlac serving as analyst.

Thanksgiving is a holiday where we get together with family and friends to celebrate all that is important in our lives. We here at NHL FanHouse will be doing that today but before we get to the turkey, we decided to get together and talk about something else that is important in all of our lives -- hockey.

For starters, we're thankful that we get to follow hockey all day long and that you take the time to read what we've got to say. But there's a lot more that we love about the "coolest game on ice" that plays such a big role in each of our lives.

SAN JOSE -- As if Wednesday night's matchup against the Western Conference's two top teams didn't have enough appeal, throw Marian Hossa into the mix for one heck of a showdown between star-studded top lines.

Hossa, Chicago's top offseason acquisition, hasn't played this season because of a shoulder injury, but tonight at HP Pavilion, he'll be joining the Blackhawks' great young players Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. San Jose, the NHL's best team to date, counters with the goal-happy line of Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau.

Whew. What a way to step onto the ice for the first time with a new team.

We've completed over one-fourth of the NHL season already, and while virtually nothing is totally decided, we can take time to assess where teams are as they continue the 82-game grind.

James Mirtle, now of Toronto Globe and Mail and SB Nation fame, joins us this week to discuss the state of the Maple Leafs, how the league stacks up at this early juncture, and the future of hockey in Canada. Listen after the jump.

You probably won't get much of an argument if you were to name the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team's victory over the Soviet Union at Lake Placid as the most iconic moment in American sports history.

Twenty years before that team's improbable run to the Gold Medal, another U.S. team was pulling off a stunning upset upset of its own at the Sqauw Valley games, as a group of college kids led by head coach Jack Riley claimed the American's first gold medal in Olympic hockey history. A new DVD tilted Forgotten Miracle is set to be released to mark the 40th anniversary of their victory and tell their story.

You can pre-oder the DVD by clicking here, and you can check out the trailer after the jump.

We're trying something different to replace the old Newsmakers in the NHL posts. Hopefully you'll like it. Each weekday we'll take a look at one positive performance from the previous night (a plus), and one negative performance from the previous night (a minus). It's the plus/minus.Tell us what you think at nhlfanhouse@gmail.com.

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The Philadelphia Flyers dropped their third game in a row on Monday night, losing 5-4 in Colorado. On Tuesday they learned they will be without forward Danny Briere for the next two games as a result of his hit on Scott Hannan in the second period.

Video of the hit after the jump.

Every Tuesday, FanHouse discusses the top NHL prospects found in college hockey.

College hockey can be a humbling experience, even for highly-touted NHL prospects. It doesn't make a kid a lesser prospect, but being 18 and having to deal with guys who are often 22-25 years old can be tough. This is true no matter how talented a kid is. For Notre Dame freshman forward Kyle Palmieri (NHL rights: Anaheim), the first part of the season has been spent adjusting, and the Fighting Irish are about to be rewarded for their patience.

Following the success of the NHL's outdoor game the past two years, the AHL has decided that it will get in on the act this winter.

Today, the league announced that it will be holding its own version of the Winter Classic on February 20th. The Mirabito Outdoor Classic will pit the Syracuse Crunch against the Binghamton Senators on the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, New York.