Sizing up the eight contenders for the Hockey East tournament title, all of which enter this weekend's quarterfinal action with a legitimate shot to win the league's automatic NCAA berth.

No. 1 NEW HAMPSHIRE vs. No. 8 VERMONT Whittemore Center - Durham, NH
WILDCATS	* * *	CATAMOUNTS
16-11-7	OVERALL RECORD	15-12-7
15-6-6	LEAGUE RECORD	9-11-7
T10	PAIRWISE RANKING	T16
9-2-5	HOME/ROAD	5-7-4
4-3-3	LAST 10 GAMES	3-3-4
1-1-3	LAST 5 GAMES	2-1-2
6-4	ONE-GOAL GAMES	6-3
2-0-1	HEAD-TO-HEAD	0-2-1
116 (98 HE)	GOALS SCORED	105 (78 HE)
3rd (2nd)	LEAGUE RANK	5th (7th)
108 (77 HE)	GOALS ALLOWED	99 (82 HE)
T7th (2nd)	LEAGUE RANK	T3rd (4th)
16.9 (17.0 HE)	POWER PLAY	17.7 (16.5 HE)
9th (8th)	LEAGUE RANK	8th (10th)
80.7 (78.1 HE)	PENALTY KILL	80.6 (79.1 HE)
5th (8th)	LEAGUE RANK	6th (6th)
Butler: 25-22-47 Thompson: 16-18-34 Kessel: 8-25-33	LEADING SCORERS	Irwin: 15-19-34 Vock: 11-17-28 Roloff: 8-17-25
7	20-POINT SCORERS	5
Brian Foster 15-11-7, 3.06, .906	GOALTENDER	Rob Madore 11-10-7, 2.70, 9.07
0	SHUTOUTS	2

I shot this picture of Granny D at her 100th birthday party in January. The Governor's Executive Suite was pretty crowded with her fans and various media, and I decided to get creative to show her in the spotlight. I wrote about it on my personal blog, saying I wasn't sure whether the picture really worked. Dennis Burke, who co-wrote her memoir, happened upon the entry and told me that he'd showed the photo to Granny D. "She thinks it is, hands down, her favorite picture of herself," he wrote. What a compliment. She was an inspiration to many of us here in New Hampshire and throughout the US, and she will be missed. Keep shining, Granny D.

The Monitor's Dave D'Onofrio and Gavin Faretra preview this week's Sprint Cup Series stop in Atlanta for the Kobalt Tools 500 -- and debate whether Jimmie Johnson has become NASCAR's greatest active driver.

I have no doubt we all know at least one relationship with a nagging woman.  Look up the word nag and you will find nothing positive in the definitions or descriptions; words like anxiety, complaining, faultfinding, annoying, unrelenting, torment are what you’ll find.  Having been in a number of terrible relationships myself, I know the signs of abuse, and nagging is a form of abuse.  Women can be just as guilty of abusing their significant others as men.  In fact, emotional abuse can have far more damaging effects than physical abuse.  Nothing good comes from nagging.  

After 7 years of living in the USA I've noticed that I don't get so upset when the Americans gobble up all the medals at the Olympics.

I grew up living in an apartment complex located just down the road from a park where the stadium for the 1976 Olympics was built in Montreal.

The Dublin School arts building will be undergoing a complete overhaul, which the students and staff are thrilled about. But at the same time, there is a certain sadness with leaving their old space. Jan Haman has been producing plays in the old space since the 1970s, and sat next to me for opening night of "Our Town" last night, the play that is to be the last performed in the old arts building.

One of the hallmarks of the new administration was to be its enlightened view of diplomacy. Talking to our enemies was to be the new approach,along with working closely with our allies and the United Nations. The results of this enlightened approach have recently begun exploding into the headlines. Iran announces it is a nuclear nation! North Korea restarts its production of enriched uranium! Our Russian allies do not support action against Iran.UN unable to reach consensus on action against Iran!

Well, that's what the signs at the border should say. That may not be entirely fair though; rally courses tend to be a tad smoother, actually.

What is it with this state and a complete lack of roadbeds under the pavement? It will never cease to amaze me how little substance there is under the macadam surface; tar on dirt, as far as I can tell. I know it's a cost thing, but I can't help wondering if, given the cost of doing repairs every spring, it might not have been better to spend the money up front to put in good, deep road beds. It costs more up front, but just the savings in bent rims would be worth it.

With some of the frost heaves in my area creating a delta in the road surface of over six inches, the time has definitely come to park the car for the rest of the winter and just use the Jeep. It's a tough decision, since the car gets around 50% better fuel economy, and with a commute just over 54 miles each way, that makes a noticable difference in my weekly fuel budget; I have this particular car for exactly this reason, commuting; it's economical, reasonably (read as; low) powered and intended to get me safely to and from work every day. The Jeep? Not so much. Really it's a toy, but with sidewalls roughly three times taller, it's far better suited to the rally course I drive to work. My comments earlier about building myself a rally car for winter driving were simply fun, but maybe I should think seriously about it. Taller sidewalls with a tougher suspension would be entirely appropriate. Besides, it would give me an excuse to get/build another car; I like that idea. I suspect my wife might not share my enthusiasm though.

So, what are your experiences with the roads here in New Hampshire during frost heave season?

So if you haven't figured it out by now I'm not an environmentally conscious car driving, slow lane staying, calm and controlled driving role model. If I had my way every car would be putting out as much power as the chassis can handle and every driver would know how to drive their car at the limit safely. But I don't get my way as often as I like (do any of us?) and I takes what I can gets.

Last week I found myself flipping through my new International Vegetarian Cookbook that I got for Christmas. I was looking for a tasty dish I could make for a friend who can’t eat gluten. I have no problem finding and making vegetarian dishes. I usually make some Italian style meal which includes bread and pasta. However, I’ve never attempted a gluten-free vegetarian meal. This was going to be a good challenge.