the 4th star

Some bad news for the Manitoba Moose.

The Jason LaBarbera deal the Vancouver Canucks orchestrated during Tuesday’s loss to the Philadelphia Flyers will have little impact to the Moose until Roberto Luongo returns from injury.

LaBarbera was picked up from the Los Angeles Kings for a seventh-round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft not as an indication that Cory Schneider is heading back to the Moose, but as a move that requires the Canucks to dress two goaltenders for the next few games.

Curtis Sanford, a goaltender who has somehow managed to keep a spot on an NHL roster, hurt his groin in Tuesday’s warm-up — putting his availability to a week-to-week timetable and leaving Schneider up in Vancouver.

The big question is what happens when Luongo returns from his groin injury. Schneider will obviously come back to Winnipeg, but what about Sanford or LaBarbera? There’s no way the Canucks will carry three netminders. That means one of the back-ups could be headed for Manitoba (baring a trade and clearing waivers, of course), making things very crowded in the Moose crease in 2009.

Update that resume, Karl Goehring.

Some background: In an effort to add more hotness to the blog, I’m starting a new weekly feature called ‘Hump Day’ — a post designed around hot chicks and sports. During the time off, I hired a research team to study the correlation between the two and surprisingly, a number of guys who like sports also like looking at women they have no chance of sleeping with.

Thus, ‘Hump Day’ was born.

First up is the suddenly hot Hilary Duff. Before you go there, she’s 21-years-old so don’t worry about it. Turns out a lack of talent isn’t something she only embraces, but finds attractive, too. She has dated (or is currently dating — who knows?) the mucho over-rated Mike Comrie.

Comrie is currently squeezing out one more season in the NHL this winter (with the NY Islanders, his fifth team in seven NHL seasons) before recognizing his ability and heading overseas to play in a lessor league next year.