Dispatches from the Olympic break

It's the Olympic break in the National Hockey League, and players have ten days off to relax and rest up for the stretch run. While there's a good deal of diversity in the Olympic break plans of NHL players, most of the players can be placed in one of five categories.

The first category is comprised of players who have gone over to Sochi to compete in the Olympics; then there are the players who are using the Olympic break to nurse injuries and rehab; there are also the players who have headed for the beach or warmer climates; there are the family men; and finally there's the homebodies spending their break sitting on the coach and watching sports (professional athletes: they're just like us!). 

One thing players in all five categories have in common? They're all caps-lock levels of excited about having ten days off:

Ducks winger Dustin Penner doesn't fit neatly into any of the aforementioned categories (though he's closest to the homebody category). For now he's just enjoying breakfast:

Suggested new Corn Pops slogan: "Safer than pancakes!"

Edmonton Oilers captain Andrew Ference is an example of the "family man" category. Ference spent the early part of his Olympic break helping his children do math and taking them to the theater:

Ference's teammate David Perron is one of many NHL players who will use the Olympic break to rehab. Perron shared a photo of his ghastly, black and blue, broken toe:

Bryan Bickell, Nazem Kadri, and Danny DeKeyser all play for teams in the great lakes area, and have taken this opportunity to dodge the polar vortex:

Kudos to them.

Finally there's the homebodies, the athletes using their Olympic break to veg and take in as many sports as possible from the couch. 

Logan Couture, Eddie Lack: we salute you.

Now all that's left to do is eagerly await a tweeted photo of David Booth with the corpse of a "nuisance" gator from @offseason7...