24 players, not 25 on the roster. that roster was set two hours before the games began. this will wrap up our coverage of the first game in the men's hockey. the chest beat latvia. i'm kathryn tappan. the weather isn't so great here in l.a. i burned my hand on a seat belt buckle this morning. i will say it must be weird to live in a place where people actually need to wear uggs. this is funny. someone shot this video of a guy shoveling snow in a parking lot outside of walmart. for some reason, he is shoveling the snow into a wire-bottomed shopping cart. he shovels the snow, empties it into the cart and it just goes right back on to the ground. i don't know why. i could watch this all day long.

it's far more interesting than any winter olympic sport like snow through an hour glass, those are the days of our lives. why does the nor'easter have al roker and bill de blasio blasting each other. chris christie meets the parking wagger on the jersey shore when it comes to iowa and eats some humble buy. speaking of humility, ben affleck and matt damon slice and dice each other. who cares? they both look good. this is "way too early". . >> so what. who cares. good morning. i'm thomas roberts, friday, february 14th, cupid's day. welcome to "way too early" where the theme's patriotic valentine and won't be mine meet and

merry. the staff thinks i look like this guy, the stock guy for the olympics and his sweater. this is casual friday. joan rivers, if you are watching, who wore it better? you know who stole whose look z. >> let's get right to the devastating nor'easter still slamming the east coast delivering a partying blow of snow and sleet after yesterday's blizzardlike conditions. the storm is being blamed for at least 18 deaths, including a pra pregnant woman who was hit by a snowplow in new york city. doctors were able to save her baby. more than 400,000 homes and businesses are still in the dark, 90% in georgia and south carolina. 49 out of 50 states had snow on the ground yesterday, florida being the sole exception. i will check in with kate parker, who is in phoenixville, pennsylvania. good morning. >> reporter: i'm here in phoenixville, pennsylvania.

you can see this massive tree behind me. this came down with last week's storm. this week's storm has added an additional foot of snow in this area. we had massive power outages last week. to add insult to injury, this snowstorm makes four times this year that philadelphia has seen a greater than six inch snowstorm. record-break. 10.4 inches at the airport. this is from milford, pennsylvania, where you can see the snow stacked up against the window approximately 20 inches of snow fell there. that's in northern pennsylvania. you can see another picture here where there is somewhere buried beneath all that snow a barbecue set. i don't think many folks are going to be out barbecuing. roads are being cleared pretty quickly. the state of pennsylvania doing a pretty good job at keeping the roads clear and catching up with the additional snowfall that we saw overnight and keeping things nice and clear as temperatures

warm above freezing. we should see melting and vastly improving conditions. i'm kate barker. back to you. i want to check in with bill karins. fill us in on how people are going to play catchup. >> how many sheep are shivering right now? >> a lot. this thing is warm. i have to say thanks to my friend, rob smith, to lent this to me. this went to russia and was there for the opening ceremonies. >> i have a fan right here. i am burning up. >>. the nor'easter is leaving. we are slowly improving things in areas new york city southward. the snowflakes are coming to an end as i speak. we only got another couple inches out there. we got nailed around albany, new york. you are waking up to 12-14 inches on the grown. this storm will be exiting. we had some amazing snowfall totals. the big cities where i had 6-10. we came in somewhere between 8-12 on i-95.

we are waiting fort update on last night's snow. philly finished at 11. baltimore, 13. allentown, 19 inches of snow. the nor'easter, classic-looking storm as it exits. there is that little mess, look back towards iowa. it just got dumped. this is what we call a little clipper low. it is going to drop some snow. already, winter weather advisory, central illinois, along the ohio river in kentucky, west virginia. it is going to blossom into a very big storm. you could get 8-12 inches from this next storm. boston, 3-6. new york and philly, a little additional snow. the same with d.c. this is saturday, not today. >> bill, thanks so much. i am going to ask you to stand by. i want to fill in everybody on this. we have new york city mayor, bill de blasio and his decision to keep the schools open. roker took to city officials to

task for a series of tweets. he wrote, so now my daughter's public school is being let out early. is it worth putting kids' safety at risk? how about the parents and caregivers who have to scramble to get their kids home. is there no one there with economy common sense. i knew this a.m. that new york city would close. >> mayor de blasio is defending his call to keep the schools open. he says they don't shut down when there is diversity. he responded directly to al's criticism. >> i respect al roker a lot, watched him on tv for many, many years. it is a different thing to run a city than to give the weather on tv. i am comfortable with our decision-making. we just got off the phone with the national weather service. i respect all the meteorologists out there but the one i respect the most is called the national weather service. they just affirmed to us on the

call before we came out to you that this went faster and heavier than their response tonight. >> that response made roker more outraged. he tweeted, how dar new york city mayor's office and new york city schools throw us under the bus. i could never run new york city but i know when it is time to keep children home from school. the chancellor is being criticized for this comment. >> we never made the calls on snow days until the morning of. many, many people complained about that. if you had to leave your home to get to work, it was an imposition. it was all kinds of issues. then, we decided to try to do it the night before. because this storm was so unpredictable and what we heard last night is not what we saw this morning. coming down here, it has totally stopped snowing. it is absolutely a beautiful day out there right now. >> hours later, you cancel the town hall meeting in brooklyn because of, quote, implement weather. what are your thoughts on this?

>> the forecast part. we were saying very heavy snow, morning rush-hour. the national weather service was saying it. everyone was screaming it. the national weather service was saying, don't be on the roads if you don't have to. thats wa the information de blasio was getting, telling people to stay off the roads. that was roker's point. we got 9.5 inches of snow when 6 was predicted. de blasio was right, it was a little bit worse than expected. the fact that gets me the most. all right. you send the kids to school. why did you release them early. it was 35 degrees and raining and the roads were improving. parents were already at work. if anyone wants to be really angry, what was that call about? it made no sense. >> a lot of parents said, you know what, kids, you are not going today. >> 44% of the kids showed up. i have two people in my family are public school teachers in new york city. they said 44% was generous.

>> bill, thanks so much. in the aftermath of the george washington bridge scandal, governor chris christie is finding out oucften where hi support does and does not exist. iowa governor, terry branstat says any republican governor is welcome. going as far as to say, a governor should be the party's next nominee. he offered christie an unsolicited piece of advice. i think he is a real good retail pol is it. it wouldn't hurt to be a little more humble. back in new jersey, the "associated press" has analyzed 9/11 calls and response logs from the period that the lanes were shut down over the george washington bridge. the a.p. analysis, no one was injured or died as a direct result of those closures. virginia is for all lovers.

a federal judge has ruled virginia's ban of same-sex marriage unconstitutional. the journaling wrote it was unjusty fibl. even in this decision which says the ban denies due process and equal protection, meanwhile, senator ted cruz is introducing a bill that would protect states that outlawed marriage equality with the same as those that chose to recognize them. in kansas, efforts to protect individuals that don't want to provide services to same-sex couples has hit a legislative road brock. the majority of the city won't support that bill. the proposal drew national attention when it passed the state house. in tennessee, today is the final day of secret ballots to determine whether workers at a chattanooga volkswagen plant

will join the union. car manufacturers have in recent years been drawn to southern right to work states that have offered big incentives and are union resistant. the vote comes as the company seeks to open a new suv production line at one of its two north american plants that would add some 1500 jobs. senator bob corker who has publicly criticized unions surprised many by saying he has learned that they will bring this new suv to chattanooga if the employees decide not to unionize. a vw representative says it won't impact the decision. they have accused volkswagen of giving the uaw much too much access to try and enlift workers to their side. well-known character actor, ralph waite has died. he is remembered for his role in the television series "the waltons." >> i sure thought i would stop missing pop by now but i feel

awful empty inside. >> he wouldn't want us to grieve too long. >> i could use his advice tonight. i am at a crossroad, liv. all kinds of opportunities out there if a man is not afraid to take them. >> he wills had roles in the bodyguard and cool hand look and ncis, receiving emmy no, ma'am nal nominations. he waited on a political career, running for congress unsuccessfully three times. he was survived by his third wife, linda and their three kids from the first marriage. he was 85 years old. >> if you don't already know, today is valentine's day. if you have a significant other, this is your warning. you have been warned. you have time to still get something. this brings us to our twitter question. what's your best or worst

valentine's day story? tweet us your responses using #waytooearly. why some think the new evil-looking black suits worn by the u.s. speed skaters may be to blame for that. a check on weather in this hot studio when "way too early" comes right back. i'm burning up in this thing. [ male announcer ] imagine this cute blob is metamucil.

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look at sochi right there. i want to give you a live update from the olympics. the u.s. hockey team is off to a strong start, six goals in the second period for a 7-1 final. the next up, a matchup against russia on saturday. a really painful moment for jeremy abbott yesterday. he took a hard spill during his performance in the men's short skate program. he fell while attempting a quadruple toe loop, hit the ice and slid into the boards. he surprised everybody. he really got an inspirational moment with the crowd clapping for him, got back up resuming his routine e finished 15th overall. a great guy, really inspiring that he got up. russian figure skatier

retired yesterday. he fell attempting a triple axle and said it felt like a knife in his back. he has been plagued by back and knee injuries in recent years and says he has had 12 surgeries. a real trouper and a disappointment for russia. after shani davis finished nowhere near the podium and heather richardson had a disastrous performance in the 1,000 meter, the u.s. speed skating team is trying to figure out why they haven't been successful. the underarmor suit billed before the games as a competitive advantage might be to blame. "the wall street journal" is reporting a design flaw that may be slowing down skaters. vents on the back of the suit are allowing air to enter and create a drag to keep skaters through the speed. the u.s. hasn't medaled yet. the u.s. climbing to third

place behind the netherlands with 12 medals. norway on top with 13. germany leads the gold medal count with 7 ranking fifth overall. coming up on "morning joe" bill de blasio versus al roker. one man may be voted off the island. we are going to break down their feud. >> two school officials sing their snow day cancellations to kids. look at who stole my look. do you see it? "way too early" we'll be right back. [announcer] word is getting out.

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welcome back. on this valentine's day, what is better than the bro mans we all know and love. not between me and lewis. everyone knows matt damon and ben affleck are one of hollywood's best bromances. they recently made a video to promote their charities promising lucky donors a day with the actors. that's when the message started going off the rails. >> just us hanging out taking selfies falking about how the sox are going to do.

>> or if you had more sophisticated interests, you could talk about -- >> or, if you don't want to have the -- out of you. we could ask you some more questions. >> or i could ask you more meaningful questions like, what are your hopes or dreams or fears. >> we could talk about good will hunting and who did the bulk of the writing. >> or you could learn about things that are actually true like how incredibly short matt damon is. >> or the fact that ben's left eye twitches every time you say the world geli. >> i am 5'10" 1/2. if you take out northern europe, i'm way above. >> or you could press my button. >> i have a button too. mine is better shinier. >> mine is bigger. >> damon won in that. if you have a fear of heights, thomas, this next video may not be for you. a pair of russian dare devils decided it would be a good idea

to climb the second tallest building in the world, the shanghai tower in china is currently under construction. they snuck in overnight taking 20 hours to scale the 132-foot building. if heights make you dizzy, turn away from your tv set. it is not something that i think i would like to do, thomas. i get a twinge in my thighs every time i look at that guy. he is not even roped in. he is not latched on anything. that is amazing. >> i am sure they have parachutes on. >> i don't know. didn't look like it. >> i felt like they do. >> if you are a parent and i know you are not yet, thomas, this winter has been a nightmare. your kids will probably be in school until july at the rate we are going here. it is no fun getting up early to get those snow announcements on snow days unless your child goes to durham academy school in north carolina.

♪ stop, collaborate and listen "i ♪ ice is back ♪ sleet falling down ♪ dance to the grocery store ♪ before conditions become deadly ♪ ♪ stay in your house ♪ drink hot tea >> that is unbelievable. i wish i had teachers like that when i was growing up. that's the head and the assistant head of the school having some fun. i don't know how the assistant head got that school sweater. >> he stole my look. >> it would be fun if we had teachers like that growing up. real quickly, to keep our bromance alive, i bought you the second season of house of cards on netflix. >> it dropped at 3:00 a.m. >> i actually love "house of

cards." that's amazing. what i actually got you was this card that i made for you yesterday playing out in the snow. hasselhoff, that's my valentine's day card to you. >> can i get that poster size, please? >> i'll frame it for you. >> still ahead, give us your best valentine's day stories ever. i think i just got one right there from louis. "morning joe" is just moments away. i'm beth...

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good evening. let me start with this. up in new jersey tonight, the dragnet is closing. the iron grip is staring the political army from trenton to the hudson river. the people stopped traffic across the busiest bridge among those caught in a web that's

threatened trouble and the governor who they serve. the first grabbing into all those delivery closing the george washington bridge. i don't think we still have a picture again but that was a lot of skin in a blizzard. that was good stuff. that is dedication. any way, "way too early" is done for the week. happy valentine's day! "morning joe" starts right now! ♪ >> i think it was a bad decision to have school. frankly, in general, the streets, the last time it showed since we got here, they haven't been properly cleaned and swept and it's just very dangerous. >> i think it was a horrible idea. it's really unsafe just walking a few blocks, you know, it's very slippy out and i feel it's not safe for kid to be walking on the street. >> i think the chancellor made a huge mistake. she is endangering the safety