Game Time - SB Nation

Game Time
St Louis
Four Dollars Of Back To Back Fun
The Game Day Guide To St. Louis Blues Hockey
By Brad Lee
The St. Louis Blues are reaching the crossroads of the 200809 season. And from the fans’ perspective, it doesn’t look good.
Faced with even more injuries, mired in a five-game losing
streak, the schedule is doing them no favors. The performance of
the team in the next few weeks will probably determine if the
Blues will be in contention for the playoffs down the stretch;
buyers or sellers at the trade deadline. And if Thursday
night’s game in Washington is any indication, the
rest of the season may require a parental
warning. Caution, Blues games may contain
objectionable language and adult situations.
And lots of disappointment.
The Blues fell 4-2 to the Capitals, the
second best home team in the NHL this
season. Rookie goaltender Ben Bishop
looked slow and surprised by what kinds of
shots he was seeing. Or not seeing as the case
may be. His performance was not the deciding
factor in him returning to Peoria on Friday, but
it didn’t make the decision difficult to add
Emmanuel Legace back to the roster from injured
reserve. He’s apparently over his Duck-induced concussion
and could get the start against the Wild.
In Washington the Blues had not one but two players make
their NHL debuts during the game. Defensemen Jonas Junland
and Tyler Strachan busted their NHL cherries. They’re not alone
this season for the Blues. Eight players have made their NHL
debut this season wearing the Note. What’s more indicative with
how injuries have affected this team, 36 players have suited up
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
Established in 2005
for the Blues this season. While that number includes Carlo
Colaiacovo and Alex Steen coming over in the Dutchie Stempniak
trade, that illustrates how inconsistent the lineup has been on a
nearly nightly basis. When Andy Murray is having to shuffle
players, no one is building any chemistry. The power play is being
held together with duct tape and a little hope when you’ve got
Brad Winchester and his four points playing with the second unit.
The point on the power play is a revolving door, a constant tryout
to see who can stick at the position.
Injuries. They’re piling up as fast as the losses.
Fragile Jay McKee finally showed his brittle self
breaking a finger. Eric “The Beloved” Brewer
had surgery on a herniated disc this week.
He’s out indefinitely. Legace was out. Paul
Kariya and his bad hip are just now returning
to the ice, but not practice. TJ Oshie and his
high ankle are still hurting. Then there’s
Andy McDonald and his broken ankle and
Erik Johnson and his busted up golf cart.
When you factor in injuries for Dan Hinote,
Patrik Berglund and a night missed here and
there out of the lineup and it’s staggering to see
TM how injuries have affected this team.
This Blues squad isn’t as talented with the puck, experienced or
dangerous as the lineup that took to the ice opening night in
October. And while Murray and John Davidson don’t want to
come out and say, “Hey people, these guys suck. We didn’t have a
chance tonight,” they’re kind of saying it.
“We talked before the game that we need to have the mentality
to win games 2-1,” Murray told Dan MacLaughlin on Fox Sports
(Continued on page 26)
Today’s Records, Injuries & News
Today’s Team Records:
Blues:
Wild:
12-16-3 (27 points)
16-13-2 (35 points)
5th in Central
3rd in Northwest
15th in Western
7th in Western
Last Ten Games:
Blues:
3-6-1
Wild:
3-6-1
Season Series:
1-1-0
All-Time Series:
10-12-8-0
Today’s Injuries:
Today’s News & Notes:
Blues: C Andy McDonald (fractured
ankle), LW Paul Kariya (lower body),
RW Dan Hinote (lower body) and F TJ
Oshie (ankle, again) are out.
• Colton Gillies, nephew of Islanders
Wild: D Kurtis Foster (leg surgery) is
out. F Owen Nolan (leg) is day-to-day.
four-time Cup champion Clark Gillies,
scores his first NHL goal for the Wild
on Friday night.
• Blackhawks win six straight Friday;
it’s their first time it since 2001.
• Game Time staff simultaneously here
and working on an issue for a game
that starts in 21 hours.
CAUTION: St. Louis Game Time contains extreme sarcasm and less-than-gentle language. But it is a hockey paper, so you should fucking just get over it.
From The Editor
Not too long ago all good Blues fans were
talking about our current goaltending
controversy. The term itself suggests that the
team has a really good problem on their
hands: they have too many good guys at the
position.
Now, about 10 days later, the real
goaltending controversy seems to be not
about how many too-good goalies the Blues
have, but more of Do the Blues have any
good goalies?
I haven’t been a Blues fan since
1967 (mainly since I wasn’t born
until a few years after that and
didn’t actually see my first Blues
game until a couple decades after
that), so I can’t speak to the
goaltending exploits of Glen Hall and
Jacques Plante and Mike Liut. Trust me,
based on who I have watched, I wish I was
around in those days.
I would argue at this point that the Blues
haven’t had a true No. 1 goaltender in net
since the days of Curtis Joseph and Grant
Fuhr. And honestly, at the time of those guys,
I always felt like they were good goalies, but
not the best goalies that could have been in
net at the time. Even the near-miss on Mike
Richter never had me wishing wistfully about
what could have been. He was yet another
goalie who would have come into St. Louis
with a big reputation and a fading skill set.
And don’t get me started on Roman
Turek. The guy put in his official bio that his
favorite pastime was taking naps. That one
comment still makes me feel like I just drank
battery acid.
Instead, look at the group of guys who
have manned the crease for the Note for
more than one year since the days of CuJo
and Fuhr: Jaime McLennan, Turek, Freddie
Brathwaite, Reinhard Divis, Chris fucking
Osgood, Curtis Sanford, Jason Bacashihua,
Marek Schwarz and Manny Legace. A couple
of them were fan favorites, but mainly
because they were nice guys, not because
they were incredible netminders. The
majority of that crew are Where Are They
Now? candidates.
Even worse, look at the guys who have
blown out of here after just one season
wearing our beloved Note in a less-thanhonorable fashion: Jim Carey, Tom Barrasso,
Cody Rudkowsky, Patrick latrine Lalime,
Chris Beckford-Tseu and Hannu ‘stop yelling
at me’ Toivonen.
The current crop? Legace, Chris
Mason and Ben Bishop.
And I’ll admit that I’ve done it, too:
I’ve worshipped at the altar of
Emmanual Legace. The guy has stolen
some games for the Blues. But he’s also
cost them a few. With his contract
running out in a few months and Mason
signed through next year and Bishop
being hustled to the NHL, he looks like
the odd man out. Where do you
suppose he ends up this summer?
My guess is that it’s not back here.
I’m more certain that he goes
elsewhere as a moderately
compensated backup goalie.
Which is pretty much what
he is. Throughout his career and even
here. A No. 2 guy thrust into a No. 1 role.
The biggest difference between a starter
and a backup in the NHL is consistency
after all, and that’s what Manny has
lacked over the last couple years. Hot
streaks and stolen games have kept him
in the top spot, but if he was on a
contender, his overall play would be a
concern. His career St. Louis stats as a
starter are good, but fading.
Chris Mason is a similar story. At 32,
he has always been a backup or a No. 1/B
goalie, splitting time with someone else.
His numbers are better than Legace’s
this year, but he has won just three of the
14 games he’s played where he’s gotten a
decision.
As for Bishop, he’s right at a Marek
Schwarz crossroads. Does he become a
bona fide top goalie prospect or does he
go one to become another guy who
struggles to establish himself as an NHL
goalie?
Finding and accurately assessing
goaltender talent is probably the most
difficult of all of the positions in hockey,
which is why guys like Evgeni Nabokov
get drafted in the ninth round and
players like Al Montoya are taken sixth
overall and wind up out of hockey having
never played a single NHL game. They
develop slower and really come into their
own much later than prospect defensemen and forwards.
Which is why the Blues need to start
taking them in droves in the draft.
I once heard that a certain scout
(Continued on page 27)
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
St. Louis Game Time
Established: November 6, 2005
St Louis, Missouri
Phone: 402-2266
www.StLouisGameTime.com
Godfather
Jeffio
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Sean Gallagher
[email protected]
Advertising
[email protected]
[email protected]
Distribution
John Nicolay
Amy Benoist, Becky Benoist,
Billy Cash, Clarence Walker
Columnists
Chris Gift, Duke, Brad Lee,
Answer Man & Brian Weidler
Contributors
Jeffio, Jeff Browning, LosBri,
Childhood Trauma, Dan Doke, Jeff
Fahrenkrog, Jeremy Pratte & Chris Reed
Photographer
Andrew D’Angelo
Mission:
Game Time will provide prospect
information, up-to-date statistics, articles
that spark discussion and humor that
points out the best and worst about our
favorite team and sport. We are all fans of
the Blues and our opinions will reflect
those of subjective fans.
The paper is published for every home
game, excluding the pre-season, which we
all know sucks.
Rights & Permissions:
All material printed herein is copyrighted
and protected. Do not reprint in any
format without expressed, written
permission from Game Time LLC.
Logos & Photos
Team logos and pictures used herein are
the property of the individual teams
and/or the NHL and are used solely for
identification and editorial purposes.
Today’s Question: seriously, who the hell
makes these schedules anyway?
G AME T IME
Page 3
Top 11 Ways The Blues
Tonight’s Trivia
Haven’t Hurt Themselves
By Childhood Trauma
Yet
First Period (true or false):
1. Owen Nolan is a first overall draft pick.
2. The Wild have never had a team captain last an entire
season.
First Intermission (T/F):
3. Joe Francis, creator of the ‘Girls Gone Wild’ franchise, has
done jail time for child abuse.
Second Period (multiple choice):
4. Which current Wild defenseman started out a right winger
in his OHL career: Brent Burns, Nick Schultz, Kim
Johansson, or Marek Zidlicky?
5. Which player has already equaled his goal output of last
season: Barret Jackman, Jay McClement, Jamal Mayers, or
Ryan Johnson?
11.
10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
Choking on a pretzel.
‘Guitar Hero’ wrist.
A fondue incident.
Celebratory headbutt with Gus Frerotte.
Angelllla induced.
Tarp racing with Vince Coleman.
Sneeze-induced back spasms.
Wackers’ elbow.
Washing the truck with Jeff Kent.
Playing with Mike Matheny’s new Christmas
knife.
Snipe Hunt.
From the 12 Fluid Ounces of Gallagher’s Brain
Second Intermission:
6. The 2008 Republican National Convention was held at the
Wild’s Xcel Energy Center and nominated John McCain.
Who did the convention nominate with its only St. Louisbased convention: Gerald Ford, Herbert Hoover, William
McKinley, or Ulysses Grant?
Third Period:
7. Who was the first coach of the Wild?
8. Forty-three players have scored five or more goals in a
single game in the NHL. Name the player who did it as a Blue
and the one who did it as a Wild.
9. Pavol Demitra started this season ninth in Wild scoring
history with 188 points. Where did he start the season on the
Blues list of all time scorers?
Overtime!
10. What long time Canadien was the last head coach of
Minnesota’s first NHL team?
Trustworthy.
Ish.
www.stlouisgametime.com
Corrections & Clarifications
• Game Time would like to force the highway department to apologize for putting red wings on all the
street signs on the new bridge overpasses on 40. Nice
work, numbnuts.
• Game Time printed the wrong picture of the Blues’
training room in the last issue. The correct picture
is shown here.
1. True. The Nordiques selected him first overall in 1990.
2. True. The Wild have always rotated Captains on a monthly basis.
3. True. Joe pled no contest to child abuse, prostitution and
contraband charges and served 339 days.
4. Brent Burns was a right winger when the Wild drafted him.
5. Barret Jackman’s two goals this season equal last season’s total.
6. In 1896 the Republicans nominated McKinley at the St. Louis
Exposition and Music Hall. Democrats would nominate Grover
Cleveland and Alton Parker in the same building in 1888 and 1904.
7. Coach Jaques Lemaire is the only head coach in Wild history.
8. Red Berenson scored six as a Blue; Marian Gaborik scored five.
9. He is safely in fifth place with 493 points.
10. Bob Gainey coached the Stars from 1990-1995, they moved to
Dallas in 1993.
Page 4
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
Page 5
G AME T IME
The Five Hole
With Chris Gift
Author’s note: With apologies to the famous ‘Yes Virginia,
there is a Santa Claus,’ it is time to answer a question that
many Blues fans have had for a few years now. With
apologies to Answer Man, I’m answering a letter in my
column. Ordinarily, I'd write an original Christmas
column, but face it, most of the Christmas stuff we see is
recycled anyway.
Dear Editor,
I am 7 years old. Some of my little friends say there are
no Stanley Cup Playoffs. Papa says, “If you see it on
Youtube, it’s so. And get your old man another PBR while
you’re at it.” Please tell me the truth, are there Stanley Cup
Playoffs?
Liam Gallagher
Liam, your little friends are wrong. They have been
affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age, and an
overabundance of injuries to star players (During the
holidays, even Eric Brewer and Fragile Jay McKee are star
players). They do not believe except what they see, which
lately has been terrible. They think that nothing can be
which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds,
Liam, whether they be men’s or childrens’, are little…so by
grouping all minds together, Liam we’re not directly making
fun of either Cam Janssen, or Towel Boy.
In this great league of ours, man is a mere fourth liner, a
healthy Martin Brodeur’s backup, in his intellect as compared with the boundless league about him, as measured by
the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth,
knowledge, the neutral zone trap, why there is a trapezoid
behind each goal, and the brilliance that is the Zamboni.
Yes, Liam, there are Stanley Cup Playoffs. They exist as
certainly as winning streaks, and offensive defensemen and
big wins on the road exist, and you know that they abound
and give to your season its highest beauty and joy.
Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no
Stanley Cup Playoffs! It would be as dreary as if there were
no Liams. There would be no early season faith then, no
breakaways, no odd man rushes to make tolerable this
existence that Bill Laurie inflicted upon us, Liam. We should
have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight, and rooting
against Detroit. The external light with which goal scorers
light
the
lamp
would
be
extinguished.
Not believe in the Stanley Cup Playoffs! You might as well
not believe in Reg Dunlop. You might get your papa to hire
men to watch all of the games and prepare all year for the
Stanley Cup Playoffs for little or no monetary compensation,
but even if your team did not make the Stanley Cup Playoffs,
what would that prove? Nobody sees the playoffs in
St. Louis, but that is no sign that there is no Stanley Cup
Playoffs. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. But that’s okay, Liam, Bernie
Federko will tell us all that we didn’t see it and we never had a
chance to see it while those that did see the real thing
celebrate and get ready for the faceoff.
Did you ever see Bobby Orr dancing on the ice? Of course not,
you’re too young. But that’s no proof that he never did it.
Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are
unseen and unseeable in the playoffs, but NHL referees sometimes call penalties that they don’t see and are unseeable,
especially if it is a close game and the penalties aren’t even.
You tear apart Charles Glenn and see what makes the noise
inside, but there is a trophy covering our unseen postseason
world which not the strongest man, nor even the united
strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could win. If
that was the case, only the best player would win, and only
the best team on paper would win each year. Only faith in
your goaltender, a healthy TJ Oshie, Brad Boyes, Patrik
Berglund, can push aside that curtain and view and picture
the supernal beauty and glory beyond that is the Stanley Cup
Playoffs. Is it all real? Ah, Liam, in all this world there is
nothing else as real and abiding as a long playoff run.
No Stanley Cup Playoff! Thank God! They live and will live
forever, or until Gary Bettman screws up another entire
season. A thousand years from now, Liam, nay 10 times
10,000 years from now, they will continue to make glad the
heart of every hockey fan.
Contact: [email protected]
The Jeffio Joke of the Day
John Davidson’s wife was in the kitchen making a
breakfast of fried eggs. Suddenly, Davidson burst into
the kitchen. “Careful,” he said, “Careful! Put in some
more butter! Oh my gosh! You’re cooking too many at
once. Too many! Turn them! Turn them now! We need
more butter. Oh my gosh! Where are we going to get
more butter? They’re going to stick! Careful. Careful! I
said be careful! You never listen to me when you’re
cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you crazy?
Have you lost your mind? Don’t forget to salt them.
You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt!
Use the salt! The salt!”
The wife stared at him. “What in the world is wrong
with you? You think I don’t know how to fry a couple of
eggs?”
Davidson calmly replied, “I just wanted to show
you what it feels like when I’m driving.”
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
Page 6
St. Louis Blues Statistics
Skater Statistics
PLAYER
Brad Boyes, RW
Keith Tkachuk, C
Patrik Berglund, C
David Perron, LW
Andy McDonald, C
David Backes, RW
Paul Kariya, LW
Jay McClement, C
Barret Jackman, D
B.J. Crombeen, RW*
Eric Brewer, D
Carlo Colaiacovo, D*
Alexander Steen, LW*
Jeff Woywitka, D
Brad Winchester, LW
Steve Regier, LW
Roman Polak, D
T.J. Oshie, C
Cam Paddock, C
Jay McKee, D
Cam Janssen, RW
Yan Stastny, C
Mike Weaver, D
D.J. King, LW
Dan Hinote, RW
Tyson Strachan, D
Goalie Statistics
PLAYER
Manny Legace
Chris Mason
Ben Bishop
GP
31
31
26
30
16
31
11
31
31
15
28
12
12
17
13
8
31
12
15
30
24
25
13
1
14
1
G
16
12
10
2
6
9
2
1
2
6
1
1
1
0
3
3
0
2
2
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
A PTS +/- PIM
14
30 -19
12
9
21
-7
33
10
20
10
4
18
20
E
18
12
18 -12
12
7
16
-3
83
13
15
1
2
8
9
-6
15
6
8
-5
46
2
8
1
30
5
6 -14
24
5
6
-4
6
5
6
-1
2
4
4
E
24
1
4
-5
32
1
4
-1
4
4
4
-2
27
2
4
2
2
1
3
-4
0
1
2
-6
12
2
2
-7
68
1
2 -13
20
1
1
-4
0
1
1
E
0
0
0
-6
17
0
0
-1
2
GP W L GAA
16 8 5 3.19
15 3 10 3.17
5 1 1 3.18
SV
353
391
97
ATOI PPG PPA SHG SHA SOG SPCT
19:43
9
7
0
0
81 19.8
18:17
8
2
0
0
78 15.4
15:46
4
4
0
0
50
20
15:33
0
6
0
0
60
3.3
19:55
2
9
1
0
46
13
17:01
2
2
0
0
56 16.1
18:06
0
9
0
0
31
6.5
16:43
0
0
0
0
45
2.2
22:01
0
1
0
0
35
5.7
12:53
0
1
0
0
29 20.7
25:07
1
2
0
0
49
2
18:35
0
5
0
0
19
5.3
17:38
1
3
0
0
23
4.3
17:08
0
3
0
0
19
0
12:08
2
1
0
0
13 23.1
10:59
2
0
0
0
11 27.3
20:01
0
1
0
0
27
0
15:15
1
0
0
0
16 12.5
10:43
0
0
0
0
17 11.8
16:32
0
0
0
0
19
5.3
5:40
0
0
0
0
9
0
12:45
0
0
0
0
20
5
10:53
0
0
0
0
3
0
8:20
0
0
0
0
0
0
10:50
0
0
0
0
8
0
15:05
0
0
0
0
0
0
SV% SHO TGA TSA PIM ENG
88.9%
0
44 397
0
1
90.3%
1
42 433
0
5
89.0%
0
12 109
0
0
*Statistics reflect time with St. Louis only. For full season totals, see Pg 14.
Blues Leaders
Goals
Brad Boyes
Assists
David Perron
Points
Brad Boyes
Plus/Minus Patrik Berglund
PP Goals
Brad Boyes
Wins
Manny Legace
GAA
Chris Mason
Save PCT
Chris Mason
16
18
30
10
9
8
3.17
90.3%
Blues All-Time
Games Played
Goals
Points
PIM
Goalie GP
Wins
GAA
Shutouts
Leaders
Bernie Federko
Brett Hull
Bernie Federko
Brian Sutter
Mike Liut
Mike Liut
Jacques Plante
Glenn Hall
Only Suicidal In The Mornings.
St. Louis Game Time
927
527
1,073
1,873
347
151
2.07
16
G AME T IME
Page 7
Minnesota Wild Statistics
Skater Statistics
PLAYER
Mikko Koivu, C
Antti Miettinen, RW
Andrew Brunette, LW
Eric Belanger, C
Marc-Andre Bergeron, D
Pierre-Marc Bouchard, RW
Marek Zidlicky, D
Brent Burns, D
Benoit Pouliot, C
Kim Johnsson, D
Owen Nolan, RW
James Sheppard, C
Stephane Veilleux, LW
Colton Gillies, C
Marian Gaborik, RW
Nick Schultz, D
Derek Boogaard, LW
Martin Skoula, D
Krys Kolanos, C
Craig Weller, D
Erik Reitz, D
Cal Clutterbuck, RW
Tomas Mojzis, D
Goalie Statistics
PLAYER
Niklas Backstrom
Josh Harding
GP G A PTS +/- PIM ATOI PPG PPA SHG SHA SOG SPCT
31 11 21
32
5
32 22:08
3
10
1
0 112
9.8
31 8 15
23
-2
16 19:10
2
6
0
0
66 12.1
31 10 10
20
E
10 17:52
5
4
0
0
43 23.3
29 8 10
18
-4
2 18:03
2
7
0
0
64 12.5
31 3 13
16
-2
18 17:06
3
8
0
0
64
4.7
28 6 8
14
-6
6 16:48
2
2
0
0
58 10.3
27 4 10
14
-6
28 22:32
4
7
0
0
50
8
27 5 6
11
-5
27 20:36
3
2
0
0
77
6.5
31 5 6
11
3
14 11:55
2
2
0
0
31 16.1
31 1 9
10
-3
18 24:27
0
5
0
1
38
2.6
17 5 5
10
-1
8 15:24
3
2
0
0
41 12.2
31 2 5
7 -10
11 15:14
0
0
0
0
30
6.7
31 3 2
5
-9
15 16:04
0
0
0
0
58
5.2
15 1 3
4
E
8 8:44
0
1
0
0
9 11.1
4 2 1
3
2
0 20:48
0
0
0
0
15 13.3
31 0 3
3
2
21 20:34
0
0
0
0
23
0
28 0 3
3
5
54 4:27
0
0
0
0
9
0
31 0 2
2
-4
4 19:23
0
0
0
0
21
0
3 1 1
2
1
4 11:06
0
0
0
0
4
25
15 1 1
2
-1
22 6:37
1
0
0
0
11
9.1
24 1 1
2
1
34 10:38
0
0
0
0
13
7.7
27 2 0
2
-4
15 10:15
1
0
0
0
32
6.3
4 0 1
1
-1
2 7:15
0
1
0
0
2
0
GP W L GAA
27 15 10 2.25
6 1 3 2.04
SV SV% SHO TGA TSA PIM ENG
724 92.5%
3
59 783
0
1
140 93.3%
0
10 150
0
0
*Statistics reflect time with current team only.
Wild Leaders
Goals
Assists
Points
Plus/Minus
PP Goals
Wins
GAA
Save PCT
Mikko Koivu
Mikko Koivu
Mikko Koivu
Mikko Koivu
Andrew Brunette
Niklas Backstrom
Josh Harding
Josh Harding
11
21
32
5
5
15
2.05
93.3%
Wild All-Time Leaders
Games Played Marian Gaborik
Goals
Marian Gaborik
Points
Marian Gaborik
PIM
Matt Johnson
Goalie GP
Manny Fernandez
Wins
Manny Fernandez
GAA
Niklas Backstrom
Shutouts
Dwayne Roloson
489
208
417
698
260
113
2.19
15
Change Simply For The Sake Of Change.
www.StLouisGameTime.com
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
Page 8
Like The Photos in GT?
The Big Johnson Joke of the Day
Now available for purchase
from our photographer
Hey there, Minnesota, you wanna know how big my
Johnson is?
My Johnson is so big, it forechecks
while I backcheck.
My Johnson is so big, it spoils every
Christmas by sneaking down early
and opening all the presents.
My Johnson is so big, it gets its
copies of Game Time for free.
The Roman Polak Joke of the Day
Great Rates!
Perfect for autographs!
Great gifts for your favorite fan!
View the shots online.
Contact: Andrew D’Angelo
[email protected]
(314) 546-0369
A popular bar on Washington Avenue just had a new robotic
bartender installed. A guy came in for a drink and the robot
asked him, “What's your IQ?”
The man replied, “130.” So the robot
proceeded to make conversation about
physics, astronomy, and so on.
Another guy came in for a drink
and the robot asked him, “What's
your IQ?”
The man responded, “100.” So the
robot started talking about the
Super Bowl, dirt bikes, and so on.
A third guy came in to the bar. As with the others, the robot
asked him, “What's your IQ?”
The man replied, “80.” The robot then said, “So, how are
things with the Polaks these days?”
The BJ Crombeen Joke of the Day
Wanna Be Semi-Famous
(Regionally)?
Do you have a different
perspective?
Passion? Knowledge? Desire?
Work well under deadlines?
Ever pay kick-backs to an editor
to get better space?
We’re looking for writers, graphic artists,
statisticians and comedy writers.
Contact: [email protected]
On his 60th birthday, a man’s wife asked him, “What do you
want to do on your special day?”
The man replies, “Well, in all of our
years together, you’ve never given me a
BJ. I’d like that.”
The wife, visibly offended, says, “No
way! You’d lose all respect for me.
There’s no way that’s happening!”
She storms out of the room.
Later, after several hours of thinking
about the request, she decides that out
of love, she should grant the request. She surprises him in the
bedroom and completes the act.
As they lay in the bed afterwards the phone rings and the
man answers it.
“Sure, hold on,” he says, “Here, it’s for you, cocksucker.”
G AME T IME
Page 9
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, Blues Style
By Childhood Trauma
'Twas the week before Christmas, when all through the
place
Then just a bit later yelled “Jump!” to Towel Boy..
The playoffs were gone, at least at this pace;
Down the aisle Louie came with a bound.
The third jerseys were lettered with rookies galore,
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
In hopes that the season would produce a bit more;
And his clothes were all tarnished with boogers and soot;
The children were crowded all round dirty Louie,
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
Who was performed by an inmate a bit screwy;
And he looked like a pedophile just touching some back.
And mamma with her Game Time, and I in the ‘Note,
His eyes -- how they twinkled! His ears how merry!
Had just settled down for some all stars to vote,
When out on the ice there arose such a clatter,
His cheeks were like blueberries, his clothes like Don
Cherry!
I sprang from my seat to see what was the matter.
He was a zero and that made me smile,
The teams were at center but the puck had not dropped,
And the whiff he was giving meant no bath for a while;
When Cam threw a punch that couldn’t be topped.
The game grabbed back my attention real quick,
The Answer Man’s column had fell to the floor
One of our Boyes just scored a hat trick;
As Cam’s opponent turtled and wanted no more,
‘Twas a power play goal now it was 4-2.
When, what to ears was a sound like a squeal,
But in reality was a ref who answered to Peel,
So the crowd looked at their goalie and shouted “Screw
you!”
With a raise of his arm, so weak and so thin,
He was chubby and plump, a lot like old Turek,
He commanded our Cam to the evil sin bin.
The Schwarz was with him, not even a Marek.
More rapid than McDonald his linemen did come,
A wink of coach’s eye and a jerk of his thumb,
And he whistled, and dropped it, and I sat back on my
bum;
Soon gave me to know their goalie was done;
“Great save! Clear it! Damn it, pass truer!
And then the coach needed to pardon his French,
Go, Boyes! Skate Perron! Shoot it! and Trade Brewer!
And after a time out and an empty old net,
To the top of slot! To the back of the net!
The crowd wanted one more on that you can bet;
Get the rookies out! Never mind! Show me the vets!”
Perron sprang to his line, and passed it to Brad,
Just like Santa handing a gift to his elf,
And away flew the puck that made us all glad.
A pass went to BJ who one-timed it, top shelf,
‘Cos I heard him exclaim, the old goal scoring wizard,
As I filled in the score card, and was turning around,
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his bench,
So up lit the lamp, and the glad hands flew,
Andy Murray looked mean, but what else is new?.
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a free Blizzard!”
And then, in a twinkling the fans jumped for joy
Still Probably Not On The ‘Nice’ List.
St. Louis Game Time
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
Page 10
The Ghost of the Blues
With Jeff Browning
I have always loved paying attention to really obscure Blues
players who come and go faster than anyone else can really
care. But I have no recollection of Tomas Mojzis whatsoever.
The Blues got him at the trade deadline
along with a third rounder for Eric
Weinrich (meaning even though I know
nothing about the guy, I do know it was a
good trade), and he spent most of the next season
with Peoria. He did play six games here in 200607 and he even got a goal, putting him higher than
most of our defense that year. He played a few games with the
Wild this year, but was quickly sent down to the AHL, so
maybe he’ll be a phantom in Minnesota as well.
Minnesota is the state of hockey, and we have a few young
Minnesotans on our team. TJ Oshie is from Warroad
(awesome name), Steve Wagner hails from Grand Rapids
(not Michigan), and David Backes comes from Minneapolis.
The latter two were teammates at Minnesota State University
at Mankato from 2004-06. Surprisingly, not too many
Mankato Maverick hockey players have made it big, and
Backes may be the most famous alumnus ever to come from
the school (his only competition -- Cedric Yarbrough a.k.a.
Deputy Jones from “Reno 911”).
Pavol Demitra not only doesn’t play for Minnesota anymore,
but he has been trash talking the team lately. Funny because he
rarely did any coherent talking at all with us. While Vancouver
was looking for a new captain, he said Minnesota’s alternating
captaincy was one of the stupidest things he has ever heard.
More recently, he claimed that Jacques Lemaire kept the team
on a short leash, and that a player like Marian Gaborik would
flourish on a team like the Canucks. In other news, Demitra is
the only Slovak on the Canucks and is very lonely.
Speaking of former Wild, obscure Blues, Minnesota natives,
and -- bringing the entire article together -- draft picks: Sean
Hill. He currently plays in the Swiss league, but the Wild was
the last team to pick him up, and during
steroid allegations too. A twenty game
suspension and a few passed lie detector
tests later, his name was cleared. Regardless, if
you don’t remember his hit on Chris Dingman
vs. Colorado in the Conference Finals, you aren’t a Blues fan.
While Owen Nolan may be getting more injuries than goals
these days (let’s sign him!) he still holds the record for the
longest goal in Kiel/Sav/Scot history when the Sharks beat us
in Game 7. That record is probably pretty safe, too, as it was
scored from 6,076 feet away.
Blues Record When…
Playing at HidingInTheBathroomOvernightCentre
Playing on the road
WTF?!? A T-shirt for the X-mas gift!?! Really?!?
They score first
The other team scores first
They score 4 or more goals
They score fewer than 4 goals
They score on the PP
The other team scores on the PP
They score shorthanded
The other team scores shorthanded
A Blues players has multiple goals
An opposing player has multiple goals
They take 30 or more shots
They allow 30 or more shots
They played the day before
The other team played the day before
Sunday Games
Monday Games
Tuesday Games
Wednesday Games sure do suck ass
Thursday Games
Friday Games
Saturday Games
Playing in October
Playing in November
7-6-2
5-10-1
12-16-3
6-2-3
6-13-0
8-1-1
4-15-2
10-8-3
5-12-2
1-0-0
1-1-0
6-2-1
2-6-1
4-5-0
6-9-2
4-3-1
2-2-1
1-0-1
2-0-0
1-1-0
0-6-0
1-3-1
3-1-1
4-6-0
5-4-0
5-6-2
With LosBri
Don't have to drive to Peoria to see the Rivermen
Leading after the 1st
Tied after the 1st
Trailing after the 1st
Still hating Owen Nolan
Leading after the 2nd
Tied after the 2nd
Trailing after the 2nd
Crowd Fight! Crowd Fight! Crowd Fight!
Fight! Fight! Fight!
No fights
They are called for 7 or more penalties
Other team called for 7 or more penalties
Emmanual "Half a brain" Legace starts
Chris "I'll still be here next year" Mason starts
Ben Bishop Starts
Game is on FSN
Game is on KPLR
Game is on VS
Playing the Eastern Conference
Playing the Atlantic Division
Playing the Northeast Division
Playing the Southeast Division
Playing the Western Conference
Playing the Central Division
Playing the Northwest Division
12-16-3
5-2-3
4-4-0
3-10-0
12-16-3
7-1-1
3-2-2
2-13-0
1-0-0
5-9-1
7-7-2
4-7-2
4-7-1
8-7-1
3-8-1
1-1-1
5-11-3
3-4-0
1-0-0
3-5-1
0-2-0
1-1-1
2-2-0
9-11-2
5-1-0
1-4-1
Page 11
Franchise Foundations
St. Louis Blues
Year
Player
1999
2001
2002
2003
2004
Barret Jackman ~ Drafted 1st rd (17 overall) by STL
Jay McClement ~ Drafted 2nd round, 57 overall by STL
D.J. King ~ Drafted in 6th rd (190 overall) by STL
David Backes ~ Drafted in 2nd rd (62 overall) by STL
Roman Polak ~ Drafted in 6th rd (180 overall) by STL
T.J. Oshie ~ Drafted in 1st rd (24 overall) by STL
Eric Brewer ~ Acquired from EDM with Jeff Woywitka
and Doug Lynch for Chris Pronger
Jeff Woywitka ~ Acquired from EDM with Eric Brewer
and Doug Lynch for Chris Pronger
Erik Johnson ~ Drafted in 1st rd (1 overall) by STL
Patrik Berglund ~ Drafted in 1st rd (25 overall) by STL
Jay McKee ~ Signed as Free Agent (BUF)
Dan Hinote ~ Signed as Free Agent (COL)
Manny Legace ~ Signed as Free Agent (DET)
Yan Stastny ~ Acquired from BOS for 5th rd pick in
2007
Brad Boyes ~ Acquired from BOS for Dennis
Wideman
Steve Wagner ~ Signed as Free Agent (undrafted)
David Perron ~ Drafted in 1st rd (26 overall) by STL
Keith Tkachuk ~ Signed as Free Agent. Originally
acquired from PHX in 2001 for a 1st rd pick in 2002,
Ladislav Nagy, Michal Handzus and Jeff Taffe
Paul Kariya ~ Signed as Free Agent (NAS)
Andy McDonald ~ Acquired from ANA for Doug
Weight, Michal Birner and a 7th rd pick in 2008
Cam Janssen ~ Acquired from NJ for Bryce Salvador
Mike Weaver ~ Signed as Free Agent (VAN)
Chris Mason ~ Acquired from NAS for a 4th rd pick in
2008
B.J. Crombeen ~ Claimed off waivers (DAL)
Alexander Steen ~ Acquired with Carlo Colaiacovo
from TOR for Lee 'Dutchie' Stempniak
Carlo Colaiacovo ~ Acquired with Alexander Steen
from TOR for Lee 'Dutchie' Stempniak
2005
2006
2007
2008
Minnesota Wild
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2005
2006
2007
2008
Player
Marian Gaborik ~ Drafted in 1st rd (3 overall) by MIN
Nick Schultz ~ Drafted in 2nd round, 33 overall by MIN
Erik Reitz ~ Drafted in 6th rd (170 overall) by MIN
Mikko Koivu ~ Drafted in 1st rd (6 overall) by MIN
Stephane Veilleux ~ Drafted in 3rd round, 93 overall by
MIN
Derek Boogaard ~ Drafted in 7th round, 202 overall by
MIN
Pierre-Marc Bouchard ~ Drafted in 1st round, 8 overall
by MIN
Josh Harding ~ Drafted in 2nd rd (38 overall) by MIN
Brent Burns ~ Drafted in 1st round, 20th overall by
MIN
Benoit Pouliot ~ Drafted in 1st rd (4 overall) by MIN
Kurtis Foster ~ Signed as Free Agent (ANA)
Martin Skoula ~ Acquired with Shawn Belle from DAL
for Willie Mitchell
James Sheppard ~ Drafted in 1st rd (9 overall) by MIN
Cal Clutterbuck ~ Drafted in 3rd rd (72 overall) by MIN
Niklas Backstrom ~ Signed as Free Agent (undrafted)
Kim Johnsson ~ Signed as Free Agent (PHI)
Colton Gillies ~ Drafted in 1st rd (16 overall) by MIN
Eric Belanger ~ Signed as Free Agent (ATL)
Marc-Andre Bergeron ~ Acquired from ANA for a 3rd
rd pick in 2008.
Tomas Mojzis ~ Signed as Free Agent (STL)
Marek Zidlicky ~ Acquired from NAS for Ryan Jones
and a 2nd rd pick in 2009
Andrew Brunette ~ Signed as Free Agent (COL)
Craig Weller ~ Signed as Free Agent (PHX)
Antti Miettinen ~ Signed as Free Agent (DAL)
Owen Nolan ~ Signed as Free Agent (CGY)
What’d McGrath Trade For These Guys?
St. Louis Game Time
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
Page 12
NHL Leaders
NHL Leaders
Points
1. Evgeni Malkin, PIT
2. Sidney Crosby, PIT
3. Alex Ovechkin, WAS
4. Zach Parise, NJ
5. Jarome Iginla, CGY
27. Brad Boy es, STL
53
46
43
39
38
30
Goals Against Average
1. Steve Mason, CLS
2. Manny Fernandez, BOS
3. Jonas Hiller, ANH
4. Tim Thomas, BOS
5. Craig Anderson, FLA
39. Chris Mason, STL
Goals
1. Thomas Vanek, BUF
2. Jeff Carter, PHI
3. Phil Kessel, BOS
4. Alex Ovechkin, WAS
5. Zach Parise, NJ
9. Brad Boyes, STL
24
22
21
20
18
16
Save Percentage
1. Craig Anderson, FLA
2. Jonas Hiller, ANH
3. Tim Thomas, BOS
4. Steve Mason, CLS
5. Roberto Luongo, VAN
30. Chris Mason, STL
Plus/Minus
1. Evgeni Malkin, PIT
2. Alexander Semin, WAS
3. Simon Gagne, PHI
4. Marc Savard, BOS
5. Blake Wheeler, BOS
43. Patrik Berglund, STL
20
20
19
18
18
10
Wins
1. Miikka Kiprusoff, CGY
2. Henrik Lundqvist, NYR
3. Evgeni Nabokov, SJ
4. Niklas Backstrom, MIN
5. Ryan Miller, BUF
27. Manny Legace, STL
1.91
2.02
2.07
2.15
2.15
3.17
94.0%
93.6%
93.2%
92.9%
92.8%
90.3%
18
18
17
15
14
8
Shootout Goals
1. Wojtek Wolski, COL
2. Nikolai Zherdev, NYR
3. Jonathan Toew s, CHI
4. Milan Hejduk, COL
5. Brad Boy es, STL
Rookie Points
1. Derrick Brassard, CLB
2. Kris Versteeg, CHI
3. Patrik Berglund, STL
4. Mikhail Grabovski, TOR
5. Blake Wheeler, BOS
Defensemen Points
1. Shea Weber, NAS
2. Dan Boyle, SJ
3. Mark Streit, NYI
4. Andrei Markov, MTL
5. Brian Campbell,CHI
87. Barret Jackm an, STL
Around The
Canucks Snub Burke — Former Canucks GM Brian Burke
complained to Vancouver media that he was upset about not
being invited to the ceremony retiring Trevor Linden’s jersey
on Thursday night.
“I was clearly excluded and I'm extremely disappointed. I
would have flown from anywhere on the planet to be there
last night.”
Burke, now the president and general manager of the
Toronto Maple Leafs, was the Canucks assistant general
manager when the team drafted Linden in 1988. In 2001,
when he was the Canucks GM, Burke made a trade to bring
Linden back to Vancouver. He signed Linden to a new
contract in 2003 to keep him in the fold.
Linden, for his part, did not snub Burke, thanking him
during his speech.
Probably Someone From
world prepares for the 2009
Ottawa, the family of Detroit
is hoping to get the WJC
returned to them.
Detroit — As the junior hockey
World Junior Championship in
Red Wing prospect Logan Pyett
gold medal he won last year
The gold medal from last year’s WJC was on display in the
home of Pyett’s parents in Balgonie, Sask., but was stolen on
Tuesday when thieves broke in while the couple was at a
Christmas function.
The Pyett’s car and other personal effects were also stolen.
The medal was on display with his Team Canada sweater,
which was not stolen.
“We’re hoping it will be like when Sidney Crosby’s jersey
was stolen and he got it back,” said Jayme Day, Pyett’s aunt.
Pyett is playing this season with Detroit’s farm team in
Grand Rapids, Mich., of the AHL.
Wrigley Getting Ready — In the battle of Blues’ fans most
hated teams, the Red Wings will visit the Blackhawks on
New Year’s Day for the second ‘Winter Classic.’ This year the
game is taking place in the home of Cubs’ baseball, Wrigley
Field.
The folks in charge of the rink have already started building the playing surface (including a ceremonial arrival of all
of the equipment in a truck with Bobby Hull riding shotgun)
and are supposedly ahead of schedule already.
Tickets for the game are doing a good deal of business on
the electronic Bays already and the players and fans are all
getting properly geeked up. Of course, we’d all care about
1,000% more if there was any other team skating on that day
than the two participating in the game.
Seriously, what’s worse than being way hungover and
having the only televised hockey game of the day be the
Wings and Hawks?
One interesting quirk of the game is that the teams will
not only switch sides to start each period, but they will also
change sides halfway through the third period. The hope is
to negate the effects of the notorious winds that blow
through the Friendly Confines. We say, Fuck ‘em, can they
both play into the wind?
5
5
4
4
3
25
24
20
20
18
26
26
25
24
23
8
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
Page 13
Fried Chicken’s
www.hockey
www.hockey--fights.com
Tonight’s Matchup: Coming into tonight the Minnesota Wild have but 19 fights to their credit, while the Blues have fought 31
times. But without the services of DJ King, the boys in Blue really don’t have an answer for the monster named Derek Boogaard
who pretends he’s a hockey player and protects the Euro-heavy Wild lineup. Once you take the cement block headed Boogaard
out of the equation, there aren’t many other guys on the team that like to drop ‘em.
St. Louis Blues Probable Fighters
Minnesota Wild Probable Fighter
•Cam Janssen – Cam has done quite well filling in for the
injured DJ King so far, hanging in there with much bigger
opponents. For some reason, though, Andy Murray has made
Janssen a healthy scratch a lot lately. He has eight fights so far
this season, with his last one occurring on 12/8 against
Nashville’s Wade Belak.
•Derek Boogaard – If DJ Dwayne King Kong wasn’t nursing
his torn up shoulder out at the condo, there’d be some potential for a really great bout tonight between him and Boogaard.
As it stands, no one is likely crazy enough to go with ‘the
Bogeyman.’ At 6’8 and 257 pounds, we don’t blame them for
taking a pass.
•Brandon Crombeen – Crombeen is a high energy, physical
•Nick Schultz – Schultz can handle himself, but is clearly a
player who is willing to drop the gloves when need be. He is
6’2, 212 pounds, and he’s a decent fighter who will win some
and lose some. He’s on a heck of a scoring streak right now,
but he still makes time for the dirty work. BJ has had eight
fights thus far. He lost his last fight to Anaheim’s Steve
Montador on 12/10.
‘fight for your teammates’ type of guy. He isn’t likely looking to
pick a fight, but if he needs to send a message for himself or
for one of his elfish teammates, he’ll do it.
•Brad Winchester – Winchester is a big guy with the size of
a heavyweight at 6’5, 230 pounds. He’s a good fighter, as he
showed poor Matt Greene of the LA Kings this past Thursday
by nailing him several times in the noggin.
•Erik Reitz – Reitz isn’t much of a brawler and will pick his
opponents wisely. Case in point: He fought Jordin Staal of the
Pittsburgh Penguins this year. Guess Pierre Turgeon wasn’t
available.
Best bet of the night: Cam Janssen vs playing time.
Date
11/1/2007
3/22/2007
12/17/2007
Combatants
Description
Decision
DJ King vs
Derek Boogaard
In a battle of true heavyweights, Boogaard got the better of
the bout. He changed hands a couple times, getting King to
back away. He tagged him with a left and then he quickly
went back to the right and landed a weak uppercut. They
came in close again and Boogaard threw a series of shots to
the back of King’s head.
Win: Boogaard
DJ King vs
Derek Boogaard
Boogaard completely dominated this one with a couple big
bombs that had King reeling early. He also managed to land
a beauty of an uppercut. In what became a very long fight,
King tried to throw as much as he could, but was in defense
mode from the start.
Win: Boogaard
Nick Schultz vs
Rene Bourque (CGY)
With only two fights over the last four years, the Wild and
Blues don’t dance much. Nick Schultz had this, the team’s
latest fight this week. He took on Bourque as a messagesender, but was wildly mismatched and was thrown around
wildly by Bourque
Win: Bourque
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
Page 14
#
4
5
7
9
10
13
15
18
19
20
21
22
25
26
28
29
42
43
46
55
57
62
74
77
#
34
50
Player
Pos
Eric Brewer
D
Barret Jackman
D
Keith Tkachuk
C
Paul Kariya
L
Andy McDonald
C
Dan Hinote
R
Brad Winchester
L
Jay McClement
C
D.J. King
L
Alexander Steen
C
Patrik Berglund
C
Brad Boyes
R
Yan Stastny
C
B.J. Crombeen
R
Carlo Colaiacovo
D
Jeff Woywitka
D
David Backes
C
Mike Weaver
D
Roman Polak
D
Cam Janssen
R
David Perron
L
Tyson Strachan
D
T.J. Oshie
C
Jay McKee
D
TOTALS
Player
Manny Legace
Chris Mason
TOTALS
S/P Ctry Ht Wt C Rk GP
ON CAN 70 200 L
16
AB CAN 72 195 L
15
City
S/P Ctry Ht Wt S Rk GP
Vernon
BC CAN 75 222 L
28
Trail
BC CAN 72 203 L
31
Melrose
MA USA 74 232 L
31
Vancouver
BC CAN 70 180 L
11
Strathroy
ON CAN 71 183 L
16
Leesburg
FL USA 72 187 R
14
Madison
WI USA 77 228 L
13
Kingston
ON CAN 73 201 L
31
Meadow Lake SK CAN 74 228 L
1
Winnipeg
MB CAN 73 205 L
32
Vesteras
SWE 76 187 L Y 26
Mississauga
ON CAN 72 195 R
31
Quebec City
QC CAN 70 191 L
25
Denver
CO USA 74 212 R Y 30
Toronto
ON CAN 73 200 L
22
Vermilion
AB CAN 74 217 L
17
Minneapolis
MN USA 75 216 R
31
Bramalea
ON CAN 69 182 R
13
Ostrava
CZE 73 227 R
31
St. Louis
MO USA 72 210 R
24
Sherbrooke
QC CAN 72 180 R
30
Melfort
SK CAN 75 205 R Y
1
Mt. Vernon
WA USA 71 170 R Y 12
Kingston
ON CAN 76 203 L
30
General Manager:
Ray Bennett
Andy Murray
Larry Pleau
Rick Wamsley
Brad Shaw
Head Coach:
Asst / Goalie Coach:
Asst Coaches:
St. Louis Blues Rosters
and Statistics
DOB
Apr 17 '79
Mar 05 '81
Mar 28 '72
Oct 16 '74
Aug 25 '77
Jan 30 '77
Mar 01 '81
Mar 02 '83
Jun 27 '84
Mar 01 '84
Jun 02 '88
Apr 17 '82
Sep 30 '82
Jul 10 '85
Jan 27 '83
Sep 01 '83
May 01 '84
May 02 '78
Apr 28 '86
Apr 15 '84
May 28 '88
Oct 30 '84
Dec 23 '86
Sep 08 '77
DOB
City
Feb 04 '73 Toronto
Apr 20 '76 Red Deer
G
A Pts +/- PIM TOI/G
Salary
1
5
6
-14
24 25:07
$4,500,000
2
6
8
-6
46 22:02
$2,500,000
12
9
21
-7
33 18:16
$4,500,000
2
13
15
1
2 18:06
$6,000,000
6
12
18
-12
12 19:55
$3,333,333
0
0
0
-6
17 10:50
$1,000,000
3
1
4
-5
32 12:07
$600,000
1
8
9
-6
15 16:42
$950,000
0
1
1
0
0
8:20
$550,000
3
7
10
-5
8 16:22
$1,700,000
10
10
20
10
4 15:46
$850,000
16
14
30
-19
12 19:42
$2,500,000
1
1
2
-13
20 12:45
$500,000
7
6
13
0
56 10:57
$550,000
1
6
7
-6
12 17:48
$1,400,000
0
4
4
0
24 17:07
$725,000
9
7
16
-3
83 17:00
$2,500,000
0
1
1
-3
0 10:49
$700,000
0
4
4
-3
27 20:02
$475,000
0
2
2
-7
68
5:39
$550,000
2
18
20
0
18 15:33
$875,000
0
0
0
-1
2 15:05
$575,000
2
2
4
2
2 15:15
$850,000
1
1
2
-5
12 16:30
$4,000,000
79 138 217 -108 529
$42,683,333
W
L OT
SO GAA Sv%
Salary
8
5
1
0 3.19 88.9%
$2,500,000
3
10
1
1 3.17 90.3%
$3,000,000
11 15
2
1
$5,500,000
$48,183,333
Page 15
Ctry
USA
CZE
SWE
CAN
FIN
SVK
IRL
CAN
CAN
CAN
CAN
FIN
CAN
CAN
CAN
CAN
CZE
CAN
CAN
CAN
CAN
CAN
Ht
73
71
73
77
74
73
73
76
73
76
72
72
71
80
71
75
75
69
74
73
75
70
Wt
222
190
193
219
200
199
214
220
210
189
190
190
213
257
187
206
226
198
210
200
199
173
S
R
R
L
R
L
L
R
R
L
L
L
L
R
L
L
R
L
L
L
L
L
L
Rk GP
24
27
31
27
31
4
17
15
31
Y 15
31
31
Y 27
28
29
3
31
31
31
31
Y 31
28
S/P Ctry Ht Wt C Rk GP
SK CAN 73 197 R
6
FIN 73 189 L
27
City
S/P
Detroit
MI
Most
Malmo
Ajax
ON
Turku
Trencin
Belfast
Calgary
AB
Sudbury
ON
White Rock
BC
Saint-Georg
QC
Hameenl
Welland
ON
Saskatoon
SK
Sherbrooke
QC
Calgary
AB
Litomerice
Trois-Rivières QC
Halifax
NS
Strasbourg
SK
Alfred
ON
Sherbrooke
QC
DOB
City
Jun 18 '84 Regina
Feb 13 '78 Helsinki
DOB
Jul 29 '82
Feb 03 '77
Mar 16 '76
Mar 09 '85
Mar 12 '83
Feb 14 '82
Feb 12 '72
Mar 17 '81
Aug 24 '73
Feb 12 '89
Nov 16 '81
Jul 03 '80
Nov 18 '87
Jun 23 '82
Dec 16 '77
Jul 27 '81
Oct 28 '79
Oct 13 '80
Apr 25 '88
Aug 25 '82
Sep 29 '86
Apr 27 '84
Assistant Coaches:
Head Coach:
General Manager:
Jacques Lemaier
Doug Risebrough
Bob Mason
G
A Pts +/- PIM TOI/G
Salary
1
1
2
1
34 10:38
$500,000
4
10
14
-6
28 22:32
$3,500,000
1
9
10
-3
18 24:27
$5,250,000
5
6
11
-5
27 20:35
$3,000,000
11
21
32
5
32 22:08
$3,300,000
2
1
3
2
0 20:48
$7,500,000
5
5
10
-1
8 15:24
$2,750,000
1
1
2
-1
22
6:36
$575,000
10
10
20
0
10 17:51
$2,500,000
1
3
4
0
8
8:44
$875,000
3
2
5
-9
15 16:04
$862,500
8
15
23
-2
16 19:10
$2,000,000
2
0
2
-4
15 10:15
$557,500
0
3
3
5
54
4:27
$850,000
8
10
18
-4
2 18:03
$1,750,000
1
1
2
1
4 11:06
$500,000
0
2
2
-4
4 19:23
$1,900,000
3
13
16
-2
18 17:06
$1,691,000
2
5
7 -10
11 15:14
$850,000
0
3
3
2
21 20:34
$3,200,000
5
6
11
3
14 11:55
$850,000
6
8
14
-6
6 16:47
$3,350,000
79 135 214 -38 367
$48,111,000
W
L OT SO GAA Sv%
Salary
1
3
0
0 2.03 93.3%
$750,000
15
10
2
3 2.25 92.5%
$3,100,000
16 13
2
3
$3,850,000
$51,961,000
Goaltending Coach:
Mike Ramsey / Mario Tremblay /
Matt Shaw
Minnesota Wild Rosters
and Statistics
# Player
Pos
2 Erik Reitz
D
3 Marek Zidlicky
D
5 Kim Johnsson
D
8 Brent Burns
D
9 Mikko Koivu
C
10 Marian Gaborik
R
11 Owen Nolan
R
12 Craig Weller
R
15 Andrew Brunette
L
18 Colton Gillies
L
19 Stephane Veilleux
L
20 Antti Miettinen
R
22 Cal Clutterbuck
R
24 Derek Boogaard
L
25 Eric Belanger
C
39 Krystofer Kolanos
C
41 Martin Skoula
D
47 Marc-Andre Bergeron
D
51 James Sheppard
C
55 Nick Schultz
D
67 Benoit Pouliot
L
96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard
C
TOTALS
# Player
29 Josh Harding
32 Niklas Backstrom
TOTALS
Legend: S:Shoots; C: Catches; Rk: Rookie (any player who has played fewer than 25 games in the previous season or fewer than 26 in the previous two years
and has not reached age 26); GP: Games Played; G: Goals; A: Assists; Pts: Points; PIM: Penalties in Minutes; TOI/Game: average Time On Ice per Game.
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
Page 16
NHL Referee Statistics
1st
O
O
Blues Blues Blues
Blues Blues Blues
Game
W L T
W L T
Games PP
PK
Games PP
PK
L
L
Sarnia, ON
1980
2
5
12
1 1 0
7
26
31
3 4 0
Fraser, Kerry
North Bay, ON
1997
3
14
10
1 2 0
10
48
41
4 6 0
Leggo, Mike
Georgetown, ON
2003
2
4
7
0 2 0
5
14
18
1 3 1
McCauley, Wes
Boston, MA
2000
3
11
12
1 2 0
10
46
53
3 5 2
Rooney, Chris
Edmonton, AB
1984
1
3
5
0 1 0
3
9
13
0 3 0
Marouelli, Dan
Guelph, ON
1984
3
16
11
1 2 0
5
26
20
2 3 0
McCreary, Bill
Montreal, PQ
1990
1
3
4
0 1 0
6
21
27
4 2 0
Jackson, Dave
Guelph, ON
1989
3
13
15
1 1 1
5
24
24
2 2 1
Devorski, Paul
Richmond, BC
2000
4
19
16
1 3 0
8
30
28
1 6 1
Sutherland, Kelly
Dartmouth,
NS
1981
1
6
5
0
1
0
3
18
11
1 2 0
Koharski, Don
Essex, ON
1995
2
15
16
1 0 1
8
36
49
5 2 1
O'Halloran, Dan
Savannah, GA
1991
2
9
8
1 1 0
8
33
34
2 3 3
LaRue, Dennis
Montreal, PQ
2000
1
7
5
0 1 0
7
41
48
4 2 1
Auger, Stephane
Port Alberni, BC
1986
3
10
14
2 1 0
9
28
39
2 6 0
Shick, Rob
Toronto, ON
1996
2
8
10
0 1 1
9
32
37
3 5 1
Kimmerly, Greg
Toronto, ON
1999
3
14
12
1 2 0
9
41
31
3 4 2
Peel, Tim
1993
3
17
15
1 2 0
10
44
47
6 3 1
VanMassenhoven, Don Parkhill, ON
Regina, Sas
1996
3
16
16
1 1 1
8
35
40
3 2 3
Watson, Brad
Verdun, PQ
1999
4
18
22
1 2 1
6
25
30
1 4 1
Joannette, Marc
Winnipeg, MB
1996
3
11
15
1 2 0
12
51
62
8 4 0
Martell, Rob
Trois-Rivieres, PQ
2001
3
15
12
1 2 0
6
29
28
3 2 1
Furlatt, Eric
St John, NB
2001
2
13
13
0 1 1
6
28
31
2 2 2
Lee, Chris
Philadelphia, PA
2000
2
8
8
0 2 0
5
17
21
1 4 0
Walsh, Ian
Regina, SK
2000
3
9
10
1 1 1
Hasenfratz, Mike
Vernon, BC
2000
6
30
29
1 3 2
Kowal, Tom
Kincardine, ON
2000
1
4
3
1 0 0
6
26
27
3 3 0
Pollock, Kevin
Dayton, OH
1999
1
4
2
1 0 0
8
34
30
4 3 1
Meier, Brad
Toronto, ON
1999
6
34
25
1 3 2
Warren, Dean
Peterborough, ON
2000
1
6
2
1 0 0
2
13
8
2 0 0
Morton, Dean
Stettler, AB
2008
1
5
5
1 0 0
1
5
5
1 0 0
Rehman, Kyle
Greenfield
Park,
PQ
2006
1
6
6
1
0
0
4
16
18
1
2 1
St Laurent, Francois
Halifax, NS
2003
5
22
20
2 3 0
Dwyer, Gord
Penticton, BC
2006
6
30
26
3 3 0
Kozari, Steve
Calgary, AB
1999
2
11
7
0 1 1
O'Rourke, Dan
Detroit, MI
2006
1
4
3
1 0 0
4
18
23
1 3 0
Pochmara, Brian
Dolbeau, PQ
2003
5
23
22
3 1 1
St. Pierre, Justin
TOTALS
31
142
142 11 17 3
487
507 44 53 15
No. Official
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
18
20
21
23
25
26
27
28
29
30
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
42
43
45
Born
NHL Linesmen
#
17
47
54
56
57
59
60
Name
Heyer, Shane
Schachte, Dan
Devorski, Greg
Wheler, Mark
Sharrers, Jay
Barton, Steve
Dapuzzo, Pat
#
61
65
66
67
68
70
71
Name
Seitz, Lyle
Racicot, Pierre
Gibbs, Darren
Champoux, Pierre
Driscoll, Scott
Nansen, Derek
Kovachik, Brad
#
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
Name
Rody, Vaughan
Cameron, Lonnie
Amell, Derek
Cormier, Michel
Nowak, Tim
Mach, Brian
Pare, Mark
#
80
82
84
86
88
89
90
Name
Nelson, Thor
Galloway, Ryan
Sericolo, Tony
Lazarowich, Brad
Cvik, Mike
Miller, Steve
McElman, Andy
#
91
92
93
95
96
97
Name
Henderson, Don
Shewchyk, Mark
Murphy, Brian
Murray, Jonny
Brisebois, David
Morin, Jean
G AME T IME
Page 17
St. Louis Game Time Scorecard
St. Louis Blues vs. Minnesota Wild; Saturday, December 20, 2008
Referee: ________________________
Referee: ________________________
Linesman: ______________________
Linesman: ______________________
Shots
Team
1st
2d 3rd OT
Score
SO
F
Team
Wild
Wild
Blues
Blues
1st
Blues Starting Lineup
C:
2d 3rd OT
1st Assist
LW:
RW:
D:
D:
G:
Wild Starting Lineup
C:
LW:
RW:
Penalties Called
Per.
D:
G:
Three Stars of the Game
1st Star:
2nd Star:
3rd Star:
Other Stars of the Game
GWG:
GW Goalie:
Hard Hat:
Game Notes:
F
Goal Scoring
Per. Tim e Team Goalscorer
D:
SO
Time
Team
Penalized Player
Penalty
2nd Assist
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
Page 18
Ask Game Time’s Answer Man
Dear Answer Man,
I need some help here. I am starting up a new Rec League
Team and we can’t agree on a name. We voted as a team
and decided that we’d have you decide. Yep, our team fate is
in your hands. Also, I am relatively new to this and I can’t
decide on what number to wear. How does one go about
deciding what number to wear? I want something that is
cool and will stand out. Lay it out for me, man.
P.S. Any chance you’d want to play for us?
-Scott (Ellisville-MO)
Yo Scott, man I don’t know whether to
be flattered or to rip you a new one
for being a giant Phruit. You are the
Captain right? Is this your team? If
so, you decide and forget about the
rest of them. Take the lead, you
pussy. Tell your teammates what’s
up. Sounds like you need to reach
down and grab a pair, dude.
On the flipside I’d love to be
involved. This is always exciting to be in on the ground floor
of building a Rec. League dynasty. Naming the team is
crucial because every team needs an identity. The team
identity needs to be a shared image or one that you all want
to become. You must fully embrace it and if you have anyone
who’s not down with that, tell them to hit the road and to
keep their head up if you ever play against them.
It will depend on what league you are in. Most will have a
list of names on the internet so you know what names are
already taken. If it were my team I’d want something strong
and possibly causes people to take a second look. With that
being said, my first suggestion for your team name is “The
Meat Helicopters.” Yep, that is right. A select few of you
reading this have just done a spit take because you know
what a Meat Helicopter is. If you take this as your team
name, be ready to take on some insults about this and you’ll
need to have some thick skin, but it will really help your team
bond behind a new name. Just think how a team will hate
getting beat by The Meat Helicopters. So sweet.
My second would be “The Misfits.” This would get you
easily the coolest logo in league history by using the skull
logo from the band. I doubt you’d run into any copyright
issues. With that logo, you need to crank up the evil so you’ll
need some good colors to go with it to tie it all in. Like a good
fanny pack, you can’t have a great looking fa-pac with a gay
looking belt to go with it. It has to all go together. If you
name your team The Misfits, you’ll all have to have the same
haircut and possibly bring your equipment into the rink in
coffins. Other then that, it shouldn’t be too much.
On the flipside of these two, you could go with something
like the Butterflies or Chrysanthemums. If you do this, you
have to be a team of thugs. Each player must be at least six
foot tall and over 200 pounds (no fatties allowed either).
With fruity names like that, you have to be a team of
complete badasses. You could be like a newjack Broad Street
Bullies. This will be tough to field a team like this and
injuries will mount up.
Back up names to consider are The Skynyrds, Demons
and The Blues. Never pick the name The Wild. That is just
ridiculous and insulting to everyone in the league.
You just need to decide what your team identity is going to
be. For you, I would recommend The Meat Helicopters. It
takes real talent to pull that off (that’s what she said).
When it comes to picking a number there are a ton of
variables here. A lot of guys pick the number of the guys they
idolize. That’s fine but get these rules set right away.
Defensemen have numbers two through nine, though power
forwards may take a number in the range if they choose.
Goalies get either number one or something between 30
through 33. Forwards get 10 to 29. The nerd numbers are
like 27, 29, 23, 15 and 12. Avoid those.
The other aspect in all of this is what we call the “look at
me numbers.” Those are numbers like 66, 68, 77, 88 and 99.
For obvious reasons, you should never pick these numbers
unless you are a complete stud and can’t be stopped. Very
few of us can pull that off. Lastly, never ever pick number 69.
You look like a complete boob and your teammates will
rarely back you up. No one respects someone who wears
number 69.
Now go lace ‘em up and win it for The Answer. I almost
forgot, I appreciate the offer but I don’t want to play for a
team call The Meat Helicopters. I’m too tough for that.
Send your questions on hockey (NHL or rec league),
Busch beer or any other thing that keeps you awake at night
to: [email protected] and have them
answered here.
Mess With One Of Us, You Mess With All Of Us.
www.stlouisgametime.com
G AME T IME
Page 19
The Fantasy Files
By Duke
Watching the Blues try to play defense against the Capitals
on Thursday night, I started to think that things should’ve
started getting better a long time ago. It’s reasonable to
assume that if someone (the Blues) has been doing something
(playing bad defense) for a long time, they should get better…
right? Wrong. No matter how low my expectations are before
sitting down to watch a game, I’m still somehow left disappointed by the end of the
game. Let’s talk about something else.
With the Minnesota Wilds
in town, the topic of team
names seems to be a good
one. We’re not talking about
senselessly singular professional team names, but the
actual names that you and I
bestow on your fantasy
teams.
While you can change your
fantasy team’s name at any
Matt Walker and his
point in the season, it’s best
ever-elusive hat trick
for team morale and continulends itself to a great
ity for the team name to be
fantasy hockey team
consistent from beginning to
name.
end. Your team’s name will
become its identity. We here
at Game Time are very familiar with identity, considering the
number of columnists and contributors who use fake names
to protect their very real day jobs. I mean, who’s going to
believe that there’s actually someone out there named Chris
Gift? Crazy.
Game Time’s very own Bob Plager Fantasy Hockey
Invitational is packed full of good names. I just used “The
Fantasy Files” for quick identification purposes, in case
anyone in the league needed to get in touch with me and
didn’t want to dig around the mediocre part of the standings.
With 18 teams in the league, it gets a little confusing. GT
denizens Pagan and Dooks each took it a step further by
combining identity with originality, resulting in “Pagan Puck
Pounders” and “Dookie Dozen.” Well done.
Some of my personal favorites from the Plager Invitational,
however, include “The Penis Machinists” (Gallagher), Pabst
Smears (Childhood Trauma), “Weiner Cleaners” (The Answer
Man, of course), and the ever-elusive “Matt Walker Hat
Trick” (GT commenter Tim).
When I’m not using the immature name of my column for
identification purposes, I’ve got a personal favorite name for
my fantasy teams. There’s a bit of a story behind it, and it all
started with buying something on eBay. Don’t judge me; the
statistics say that you’ve probably done it too. Anyways, I was
checking on a seller’s feedback when I saw something that
changed my life: a snarky, Inter-web savvy purchaser of
something mundane had a sense of humor about their
satisfaction with the purchasing process and left the following
feedback. “(Insert item name here) was the final component to
my time machine – see you in the future!!!” Intrigued, I
checked the rest of the feedback that this joker left and they
were all formatted similarly. Brilliant. Since then my fantasy
teams have been guided to mediocrity under the flag of “My
Time Machine.” It’s usually accompanied by some sort of tag
line like: “Milan Lucic was the final component to my time
machine – see you in the future!!!”
Other personal favorites of mine that I’ve come across over
the years include, but certainly aren’t limited to: “Internet
Tough Guys”, “Hoof Hearted?”, “Fashionable Male” (the name
of the “classy” men’s store that Ben Affleck’s character manages
in Mallrats), “Victorious Secret”, and the always classy
“Cincinnati Bow-Ties”, “Cleveland Steamers”, or any other one
of those sex acts that, while you may understand the content,
you’d be hard pressed to find a living, breathing person who
would willingly explore it with you. Maybe check Craigslist –
you never know.
The most important thing about naming your team is
coming up with something that is clever while being at least
mildly insulting at the same time. After all, you more than likely
created the team with the intention of embarrassing someone.
As with anything else that you might concoct in your
imagination, profanity is always – and I mean always – an
effective way to drive home your point.
Let’s fuckin’ go, Blues!
You Wanna Know How I Know…
...Towel Boy Is A Douche?
•
•
•
•
His website is www.toweldouche.dik.
•
When you catch one of his towels, open it up: it’s
signed in blood and semen and says, ‘Welcome to
Herpes!’
The big blue rat thinks Towel Boy is an annoying
gimmick.
•
Sybergs agreed to give him a ride on their shuttle
if he promised not to come inside their restaurant.
He still airbrushes shit and he’s not even Mexican.
•
Kevin Federline thinks he’s pretty douchey.
The douche I sat next to last year thought he was
‘the coolest.’
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
Page 20
Tomorrow’s Blues
By Brian Weidler
Around The System, Part I
Random thoughts about the Blues’ prospect pool in general.
Bye-bye, Nikolay: As everyone who regularly reads this
column is surely aware, the Blues’ organization recently lost
a top-notch prospect when Nikolay Lemtyugov (7th
round, 219th overall in 2005) decided that the handwriting
was on the wall for him in the organization and returned
home to Mother Russia earlier this week.
After seeing less-skilled players get called up ahead of him
time and time again, Lemtyugov apparently lost confidence
in his ability to ever get a shot with
the Blues. After his sole pre-season
appearance with the Blues, during
training camp, Lemtyugov reportedly told Peoria beat writer Dave
Eminian that he felt he wasn’t good
enough to play in the NHL, an
opinion that neither Eminian nor
Peoria GM and Blues Director of
Pro Scouting Kevin McDonald
shared.
“He made a decision that is out
of our organization’s hands,”
McDonald told the Peoria JournalStar earlier this week. “He has
NHL skill and was absolutely
making progress.
“Whatever his frustration was
with the process, we can point to the other second-year
prospects on the team, and only Chris Porter has played in
the NHL from that group. We believe it takes a third or
fourth season for most guys to get to the NHL and stay.
“We were pleased with Lemtyugov’s progress, as we are
with that of Porter, Julian Talbot and teammates in his class.
We have to focus on the guys who are staying and work with
them.”
Lemtyugov now joins a list of other skilled European
players -- Alexei Shkotov, Konstantin Zakharov, Carl
Söderberg and Tomas Kana -- who chafed at being held
“down on the farm” in the Blues’ organization and opted to
return to their home countries. Kana is the only one of the
players on this list who has since returned, and has shuttled
between Peoria and Alaska as he tries to make up for lost
development time.
A pair of other skilled Russian draft picks, goalie
Konstantin Barulin (84th overall in 2003) and winger Viktor
Alexandrov (83rd overall in 2004) have yet to attend so
much as a Development Camp or even set foot in North
America.
While there is wisdom in McDonald’s stated organizational philosophy of developing prospects for at least three
years before they get an NHL shot, that does not seem to be
the case for potential impact players (players drafted in the
top 100 of their draft class) of North American descent, nor
do the Blues have a very good track record of rewarding their
top minor-league scoring prospects with NHL callups. More
on those subjects later...
Help Is On The Way For Shorthanded Rivermen:
While the loss of Lemtyugov has made a big impact on the
Peoria roster, the Rivermen will not be shorthanded for long.
In the last 48 hours, the Blues returned goaltender Ben
Bishop, defenseman Jonas Junland, and forward Cam
Paddock to the banks of the
Jonathan
Illinois River, and swapped a
Filewich will conditional 2010 sixth-round pick
be expected to to the Pittsburgh Penguins for
fill the gap in prospect forward Jonathan FilePeoria left by wich, who will be reporting to
the departed Peoria as soon as today.
Nikolay
Lemtyugov.
Stuck in a
clogged-up
Pittsburgh
system, he
hopes to crack
through with
the Blues.
Filewich, a 6’2, 208-pound
native of Kelowna, British Columbia, was the Penguins’ third pick
(70th overall) in 2003. A big scorer
in junior (121 goals in 321 career
WHL games) and in the AHL (30
goals with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
in 2006-07), the 25-year-old is a
good skater and plays a physical
game. In 19 games with W-B/S this
year, Filewich is 2-2-4 with one
PPG, an even plus-minus, and six minutes in penalty time.
He made his NHL debut last year with Pittsburgh, going
pointless with a minus-2 mark in five games.
Of the three returnees to Peoria, Paddock had spent the
most time this season with the Blues. Called up on Nov. 14,
the 194-pound six-footer scored his first NHL goal in his
debut that night against the Blackhawks. In 15 games with
the Blues over the last month, Paddock has two goals, an
assist, no penalty minutes, and a minus-4. The 25-year-old
Vancouver native was a model of consistency, going plus-1 in
two games, minus-1 in five, and was even in the remaining
eight games.
Bishop has been up and down between Peoria and
St. Louis a couple of times already this year, and has played
226 minutes in five appearances with the Blues. Overall,
Bishop is 1-1-1 in the NHL, with a respectable 3.19 GAA and
89.0% save percentage. He and Marek Schwarz shared a
shutout of the Florida Panthers on Oct. 25, a game that
Bishop started but left with a groin injury. With the
Rivermen, Big Ben is 8-7-0 in 15 games, with a 3.00 GAA
and 89.4% save percentage.
First-year pro Junland played one game with the Blues,
(Continued on page 21)
G AME T IME
Page 21
Selected in the first round (16th overall) of the 2007
NHL Entry Draft by Minnesota, Gillies is an excellent
skater that can use his size effectively to be a strong
presence in front of the opposition’s net. Like his Hall
of Fame uncle, Gillies plays a rugged physical game
and marries that with an ability to score key goals
when his team needs them.
By Brian Weidler
Colton Gillies
Shoots:
Left
Height:
6' 4
Weight:
189
Birthdate:
February 12, 1989
Birthplace:
White Rock, B.C., Canada
Thirty years ago, Clark Gillies made a name
for himself as a big, physical, grinding winger who
could also chip in a big goal when needed. Gillies was
an integral part of the New York Islander dynasty
that won four Stanley Cups, and in a new era, nephew
Colton Gillies hopes to carry on the family tradition
in “The State Of Hockey” with the Wild.
In his draft year of 2006-07, Gillies was
rated a potential top ten selection by
various scouting services even though he
managed only 13-17-30 totals and a
minus-20 with 148 PIM in 65 games for
Saskatoon (WHL). the following season,
Gillies upped his goal total to 24 (14 power
play goals), and signed with Minnesota in
March of 2007, finishing the season in Houston
(AHL) with 1-7-8 totals in 11 games.
In 14 games with the Wild this season, Gillies is 0-3-3
with a minus-1 mark and six minutes in penalty time.
We Dare You To Find Better Prospect Info.
That’s Right, Dare You.
St. Louis Game Time
Tomorrow’s Blues
(continued)
(Continued from page 20)
Thursday’s 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals, in which he
scored no points in 12:28 of ice time, and picked up a thirdperiod tripping penalty. With Peoria, Junland has six goals
(4 PPG, 2 SHG) and 13 points in 22 games, with 12 minutes in
penalty time and a plus-2 mark. His 13 points lead all
Rivermen blueliners, and rank him 23rd in the AHL in
defenseman scoring.
Paddock and Junland both played Friday night in Peoria’s
2-1 home loss to the Iowa Chops. Neither player scored or
chipped in an assist, Paddock picked up a pair of slashing
minors, and Junland was on the ice for Iowa’s game-winning
goal at 7:58 of the third period. Chris Holt made his fourth
consecutive start in goal for Peoria, and stopped 27 of 29 shots
in a losing effort. Holt is 2-2-0 in that span, with a 1.26 GAA, a
94.4% save percentage, and a shutout of the Rochester
Americans on Dec. 12. For the season, Holt is 4-2-0 with a 1.51
GAA and a 93.4% save percentage, the best numbers in the
Blues' prospect goaltending stable this year by a wide margin.
Next time in ‘Tomorrow’s Blues,’ we’ll take a more in-depth
look at the Blues’ history with scoring talent on the
minor-league clubs, and also review the seasons to date of the
six Blues’ prospects who will be appearing in the U-20 World
Junior Championships beginning Dec. 26. Don’t miss it, and
remember... “if we do not prepare for ourselves the role of the
hammer, there will be nothing left but that of the anvil.”
Auf wiedersehen.
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
Page 22
Remember Me?
Pettersson made a name for himself
as a smooth stickhandler with an
ugly helmet. During his rookie
season, he fell for the Snipe Hunt
trick and even believed he was
being arrested and prosecuted for
illegally hunting snipes.
Jorgen Pettersson
Born July 11, 1956
Played for the Blues 1980-85
Jorgen Pettersson played for six
seasons in the Swedish Elite League
before he was convinced to give the
North American game a try. To seal
the deal, Blues general manager
Emile Francis traveled to Stockholm to make sure that Pettersson
was the real deal and to convince
him to come to St. Louis, which he
did before the 1980-81 season.
Pettersson was told by doubters
back home that he would only last
one season in the NHL before
returning home to the style of play he was used to.
Those predictions missed the mark.
In 62 games he scored 73 points, a record for first
year players in St. Louis. He clicked immediately with
linemates Blake Dunlop and Joe Mullen. He also
spent some time playing with Brian Sutter and Bernie
Federko. Known as “The Handsome Swede,”
By Brad Lee & Chris Gift
After five seasons in St. Louis,
Pettersson was traded to Hartford
who’s GM had a soft spot for the
Swede. It was Francis. Pettersson
would go on to play one season in
Hartford, one for Washington and
then decided to return home to
Sweden where he would play four
more seasons before retiring in
1990-91. During his NHL career, he
played in 435 games and scored 174
goals and 192 assists for a total of 366 points.
In 2002 the Frolunda Hockey Club retired four
numbers, including Pettersson’s No. 19 that he wore
during two stints with the team. He still lives in
Sweden and plays hockey with several retired
Frolunda players.
Home of the Phony Tough and the Crazy Brave.
www.stlouisgametime.com
You Wanna Know How I Know…
That You’re A Wild Fan?
•
Always talking about eating bean and rye and going
to drink some beer and eat nacho while you talk
about the four new tire you put on your truck.
•
You won’t be fully thawed until July.
•
You consider ice-fishing a sport of some sort.
•
Land of 10,000 lakes and you’ve pissed in all of ‘em.
•
You wash your truck with a North Stars jersey.
•
Can’t believe that people think the dialogue in the
movie “Fargo” is funny at all. Yah.
•
Really believe that those yokels in St. Paul are envious
of you yokels in Minneapolis.
•
I heard your tire chains coming down the street for
four blocks. That and all the “yah-hoos!” gave you
away.
•
Sweet “Walz” jersey. Yah.
G AME T IME
Page 23
2 009
8
0
0
ffle
Th e 2
u
h
S
e
Skat
y
k
c
u
L
er
Track
Finishing Point
Times Occurred
This Year /
Percentage
Puck finishes in same
skate as starting point.
12 / 80.0%
Puck finishes in skate one
place lower than start
point.
3 / 20.0%
Puck finishes in skate one
place higher than start
point.
0 / 0.0%
“How much can
you know about
yourself if you’ve
never
been in
a
fight?”
St. Louis Game Time
www.stlouisgametime.com
Game Time Gear
Top 11 Ways That Derek
Boogaard Spends His Day
11.
10.
9.
Time to get your gear.
Any color. Any size.
Represent.
StLouisGameTime.com
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
Remembering how to ties his shoes.
Using his head to keep his neighbor’s car jacked
up while they rotate the tires.
Telling people he studies molecular biology.
Actually studying the alphabet.
Eating a whole live cow.
Fleeing the torch-toting townspeople.
Using boltcutters to trim his toenails.
Looking at some property down under a bridge.
Getting ‘L’ tattooed on his left hand.
Trying to get his fist unstuck from the jar of
jellybeans.
Using his body to count all the way up to 21.
Muttering, ‘Boogie bring hockey stick with Boogie
on ice, Boogie brink hockey stick with Boogie on
ice…”
From the 12 Fluid Ounces of Gallagher’s Brain
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
Page 24
NHL Standings—We Could Use A Win
Eastern Conference
ATLANTIC
GP W
L
OTL PTS GF
GA PP% PK% HOME
AWAY
NY Rangers
35 22 11
2
46
94
91
14.8
90.4 12-6-1 10-5-1
6-4-0
Philadelphia
31 17
8
6
40
107
96
26.6
83.6 10-4-3
6-2-2
9
7-4-3
L10
New Jersey
30 18
3
39
96
80
14.9
79.7 10-5-1
8-4-2
7-2-1
Pittsburgh
31 17 10
4
38
106
90
19.3
81.9
8-4-2
9-6-2
4-5-1
NY Islanders
32 10 19
3
23
81
119 18.8
80.1
5-8-2
5-11-1
1-8-1
NORTHEAST
GP W
L
GA PP% PK% HOME
AWAY
L10
Boston
31 22
5
4
48
114
72
27.0
81.4 12-1-1 10-4-3
9
OTL PTS GF
8-2-0
Montreal
31 17
5
39
92
80
13.7
81.6 10-4-3
7-5-2
5-4-1
Buffalo
32 16 13
3
35
91
90
18.3
88.4
9-8-1
7-5-2
5-5-0
Toronto
31 12 13
6
30
94
109 20.7
75.2
6-5-4
6-8-2
5-4-1
Ottawa
30 11 14
5
27
68
83.6
8-6-3
3-8-2
4-5-1
SOUTHEAST
GP W
GA PP% PK% HOME
AWAY
L10
Washington
33 20 10
3
43
107
95
23.2
80.2 13-1-1
7-9-2
7-3-0
Carolina
32 15 12
5
35
83
95
14.5
79.5
9-8-1
6-4-4
4-3-3
Florida
31 14 13
4
32
76
85
14.3
82.0
6-4-2
8-9-2
6-2-2
Atlanta
31 10 17
4
24
91
Tampa Bay
31
9
23
69
7
L
15
OTL PTS GF
79
16.7
114 19.4
71.5
5-8-2
5-9-2
2-6-2
80.5
3-6-6
4-9-3
1-7-2
GA PP% PK% HOME
AWAY
L10
97
13.9
Western Conference
CENTRAL
GP W
L
Detroit
31 21
6
4
46
113
93
27.3
80.2 10-3-2 11-3-2
7-3-0
Chicago
30 17
6
7
41
111
81
24.0
83.9 10-1-4
7-5-3
7-2-1
Nashville
31 15 13
3
33
83
92
13.4
81.3
7-9-2
5-4-1
Columbus
32 14 14
4
32
89
98
10.3
79.9 10-5-1
4-9-3
5-4-1
St.Louis
31 12 16
3
27
89
7-6-2
5-10-1
3-6-1
NORTHWEST
GP W
GA PP% PK% HOME
AWAY
L10
Calgary
33 18 11
4
40
97
99
18.7
85.5
9-4-3
9-7-1
5-2-3
Vancouver
32 18 11
3
39
98
83
18.6
83.1
9-3-1
9-8-2
4-5-1
Minnesota
31 16 13
2
34
82
70
23.8
88.7
9-6-2
7-7-0
3-6-1
Colorado
32 16 15
1
33
88
93
15.7
80.2
8-6-0
8-9-1
6-3-1
Edmonton
31 14 14
3
31
83
96
18.3
73.5
4-5-3
10-9-0
5-4-1
PACIFIC
GP W
L
GA PP% PK% HOME
AWAY
L10
San Jose
32 25
4
L
OTL PTS GF
OTL PTS GF
OTL PTS GF
106 22.5
81.0
8-4-1
3
53
113
78
21.9
85.6 16-0-2
9-4-1
7-1-2
Anaheim
33 18 12
3
39
94
90
18.9
81.5 10-7-2
8-5-1
6-4-0
Phoenix
32 15 13
4
34
84
91
14.4
81.7 10-4-2
5-9-2
5-3-2
Los Angeles
32 13 13
6
32
83
92
19.0
82.7 10-6-6
3-7-0
3-4-3
Dallas
31 13 14
4
30
86
77.5
6-9-1
6-4-0
108 13.8
7-5-3
Like Holding A Little Piece Of
Punk Rock In Your Hand.
St. Louis Game Time
G AME T IME
Page 25
St. Louis Blues Schedule and Results
October
January (continued)
DATE
Oct
Oct
Oct
Oct
Oct
Oct
Oct
Oct
Oct
10
11
13
16
18
22
24
25
30
Fri
Sat
Mon
Thu
Sat
Wed
Fri
Sat
Thu
WINNING/LOSING
OPPONENT
SCORE RECORD
GOALIE
Predators
5-2
1-0-0
Legace/Ellis
@Islanders
2-5
1-1-0 MacDonald/Mason
@Maple Leafs 5-4 SO 2-1-0
Legace/Toskala
Stars
6-1
3-1-0
Legace/Turco
Blackhaw ks
4-3 SO 4-1-0 Legace/Khabibulin
Red Wings
3-4
4-2-0
Conklin/Legace
Kings
0-4
4-3-0 LaBarbera/Legace
Panthers
4-0
5-3-0
Bishop/Anderson
Hurricanes
0-1
5-4-0
Ward/Mason
Novem ber
Decem ber
Dec
Dec
Dec
Dec
Dec
Dec
Dec
Dec
Dec
Dec
Dec
Dec
Dec
Dec
Dec
3
5
6
8
10
11
13
16
18
20
21
23
27
28
30
Wed
Fri
Sat
Mon
Wed
Thu
Sat
Tue
Thu
Sat
Sun
Tue
Sat
Sun
Tue
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
2
3
9
11
13
15
OPPONENT
SCORE RECORD
@Wild
Flames
Coyotes
Predators
@Ducks
@Kings
@Sharks
Flames
@Capitals
Wild
Bruins
@Red Wings
Sharks
Ducks
Devils
0-4
3-4 OT
4-3
6-3
2-4
2-6
4-5
3-6
2-4
OPPONENT
Fri
Sat
Fri
Sun
Tue
Thu
17
19
21
24
25
29
31
Sat
Mon
Wed
Sat
Sun
Thu
Sat
SCORE RECORD
WINNING/LOSING
GOALIE
Blackhaw ks
@Bruins
@Blackhaw ks
All-Star Skills/Young Stars Game
All-Star Game
Senators
Flyers
DATE
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
OPPONENT
2
3
5
7
10
12
13
16
18
19
21
24
26
28
Mon
Tue
Thu
Sat
Tue
Thu
Fri
Mon
Wed
Thu
Sat
Tue
Thu
Sat
SCORE RECORD
WINNING/LOSING
GOALIE
SCORE RECORD
WINNING/LOSING
GOALIE
SCORE RECORD
WINNING/LOSING
GOALIE
@Red Wings
@Blue Jackets
Oilers
Avalanche
Canucks
@Predators
Blackhaw ks
Rangers
@Blue Jackets
@Predators
Predators
Coyotes
@Stars
@Coyotes
March
January
DATE
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
OPPONENT
February
WINNING/LOSING
DATE
OPPONENT
SCORE RECORD
GOALIE
Nov 1 Sat Penguins
3-6
5-5-0
Fleury/Mason
Nov 5 Wed @Ducks
2-5
5-6-0
Giguere/Mason
Nov 6 Thu @Sharks
4-5 SO 5-6-1
Nabokov/Bishop
Nov 8 Sat @Kings
3-5
5-7-1
Ersberg/Legace
Nov 12 Wed @Sabres
3-4
5-8-1
Miller/Mason
Nov 14 Fri @Blackhaw ks 4-3 OT 6-8-1 Legace/Khabibulin
Nov 16 Sun Canadiens
2-3 SO 6-8-2
Price/Legace
Nov 21 Fri Ducks
3-2 OT 7-8-2
Legace/Giguere
Nov 22 Sat @Wild
2-1
8-8-2
Mason/Backstrom
Nov 25 Tue @Predators
1-0 SO 9-8-2
Mason/Ellis
Nov 26 Wed @Avalanche
1-3
9-9-2
Budaj/Legace
Nov 29 Sat Oilers
2-4
9-10-2
Roloson/Legace
Nov 30 Sun @Thrashers
4-2
10-10-2
Mason/Pavelec
DATE
DATE
@Hurricanes
Blue Jackets
@Canucks
@Oilers
@Flames
Avalanche
10-11-2
10-11-3
11-11-3
12-11-3
12-12-3
12-13-3
12-14-3
12-15-3
12-16-3
WINNING/LOSING
GOALIE
Backstrom/Legace
Kipprusoff/Mason
Legace/Bryzgalov
Legace/Rinne
Giguere/Mason
Ersberg/Mason
Nabokov/Mason
Kipprusoff/Mason
Varlamov/Bishop
DATE
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
April
WINNING/LOSING
DATE
SCORE RECORD
GOALIE
Apr
Apr
Apr
Apr
Apr
Apr
OPPONENT
3
6
7
10
12
14
15
17
19
20
24
26
28
29
Tue
Fri
Sat
Tue
Thu
Sat
Sun
Tue
Thu
Fri
Tue
Thu
Sat
Sun
Red Wings
@Lightning
@Panthers
Stars
Sharks
Red Wings
Wild
@Oilers
@Canucks
@Flames
Kings
Canucks
Blue Jackets
@Blue Jackets
OPPONENT
1
2
4
7
10
12
Wed
Thu
Sat
Tue
Fri
Sun
@Blackhaw ks
@Red Wings
@Stars
@Coyotes
Blue Jackets
@Avalanche
Volume 4, Issue 16
December 20, 2008
Page 26
Hoping For A Wild One
(continued)
(Continued from page 1)
Midwest immediately after the loss in
Washington. “We have to play perfect
hockey. We were good, but we weren’t
perfect and good won’t cut it in this
game.”
Put those lines through the GM
Translator 2000EZ and this is what
Murray was really saying: “If we allow
more than a goal or two, we have no
chance to win. We’re lucky to get the
puck into the offensive zone without
turning it over. We don’t have a very
good power play. Don’t talk to me about
playing at even strength. Our goaltending hasn’t been good enough to
dominate a game and steal a victory. I
have no idea who’s going to play on a
line after the first faceoff. And if I keep
talking about having to play perfect and
saying we played well, maybe people
will forget how we didn’t have a chance
tonight.”
What these injuries really means is
that Andy Murray’s going to get a
mulligan on this season. Toe Blake
couldn’t coax winning hockey out of
this collection of players. The worst
part for fans is that with the injury
problems, it seems likely we won’t see
what this team was capable of. In the
early weeks of the season there was
potential. The power play was red hot,
the youngsters were showing extreme
promise; the veterans were leading the
way. All that is gone, drowned in the
whirlpool of the training room, suffocated by walking casts and athletic tape.
The Blues made a few roster moves
Friday. The Swedish Junland won’t be
seeing his second NHL game soon as he
also hopped the Peoria Shuttle with
Bishop and Cam Paddock. They traded
for Jonathan Filewich, a minor league
forward from the Penguins organization. He will report to Peoria, replacing
some Russian dude who fled back to the
Motherland because he missed his
borsht and strong vodka, apparently.
Well that and the fact that he never got
a sniff of the NHL while Winchester is
seeing power play time. OK, I can see
that.
The Wild in town tonight is only the
tip of the iceberg when it comes to how
difficult the schedule appears in the
near term for the last place in the
Western Conference Blues. The red hot
Bruins come calling Sunday. Then the
Blues play at Detroit before hosting the
Sharks, Ducks and Devils. It’s conceivable the Blues could have a 10-game
losing streak as we change the calendar
to 2009. Joy to the world!
What does Davidson mean
by “good won’t cut it”?
Let’s run it through the GM
Translator 2000EZ.
The Wild skated last night on home
ice and enjoyed a 4-1 win over the
hapless New York Islanders. Minnesota
is 3-6-1 in its last 10 games. The Wild
suffered through a five-game losing
streak of their own before an overtime
loss to the Flames Wednesday and then
the win from the charitable Islanders.
With a record of 16-13-2, the Wild are
falling behind in the Northwest
Division race with Calgary and Vancouver leading them in the standings. In
the self-proclaimed State of Hockey,
tensions are running high.
In the last meeting between St. Louis
and Minnesota, the Wild were coming
off one of their worst defensive
performances in recent team history
with a 6-5 loss to Colorado. They placed
an obvious emphasis on defense and
shut the Blues out 4-0. That wasn’t very
indicative of how the Wild were playing
at the time – they lost their next five
games. So the Wild are probably licking
their chops with another chance at the
Blues.
Captain Mikko Koivu has assumed
the mantle of “Best Minnesota Wild
Player” from the oft-injured, much
maligned with trade rumors Marian
Gaborik. Koivu, at one time a shootout
specialist and little more, has 32 points
in 31 games played. His 11 goals and 21
assists lead the Wild in both scoring
categories. He’s scored one goal and
two assists in his last five games. For
Minnesota to be competitive, Koivu will
have to keep his scoring at nearly a
point a game pace.
Gaborik scored a goal and an assist
last night in his first game after missing
27 with a lower body injury, allegedly a
yeast infection. So far this season
Gaborik has been healthy enough to
skate in four games. He has two goals
and an assist. An unrestricted free
agent after the season, the 26 year old
Slovak has balked at signing an extension with Minnesota and seems to want
to test the open market. With the economy continuing to do a nose dive and
his health a constant question, he might
want to reconsider that game plan.
Antti Miettinen has a difficult name
to spell. Good thing for him he’s on
pace to have a career year. His 23
points puts him on pace to out perform
his 34-point output last season. In his
fifth season in the league, the 28-yearold Finn is emerging as a scoring threat
on a team lacking in consistent scoring
threats.
Andrew Brunette is the only player
besides Koivu who has double digits in
goals and assists on the season. At age
35, he’s definitely on the downward
slope, but he likes to play St. Louis. In
37 career games against the Blues he’s
scored six goals and 20 assists.
Owen Nolan is still in the league.
Who knew?
Niklas Backstrom has tremendous
numbers, but any goaltender behind
this defense-first team would. He
probably can’t wait to see the Blues
again giving him one of his three
shutouts on the season.
The Wild are a tough team, even
when they’re struggling. The Blues
really need a win tonight during a
difficult part of the schedule. If they get
blown out of the building tonight, look
out. You never know where this team
could land when the fall ends. That’s’
about as optimistic as I can be. Let’s Go
Blues!
G AME T IME
Page 27
Game Time Bingo!
Someone in your
Cotton Eyed Joe guy
section vehemently wearing his jersey with
Jay McKee’s name and
dislikes Eric
TJ Oshie’s number.
Brewer.
A goal is scored in
the first two
minutes of any
period.
Someone in your
section never stops
playing with their
phone.
Red Berenson
Cowboy reveling in
success of Operation
Table Move 2008.
We Want Blizzards
still not as good as
We Want Tacos.
Cam Janssen shows
us his tits.
Another $200 stick
breaks at the worst
possible time.
Starting to worry
about Manny
Legace again.
Still not motivated
enough to vote for
the All-Star game.
The Maple Leafs
twins helping you
forget Stempniak.
Sorta.
Mite game ends in
a tie.
Sec. 307 really Yan Stastny playing Dancing Kid needs
like Dan Hinote
to expand his
wants to see
used
to
play.
repertoire.
Towel Boy jump.
Angelllla can’t decide
whether she’d rather
be picked on by GT
or left out of GT.
Fight!
Someone gets their
copy of GT on the
Jumbotron.
Hear at least two
‘Slap Shot’
references.
Colaiacovo making
Patrik Berglund
Air Horn Guy kinda that No. 28 look
better than Matt
gets another point.
fucking it up.
Walker did.
Fight!
Fight!
Barret Jackman
builds on his defenseleading 8 points.
Tkachuk works on
shaking off the
‘Mr. October’ tag.
You love Boyes.
Not that there’s
anything wrong
with that.
Get five in a row in any direction and you win!
From The Editor
(continued)
(Continued from page 2)
always made sure that his team drafted at least one goalie from
the QMJHL every single draft year. Not in the first or second
round necessarily, but at least one a year. Those kids, the reasoning went, play in a very offense-oriented league and see lots
of shots every game. They also usually play against a lot of the
premier snipers in the junior ranks. It hardens them. It makes
them more prepared for type of shelling they’ll see in the NHL.
Seems like solid advice to me.
It’s so hard to determine the quality of a goalie when he’s 18,
so you just grab a bunch of them. Mass quantities increases the
odds you’ll get a couple of quality when you need them.
Look at our future Blues teams: Patrik Berglund, Lars Eller,
TJ Oshie, Aaron Palushaj, Son of McRae, David Perron, Erik
Johnson, Alex Pietrangelo, Ian Cole, Jonas Junland and so
many others that have the opportunity in front of them.
Are you totally confident that Ben Bishop or Marek Schwarz
can step up and be the right final piece to that puzzle? I don’t
know that I am. I wonder if the Blues are.
-Sean “goalies are like beer: it’s hardly ever a
problem to have too many good ones” Gallagher
St. Louis Game Time
Giving You What You
Want Since 2005.