St LOUIS Volume 5, Issue 31 GAME TIME Februar y 12, 2010 Four Dollars of Can I Get A What-What The Number One Fan-Based St. Louis Blues Program Established in 2005 By Brad Lee push to the postseason can just be replicated with the flip of a switch when all this team has showed this year is a problem giving You might remember when Edmonton came to town last a consistent effort every night over the full 60 minutes. Something month that only one team was horrible enough to lose to the has to happen for the players to change their ways. There needs to Oilers during their horrendous losing streak. That team is here be a rallying point, a clear demarcation where they went from tonight. When the Blues come out flat after not playing for a disappointing to dangerous. Getting the coach fired wasn‘t couple days and blow a game to Toronto, it will easily be worse enough. Maybe a trade would make a difference. Maybe a huge than the stands being crowded with Blackhawks fans last brawl. Whatever happens that could bring the Blues together, it Saturday. I can‘t wait. better happen quick. Of course this open pessimism is a little different Tonight is the return of Lee Stempniak to than our usual take on the Blues. And you‘d St. Louis for the first time after he was traded to think that after a big 4-3 shootout win over the Toronto in December 2008. You might Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday that we‘d be remember that Game Time latched onto happy. Pfft. You know and I know that the Stempniak as the Blues‘ scrappy version of Blues threw away another two-goal lead late David Eckstein during his rookie year in in the third period. You know and I know 2005-06, otherwise known as ―The Year The that giving the Wings a charity point with Blues Were Worst In The League.‖ He Detroit ahead of them in the standings is a represented the future, a future where the big problem. Blues didn‘t lose so goddamned much. It will In this space, we‘re going to talk a little be good to see him again. about where the Blues stand at this point, trade Jamal Mayers is no longer a Leaf. He was some questions with a big Leafs fan and a few traded recently to the Flames. We don‘t miss other things that I haven‘t thought of yet. It‘ll be a TM him and his inability to score from in front of the surprise to all of us. net at all. Almost sounds like I‘m writing about Brad Boyes. And if With 22 games left on the schedule counting tonight, the Blues Bradley doesn‘t score another goal soon, his shooting percentage are six points out of eighth place in the Western Conference, but could be in the 5 percent range and dropping. And then you‘ll still in 13th place. That means St. Louis has to displace five teams really see me bitch about him. to qualify for the playoffs. The shitty part is that the team is close Playing the Leafs, a star-crossed franchise that hasn‘t seen the enough to peddle the idea that a playoff run is still in them but Stanley Cup since before the Blues were brought into the league as far enough out that it‘s obviously a warping of reality. They can an expansion franchise, gives us the chance to ask some questions try and convince the paying customers that last year‘s manic (Continued on page 26) Today’s Records, Injuries & News Today’s Team Records: Today’s Injuries: Today’s News & Notes: Blues: Maple Leafs: Blues: F Keith Tkachuk (upper body) Saturday‘s opponents, the Washington 26 -25-9 (61 points) 19-30-11 (49 points) is questionable. Capitals, go from a franchise-high 14 4th in Central 5th in Northeast straight wins to two straight losses 13th in Western 15th in Eastern against Montreal and Ottawa. Maple Leafs: D Mike Van Ryn (knee) Last Ten Games: and D Mike Komisarek (shoulder) are Pavol Demitra, who left the Canucks out for the season. C Mikhail Blues: Maple Leafs: for personal reasons, returned Friday. Grabovski (wrist) is out. RW Christian 4-4-2 2-6-2 Game Time staff still seeing the dark Hanson (flu) and RW/LW Fredrik Season Series: All-Time Series: Sjostrom (flu) are questionable. cloud of Tuesday‘s game and not the silver lining. 0-0-0 90-88-25-1 CAUTION: St. Louis Game Time contains extreme sarcasm and less-than-gentle language. But it is a hockey paper, so you should just fucking get over it. Volume 5, Issue 31 From The Editor February 12, 2010 Lee Stempniak is back in the building where would lead the team out of the Dark St. Louis Game Time he became a legitimate NHL player for the Ages. Of course, we all know what Established: November 6, 2005 first time since he was traded away by the happened after that, as Stempniak found St Louis, Missouri Blues. I will always have a weird tie to himself marginalized as other youngsters Phone: 314-402-2266 Stempniak because his first season in the stepped up. He lost the prime power play www.StLouisGameTime.com NHL was the first season that we started this time and the top spots on the top lines. www.twitter.com/StLouisGameTime paper. He was becoming less the face of the rebuild and more of the face of the Back in those days we spent a lot of time Godfather transition. By the time he was traded, I trying to figure out different ways to say wasn‘t even shocked. Jeffio ―They suck‖ without using the words suck and shitty and crappy and suckshittytas- But still Stempniak is a guy that I Publisher & Editor-in-Chief ticrappy. Clearly we ran out of them. watch. I‘m no Maple Leafs fan and Sean Gallagher don‘t waste a lot of my time But we had a following back then, [email protected] watching a last-place team play as did the Blues. A small, probably hockey (I‘ve got plenty of that crazy following, but a following Advertising already, thank you), but I keep anyway. And we were all looking [email protected] tabs on how he‘s doing. Unfor- for something, anything, to point tunately for him, Stempniak has settled to with hope. One night in Columbus, as the Distribution into the role that the Blues obviously had under-manned Blues were slogging through John Nicolay pegged for him when they moved him: a another terrible game against an equally Amy Benoist, Becky Benoist, steady winger who can get you around awful Blue Jackets team I was once again JoAnn Foster, Clarence Walker 20 goals a year, but by no means a game- questioning my own sanity for starting this breaker. paper and for even being a fan of this team. Columnists They had nothing going on at all. The other interesting part of this Leafs Chris Gift, Duke, Brad Lee, Answer Man, team for me is the presence of Phil Jason Travers & Brian Weidler And then Lee Stempniak made a skill Kessel. During that first horrible season move, juked through a couple Jackets and that we struggled through as a paper, the Contributors scored a pretty goal. And not a pretty goal Blues were near the bottom of the Jeffio, Rick Ackerman, Joe Barker, Jeff like, ―That‘s one of the best goals these guys Browning, Tim Oshie, Childhood Trauma, standings the whole time. For the first will score this year,‖ but more like ―That‘s a Jeremy Pratte, St. Brian & Chris Reed time ever, I was paying attention to the pretty goal on any team, not just a crappy Photographer likely lottery players in that summer‘s team.‖ Almost immediately, Stempniak Andrew D‘Angelo draft. I spent a lot of time watching the became the face of the Blues‘ rebuilding plan. progress of Phil Kessel, who many Our team, bad as it was, had a 22-year-old Key Grip thought early on would be the top overall Patrick Shaw kid who could score pretty goals. He was a pick. A flashy scoring winger, just what symbol for us, a sign that things would get Mission: the Blues needed, right? better. Game Time will provide prospect I did Phil Kessel Watch articles in the I was so inspired by that goal and the information, up-to-date statistics, articles paper and on the website. I hoped that that spark discussion and humor that spark it gave the team that I started our first he‘d wind up as a member of the Blues. points out the best and worst about our ever Game Time contest that night. We asked favorite team and sport. We are all fans of What can I say, I was a Brett Hull fan. for solicitations for nicknames for Stempniak the Blues and our opinions will reflect and the winner got a t-shirt. For those of you Kessel is another guy I‘ve kept my eye those of subjective fans. who have been around long enough, you on for much the same reason as The paper is published for every home Stempniak and now I probably always game, excluding the pre-season, because know the origin of the winning submission we all know the pre-season totally sucks. that gave him the GT nickname of Dutchie.