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Volu me 4, Is su e 3 0 Game Time Febr uary 1 6, 20 09

Four Dollars of Unemotional Analysis The Game Day Guide To St. Louis Blues Hockey Established in 2005

By Brad Lee never ending PR spins and desperation to make headlines is sickening. The Stars, led by the out of place and over-matched While everyone at the Drinkscotch Center who was rooting for , gave Avery that ridiculous contract over the the Bluenote Friday night was desperate for a win, the guys in the summer after he had already worn out his welcome in , suits who write the checks would relish a victory tonight even and . And he put himself in the spotlight more. with the harmless yet headline-grabbing ―sloppy seconds‖ joke Lead owner Dave Checketts, some of his business partners and guaranteeing that he would never play for Dallas again. team president John Davidson all have strong ties to the New Finally after some bullshit anger management and time off, York Rangers organization and . Avery‘s back in the minors. But because the Stars Now I‘m not going to say there‘s definitely bad somehow don‘t have a minor league team this blood there, but I would guess they probably , their prospects are parceled out through- don‘t exchange Christmas cards. When the out the backwaters of the American Hockey Blues played there the first time after League. So when Avery was sent down to the Checketts and his group took over the Blues, minors as part of his banishment, he was Davidson was treated to a warm reception assigned to the Hartford Wolfpack…the AHL and an on-ice ceremony thanking him for affiliate of the . He made his time as a player and broadcaster with his debut with the Wolfpack Friday night. It the organization. Checketts and his group had been nine years since he last played in the were part of the crowd standing and AHL and two months since he played in a real applauding during the ceremony. In fact, they hockey game. were part of the paid crowd out in the stands. ―I feel good that Dallas has given me an opportu- You know when you‘re watching a game and the nity to come here and play and that the team in other team‘s leadership is in attendance, if they make it TM Hartford has allowed me to come in and play,‖ on TV it‘s usually from a luxury box or at least the press box. Avery told reporters. ―I probably could have had a few points if I It‘s a common courtesy kind of thing. Checketts wasn‘t given any had buried a few chances or a couple other guys had scored, but courtesy. I bet he had to go to a scalper outside the stadium for other than losing, it was a pretty good night.‖ tickets. So Mookie, if you‘re reading this outside the arena, get off your bike and look for some dudes from New York. They can It‘s just too bad the Rangers haven‘t pulled the trigger on a deal afford the mark-up. And tell them to take Sean Avery from and brought him up before tonight. The front page of this rag Dallas. That‘ll end well. would have written itself, I tell you. Instead, I have to mention something about the 1-0 win over the Blackhawks and I‘m glad I‘m not a fan of any New York teams. The drama, the (Continued on page 26) Today’s Records, Injuries & News Today’s Team Records: Today’s Injuries: Today’s News & Notes:

Blues: Rangers: Blues: LW (hips), LW  Mike Green (WAS) sets NHL record for 23-25-7 (53 points) 30-21-6 (66 points) Yan Stastny (thumb), D Roman Polak defensemen with goals in eight straight 5th in Central 3rd in Atlantic (foot) and D (back surgery) games. 14th in Western 6th in Eastern are out.  With a 3-on-5 yesterday, the

Last Ten Games: Flyers now lead the league with 14 Rangers: D Dmitri Kalinin (back) is Blues: Rangers: short-handed tallies. day-to-day. D (shoulder) left 5-2-3 3-5-2 the game yesterday.  Game Time staff willing to bite the bullet and get drunk early on a Season Series: All-Time Series: Monday. 0-0-0 35-72-18-0

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. Volume 4, Issue 30 From The Editor February 16, 2009

The firing of Penguins coach Michel Therrien Predators in their come from behind St. Louis Game Time yesterday has hockey fans everywhere victory. McKee, predictably, was (as we Established: November 6, 2005 buzzing. That man took that team to the call it in the business) pissed. He even St Louis, finals just last season. The team told the media that he stopped hearing Phone: 402-2266 is one winning streak away from regaining what was saying to him as he www.StLouisGameTime.com their confidence and being a legitimate processed the information. playoff threat. If that guy can get fired, goes Good. the conventional wisdom, who is safe? Godfather Actually, better than that. Great. Jeffio Closer to home, if that guy can get fired at Fucking beautiful, in fact. It‘s about time this of the season, how safe is Andy that Jay McKee starts getting pissed Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Murray in his position with the Blues? off around here. And whether he Sean Gallagher While I don‘t think that very many takes to the ice pissed off at [email protected] NHL head coaches sleep that well Murray about the benching or on an everyday basis anyway, I pissed off and ready to teach a have to say that I think Andy Ranger a lesson doesn‘t matter. Advertising Murray‘s job is pretty safe. The Just as long as he hits the ice [email protected] obvious reason that we can point to is the pissed off and ready to have a [email protected] injuries. The Blues have been the top two performance that makes people recog- nize that he is an NHL talent who is not teams all year in terms of man-games lost to Distribution injury and if that could be undone, we‘d be to be fucked with, I‘ll be happy. John Nicolay talking about one of two topics: the Blues Wouldn‘t that be great? To have a big, Amy Benoist, Becky Benoist, and their playoff chase or the imminent angry, motivated Jay McKee in the Billy Cash, Clarence Walker firing of Andy Murray. If he‘d had Paul lineup? I‘ve waited a couple years to see Kariya for more than 11 games and Erik that. Hopefully tonight is the night. And Columnists Johnson for more than 13 holes of golf and Andy Murray will be the man to thank hadn‘t missed big chunks of time with Andy Chris Gift, Duke, Brad Lee, for that, not Jay McKee. Answer Man & Brian Weidler McDonald and the Teej and Eric Brewer Likewise, fans have gone Christian (sorry, haters, the Blues record with him in the lineup is better than their record without Bale with the recent demotion of David Contributors him) then I have no doubt they‘d be right in Perron to the fourth line. For those of Jeffio, Jeff Browning, LosBri, Childhood Trauma, Dan Doke, Jeff the mix of the playoff bubble teams right you who like to make yourself crazy by hanging around irrational people, try Fahrenkrog, Jeremy Pratte & Chris Reed now. in on some of the Blues Take away that variable and people are Photographer message boards to see what‘s being said. Andrew D‘Angelo still trying to find a reason to call for Andy For every ‗Drunk History‘ the internet Murray‘s job. Personally, I think those has given us, there is the polar opposite, Mission: people are as crazy as anyone who wears and sports fan message boards are the airbrushed articles of clothing in 2009. One Game Time will provide prospect seventh level of hell as far as I‘m information, up-to-date statistics, articles of the best coaches in NHL history, whether concerned. that spark discussion and humor that you‘re talking pure numbers or you‘re talking points out the best and worst about our about a Svengali-like hold over well-paid and is 20 years old. He is favorite team and sport. We are all fans of going to lose his focus. He is going to the Blues and our opinions will reflect presumably jaded professional athletes, is those of subjective fans. . And one of Scotty Bowman‘s take certain aspects of his job less The paper is published for every home greatest attributes, from the time he was the seriously than those of us who have actual work jobs would take them. He is game, excluding the pre-season, which we rookie coach of Bobby Plager and the other all know sucks. going to need to be woken up from time early Blues to the time he drove a veteran to time. If a kid who is in the NHL is and well-seasoned Detroit team to yet Rights & Permissions: another Stanley Cup, was his ability to get given a pass when he slacks off, the message is loud and clear: you are All material printed herein is copyrighted into his players‘ heads. and protected. Do not reprint in any special. You can do whatever you want. The stories abound in books and in verbal format without expressed, written Just give us an assist every other game permission from Game Time LLC. histories of the players themselves; Bowman and you‘ll be fine. didn‘t care if it was a fresh-faced rookie or a veteran leader, he sent messages to his team That is a sure-fire way to wind up with Logos & Photos and kept them on their toes any way he a Nikolai Zherdev on your hands. A kid Team logos and pictures used herein are the property of the individual teams could. who has a ‗special‘ set of skills and is given a different set of rules so that he and/or the NHL and are used solely for identification and editorial purposes. Jay McKee, a 12 year veteran of the NHL feels comfortable and happy. wars, was benched on Saturday after he contributed two assists to the Nashville (Continued on page 22) Today’s Thought: A weak team that battles is better than a skilled team with no heart. G AME T IME Pag e 3

Tonight’s Trivia Top 11 Reasons That By Childhood Trauma New York Sucks

First Period (true or false): 11. All the murders and mayhem of Detroit without the Midwestern charm. 1. Having tragically lost Alexei Cherepanov the Rangers are 10. Eating the pizza involves origami. trying to get a compensatory second round pick this summer. 9. Brett Favre who hasn‘t missed a game in a 2. and both wore 23 before couple decades doesn‘t even want to play there they signed with the Rangers on the same day. Scott wears again. No. 23 as a Ranger because he won a coin toss. 8. The Mets play there. Nuff said. 7. Sean Avery left some of his sloppy seconds in the First Intermission (T/F): New York dressing room. 3. New York‘s current governor, Warren Hearns, is the first 6. Hard to tell when the garbage workers aren‘t on legally blind person to become a governor. strike. Second Period (multiple choice): 5. The sludge in the Hudson River is thick enough to support landing an airplane. 4. could become the second goalie to win 4. Has the stink of New Jersey all over it. 30 or more in his first four seasons. Who did it first: Ron 3. Statue of Liberty is not supposed to be green. Hextall, , Tom Barrasso, or ? 2. Remember, the Islanders play there too. 5. Which player did not play for in both New 1. They call it the City That Never Sleeps because of York and St. Louis: , Craig MacTavish, Doug all the gunfire. Lidster, or Darren Turcotte? Second Intermission: From the Empty Beer Cup of Brad Lee 6. The song Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas first appeared in which film: The Pride of the Yankees, Meet Me in St. Louis, Holiday Inn, or Miracle on 34th Street? Third Period: 7. Who was the first to jump from juniors to a full One Goal: Total season in the NHL? 8. What current NHL owns the Rangers‘ record Domination. for goals by a rookie (36)? 9. Rangers Chris Drury is an American. Name the previous American captains of the Rangers and/or Blues. www.stlouisgametime.com ! 10. Three New York Rangers first round picks have played for the Blues. The most recent is the father of another 1st round

NHL draftee. Name him. Corrections & Clarifications

round pick of the Ducks in 2007. 2007. in Ducks the of pick round  Game Time would like to apologize for making those

rounders. MacMillan‘s son, Logan, was the first first the was Logan, son, MacMillan‘s rounders. - former Ranger first Ranger former Blackhawks fans so upset on Friday. Who knew they

10. Andre Dupont, Steve Durbando and Bob MacMillan are the the are MacMillan Bob and Durbando Steve Dupont, Andre 10. were so touchy about

9. . Brian 9. their mothers? 1989. in record that set Granato Tony coach head Avalanche 8.

7. John Davidson. He played juniors in ‗73, and started here in ‗74. in here started and ‗73, in juniors played He Davidson. John 7.  [This apology is listed

6. Meet Me in St. Louis. St. in Me Meet 6. as day-to-day.]

were Greg Gilbert, , Mike Hudson, and Jay Wells. Jay and Hudson, Mike Tikkanen, Esa Gilbert, Greg were  Game Time printed the

Keenan. Other Keenanites Keenanites Other Keenan. -

. arn uot jie S. oi post Louis St. joined Tucotte Darren 5. wrong picture of the

4. . Four is the longest NHL streak. NHL longest the is Four Hextall. Ron 4. world’s second

is David Patterson. David is biggest baby in the

3. False. While he is the first blind person to hold the office, his name name his office, the hold to person blind first the is he While False. 3. last issue. The correct

2. False. Drury that won the toss. the won that Drury False. 2. picture is shown here. round. second the in pick 17th the get would Rangers The True. 1. Volume 4, Issue 30 Pag e 4 February 16, 2009 Pag e 5 G AME T IME The Five Hole

With Chris Gift

After a few games played, every team in every sport on every A win at Boston, after losing to them 6-3 at home in a level, from the NHL to a week night no-check league at game that was about as one sided of a loss that the team has Brentwood always looks back and says ―if we‘d only beat had all season, after being up a goal at the end of two periods, this team,‖ or, ―if we would have scored against them,‖ or ―if but then allowing three goals in 99 seconds, then scoring on that doesn‘t happen then our record would be this…‖ the power play with 1:20 left, then scoring on ‘ Thinking about woulda, shoulda, coulda can almost drive crossbar high tip with three-tenths of a second left to force a team crazy. OT, and then winning in a shootout? Add to that that the Blues had lost nine of ten on the road prior to that game. But as the Blues play regular season game 56, eight points out of a tie for eighth place and only nine points out Woulda, coulda, shoulda? Lady and gentlemen, that of a tie for fifth, to find only woulda, shoulda, couldas that shoulda been a loss. resulted in losses or overtime losses wouldn‘t be fair. Games are supposed to be taken one at a time. The thrill of Sure, the team is in 14th place, and there isn‘t much the 1-0 win against Chicago should be out of our minds by further down to fall, but while the 23-25-7 record could be now, and the back-to-back road games on Wednesday and much better with a few breaks, it could also be a hell of a lot Thursday against Columbus and Nashville shouldn‘t be in our worse. minds yet. The team had a marathon road trip last March and was so uptight about collecting points before the trip that it This season for the Blues can be sectioned off in two eras: screwed up two months for the team. February wasn‘t worth a the era, and the era. damn attempting to get points on home ice, while March And because Mark McGwire reminded us to not talk sucked because of the trip that had the team playing just about the past, it doesn‘t make sense to rehash things that about everywhere but Sri Lanka. happened during the Legace Administration. The Rangers just had it fed to them 5-2 yesterday by Oddly enough, the unofficial transition to the Mason Philadelphia on home ice. The Blues tarred and feathered Administration took place over the course of the games at Philadelphia three weeks ago in this building 4-0. The Boston on January 19th, and at Chicago on January 21st. Rangers are in a tailspin, the Blues have been playing better. Wasn‘t there some sort of transition of power going on This is probably going to be a win for the home team. But around that time in Washington DC? I wonder if the don‘t be surprised if there are wouldas, couldas, and shouldas Legaces had the Masons over for dinner and if Manny was all over Game Time on Saturday about this game and the trip given a ride to Peoria in the team‘s helicopter. Maybe he to Ohio and Tennessee later this week. came out and did one last ceremonial circle around the ice while Tom Calhoun announced him as the number one star for the last time. Contact: [email protected] As much as we‘re still seething over the Blues loss in Nashville this past Thursday, when the team thought the league started playing third periods that were three seconds shorter than the other two periods, we have to look at that lost point, and the two points given to Nashville objectively. Looking back on it, since Mason has taken over, the Blues have played 11 games. The team‘s record is 6-2-3. Fifteen The Jeffio Joke of the Day points in 11 games isn‘t too shabby. Playing that out over the length of a season would give the Blues around 112 points. But even those five losses woulda, shoulda, coulda gone Chris Drury’s kid and Scott Gomez’ kid were differently. Going back to Manny‘s last decision (the 2-1 arguing over whose mom was the biggest scaredy overtime loss at home to Chicago) the Blues have cat. squandered four points in overtime in the past 30 days. Drury’s kid said, ―My mom is so scared that Woulda, coulda, shoulda? How about if the Blues woulda won those four games it woulda given the Blues 57 points, when lightning strikes, she hides under the bed.‖ 59 (instead of 60) and Nashville 56. The Blues Gomez’ kid replied, ―Yeah? That‘s nothing. shoulda been four points out of a playoff spot. My mom is so scared that when my dad is on a In the name of fairness though, that game at Boston road trip, she sleeps with the man next door.‖ shoulda been a loss. Volume 4, Issue 30 Pag e 6 February 16, 2009 St. Louis Blues Statistics

Skater Statistics PLAYER GP G A PTS +/- PIM ATOI PPG PPA SHG SHA SOG SPCT , RW 55 25 25 50 -18 24 19:18 14 11 0 0 144 17.4 , C 50 16 19 35 14 14 15:57 6 11 0 0 102 15.7 David Perron, LW 54 7 28 35 5 40 15:27 1 10 0 0 116 6 , C 53 17 17 34 -11 41 17:35 11 3 0 0 126 13.5 David Backes, RW 55 18 14 32 -5 133 17:35 4 2 1 0 131 13.7 Andy McDonald, C 19 7 14 21 -13 14 19:22 2 10 1 0 53 13.2 , D * 36 2 17 19 1 19 18:23 0 14 0 0 45 4.4 T.J. Oshie, C 30 7 12 19 6 6 16:18 4 3 0 1 56 12.5 Jay McClement, C 55 8 10 18 -9 25 16:26 0 0 2 0 89 9 Paul Kariya, LW 11 2 13 15 1 2 18:06 0 9 0 0 31 6.5 , D 55 3 12 15 -12 62 23:22 1 1 0 1 62 4.8 , LW * 35 4 11 15 -3 18 17:40 2 6 0 0 67 6 , D 39 1 12 13 -3 40 18:37 1 6 0 0 42 2.4 Brad Winchester, LW 37 9 4 13 -2 62 12:41 4 2 0 0 54 16.7 Roman Polak, D 44 1 10 11 -5 29 21:30 0 4 0 0 49 2 B.J. Crombeen, RW * 39 8 3 11 -5 92 13:07 0 2 1 0 70 11.4 Yan Stastny, C 34 3 4 7 -14 20 12:45 0 0 0 1 30 10 Eric Brewer, D 28 1 5 6 -14 24 25:07 1 2 0 0 49 2 Mike Weaver, D 34 0 5 5 -3 6 16:33 0 0 0 2 22 0 Cam Janssen, RW 44 1 3 4 -5 107 5:28 0 0 0 0 17 5.9 Steve Wagner, D 20 2 2 4 -3 18 15:45 0 1 0 0 16 12.5 Dan Hinote, RW 34 1 2 3 -5 45 11:04 0 0 0 1 15 6.7 Tyson Strachan, D 25 0 3 3 5 34 13:22 0 0 0 0 17 0 Jay McKee, D 43 1 1 2 -3 25 17:13 0 0 0 0 25 4 D.J. King, LW 1 0 1 1 E 0 8:20 0 0 0 0 0 0 Goalie Statistics PLAYER GP W L GAA SV SV% SHO TGA TSA PIM ENG Chris Mason 30 9 15 2.55 750 91.6% 4 69 819 0 7

*Statistics reflect time with St. Louis only. For full season totals, see Pg 14.

Blues Leaders Blues All-Time Leaders Goals Brad Boyes 25 Games Played Bernie Federko 927 Assists David Perron 28 Goals Brett Hull 527 Points Brad Boyes 50 Points Bernie Federko 1,073 Plus/Minus Patrik Berglund 14 PIM 1,873 PP Goals Brad Boyes 14 Goalie GP Mike Liut 347 Wins Chris Mason 9 Wins Mike Liut 151 GAA Chris Mason 2.55 GAA Jacques Plante 2.07 Save PCT Chris Mason 91.6% 16

Trying To Win The Hard Hat Every Game. St. Louis Game Time G AME T IME Pag e 7 New York Rangers Stats

Skater Statistics PLAYER GP G A PTS +/- PIM ATOI PPG PPA SHG SHA SOG SPCT Nikolai Zherdev, RW 57 16 28 44 2 27 16:47 4 6 1 0 150 10.7 Scott Gomez, C 52 10 28 38 -11 46 21:19 1 10 1 0 174 5.7 Markus Naslund, LW 57 17 18 35 -12 30 17:56 6 4 0 0 147 11.6 Chris Drury, C 57 15 19 34 -10 20 20:24 6 4 1 1 154 9.7 , C 57 8 20 28 -4 74 16:21 2 4 0 1 136 5.9 Michal Rozsival, D 56 7 19 26 -13 44 22:41 3 9 0 2 91 7.7 , RW 56 13 8 21 -1 33 16:44 2 2 1 0 162 8 , D 56 2 17 19 -10 41 22:11 1 5 0 1 111 1.8 , LW 46 8 9 17 -1 15 13:01 3 1 0 0 81 9.9 Paul Mara, D 56 5 11 16 -2 77 19:48 1 7 0 1 85 5.9 Daniel Girardi, D 57 3 13 16 -12 24 21:13 1 5 0 0 91 3.3 Aaron Voros, LW 49 8 7 15 -8 110 11:35 3 0 0 0 65 12.3 Dmitri Kalinin, D 51 1 9 10 -9 26 17:24 0 1 0 0 48 2.1 Lauri Korpikoski, C 44 5 5 10 -7 8 11:22 0 0 0 0 40 12.5 , D 57 2 7 9 1 50 20:35 0 1 0 0 67 3 , C 56 5 3 8 -2 10 11:22 0 0 2 0 65 7.7 Fredrik Sjostrom, RW 55 4 3 7 -11 18 12:14 0 0 1 1 75 5.3 Petr Prucha, LW 22 3 4 7 -2 9 12:20 0 0 0 0 30 10 , RW 57 1 4 5 -10 138 6:59 0 0 0 0 31 3.2 , D 3 0 1 1 -1 0 13:53 0 0 0 0 1 0 , LW 2 0 0 0 -2 0 9:13 0 0 0 0 2 0 Artem Anisimov, C 1 0 0 0 E 0 9:27 0 0 0 0 1 0 Goalie Statistics PLAYER GP W L GAA SV SV% SHO TGA TSA PIM ENG Henrik Lundqvist 47 25 17 2.57 1239 91.2% 2 119 1358 0 3 Steve Valiquette 13 5 4 2.83 323 90.7% 1 33 356 2 1

Rangers Leaders Rangers All-Time Leaders Goals Markus Naslund 17 Games Played Harry Howell 1,160 Assists Nikolai Zherdev 28 Goals 406 Points Nikolai Zherdev 44 Points Rod Gilbert 1,021 Plus/Minus Nikolai Zherdev 2 PIM Ron Greschner 1,226 PP Goals Chris Drury 6 Goalie GP 666 Wins Henrik Lundqvist 25 Wins Mike Richter 301 GAA Henrik Lundqvist 2.57 GAA Lorne Chabot 1.61 Save PCT Henrik Lundqvist 91.2% Shutouts Ed Giacomin 49

Join Project Mayhem. www.StLouisGameTime.com Volume 4, Issue 30 Pag e 8 February 16, 2009

Like The Photos in GT? The Big Johnson Joke of the Day Hey New Yawk, you wanna know how big my freakin‘ Now available for purchase Johnson is? My Johnson is so big, my ‗patch‘ is from our photographer bigger than Central Park. My Johnson is so big, Al Gore invented it. My Johnson is so big, Steinbrenner wants to give it a five-year, $200 million contract.

The Roman Polak Joke of the Day

After their cruise ship sank in the ocean, three Blues were Great Rates! stranded in a lifeboat. They floated around for days without food or water. One afternoon a bottle Perfect for autographs! floated up to the boat. They grabbed the bottle and when they pulled the cork out, Great gifts for your favorite fan! a genie appeared. ‗I‘ll grant each of you a single View the shots online. wish,‖ said the genie. ―I wish I was home,‖ said Barret Contact: Andrew D’Angelo Jackman. Poof! he disappeared. ―I wish I was home, too,‖ said Alex [email protected] Steen. Poof! He disappeared too. (314) 546-0369 Roman Polak looked around. ―Man, I‘m kind of lonely,‖ he said. ―I wish my friends were here with me.‖

Game Time Gear The BJ Crombeen Joke of the Day

In a small cathedral a janitor was cleaning the pews between services when he was approached by the minister. He asked the janitor, ―Could you go into the con- fessional and listen to confessions for me? I really have to go to the bathroom and the Widow McGee is coming. She tends to go on but never really does anything worthy of serious repentance, so when she‘s done just give her 10 Hail Marys and I‘ll be right back.‖ Being the helpful sort, the janitor agreed. Just as expected the Widow Time to get your gear. McGee came into the booth and started her confession. ―Oh Father, I have done the unforgivable. I have given into carnal Any color. Any size. thoughts and gave a BJ to a man.‖ Stunned, the janitor had no idea how to handle this. Surely 10 Hail Marys would not do. So, in a moment of desperation, Represent. he peered his head out of the confessional and asked an altar boy, ―Son, what does the minister give for oral sex?‖ StLouisGameTime.com The altar boy replied, ―Two Snickers bars and a Coke.‖ G AME T IME Pag e 9

Advanced Hockey Statistics

Rk NAME POS CORSI +/- vs Team 1 Keith Tkachuk LW 6.3 -5 This table shows the Blues roster‘s Corsi Rating. 2 David Backes RW 4.0 -2 The Corsi Rating was initially developed by Jim Corsi, the goaltending coach for the Buffalo 3 Brad Boyes RW 3.1 -14 Sabres. 4 Paul Kariya LW 2.5 2 5 Carlo Colaiacovo D 0.7 0 The Corsi Rating measures a player by tallying 6 David Perron LW 0.6 8 the number of shots for his team during his shift 7 Alexander Steen C 0.3 -6 minus the number of shots taken against his team 8 TJ Oshie C -0.3 6 during his shift. 9 BJ Crombeen RW -1.3 -7 10 Patrik Berglund C -1.4 17 Shots that miss the net and/or goaltender are 11 Tyson Strachan D -1.7 4 not counted, just like any shots that are blocked. 12 Andy McDonald C -1.9 -11 This gives us a new way to look at the effective- 13 Barret Jackman D -2.1 -12 ness of a player, whether playing forward or 14 Roman Polak D -2.3 2 defense for the team. 15 Eric Brewer D -2.7 -8 Additionally, we have included a statistic 16 Mike Weaver D -3.3 -7 labeled as +/- vs Team. This stat shows each 17 Jeff Woywitka D -4.6 -2 players‘ plus/minus rating relative to the team‘s 18 Brad Winchester RW -7.6 -1 overall rating. 19 Steve Wagner D -8.4 -2 20 Jay McClement C -9.5 -10 This +/- vs Team gives us a picture of which 21 Dan Hinote RW -15.8 -6 players are above the average and which are 22 Cam Janssen RW -18.2 -6 below the average for the team. 23 Jay McKee D -18.3 -6 24 Yan Stastny C -25.4 -11

Name Pos GP Drawn Taken Diff

David Perron LW 52 25 13 12 These statistics show the total number of BJ Crombeen RW 53 14 13 1 Penalties Drawn by each player as well as the Jay McClement C 53 12 7 5 total number of Penalties Taken by the player. David Backes RW 53 12 23 -11 As we‘ve noted all season, David Perron has Patrik Berglund C 48 11 7 4 become pretty adept at drawing penalties and Brad Boyes RW 53 10 6 4 avoiding taking retaliatory minutes. He leads the Keith Tkachuk LW 51 10 13 -3 team in both number of penalties drawn and in Alexander Steen C 54 8 9 -1 differential, at plus-12. TJ Oshie C 30 8 3 5 On the opposite end are David Backes, whose Brad Winchester RW 36 6 10 -4 physical style of play has garnered him a Eric Brewer D 26 5 10 -5 negative-11 differential and rough-and-tumble Jay McKee D 41 5 9 -4 blueliner Barret Jackman who has a minus-9 Andy McDonald C 18 4 4 0 differential. Carlo Colaiacovo D 45 4 7 -3 Barret Jackman D 53 4 13 -9 As you might expect, defensemen fare worse in Roman Polak D 42 2 10 -8 this analysis than their forward counterparts. The Steve Wagner D 20 1 8 -7 blueliner with the best differential is Mike Mike Weaver D 33 1 2 -1 ―Dream‖ Weaver at minus-1. In 33 games he has Jeff Woywitka D 37 1 5 -4 somehow managed to take only two penalties. Tyson Strachan D 25 1 6 -5 Paul Kariya LW 11 0 1 -1 Volume 4, Issue 30 Pag e 10 February 16, 2009 The Ghost of the Blues With Jeff Browning

By far the biggest name tying these two teams together is won an Emmy and a CableACE award. CableACE? Now he‘s someone who is not a player, not a coach, not a general famous. manager, not a…to tell you the truth I‘m not even sure what Then he became the president of the Blues. There went his he does. John Davidson was drafted by fame. But in his defense, how many other team presidents can the Blues fifth overall back in 1973. In you name? hindsight, if we really wanted a workhorse player with future front office aspirations, , New York‘s GM and president (so that my we should have picked who went last sentence), and best known as Edmonton‘s coach during three picks later, but that‘s the past. Regardless, their glory years, actually had a long NHL playing career. His he was at the time the highest drafted goalie ever, best season was 1973-74 with Davidson and the St. Louis Blues. and the first goalie to go straight from Juniors to the NHL. Despite his 44 points being third on the team, that was his only He only spent two years with the Blues, his first being the season here. first year ever that the team didn‘t make the , but Scott Gomez was the first Alaskan native to make the NHL, that‘s not where he became famous. He went to the New York and he is proud of his heritage as he spent the lockout playing Rangers, where he was the team‘s best netminder for five for the Alaska Aces, a team St. Louis would make their secon- years. He may be most remembered for his 1979 Finals dary minor league team the next year. His 73 assists was the appearance where he stole game one on an injured knee, but best out of any out-of-work NHLer, but that‘s not where he became famous either. none of his teammates were with the It wasn‘t until after his injury-ridden career that he took to Blues. As for what was probably the best the camera. From 1986-2006, he was the Rangers color team during the lockout, it had to be the commentator for MSG, and it was there when he rose to be Ornskoldsvik Mordo Hockey of the Swed- the best in his business for any sport. His résumé lists numer- ish Elite League. Hometown boys Peter ous Finals, All-Star games, Olympics, and more for every Forsberg, the Sedin Twins, and current network under the Sun: NBC, ABC, FOX, ESPN (they used to Ranger Markus Naslund played alongside televise hockey?), CBC, Outdoor Life Network (OK, that's non-Swedes Alex Steen and Dan Hinote. more like it) and more. He won the Award in New York‘s leading scorer, Nikolai Zherdev, just came to the 2004. I‘m not exactly sure what that entails, but Larry Pleau team during the offseason in exchange for former Blue won it too, so it‘s unimportant to me. But Davidson has also Christian Backman. Good to see him provide for some team.

Blues Record When… With LosBri Playing at YetAnother"Premium"Game 14-11-4 Walt Jr for Captain 23-25-7 Playing on the road 9-14-3 Leading after the 1st 9-4-4 Need one more strong Monday game 23-25-7 Tied after the 1st 8-8-2 They score first 13-5-4 Trailing after the 1st 5-13-1 They score 4 or more goals 16-2-1 Hinotes' wife's measurements are 34D-24-34 They score on the PP 17-11-5 Leading after the 2nd 14-2-1 The other team scores on the PP 8-18-4 Tied after the 2nd 5-7-3 They score shorthanded 2-1-1 Trailing after the 2nd 3-16-3 The other team scores shorthanded 1-3-0 They take 30 or more shots 7-10-2 A Blues players has multiple goals 7-2-1 They allow 30 or more shots 8-13-3 IceBerg for Calder 23-25-7 Fight! Fight! Fight! 12-12-3 They played the day before 6-5-1 They are called for 7 or more penalties 10-10-2 The other team played the day before 5-4-2 Other team called for 7 or more penalties 7-10-3 Playing on Sunday 1-3-1 Emmanual Legace starts 12-11-3 Playing on Monday 3-0-1 Chris Mason starts 9-13-3 Playing on Tuesday 2-5-0 Starts 1-1-1 Playing on Wednesday 1-6-0 Chris "Steve Holt!" Holt works the door 2-1-1 Playing on Thursday 2-4-3 Playing the Eastern Conference 5-9-1 Playing on Friday 5-2-1 Playing the Atlantic Division 1-3-0 Playing on Saturday 9-6-1 Playing the Northeast Division 2-3-1 Playing in October 5-4-0 Playing the Southeast Division 2-3-0 Playing in November 5-6-2 Playing the Western Conference 18-16-6 Playing in December 4-10-1 Playing the Central Division 9-2-3 Playing in January 6-4-1 Playing the Northwest Division 5-7-2 Playing in February 3-1-3 Playing the Pacific Division 4-7-1 Game is on VS 1-1-1 Free cheap cups for all! 1-0-0 Pag e 11

Franchise Foundations

St. Louis Blues New York Rangers Year Player Year Player 1999 Barret Jackman ~ Drafted 1st rd (17 overall) by STL 2000 Henrik Lundqvist ~ Drafted in 7th rd (205) by NYR 2001 Jay McClement ~ Drafted 2nd round, 57 overall by STL 2002 Petr Prucha ~ Drafted in 8th rd (240) by NYR 2002 D.J. King ~ Drafted in 6th rd (190 overall) by STL 2003 Nigel Dawes ~ Drafted in 5th rd (149 overall) by NYR 2003 David Backes ~ Drafted in 2nd rd (62 overall) by STL Blair Betts ~ Acquired with Jamie McLennan and Greg 2004 Roman Polak ~ Drafted in 6th rd (180 overall) by STL Moore for and a 7th rd pick in 2004 T.J. Oshie ~ Drafted in 1st rd (24 overall) by STL Lauri Korpikoski ~ Drafted in 1st rd (19 overall) by Eric Brewer ~ Acquired from EDM with Jeff Woywitka 2004 NYR 2005 and for Brandon Dubinsky ~ Drafted in 2nd rd (60 overall) by Jeff Woywitka ~ Acquired from EDM with Eric Brewer NYR and Doug Lynch for Chris Pronger Ryan Callahan ~ Drafted in 4th rd (127 overall) by NYR ~ Drafted in 1st rd (1 overall) by STL Marc Staal ~ Drafted in 1st rd (12 overall) by NYR Patrik Berglund ~ Drafted in 1st rd (25 overall) by STL 2006 2005 Michal Rozsival ~ Signed as Free Agent (PIT) Jay McKee ~ Signed as Free Agent (BUF) Colton Orr ~ Claimed off (BOS) Dan Hinote ~ Signed as Free Agent (COL) Dan Girardi ~ Signed as Free Agent (undrafted) Yan Stastny ~ Acquired from BOS for 5th rd pick in 2006 Stephen Valiquette ~ Signed as Free Agent (playing in 2007 ) Brad Boyes ~ Acquired from BOS for Dennis Paul Mara ~ Acquired from BOS for Wideman 2007 Chris Drury ~ Signed as Free Agent (BUF) David Perron ~ Drafted in 1st rd (26 overall) by STL Scott Gomez ~ Signed as Free Agent (NJ) 2007 Keith Tkachuk ~ Signed as Free Agent. Originally Fredrik Sjostrom ~ Acquired with David Leneveu, Josh acquired from PHX in 2001 for a 1st rd pick in 2002, Gratton and a conditional 2009 draft pick from PHX for , Michal Handzus and and Paul Kariya ~ Signed as Free Agent (NAS) Aaron Voros ~ Signed as Free Agent (MIN) Andy McDonald ~ Acquired from ANA for Doug 2008 Wade Redden ~ Signed as Free Agent (OTT) Weight, Michal Birner and a 7th rd pick in 2008 Nikolai Zherdev ~ Acquired with from Tyson Strachan ~ Signed as Free Agent (CAR) CLB for and Christian Backman Cam Janssen ~ Acquired from NJ for Markus Naslund ~ Signed as Free Agent (VAN) Mike Weaver ~ Signed as Free Agent (VAN) Dmitri Kalinin ~ Signed as Free Agent (BUF) Chris Mason ~ Acquired from NAS for a 4th rd pick in 2009 ~ Acquired from MIN for Dan Fritsche 2008 Brad Winchester ~ Signed as Free Agent (DAL) 2008 ~ Signed as Free Agent (NYR) 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

What’d McGrath For These Guys? St. Louis Game Time Volume 4, Issue 30 Pag e 12 February 16, 2009 NHL Leaders NHL Leaders Points Goals Against Average Shootout Goals 1. , PIT 81 1. , CLB 2.06 1. Wojtek Wolski, COL 7 2. Alex Ovechkin, WAS 74 2. , BOS 2.12 2. Ales Kotalik, BUF 6 3. , PIT 72 3. Manny Fernandez, BOS 2.15 3. Brad Boyes, STL 5 4. , DET 70 4. Jonas Hiller, ANA 2.20 4. , DAL 5 5. , NJ 69 5. Niklas Backstrom, MIN 2.22 5. Nikolai Zherdev, NYR 5 29. Brad Boyes, STL 50 17. Chris Mason, STL 2.55

Goals Save Percentage Rookie Points 1. Alex Ovechkin, WAS 41 1. Tim Thomas, BOS 93.1% 1. Kris Versteeg, CHI 42 2. Zach Parise, NJ 34 2. Craig Anderson, FLA 92.9% 2. Bobby Ryan, ANA 37 3. Jeff Carter, PHI 34 3. Niklas Backstrom, MIN 92.6% 3. Patrik Berglund, STL 35 4. Marian Hossa, DET 33 4. Steve Mason, CLB 92.5% 4. Blake Wheeler, BOS 34 5. , BUF 32 5. Manny Fernandez, BOS 92.5% 5. James Neal, DAL 29 10. Brad Boyes, STL 25 13. Chris Mason, STL 91.6%

Plus/Minus Wins Defensemen Points 1. Blake Wheeler, BOS 33 1. , CGY 33 1. Mike Green, WAS 50 2. Pavel Datsyuk, DET 30 2. , SJ 28 2. , DET 46 3. David Krejci, BOS 30 3. , BUF 27 3. Andrei Markov, MTL 42 4. , BOS 29 4. Niklas Backstrom, MIN 27 4. Dan Boyle, SJ 42 5. Mike Green, WAS 28 5. , DAL 26 5. Nicklas Lidstrom, DET 40 43. Patrik Berglund, STL 14 40. Chris Mason, STL 9 53. Carlo Colaiacovo, STL 20 Around The

So, What Have You Done For Me Lately? — The General manager Ray Shero said the change was made fired head coach Michel Therrien on because, ―We believe we need a change in direction and, with Sunday, less than a year after he took the Penguins to their 25 games remaining in the regular season, our goal remains first Stanley Cup final since 1992. to finish strong and qualify for the .‖ The 45-year-old Therrien was hired by the club in Decem- The Penguins have a 27-25-5 record this season and are ber of 2005 and led Pittsburgh to a 105-point season and a struggling to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, playoff berth the following season - its first since 2001. sitting five points out. Therrien led the Penguins to 47-point improvement over the Bylsma, who did not even get a chance to practice with his previous campaign, the fourth-biggest turnaround from one team before they took on the earlier season to the next in NHL history. today, said that his plan for the Pens was to make them an The native of broke into coaching in the up-tempo team and utilize all aspects of their skills. Major Junior Hockey League with Laval and Granby, posting ―With the strengths we have, we should be able to go into a .720 winning percentage in four seasons. His teams reached buildings and make teams deal with the quality of players we the league finals three times, and he captured the Memorial have at every position. I look at a group that can win games Cup with Granby in 1996. He was head coach of Montreal‘s right now, and we need to do that. We can do this, but the AHL affiliates in Fredericton and Quebec from 1997-2000 players have to believe we can do this. We need to put the and was head coach of the Canadiens from 2000-03. He led brakes on; we‘re in a hole, but we need to stop digging and the Canadiens to the playoffs in 2001-02. He then coached get focused on what we need to do to play good hockey. We the AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to the AHL finals need to be an aggressive group, and get focused on playing before being called up the following season to replace Ed back to our strengths, and focus away from this situation the Olczyk mid-season. last while here. Dan Bylsma, head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Bylsma played nine NHL seasons with Los Angeles and Penguins of the , will take over as Anaheim from 1995-2004. He played 429 NHL regular interim head coach. The Penguins also reassigned assistant season games and also played in the 2003 Stanley Cup Final coach Andre Savard within the organization, while assistant with Anaheim. He has lead the AHL Penguins to a record of coach and goaltending coach Gilles Meloche will 35-16-1-2. remain on staff. Tom Fitzgerald, the team‘s director of player development, will join the staff as an assistant coach. Volume 4, Issue 30 February 16, 2009 Pag e 13

Fried Chicken’s www.hockey-fights.com

Tonight’s Matchup: The Rangers are here for a rare visit to the Scottrade Center. The Blues didn‘t play the Rangers at all last year, and this is the only time they will meet this year...barring a Stanley Cup final matchup between the teams. The Rangers fight quite a lot, as they are second in the Eastern Conference (behind Philadelphia) with 44 fighting majors. The Blues are near the top of the NHL with 52 fighting majors. New York features one of the best and most exciting enforcers in the game—Colton Orr. His last three fights are featured here since these teams don‘t play each other enough to have much of a fighting history.

St. Louis Blues Probable Fighters New York Rangers Probable Fighters

Cam Janssen – Janssen has done a great job against this Colton Orr – Orr is an that loves his job. After all season against opponents that are usually bigger than he is. his fights, win or lose, he‘s always beaming with a big smile. He is listed at 6‘0 and 210 pounds, and he currently has 15 He is one of the best in the business, regularly tangling with fighting majors. Janssen fought the Ranger‘s Colton Orr twice the top heavies in the league and usually doing very well. Orr when he played for the Devils, edging Orr in the first one and is listed at 6‘3, 220 pounds. He has had 12 fights this year. losing to Orr in the second battle. Aaron Voros – Voros is a physical who‘s not too BJ Crombeen – Crombeen is a physical player who is shabby in the fisticuff department. He is 6‘4, 200 pounds, and willing to drop the gloves when need be. He is 6‘2, 212 pounds, he has eight fights this season. He had 14 fights in 55 games and he‘s been in 14 fights this season. Crombeen fought playing for last season, which was his first in the ex-Blue Matt Walker in the last Blues game. NHL. Brad Winchester – Winchester has the size of a heavy- Brandon Dubinsky – Dubinsky is a two way center who weight at 6‘5, 230 pounds. He‘s proven to be an effective will do whatever it takes to help his team win, which includes fighter throughout his career in the NHL and in the minors. dropping the gloves from time to time. He has six fights so far He has had six fights on the year, including one against this season, including two fights in the Rangers last two Chicago‘s Ben Eager in the Blues last game. games. He is 6‘1 and 210 pounds.

Best bet of the night: Janssen vs Orr III ~ Jason Travers, hockey-fights.com Date Combatants Description Decision This was a good fight between two of the top heavies in the NHL. They dropped the gloves right off of a face off, and after grabbing each other they started swinging away. Orr Colton Orr vs 2/11/2009 landed a big right to the ear of Brash, and then Brash landed Draw. a series of shots to the back of Orr‘s head and shoulders. Orr answered back with some hard rights, and Brash didn‘t stop with the lefts. They traded some serious knuckles. This was the third fight these guys had with each other in their NHL careers, with the two fighters each earning a win Colton Orr vs 2/9/2009 each. The had each other at arms length to start, with each Win: Orr trying to land some from a distance. Orr got inside and then nailed Rupp, who fell to the ice like a sack of dirt. This was the fifth matchup between these two, including three fights this season alone. Orr has had Godard‘s number, winning all the previous fights. These two were jawing off the opening draw, and their gloves were dropped as soon as Colton Orr vs 1/28/2009 the puck was. Orr threw with frequency and Godard picked Win: Godard Eric Godard his spots. About twenty seconds in, Godard countered a punch and caught Orr with a straight right that dropped him to his knees. The zebras moved in and the fight was over, with Godard finally scoring a victory over Orr. St. Louis Blues Rosters General Manager: Larry Pleau Head Coach: Andy Murray and Statistics Asst Coaches: Ray Bennett

February 16, 2009 Volume 4, Issue 30 Asst / Goalie Coach: Rick Wamsley

# Player Pos DOB City S/P Ctry Ht Wt S Rk GP G A Pts +/- PIM TOI/G Salary 4 Eric Brewer D Apr 17 '79 Vernon BC CAN 75 222 L 28 1 5 6 -14 24 25:07 $4,500,000 5 Barret Jackman D Mar 05 '81 Trail BC CAN 72 203 L 55 3 12 15 -12 62 23:23 $2,500,000 7 Keith Tkachuk C Mar 28 '72 Melrose MA USA 74 232 L 53 17 17 34 -11 41 17:34 $4,500,000 9 Paul Kariya L Oct 16 '74 BC CAN 70 180 L 11 2 13 15 1 2 18:06 $6,000,000 10 Andy McDonald C Aug 25 '77 Strathroy ON CAN 71 183 L 19 7 14 21 -13 14 19:21 $3,333,333 13 Dan Hinote R Jan 30 '77 Leesburg FL USA 72 187 R 34 1 2 3 -5 45 11:03 $1,000,000 15 Brad Winchester L Mar 01 '81 Madison WI USA 77 228 L 37 9 4 13 -2 62 12:41 $600,000 18 Jay McClement C Mar 02 '83 Kingston ON CAN 73 201 L 55 8 10 18 -9 25 16:25 $950,000 19 D.J. King L Jun 27 '84 Meadow Lake SK CAN 74 228 L 1 0 1 1 0 0 8:20 $550,000 20 Alexander Steen C Mar 01 '84 Winnipeg MB CAN 73 205 L 55 6 13 19 -7 24 16:55 $1,700,000 21 Patrik Berglund C Jun 02 '88 Vesteras SWE 76 187 L Y 50 16 19 35 14 14 15:56 $850,000 22 Brad Boyes R Apr 17 '82 ON CAN 72 195 R 55 25 25 50 -18 24 19:17 $2,500,000 25 Yan Stastny C Sep 30 '82 QC CAN 70 191 L 34 3 4 7 -14 20 12:44 $500,000 26 B.J. Crombeen R Jul 10 '85 Denver CO USA 74 212 R Y 54 9 7 16 -6 118 11:58 $550,000 28 Carlo Colaiacovo D Jan 27 '83 ON CAN 73 200 L 46 2 18 20 -1 25 18:03 $1,400,000 29 Jeff Woywitka D Sep 01 '83 Vermilion AB CAN 74 217 L 39 1 12 13 -3 40 18:37 $725,000 42 David Backes R May 01 '84 MN USA 75 216 R 55 18 14 32 -5 133 17:34 $2,500,000 43 Mike Weaver D May 02 '78 Bramalea ON CAN 69 182 R 34 0 5 5 -3 6 16:31 $700,000 46 Roman Polak D Apr 28 '86 Ostrava CZE 73 227 R 44 1 10 11 -5 29 21:30 $475,000 49 Steve Wagner D Mar 06 '84 Grand Rapids MN USA 74 200 L Y 20 2 2 4 -3 18 15:44 $635,000 55 Cam Janssen R Apr 15 '84 St. Louis MO USA 72 210 R 44 1 3 4 -5 107 5:27 $550,000 57 David Perron L May 28 '88 Sherbrooke QC CAN 72 180 R 54 7 28 35 5 40 15:27 $875,000 62 Tyson Strachan D Oct 30 '84 Melfort SK CAN 75 205 R Y 25 0 3 3 5 34 13:21 $575,000 74 T.J. Oshie C Dec 23 '86 Mt. Vernon WA USA 71 170 R Y 30 7 12 19 6 6 16:17 $850,000 77 Jay McKee D Sep 08 '77 Kingston ON CAN 76 203 L 43 1 1 2 -3 25 17:11 $4,000,000 TOTALS 147 254 401 -108 938 $43,318,333 # Player DOB City S/P Ctry Ht Wt C Rk GP W L OT SO GAA Sv% Salary 35 Chris Holt Jun 05 '85 Vancouver BC CAN 75 229 L Y 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0% $475,000 50 Chris Mason Apr 20 '76 Red Deer AB CAN 72 195 L 30 9 15 4 4 2.54 91.6% $3,000,000

TOTALS 9 15 4 4 $3,475,000 14 $46,793,333 Pag e

15

Pag e New York Rangers Rosters General Manager: Glen Sather Head Coach: and Statistics Assistant Coaches: benoit Allaire / Perry Pearn / Goaltending Coach: None

# Player Pos DOB City S/P Ctry Ht Wt S Rk GP G A Pts +/- PIM TOI/G Salary 3 Michal Rozsival D Sep 03 '78 Vlasim CZE 74 205 R 56 7 19 26 -13 44 22:41 $7,000,000 4 Erik Reitz D Jul 29 '82 Detroit MI USA 73 222 R 37 1 1 2 -6 55 10:02 $500,000 5 Daniel Girardi D Apr 29 '84 Welland ON CAN 74 210 R 57 3 13 16 -12 24 21:12 $1,500,000 6 Wade Redden D Jun 12 '77 Lloydminster SK CAN 74 212 L 56 2 17 19 -10 41 22:10 $8,000,000 10 Nigel Dawes L Feb 09 '85 Winnipeg MB CAN 69 193 L 46 8 9 17 -1 15 13:01 $587,500 13 Nikolai Zherdev R Nov 05 '84 Kiev UKR 74 203 R 57 16 28 44 2 27 16:47 $3,250,000 15 Blair Betts C Feb 16 '80 Edmonton AB CAN 75 210 L 56 5 3 8 -2 10 11:22 $615,000 17 Brandon Dubinsky C Apr 29 '86 Anchorage AK USA 73 205 L 57 8 20 28 -4 74 16:21 $635,000 18 Marc Staal D Jan 13 '87 Thunder Bay ON CAN 76 209 L 57 2 7 9 1 50 20:34 $765,000 19 Scott Gomez C Dec 23 '79 Anchorage AK USA 71 200 L 52 10 28 38 -11 46 21:18 $8,000,000 20 Fredrik Sjostrom R May 06 '83 Färgelanda SWE 73 218 L 55 4 3 7 -11 18 12:14 $840,000 23 Chris Drury C Aug 20 '76 Trumbull CT USA 70 190 R 57 15 19 34 -10 20 20:23 $7,100,000 24 Ryan Callahan R Mar 21 '85 Rochester NY USA 71 188 R 56 13 8 21 -1 33 16:44 $600,000 25 Petr Prucha R Sep 14 '82 Chrudim CZE 72 175 R 22 3 4 7 -2 9 12:20 $1,600,000 27 Paul Mara D Sep 07 '79 Ridgewood NJ USA 76 212 L 56 5 11 16 -2 77 19:47 $1,950,000 28 Colton Orr R Mar 03 '82 Winnipeg MB CAN 75 222 R 57 1 4 5 -10 138 6:58 $550,000 29 Lauri Korpikoski L Jul 28 '86 FIN 73 195 L Y 44 5 5 10 -7 8 11:22 $984,200 34 Aaron Voros L Jul 02 '81 Vancouver BC CAN 75 215 L 49 8 7 15 -8 110 11:34 $1,200,000 45 Dmitri Kalinin D Jul 22 '80 RUS 75 210 L 51 1 9 10 -9 26 17:23 $2,100,000 91 Markus Naslund L Jul 30 '73 Ornskoldsvik SWE 72 191 L 57 17 18 35 -12 30 17:56 $5,000,000 TOTALS 134 233 367 -128 855 $52,776,700 # Player DOB City S/P Ctry Ht Wt C Rk GP W L OT SO GAA Sv% Salary 30 Henrik Lundqvist Mar 02 '82 Are SWE 73 195 L 47 25 17 5 2 2.57 91.2% $7,750,000 40 Stephen Valiquette Aug 20 '77 Etobicoke ON CAN 78 210 L 13 5 4 1 1 2.82 90.7% $725,000 TOTALS 30 21 6 3 $8,475,000 $61,251,700

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 30 Pag e 16 February 16, 2009 NHL Referee Statistics

2008-2009 Since 2007 1st O O No. Born Blues Blues Blues Blues Blues Blues Game W L T W L T Games PP PK Games PP PK L L 2 Fraser, Kerry Sarnia, ON 1980 2 5 12 1 1 0 7 26 31 3 4 0 3 Leggo, Mike North Bay, ON 1997 7 35 23 3 2 2 14 69 54 6 6 2 4 McCauley, Wes Georgetown, ON 2003 2 4 7 0 2 0 5 14 18 1 3 1 5 Rooney, Chris Boston, MA 2000 5 17 22 1 3 1 12 52 63 3 6 3 6 Marouelli, Dan Edmonton, AB 1984 2 9 9 0 2 0 4 15 17 0 4 0 7 McCreary, Bill Guelph, ON 1984 3 16 11 1 2 0 5 26 20 2 3 0 8 Jackson, Dave Montreal, PQ 1990 2 4 7 0 2 0 7 23 30 4 3 0 10 Devorski, Paul Guelph, ON 1989 3 13 15 1 1 1 5 24 24 2 2 1 11 Sutherland, Kelly Richmond, BC 2000 4 19 16 1 3 0 8 30 28 1 6 1 12 Koharski, Don Dartmouth, NS 1981 4 18 15 1 2 1 6 30 21 2 3 1 13 O'Halloran, Dan Essex, ON 1995 4 26 28 2 1 1 10 47 61 6 3 1 14 LaRue, Dennis Savannah, GA 1991 4 14 16 2 2 0 10 39 42 3 4 3 15 Auger, Stephane Montreal, PQ 2000 4 24 20 3 1 0 10 58 63 7 2 1 16 Shick, Rob Port Alberni, BC 1986 5 22 23 4 1 0 11 40 48 4 6 0 18 Kimmerly, Greg Toronto, ON 1996 3 11 15 0 2 1 10 35 42 3 6 1 19 Dwyer, Gord Halifax, NS 2003 2 11 6 1 1 0 7 33 26 3 4 0 20 Peel, Tim Toronto, ON 1999 6 23 26 2 4 0 12 50 45 4 6 2 21 VanMassenhoven, Don Parkhill, ON 1993 3 17 15 1 2 0 10 44 47 6 3 1 23 Watson, Brad Regina, Sas 1996 5 29 32 2 2 1 10 48 56 4 3 3 25 Joannette, Marc Verdun, PQ 1999 4 18 22 1 2 1 6 25 30 1 4 1 26 Martell, Rob Winnipeg, MB 1996 5 21 22 2 2 1 14 61 69 9 4 1 27 Furlatt, Eric Trois-Rivieres, PQ 2001 5 22 23 1 3 1 8 36 38 3 3 2 28 Lee, Chris St John, NB 2001 3 16 18 0 2 1 7 31 36 2 3 2 29 Walsh, Ian Philadelphia, PA 2000 4 16 18 0 4 0 7 25 31 1 6 0 30 Hasenfratz, Mike Regina, SK 2000 1 3 4 1 0 0 4 12 14 2 1 1 32 Kowal, Tom Vernon, BC 2000 2 5 8 1 1 0 8 35 37 2 4 2 33 Pollock, Kevin Kincardine, ON 2000 4 13 14 2 1 1 9 35 38 4 4 1 34 Meier, Brad Dayton, OH 1999 1 4 2 1 0 0 8 34 30 4 3 1 35 Warren, Dean Toronto, ON 1999 6 34 25 1 3 2 36 Morton, Dean Peterborough, ON 2000 3 13 10 2 0 1 4 20 16 3 0 1 37 Rehman, Kyle Stettler, AB 2008 1 5 5 1 0 0 1 5 5 1 0 0 38 St Laurent, Francois Greenfield Park, PQ 2006 2 9 10 2 0 0 5 19 22 2 2 1 40 Kozari, Steve , BC 2006 1 8 11 1 0 0 7 38 37 4 3 0 42 O'Rourke, Dan , AB 1999 2 11 7 0 1 1 43 Pochmara, Brian Detroit, MI 2006 3 12 13 2 1 0 6 26 33 2 4 0 45 St. Pierre, Justin Dolbeau, PQ 2003 1 5 5 1 0 0 6 28 27 4 1 1 TOTALS 55 244 252 22 26 7 589 616 55 62 19 NHL Linesmen

# Name # Name # Name # Name # Name 17 Heyer, Shane 61 Seitz, Lyle 73 Rody, Vaughan 80 Nelson, Thor 91 Henderson, Don 47 Schachte, Dan 65 Racicot, Pierre 74 Cameron, Lonnie 82 Galloway, Ryan 92 Shewchyk, Mark 54 Devorski, Greg 66 Gibbs, Darren 75 Amell, Derek 84 Sericolo, Tony 93 Murphy, Brian 56 Wheler, Mark 67 Champoux, Pierre 76 Cormier, Michel 86 Lazarowich, Brad 95 Murray, Jonny 57 Sharrers, Jay 68 Driscoll, Scott 77 Nowak, Tim 88 Cvik, Mike 96 Brisebois, David 59 Barton, Steve 70 Nansen, Derek 78 Mach, Brian 89 Miller, Steve 97 Morin, Jean 60 Dapuzzo, Pat 71 Kovachik, Brad 79 Pare, Mark 90 McElman, Andy G AME T IME Pag e 17 St. Louis Game Time Scorecard

St. Louis Blues vs. New York Rangers; Monday, February 16, 2009

Referee: ______Referee: ______

Linesman: ______Linesman: ______

Shots Score Team 1st 2d 3rd OT SO F Team 1st 2d 3rd OT SO F

Rangers Rangers

Blues Blues

Blues Starting Lineup Goal Scoring

C: Per. Time Team Goalscorer 1st Assist 2nd Assist LW: RW: D: D: G:

Rangers Starting Lineup C: LW: RW: Penalties Called D: Per. Time Team Penalized Player 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: Volume 4, Issue 30 Pag e 18 February 16, 2009

Ask Game Time’s Answer Man

Dear Answer Man, first big signing by the new ownership group. He was loved Two things, why are Perron and McKee on such short in Buffalo but was the odd man out when the salary cap leashes with Andy Murray? Second, what does a weirdo became an issue. It is just like your fat friend at the roller like you do for Valentine’s Day? I gotta know. rink, he has had a hard time keeping up with everything in the ‗new‘ NHL. There are plenty of teams who‘d take him but -Rick (Cahokia-IL) they don‘t want his four million friends to come with him. Here‘s the rub on both of these dudes. Murray is tough on Ricker, were you ever jealous that Alfonso was a better them because he has very high expectations. It isn‘t personal, dancer than you or were you cool with it because your dad trust me. Andy Murray has been doing this long enough to had that really bitchin‘ train that went all over the house? know how to navigate through egos and bullshit. Not only Man, that train was sweet. that, all players take a turn in the coach‘s dog house, it is just Man, Perron has been talk of Blues Nation as of late, huh? up to them how long they stay and how uncomfortable their stay is. He is the team‘s second leading scorer at the age of 20. That is crazy to me You also asked me ―…what does a weirdo like you do for and he is French which is even Valentine‘s Day?‖ I will just assume you call me names crazier. I can only assume he likes because you are jealous of my huge guns and my regional chicks with hairy pits. Just an pork rind empire. I am a traditional type of guy. I split assumption though. Valentines‘ Day into two nights. One for Answer Mom and Perron was relegated to fourth- one for a local skank I‘m trying to bone. I took the skank out line duty recently. One big reason on Friday night and it was fun but she got a call in the middle was that Andy ―The Mack‖ of dinner (Ponderosa on the Rock Road of course) and had to McDonald came back into the line leave right away because of a family emergency. It sucked too up. Did everyone all of a sudden forget that Perron also plays because we had only eaten three steaks and I still had room on the first power play unit? Quit your bitchin‘. Perron is this to pound a few more. team‘s version of a woman. That means he gets second class I took her back to her place and I headed out to Pop‘s in citizen treatment. He still needs to earn his stripes. Perron is Sauget to rock the night away. It was great, I found another having some success and the guy is a talent but to me he just skank who totally put out and put out big time. I snuck her has that blank gaze (a.k.a dumbass French look) on his face. out in the morning just before Answer Mom was finished In Nashville he turned it up and scored one hell of a goal. making hash browns. I didn‘t get her name so I really don‘t That is the type of work he is capable of producing but with care. She‘ll just be another notch on the bunk bed post. maturity, he will produce more and more. He just needs to I took Answer Mom out to a real nice dinner at Red grow up, be less ―Frenchie‖ and earn his stripes. Get off Lobster on the 14th. She has such elitist tastes. A real high Murray‘s back. brow, you know? We had a lovely dinner and then went back to Answer Central for a good back rub and I scraped her feet Jay, sometimes referred to as ―Fragile Jay‖ McKee, got to be a spectator with Mr. Hinote against the Blackhawks. for her. I made sure I was shirtless too so I didn‘t get any Why? He was on the ice for the last two goals that the dead foot skin on my sweet Doobie Brothers‘ softball style Predators scored. He missed on a clearing attempt (which T-shirt. Go Blues! bounced off of him into the crease) and Nashville scored with three seconds to go. To me, that is inexcusable from a Send your questions on hockey (NHL or rec league), 10-plus year veteran. Jay is such an odd commodity though. Busch beer or any other thing that keeps you awake at night He should have been a goalie more then anything. This guy to: [email protected] and have them sees more rubber than the Michelin Man‘s gay lover. answered here. Jay is one of those guys who hasn‘t been accepted by the community yet or maybe he even won‘t be. McKee was the

Because You’re Kinda Twisted, Too. St. Louis Game Time G AME T IME Pag e 19 The Fantasy Files By Duke

The fantasy season continues to tick down to the wire as allowing nine-tenths of a goal less per sixty minutes. Combine competitors in leagues of all shapes and sizes are battling for those numbers with the fact that Conklin has posted six position and a shot at fantasy gold. Throw the names you shutouts in 27 starts, and you‘ve got to wonder why Detroit is know out the window at this point; they no longer matter. even toying with the idea of giving Osgood valuable ice time This is the section of the fantasy calendar where the men are from now until the end of the season. The writing is on the wall, separated from the Nashville fans, so prove that you‘re not so dump Osgood before his value falls through the floor. some fruit who‘s been in fewer hockey fights than they‘ve He‘s just one of dozens of big names who you can still cash in seen episodes of Friends, and make the moves that are going on in a trade before deadline passes, and finding a good trade to help you win this partner could mean the difference between coming out of the April. bathroom with nothin‘ but your dick in your hand and finding It‘s time to start that revolver that was taped to the back of the toilet tank. Take turning over your a good look at your roster, and even go so far as to check the roster. I‘m not saying trends by checking player rankings over the last 30, 60 and 90 that you should jump days. You owe it to your playoff chances to try and trade away on your cell phone right those guys whose trends are going down faster than Sean Avery now and drop Chris on a male purse salesman, and if you can‘t sell, dump them Osgood (18-5-6), but after the deadline if they don‘t pick up their respective games. he‘s killing you. With a You don‘t have time to deal with poor performance, so get out 3.78 goals against aver- there and shoot your dinner partners! age over his last nine Checking in on GT‘s fantasy hockey Invitational starts, which includes a where eight teams vying for four playoff spots were separated 20-minu te ef for t by just 10 points in the standings at the start of last week, some against Dallas at the big things happened. Reader Dooks, previously two spots out of end of January, his only the playoff rankings, kicked the living shit out of reader Tim, redeeming quality has who previously held the most comfortable seat among those on been something that is Seriously? You’re gonna the bubble. A seven-point week for Matthew Lombardi to go entirely out of his trust this oblivious fuck along with a pot-shot shutout from helped seal the control: the Detroit with your fantasy team’s deal on this one, as the previous roles have been switched so scoring machine. The success in the coming that now Dooks sits among the top of the wanna-bees and Tim end of winter means weeks? is hanging on by the Cowboy‘s beard. that the search for Detroit‘s playoff goaltender is officially on, and Osgood has Elsewhere around the league, Gallagher‘s ―Penis Machinists‖ been doing an excellent job of making sure that he won‘t have rebounded from last week with a solid win which should move to worry about anything more than opening and shutting the them one spot closer to the playoffs, while the top-two teams in door at the end of the bench until his shower-buddies are put the league have come closer to the first-round playoff byes that out of their collective misery. have nearly become a foregone conclusion. Current timeshare recipient (19-7-1) has done Go Blues! well to separate himself from the 36-year-old Osgood in the stats column, stopping 3.4% more of his shots faced, and

You Wanna Know How I Know… ...Watching A Game In The Owners’ Box Is Sweet?

 All healthy scratches required to report there for  Can tell that they always yell, ―JUUUUUUUMP!‖ 40 lashes during the second period. after Towel Boy does his shtick.  Having a Mormon side and a non-Mormon side  Installed WiFi so they can post in the Game Time conjures sweet memories of the McDLT. Game Day Thread under the name ‗Carnie‘.  Whole place probably smells like they‘re printing  When they dump their beers on Hawk fans in the money in there. section below them, security just laughs and throws the Hawk fans out of the game. Volume 4, Issue 30 Pag e 20 February 16, 2009

Tomorrow’s Blues By Brian Weidler

“Life Is just A Fantasy…” (see: Khabibulin, Nikolai or Fernandez, Manny). There are One of your Game Time Prospect Department‘s favorite slim pickin‘s in the U-30 market, but one name that jumps pastimes is taking part in mock drafts. It‘s a kick to wheel right out of the pile is current Philadelphia backup Antero and deal with other get-a-lifers who live and breathe for the Niittymaki. NHL Entry Draft, and a big part of the fun is when we make A June 18, 1980 birthdate mean the Turku, native mock trades to try and improve our draft position as well as will be 29 years old when next season rolls around; young the team on the ice right now. enough to be well worth a three-year deal, which will give the With the Information Revolution well established, the Blues‘ Kiddie Corps in goal enough time for one of the three availability of extensive player statistics and team payroll/ to separate himself from the pack and establish himself as salary cap information is greater than it the true Goalie Of The Future ®. has ever been. This information adds a The 6‘1, 195-pound Niittymaki degree of realism to the mock draft proc- currently pulls down $1.375 million from ess, in that all of us armchair GMs have Philly, and would probably be looking for to make our trades with some of the same a raise somewhere into the $2.5 to 3 mil- restrictions as the real NHL bosses have. lion a year range. His current stat line for We can‘t just go out and buy a champion, the Flyers is 24 GP, 13-5-4, one SO, 2.59 New York Yankee style; we have to make GAA, 91.6% save percentage. trades to relieve pressure on the salary cap, and try to sweet-talk the other GM‘s Should the Blues decide to dip into the into taking our worthless aging veterans restricted free-agent pool, a prime target should be Minnesota‘s . salary dumps off of our hands. These prospects (L to R, Brett Sonne, The 24-year-old Regina, Aaron Palushaj, Julian Talbot) may Naturally, when taking part in these native is just entering his prime as an soon find themselves in a race for an affairs, your Game Time Prospect NHL goaltender, and the Blues could offer NHL spot Department invariably plays the role of to triple his current $750K salary to $2.25 the Blues general manager. While some million a year by offering him a four-year, $9 million deal, might blanch at the prospect of even pretending to be Larry and still not have to give more than a second-round pick in Pleau, we here at your GTPD relish it. compensation thanks to the provisions of the new CBA. Submitted for your approval, then (as the late, great Rod An offer like this would put the Wild between a rock and a Serling used to say), are some of the moves that we would hard place; if Minnesota opted not to match the offer sheet, make if we were sitting in the drivers‘ seat at 14th & Clark; the Blues could very well have solved their goaltending issues we hope that at least some of these thoughts and ideas are for the next decade. If, however, the Wild did choose to well-grounded in reality, and would be representative of match, then the money to re-sign unrestricted free agent things that the real-life movers and shakers in the organ-I- Niklas Backstrom will probably not be there. The Blues could zation might consider. then swoop in and throw $6-7 million a year at the 31-year- Priority One: Goaltending old Backstrom and have one of the top starting goalies in the The Blues have been snakebitten for the longest time league, still young enough to buy the Blues that three-year when it comes to drafting and developing a legitimate window to develop one of their youngsters. starting NHL goaltender. They may be on the way to doing Harding‘s stat line for the year isn‘t particularly so now, with twin towers Ben Bishop and Chris Holt in the impressive at 12 games played, 1-6-1, with no shutouts... but system, as well as 2008 second-rounder Jake Allen... but the a 2.23 GAA and 93.0% save percentage is considerably more issue is that none of those three goalies are really ready to appealing. If the alternate scenario played out, and the Blues step in next season and be even a capable backup to Chris made a play for Backstrom, they‘d be getting themselves a Mason, let alone a starter. goalie who has appeared in 46 games this year, racking up a So, the obvious answer is that the Blues need to find 27-17-2 record, six shutouts, a 2.19 GAA and a 92.7% save themselves a goaltender that is capable of being the number percentage. one guy right now, preferably as young a goaltender as Young(ish) Guns possible, which means either a trade or free agency. We When it comes to scoring, the Blues will probably have to won‘t get into trade rumors or speculation here, but there are look to their own deep prospect pool for help next season. a number of possible solutions available in the free agent There‘s a pretty good group of forwards in that pool who are market. NHL-ready, or very nearly so; names like Julian Talbot (38 If the Blues want to stick with unrestricted free agents, GP, 13-13-26, 24 PIM, plus-5, 9 PP goals with Peoria), Lars there are a lot of big names available, but most of them are well over thirty years old and/or prohibitively expensive (Continued on page 21) G AME T IME Pag e 21

Drafted in the first round (19th overall) by the Rangers in 2004, Korpikoski is a shifty speedster with a high degree of creativity. He has excellent hands, both as a stickhandler and as a faceoff man, and has a knack for making things happen on the ice. By Brian Weidler Not a big scorer in junior, Korpikoski‘s best season in his native Finland was a 12-goal, 20-point effort with his hometown TPS Turku junior squad in his draft Lauri Korpikoski year. He played two years with the TPS senior team beginning in 2004-05, and finished the Shoots: Left 2005-06 season by crossing the pond and Height: 6' 1 playing five regular-season games and 11 playoff tilts with the of the AHL. Weight: 190 In 2007-08, his second season in North Birthdate: July 28, 1986 America, Korpikoski racked up 23-27-50 totals Birthplace: Turku, Finland in 79 games for Hartford, served 70 minutes in Yes, his name really is Lauri. And what‘s really penalties, was a sparkling plus-20, and contrib- amazing is, he's not the first player in NHL uted six power play tallies and two shorthanded history with that, uh, unusual first name. Laurie markers. He made his NHL debut in the playoffs Boschman slugged his way out of the schoolyards and back- for the Rangers that season, scoring in his first game. yard rinks of western and into a 14-season, 577- In 43 games played for the Blueshirts this year, point, 2,265-PIM career with Toronto, Edmonton, Winni- Korpikoski has four goals and nine points, with eight peg, New Jersey and . Lauri Korpikoski has a ways penalty minutes. He posted a goal and an assist in 15:00 of to go to match those numbers, but he's off to a fine start. ice time against Washington on Feb. 11.

Tomorrow’s Blues (continued)

(Continued from page 20) A veteran of six seasons in the Finnish Elite League (SM- ) where he racked up 94 goals and 216 points in 285 Eller (43 GP, 10-11-21, 24 PIM, plus-7 with Frölunda HC), games played, the 5‘11, 180-pounder from Suomussalmi, Brett Sonne (51 GP, 39-43-82, 50 PIM, plus-31 with the Finland has crossed the pond this year to try his hand at the Calgary Hitmen), Aaron Palushaj (30 GP, 10-30-40, 20 North American game. PIM, plus-17 with the University of ), Simon In 44 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of Hjalmarsson (35 GP, 11-17-28, 24 PIM, plus-4 with Borås the AHL, the left-shooting Pesonen is better than a point-per- HC) and Jori Lehtera (51 GP, 8-29-37, 24 PIM, minus-4 game player with 15 goals (seven on the power play) and 31 with Tappara Tampere) spring to mind. assists for 46 points. He also has a plus-8 mark and 21 PIM for At least two of these players, and perhaps all six, can be the Baby Pens, and has had a cup of coffee with the big club expected to compete for NHL jobs in next year‘s training this year as well. Pesonen has a May 11, 1982 birthdate, which camp, but if the Blues want to look to add some talent from will make him just 27 when the 2009-10 season opens, and he outside the organization, there are at least two relatively- is making a pro-rated $875,000 a year whenever he‘s up with youthful unrestricted free agents out there who may be of Pittsburgh. A small bump, and a shot at playing in the NHL on interest. a more regular basis, should get him out of the Igloo and into From the ‘ organization, RW David Moss the Note. could be looking for a new home over the summer. Blessed The forward signings will not have the impact that a major with NHL size at 6‘3, 203 pounds, Moss also has some ability overhaul in goal would have, but either or both of the players to put the puck in the net. Skating on Calgary‘s third line, mentioned here would make the Blues a more dangerous team Moss has struck for 16 goals in 55 games this year, a success on their bottom two lines in 2009-10 and beyond. rate that puts the Detroit native on pace for 23 goals this year. Join us next time for more of the latest on the Blues‘ Only recently turned 27 years of age (born Dec. 28, 1981), prospects, and until then, remember... ―if we do not prepare Moss is making $575,000 this year from the Flames, and for ourselves the role of the hammer, there will be nothing left should be able to be had for something in the $650-900K but that of the anvil.‖ range. Auf wiedersehen. Looking to the east, Pittsburgh property Janne Pesonen is another player who might benefit from a change of scenery. Volume 4, Issue 30 Pag e 22 February 16, 2009 From The Editor (continued)

(Continued from page 2) his job or brave enough to lose his job over it to make the right decisions on these guys. Both players should be better for it, the Fuck that noise. David Perron, if he‘s anything like a lot of us team should be better for it and the franchise mentality should were when we were 20, is looking for a reason to fuck around. be strengthened by it. Andy Murray‘s job should be more Or fuck off. Or waste some fucking time. Or make a bad fucking secure because of it, not less. decision. Sometimes, when you‘re 20, you need someone to shake your shit and look you in the eye and tell you to wake the fuck up. It keeps you from letting a bad decision become a bad -Sean “and using timeouts early is no big deal habit and then become a bad character trait. Andy Murray anyway” Gallagher recognized some bad decisions becoming bad habits and addressed the issue. David Perron is now receiving the message and is answering his coach. The way it should be. Both Perron and McKee needed what they got from their coach this week. Andy Murray was either confident enough in

Your Kids Gotta Learn Bad Words Somewhere. www.stlouisgametime.com

Remember Me? By Brad Lee & Chris Gift

Brian Noonan Hinote does), and made a nice career out of being an at-best third line player. DOB: May 29, 1965 in Boston, Mass. Signed as a free agent prior to the lockout shortened in Position: Right Wing 1995 season, Noonan came to the Blues as part of Keenan‘s Played for the Blues: 94 games from 1995 to 1996 ―embrace change‖ program. For the first time in 54 years, the New York Rangers won While with the Blues, he scored 15 times and contributed the Stanley Cup in 1994. Mike Keenan brought in quite a few 42 assists. In 13 playoff games he had four goals, an assist players that were solid defensively, unspectacular but and took five penalties. Those numbers are nothing capable offensively and bought into Keenan‘s system of play. spectacular, but not awful. They were, for lack of a better of a term, Noonan was sent back to the Rangers Storm Troopers. They did what their in exchange for early in leader instructed them to do and did it the ‘96-‘97 season. fairly anonymously. Over the course of 11 NHL seasons, and Once their leader went to a new fran- with stops in Vancouver and Phoenix in chise, some of them followed, including addition to his time served with Keenan, . Noonan played in 629 games with 275 Noonan actually played for Keenan points and 518 penalty minutes. three times; in Chicago from 1989-1992, He has returned to Bushwood Country then with the Rangers, and finally with the Club in Nebraska, where he works for Blues. Spalding Smails, since the death of Lou Noonan would best be described as a Loomis he has taken over running the glorified version of Dan Hinote. He wasn‘t Caddyshack. He and Ty Webb are still afraid to go in the corners, wasn‘t afraid to debating on whether this is Russia or not. mix it up (although he fought less than G AME T IME Pag e 23

Top 11 Facts About -2009 David Backes The 2008 11. David Backes doesn‘t block shots. The puck Lucky Skate Shuffle veers away from him in fear. Tracker 10. Chuck Norris, wears David Backes pajamas. 9. The pilot for the TV show ―The Unit‖ was nothing but a chronicle of David Backes‘ penis. 8. David Backes‘ facial hair is considered currency Times Occurred in Cote d‘Ivoire. Finishing Point This Year / 7. is forever thankful that it was Percentage who put a skate blade into his neck on that nearly-fateful night in Buffalo. If it been David Backes, poor Clint‘s body would have Puck finishes in same simply exploded on impact. 20 / 71.4% skate as starting point. 6. David Backes is one-quarter Chippewa. He wasn‘t born that way , the dude fucking ate Central Michigan University whole. Puck finishes in skate one 5. When in the presence of David Backes, European players become more Canadian, place lower than start 8 / 28.6% French-Canadian players become less French, point. Canadian players become more American, and American players become SuperAmerican. Puck finishes in skate one 4. David Backes wears a visor on his helmet not for place higher than start 0 / 0.0% eye protection, but as a tool to collect opposing point. players‘ blood to complete his Annihilation 3000 death robot prototype. 3. David Backes doesn‘t cross-check other players. Other players‘ bodies run into David Backes‘ stick. 2. During David Backes youth, Barclay Plager‘s ghost visited the Backes home and patted young Only About David on the shoulder. We now know that moment as, The Death Notice To The Rest Of 86% Drunk. The NHL. 1. David Backes is God‘s apology for allowing the to happen. www.stlouisgametime.com From the Donut King and his loyal subjects at StLouisGameTime.com

The Degenerate Gambler’s Guide To Tonight’s Game

 Over/Under on number of people from your  Odds that every guy you see wearing a Rangers section who show up late: 37. jersey is also trying to do some bad Sopranos  Odds Nikolai Zherdev looks just like the lazy, accent: 12:1. uninterested player he was in Columbus: 1:1.  Over/Under on Cam Janssen PIM tonight: 7.  Over/Under on number of times you‘ll hear  Odds that Bernie doesn‘t believe the Blues goalie someone complain about the Vs Network tonight: had any chance on that last goal: 750:1. 5.5. Volume 4, Issue 30 Pag e 24 February 16, 2009 NHL Standings—Still Chasin’ It

Eastern Conference GP W L OTL PTS GF GA PP% PK% HOME AWAY L10 1 Boston 57 39 10 8 86 192 130 22.2 82.6 19-4-4 20-6-4 5-2-3 2 New Jersey 57 37 17 3 77 179 141 19.0 82.4 19-10-1 18-7-2 8-2-0 3 Washington 57 36 16 5 77 191 163 23.4 79.9 22-4-1 14-12-4 6-2-2 4 Philadelphia 55 30 16 9 69 179 161 23.8 83.2 16-7-3 14-9-6 6-4-0 5 Montreal 57 30 21 6 66 172 172 16.1 82.0 17-6-4 13-15-2 3-7-0 6 NY Rangers 57 30 21 6 66 143 160 14.0 86.7 17-9-3 13-12-3 3-5-2 7 Florida 56 28 20 8 64 160 155 15.6 82.0 15-7-5 13-13-3 7-3-0 8 Buffalo 57 29 22 6 64 168 159 20.6 83.8 16-11-2 13-11-4 5-4-1

9 Carolina 57 28 24 5 61 146 166 16.4 79.0 14-12-1 14-12-4 6-4-0 10 Pittsburgh 57 27 25 5 59 171 175 16.1 80.5 15-12-2 12-13-3 4-5-1 11 Toronto 56 21 25 10 52 171 206 19.7 73.7 10-10-6 11-15-4 4-3-3 12 Ottawa 54 21 25 8 50 135 155 18.8 83.0 12-9-5 9-16-3 5-4-1 13 Tampa Bay 56 19 26 11 49 142 176 16.5 80.7 10-11-7 9-15-4 4-5-1 14 Atlanta 57 20 32 5 45 165 198 18.9 75.7 9-17-2 11-15-3 3-7-0 15 NY Islanders 55 16 33 6 38 134 187 17.6 81.8 10-12-4 6-21-2 4-4-2 Western Conference GP W L OTL PTS GF GA PP% PK% HOME AWAY L10 1 San Jose 54 37 8 9 83 188 135 24.1 84.8 23-2-3 14-6-6 4-2-4 2 Detroit 57 37 12 8 82 215 168 26.6 77.9 20-4-3 17-8-5 6-3-1 3 Calgary 56 33 18 5 71 178 165 18.7 85.4 20-7-3 13-11-2 5-4-1 4 Chicago 54 31 15 8 70 181 137 21.3 81.1 15-4-5 16-11-3 6-4-0 5 Vancouver 56 27 21 8 62 169 163 19.0 78.3 14-11-4 13-10-4 5-2-3 6 Dallas 55 27 21 7 61 166 172 17.3 78.9 16-7-4 11-14-3 7-3-0 7 Columbus 56 28 23 5 61 153 155 12.3 81.4 18-9-1 10-14-4 6-3-1 8 Anaheim 58 28 25 5 61 163 166 22.0 81.5 15-12-3 13-13-2 5-5-0

9 Edmonton 55 28 23 4 60 156 170 17.6 76.6 13-11-3 15-12-1 5-4-1 10 Minnesota 55 28 24 3 59 142 129 21.0 87.1 17-11-3 11-13-0 5-5-0 11 Nashville 56 27 26 3 57 138 158 13.6 84.7 16-10-1 11-16-2 7-3-0 12 Los Angeles 54 24 22 8 56 140 150 18.6 82.6 13-12-7 11-10-1 7-2-1 13 Phoenix 57 25 27 5 55 145 175 14.6 79.2 16-11-2 9-16-3 2-8-0 14 St.Louis 55 23 25 7 53 158 171 21.7 82.1 14-11-4 9-14-3 5-2-3 15 Colorado 57 26 30 1 53 156 178 17.1 78.3 16-14-0 10-16-1 3-7-0

Wish You Had Game Time When You Watch The Blues At Home? Subscribe! [email protected] G AME T IME Pag e 25 St. Louis Blues Schedule and Results

October January (continued) WINNING/LOSING WINNING/LOSING DATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORD DATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORD GOALIE GOALIE Oct 10 Fri Predators 5-2 1-0-0 Legace/Ellis Jan 17 Sat Blackhaw ks 1-2 OT 17-23-4 Huet/Legace Oct 11 Sat @Islanders 2-5 1-1-0 MacDonald/Mason Jan 19 Mon @Bruins 5-4 SO 18-23-4 Mason/Thomas Oct 13 Mon @Maple Leafs 5-4 SO 2-1-0 Legace/Toskala Jan 21 Wed @Blackhaw ks 2-0 19-23-4 Mason/Huet Oct 16 Thu Stars 6-1 3-1-0 Legace/Turco Jan 24 Sat All-Star Skills/Young Stars Game Oct 18 Sat Blackhaw ks 4-3 SO 4-1-0 Legace/Khabibulin Jan 25 Sun All-Star Game Oct 22 Wed Red Wings 3-4 4-2-0 Conklin/Legace Jan 29 Thu Senators 1-3 19-24-4 Elliott/Mason Oct 24 Fri Kings 0-4 4-3-0 LaBarbera/Legace Jan 31 Sat Flyers 4-0 20-24-4 Mason/Niittymaki Oct 25 Sat Panthers 4-0 5-3-0 Bishop/Anderson Oct 30 Thu Hurricanes 0-1 5-4-0 Ward/Mason

November February WINNING/LOSING WINNING/LOSING DATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORD DATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORD GOALIE GOALIE Nov 1 Sat Penguins 3-6 5-5-0 Fleury/Mason Feb 2 Mon @Red Wings 3-4 SO 20-24-5 Osgood/Mason Nov 5 Wed @Ducks 2-5 5-6-0 Giguere/Mason Feb 3 Tue @Blue Jackets 4-2 21-24-5 C.Mason/S.Mason Nov 6 Thu @Sharks 4-5 SO 5-6-1 Nabokov/Bishop Feb 5 Thu Oilers 1-2 SO 21-24-6 Roloson/Mason Nov 8 Sat @Kings 3-5 5-7-1 Ersberg/Legace Feb 7 Sat Avalanche 4-1 22-24-6 Mason/Budaj Nov 12 Wed @Sabres 3-4 5-8-1 Miller/Mason Feb 10 Tue Canucks 4-6 22-25-6 Luongo/Mason Nov 14 Fri @Blackhaw ks 4-3 OT 6-8-1 Legace/Khabibulin Feb 12 Thu @Predators 3-4 SO 22-25-7 Rinne/Mason Nov 16 Sun Canadiens 2-3 SO 6-8-2 Price/Legace Feb 13 Fri Blackhaw ks 1-0 23-25-7 Mason/Huet Nov 21 Fri Ducks 3-2 OT 7-8-2 Legace/Giguere Feb 16 Mon Rangers Nov 22 Sat @Wild 2-1 8-8-2 Mason/Backstrom Feb 18 Wed @Blue Jackets Nov 25 Tue @Predators 1-0 SO 9-8-2 Mason/Ellis Feb 19 Thu @Predators Nov 26 Wed @Avalanche 1-3 9-9-2 Budaj/Legace Feb 21 Sat Predators Nov 29 Sat Oilers 2-4 9-10-2 Roloson/Legace Feb 24 Tue Coyotes Nov 30 Sun @Thrashers 4-2 10-10-2 Mason/Pavelec Feb 26 Thu @Stars Feb 28 Sat @Coyotes

December March WINNING/LOSING WINNING/LOSING DATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORD DATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORD GOALIE GOALIE Dec 3 Wed @Wild 0-4 10-11-2 Backstrom/Legace Mar 3 Tue Red Wings Dec 5 Fri Flames 3-4 OT 10-11-3 Kipprusoff/Mason Mar 6 Fri @Lightning Dec 6 Sat Coyotes 4-3 11-11-3 Legace/Bryzgalov Mar 7 Sat @Panthers Dec 8 Mon Predators 6-3 12-11-3 Legace/Rinne Mar 10 Tue Stars Dec 10 Wed @Ducks 2-4 12-12-3 Giguere/Mason Mar 12 Thu Sharks Dec 11 Thu @Kings 2-6 12-13-3 Ersberg/Mason Mar 14 Sat Red Wings Dec 13 Sat @Sharks 4-5 12-14-3 Nabokov/Mason Mar 15 Sun Wild Dec 16 Tue Flames 3-6 12-15-3 Kipprusoff/Mason Mar 17 Tue @Oilers Dec 18 Thu @Capitals 2-4 12-16-3 Varlamov/Bishop Mar 19 Thu @Canucks Dec 20 Sat Wild 4-2 13-16-3 Legace/Backstrom Mar 20 Fri @Flames Dec 21 Sun Bruins 3-6 13-17-3 Fernandez/Legace Mar 24 Tue Kings Dec 23 Tue @Red Wings 1-4 13-18-3 Conklin/Legace Mar 26 Thu Canucks Dec 27 Sat Sharks 3-2 SO 14-18-3 Legace/Nabokov Mar 28 Sat Blue Jackets Dec 28 Sun Ducks 3-4 14-19-3 Hiller/Mason Mar 29 Sun @Blue Jackets Dec 30 Tue Devils 3-4 14-20-3 Clemmensen/Legace

January April WINNING/LOSING WINNING/LOSING DATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORD DATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORD GOALIE GOALIE Jan 2 Fri @Hurricanes 2-3 14-21-3 Ward/Mason Apr 1 Wed @Blackhaw ks Jan 3 Sat Blue Jackets 5-2 15-21-3 Legace/Mason Apr 2 Thu @Red Wings Jan 9 Fri @Canucks 6-4 16-21-3 Legace/Labarbara Apr 4 Sat @Stars Jan 11 Sun @Oilers 1-2 16-22-3 Roloson/Legace Apr 7 Tue @Coyotes Jan 13 Tue @Flames 1-3 16-23-3 Kipprusoff/Mason Apr 10 Fri Blue Jackets Jan 15 Thu Avalanche 5-2 17-23-3 Legace/Budaj Apr 12 Sun @Avalanche Volume 4, Issue 30 Pag e 26 February 16, 2009

These Little Town Blues... (continued)

(Continued from page 1) Saturday night for a rare home-and- asleep on the bench and playing at home series. The Blue Jackets are 6-3-1 one-quarter speed half the time. how the Blues are still ―only‖ seven in their last 10 and in the middle of the Already in his fifth season at age 24, the points out of the playoffs as of Sunday playoff hunt. That‘s no gimme game. perpetual losing and missing the evening. The Blues do have some potential playoffs had to take a toll on the Seriously, it was a satisfying win to motivation in making up for the fucking Ukrainian. He‘s only 17 points off his see the Blues slow the Hawks down and shootout debacle from last Thursday career best season total. He doesn‘t really try to get under the skin of night that caused me to get three hours have the big fat coach yelling at him all Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. of sleep that night. the time. That has to help too. In 28 Several times when the young Hawks career games against St. Louis, Zherdev were on the ice, Andy Murray sent out has five goals and 12 assists. the David Perron line. More impor- Scott Gomez is getting paid a shit- tantly, Perron would take the ice with load of money to score 38 points in 52 his buddy Cam Janssen who tried to games this season. He was a minus-2 extract some Valley Park justice on Sunday afternoon. The slightly under- more than one occasion. It worked, sized Alaskan has only two points in his didn‘t it? The Hawks were held off the last five games, a pair of assists in a scoreboard and more than once Toews shootout loss to Washington last week. got pushy after the whistle in a ―Hey, The former Devil has just 10 goals on you can‘t do that! Don‘t you know who I the season. am?‖ sort of way. It‘s an interesting I didn‘t even remember Markus idea that the Blues are building a Naslund was with the Rangers until I reputation as a team that‘s tougher looked at the team stats. The former than the opposition. When was the last Canuck is hitting the wall at age 35. time that was the case? Couple decades New Ranger Nik Zherdev shows us his wiping finger. He‘ll never approach his three-year run minimum, right? from 2001-2004 when he scored a total Chris Mason continues building of 278 points in three seasons. He‘ll be confidence in his own play and in his Then the Blues wrap a very busy lucky to get 55 this season. Maybe he teammates. I wouldn‘t say he was month with games against Phoenix, misses . Dallas and Phoenix. It‘s not like they‘re severely tested on five shots in the first Chris Drury makes a lot of money to period or on six shots in the second. playing Detroit every single night, but it‘s also not like the Blues are above any score 34 points a season. And just so But he did stop them all and the 11 put you remember before you hear it 200 on net in the fast and furious third of these teams in the standings. So it‘s easy to be cautiously optimistic, but at times today, he did pitch in the Little period. He‘s going to have to show League World Series. down the stretch that he can steal a the same time realistic in realizing the game and keep the soft goals out, so Blues haven‘t put together long Henrik Lundqvist has a 25-17-2 maybe Friday night may be a stepping stretches of good hockey all season. record on the season, but only one win stone towards that result. Or it was just After a 5-2 loss at home Sunday in his last five games. He has the ability a bad night for the Hawks on the end of afternoon to the , to take over a game and could be the a long road trip. the Rangers now have only one win in difference in tonight‘s game if he starts. The Blues are still in this thing. Kind their last eight games. It‘s been a free- The Blues will be more rested and of. If you‘re the eternal optimist. They fall down the standings for the more composed tonight with the haven‘t won back-to-back games since Blueshirts. They‘re currently in sixth Rangers traveling after a frustrating Jan. 19 and Jan. 21, the miracle come- place but still pretty safe with five loss. The Blues will have to take it to back in Boston and then another beat points between them and out of playoff New York early, keep it up during the down of the Hawks. They need a lot contention. But there‘s still a lot of middle of the game and finish it. You more for the front office to justify hockey left and plenty of time for them know, the opposite of most of last week. printing off season ticket bills. They‘ve to blow it, which probably why they‘re Maybe they‘ll be motivated to give their got the Rangers tonight, a team that‘s talking about bringing Avery back. owners some bragging rights over their struggling and lost yesterday at home. Somehow Nikolai Zherdev leads the former organization. Then it‘s on the road Wednesday and Rangers in points with 16 goals and 28 Let‘s Go Blues! Thursday at Columbus and then at assists on the season. It‘s the same Nashville. The Predators come calling Zherdev we made jokes about falling G AME T IME Pag e 27 Game Time Bingo!

You love Boyes so A goal is scored in No. 18 earns some Spot the first fan Bobby Plager is on much that the first two more of your Steen jersey. the jumbotron. NAMBLA is minutes of any respect. recruiting you. period.

Barret Jackman Red Berenson Cowboy Cotton-Eyed Joe gives someone the stackin‘ cups like it‘s his Perron gets off 75% of the Horn guy makes an ‗you‘re an idiot‘ job. We hope it actually the fourth line. Guys suck tonight. appearance. look. is his job. Pretty sure that Someone passes Chris Holt starting to Cam Janssen Towel Boy‘s shirt No call on a blatant wonder if he should you a bag of candy shows us his tits. lights up to say Mite penalty. even bother putting the after a Blues goal. 8LUES. uniform on.

Hear people in the Still don‘t get why Spot someone else Bluie gyrating way wrong jersey GT keeps referring filling out the GT Stempniak who? too close to some getting booed on to Chris Holt as Bingo card. poor kid‘s face. the concourses. ‗Steve Holt!‘

Another $200 Fight! Angelllla looks Andy Murray calls stick breaks at the Charles Glenn rules Fight! nervous about the fan a time out in the worst possible all. she‘s standing by. first period. time. Fight! Get five in a row in any direction and you win!

Tales From The Crease

By Jeremy Pratte Trust Us.

We’ll Pick Out The Good Stuff For You. St. Louis Game Time