St Louis

Volume 4, Issue 25 Game Time January 31, 2009

Four Dollars Of MSH The Game Day Guide To St. Louis Blues Hockey Established in 2005

By Brad Lee It’s insane. The odds are in the Blues’ favor that they will play a strong Top teams in the league say it’s hard to stay there because each game tonight against . After all, the Flyers are a opponent plays them like each night is the seventh game of the pretty damn good team. Therefore, the Blues probably won’t play Cup Finals. And when the Hawks are involved, the energy in the like crap. building will boost any team. It would also make sense that the Blues see their fair share of backup against better If you look at the Blues’ schedule this season, they’ve played teams. When the Blues are on the schedule and the other team well in games they had no business being competitive in and sees the standings, there’s bound to be a letdown. Yes, they’ve struggled against teams they should have St. Louis is firmly entrenched as the cupcake opponent handled without much effort. Thursday’s of the Western Conference. disappointing loss to the was just the latest in a weird trend that has done as Learning to give the best effort and playing to much as the team’s injury problems to sink win every night over an 82-game schedule is this season. definitely a challenge. College and junior schedules aren’t nearly as long and as In just the second game on the schedule, grueling as the NHL. The pressure of the Blues lost to the , performing at this level is different than the the odds on favorite to be drafting first . Playing in Milwau- overall in the NHL Entry Draft come this kee or San Antonio isn’t the same as skating at summer. The Blues have played the Los or the Sommet Center. OK, Angeles Kings three times this season. They’ve maybe it is like the Sommet Center, but the lost all three games. What’s worse, none of them opposition is better and as prepared or more. have been competitive. The combined score in the three losses is an astounding 15-5. The Kings are 20-20 TM What really sucks right now is that this has -7, tied for 12th in the Western Conference. The Blues are 0-2 become the excuse season. Instead of talking against the Oilers, a team that seems to be more interested in about specific plays or players, we’ve been reduced to whining getting its coach fired than winning games. Of course losses to about injuries, long layoffs and vice presidential candidate visits. and other top teams kind of threaten my theory, but I’ll Instead of talking abut how has been the most ignore that fact and keep moving on. inconsistent player on the team and should have kept Thursday’s game 1-1 late in the third, this story is about justifying how the Meanwhile, when the Sharks are on the schedule, the Blues Blues lose to one of the few teams lower than them in the league play like their lives depend on it. They have wins at Boston and standings. It sucks. Vancouver as well as wins against the Wild, Hawks and Ducks. (Continued on page 26) Today’s Records, Injuries & News Today’s Team Records: Today’s Injuries: Today’s News & Notes:

Blues: Flyers: Blues: C Andy McDonald (fractured • Boston’s Phil Kessel returned to the 19-25-3 (42 points) 26-13-9 (61 points) ankle), LW Paul Kariya (hip), LW Yan lineup Thursday after missing three 5th in Central 3rd in Atlantic Stastny (thumb), D Roman Polak games with mononucleosis. He tallied 15th in Western 5th in Eastern (foot) and D Eric Brewer (back surgery) two assists in the game.

are out. • Lightning goalie Olaf Kolzig had Last Ten Games: Blues: Flyers: season-ending surgery on his forearm Flyers: D Derian Hatcher (knee), 5-4-1 5-3-2 today. C Danielle Briere (groin) and F Josh • Game Time staff still trying to purge Season Series: All-Time Series: Gratton (abdominal strain) are out. the Ottawa game from our minds. 0-0-0 38-79-18-2

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 25 From The Editor January 31, 2009

As a person who spends way too much of his ’s days in St. Louis are St. Louis Game Time time on a hockey paper, I get asked about my coming to an end. I also think that there Established: November 6, 2005 opinions about the Blues more than my fair are plenty of teams out there who will St Louis, share. What I usually say is something along look to the Blues to acquire him as a Phone: 402-2266 the lines of, “Oh, I don’t know, what do you safety net. He’s played well as a backup www.StLouisGameTime.com think?” or “I don’t write for that rag.” What I before, can steal the odd game for you want to say is, “Buy the paper or check our and thrives when he has a solid defense website. I have no shortage of opinions in front of him. Someone is going to Godfather there.” come calling for him. The Blues would be Jeffio smart to find a deal there. But when I’ve talked to non-hockey fans and they want to know about our team I tell Fragile Jay McKee is a playoff Publisher & Editor-in-Chief them basically the same things: No, GM’s wet dream right about now. Sean Gallagher they are not going to make the He isn’t going to kill your salary [email protected] and no, they’re not as bad cap as his contract is ending, as their record indicates. They he’s got lots of playoff experi- Advertising don’t get blown out of games. They ence and he does all the little [email protected] don’t play lazy. They are getting gritty things that make the [email protected] better. Yes, they should be better next year. difference in the playoffs. His renowned

And yes, I do think we have a problem in -blocking means that the Blues will . get calls on his availability. Make him Distribution available. Like Tkachuk, his reputation John Nicolay Taking those rapid-fire answers together outside of St. Louis is much better than it Amy Benoist, Becky Benoist, usually leads to the next question, the one is within. Billy Cash, Clarence Walker we’ve had to assess every year since the lockout now. Who’s getting traded at the Teams will likely also call asking deadline? This, I think is a harder question. about Dan Hinote, Jay McClement and Columnists There’s no doubt that the moves the manage- maybe even Brad Winchester. All three Chris Gift, Duke, Brad Lee, Answer Man & Brian Weidler ment has made at the trade deadline over the have attributes that make them effective last three years has really helped build this depth players for competitive teams. If I franchise and that the opportunity to do it were making the call, I’d keep Contributors again this year is one that should be taken. McClement and let the other two go on Jeffio, Jeff Browning, LosBri, Childhood Trauma, Dan Doke, Jeff Hopefully the team will be in a position next down the road. Unless an offer for Fahrenkrog, Jeremy Pratte & Chris Reed year to be neither trade deadline sellers nor McClement reached ridiculous levels, it’s buyers. They should be in a position to make important to send the message to the Photographer the playoffs with the group they have and not core group of youngsters in the system Andrew D’Angelo be so full of themselves as to believe that they that they won’t just be cast off any time need to trade away young assets to bring in an offer is placed. McClement has a good Mission: an overpaid vet to help them go farther in the contract and does a lot of the really Game Time will provide prospect second season. unglamorous tasks required of tough information, up-to-date statistics, articles hockey teams. If they unloaded him, that spark discussion and humor that If I was the guy answering those inquiring points out the best and worst about our they’d have to immediately find another phone calls for the Blues, there are a few favorite team and sport. We are all fans of guy just like him. Until his contract the Blues and our opinions will reflect guys I’d be looking to move, starting with a demands get to be Mayers-esque, he has those of subjective fans. guy who has done the trick before in Keith a place here. The paper is published for every home Tkachuk. While he as a no-trade clause in his game, excluding the pre-season, which we contract, I doubt it’d take much convincing I left Andy McDonald off the list all know sucks. to get him to waive it to go to a contender. because I think he’ll be re-signed. Tkachuk may not be as effective as he has Likewise, with Kariya and Brewer I Rights & Permissions: been in the past, but he still has value to believe that management wants to have All material printed herein is copyrighted playoff teams and his reputation around the them around next season and I can’t say and protected. Do not reprint in any league is higher than most may expect. I disagree with that move. format without expressed, written permission from Game Time LLC. My guess is that the Bruins and Rangers The Blues have this last trade deadline could be played off of one another for the to boost the rebuild. Let’s take advantage services of big No. 7. My guess is that he’d of it and hope that it’s the last time for a Logos & Photos also sign a sweetheart two-year deal in the while that they have to sell off their Team logos and pictures used herein are the property of the individual teams players. offseason to come back here, play on the and/or the NHL and are used solely for second and play the grizzled vet role in identification and editorial purposes. the locker room. -Sean “how’s that for opinions?” I think it has become pretty clear that Gallagher Today’s Catcall: Broad Street Broads. G AME TIME Page 3

Tonight’s Trivia Top 11 Signs You’re Drunk By Childhood Trauma At A Hockey Game

First Period (true or false): 11. You’re wearing that damn Gretzky jersey again. 10. When the beer man came by, he greeted you by 1. The are the first NHL team based in your first name. Pennsylvania. 9. The ushers started chasing you for humping the 2. Derian Hatcher became the first American-born to Federko statue. lead his team to a victory. 8. You’re wearing that damn Bulger jersey again. First Intermission (T/F): 7. It’s Saturday. 6. You had to take off your full goalie pads to use 3. Ben Franklin is on the largest denomination US banknote the restroom again. still legally circulated. 5. The ushers started chasing you for humping Second Period (multiple choice): Federko. 4. The Flyers give a team award to the player with the most 4. Your name is Plager. “Star of the Game” points. Who won it last season: Simon 3. You just bought a Louie the blue bear logo puck. Gagne, Martin Biron, Jeff Carter, or Kimmo Timonen? 2. You just complimented Angelllla on the spelling of her name because it’s much more fun to say 5. The NHL record of 34 power play goals in a season is held that way. by which Flyer: Reggie Leach, Brian Propp, Tim Kerr, or 1. You think the Blues have a good chance of Simon Gagne? winning tonight. Second Intermission: From the Empty Beer Cup of Brad Lee 6. Which Pennsylvanian is the “seer of seers and prognostica- tor of prognosticators”: Ben Franklin, W. C. Fields, Andy Warhol or Punxsutawney Phil? Third Period: 7. is the Blue with the most career power play goals with 203. Which three ex-Blues have scored more? Welcome To 8. After being fired by the Flyers, what team gave Roger Neilson a two-game coaching stint that allowed him to Angrytown. become the ninth NHL coach to reach the 1,000-game mark? 9. Only one person has been coach and general manager of www.stlouisgametime.com the Flyers. Name him. Overtime! 10. Pelle Linbergh, ex-Flyer’s goalie, and Redskin free safety

Sean Taylor share what distinction? Corrections & Clarifications

’s all-star game posthumously. posthumously. game all-star ’s

10. Both were voted to their league their to voted were Both 10. • Game Time would like to apologize for working so

Keenan, Francis, and Bowman. Bowman. and Francis, Keenan, hard to give you a great product on Thursday. We

9. Bob McCammon. Three people held both jobs for the Blues; Blues; the for jobs both held people Three McCammon. Bob 9. didn’t realize we’re were overmatching the effort of

season. Roger died that off-season. off-season. that died Roger season. the team.

Jacque Martin’s tenure. The Senators won the president’s trophy that that trophy president’s the won Senators The tenure. Martin’s Jacque

Roger Neilson to coach during during coach to Neilson Roger 8. The Ottawa Senators elevated elevated Senators Ottawa The 8. • [This apology has

held by Dave Andreychuk). Andreychuk). Dave by held (265, nine shy of the NHL record NHL the of shy nine (265, waived its No-Movement

Shanahan (236) and Brett Hull Hull Brett and (236) Shanahan

7. (204), Brendan Brendan (204), Gretzky Wayne 7. Clause and is awaiting a 6. Groundhog Punxutawney Phil is the Seer of Seers. Seers. of Seer the is Phil Punxutawney Groundhog 6. trade.]

5. Tim Kerr scored 34 PPG in 1986. 1986. in PPG 34 scored Kerr Tim 5. • Game Time printed the

4. Martin Biron won last season. Gagne has won three times. times. three won has Gagne season. last won Biron Martin 4. wrong picture of Blues

being printed in the 1940’s. 1940’s. the in printed being fans leaving the rink d-dollar bill. Larger bills stopped stopped bills Larger bill. d-dollar

3. True. Franklin is on the hundre the on is Franklin True. 3. on Thursday in the last p-winning 1999 team. team. Stars Dallas 1999 p-winning

2. True. Derian captained the Cu the captained Derian True. 2. issue. The correct picture

1. False. The Philadelphia Quakers played one season in the 1930’s. 1930’s. the in season one played Quakers Philadelphia The False. 1. is shown here. Volume 4, Issue 25 Page 4 January 31, 2009 Page 5 G AME TIME The Five Hole

With Chris Gift

OK, after that vomit inducing performance against Ottawa, Trophy. here’s a slight diversion from the normal “This is what I Okposo is truly a St. Louis player, he and the city have think about the Blues” column. There is a finite number of fallen in love with each other, and it seems hard to remember ways you can say “The Blues and Jeff Woywitka played hockey in St. Louis without Okposo. terrible.” So, I digress. Remember, I is one, V is five, X is ten, L is fifty, and M is one thousand. If a numeral of lesser In a dispute with management over his declining skills, value appears to the left of a numeral with greater value, Okposo leaves, and ends up in Utah. He leads the perennially subtract the smaller from the greater (XIX = 19). downtrodden Utah Blues to the . Tomorrow, for the XLIIIrd time, the United States So we puck-heads in St. Louis have to watch a playoff run celebrates an unofficial holiday of overeating, overdrinking, into June by the Blues, but not our Blues. The Blues that have and gathering at whoever of your friends has the best TV’s traded mullets for Mormons, beer for um…carbonated water, house to watch a football game. and one of our players is leading the charge. For the first time in VII years, supposedly there is a I don’t know about you, but I’d have a hard time rooting groundswell of support behind one of the teams here in for them. St. Louis. I sure hope none of that happens. I figure the Islanders, Call me ignorant, accuse me of holding a grudge, or just Phoenix and Nashville are the three franchises most likely to tell me to get over what happened to the original local NFL move, and other than having Okposo play here, none of the team almost exactly XXI years ago. above scenario is desirable in the least bit to me. Let’s spin the consensus rooting interest for tomorrow Back to reality. into a sport that everyone around these parts knows, and Before you get all tingly tomorrow for the Cardinals, loves a little more, hockey. remember it was the Bidwill family that decided to abandon And instead of talking about a team moving from Chicago us for the desert. They played in a college football stadium for to St. Louis to Phoenix, how about we make the team that XX years. The Bidwill family’s move forced St. Louis to we are supposed to root for the Blues. overreact and build that airplane hangar that is the Edward Jones Dome to attempt to lure a team. But not the St. Louis Blues. Remember when there was talk of the New England How about we fast a few years? Let’s just say that Patriots moving here? The CFL talked of expanding here, and in 2015 that Sports Capital Partners, Dave Checketts’ the late Walter Payton nearly talked the league into awarding ownership group, realizes that with his company headquar- the city something called the St. Louis Stallions. tered in Salt Lake City, and his soccer team, Real Salt Lake playing in Salt Lake City that for one reason or another it (Continued on page 22) would make a hell (careful on the curse words around the Mormons) heck of a lot more sense to have the Blues share the same building with the Utah Jazz than Chateau Scottrade. The Jeffio Joke of the Day So in the summer of MMXV, SCP takes their hockey team, with studs Erik Johnson, Lars Eller and TJ Oshie and moves to Utah. St. Louis is now looked at as a failure as a Old Man Bob Clarke went to the doctor for hockey market. The team was here nearly L years, had many his yearly physical. Of course, he brought his successful seasons, but now is gone. St. Louis is looked at a hockey abyss. We yearn for the days of hockey with an otter- wife. When the doctor entered the examina- tude at the Family Arena, and for scrubs like Terry Yake and tion room, he told Clarke, “I need a urine Marty Reasoner to let us down on a nightly basis. sample, a stool sample and a sperm sample.” Quite a few years later, after St. Louis has suckered another team to moving here, let’s just say the St. Louis Clarke, being hard of hearing, looked at Islanders are the team that Liam Gallagher publishes a his wife and yelled, “What? What did he say? newspaper about. Let’s assume that team has had success What’s he want?” once moving here, and current Islander Kyle Okposo becomes a St. Louis Islander fan favorite. Okposo didn’t get His wife yelled back, “He needs your to carry the Stanley Cup very much in the parade down underwear.” Market Street; he was too busy holding the Conn Smythe Volume 4, Issue 25 Page 6 January 31, 2009 St. Louis Blues Statistics

Skater Statistics PLAYER GP G A PTS +/- PIM ATOI PPG PPA SHG SHA SOG SPCT , RW 47 20 17 37 -23 18 19:19 12 8 0 0 122 16.4 Keith Tkachuk, C 45 15 16 31 -14 37 17:43 10 3 0 0 112 13.4 Patrik Berglund, C 42 14 16 30 13 12 15:56 4 9 0 0 79 17.7 David Perron, LW 46 5 25 30 2 30 15:47 1 9 0 0 105 4.8 David Backes, RW 47 16 10 26 -5 123 17:23 3 2 1 0 111 14.4 Andy McDonald, C 16 6 12 18 -12 12 19:55 2 9 1 0 46 13 Paul Kariya, LW 11 2 13 15 1 2 18:06 0 9 0 0 31 6.5 Barret Jackman, D 47 2 12 14 -12 58 22:51 0 1 0 1 55 3.6 Jay McClement, C 4749 13 -10 23 16:27 0 0 1 0 72 5.6 , LW * 2749 13 -1 10 17:42 2 5 0 0 49 8.2 Carlo Colaiacovo, D * 28 1 11 12 -1 17 17:50 0 10 0 0 33 3 T.J. Oshie, C 2357 12 5 4 16:02 3 1 0 1 40 12.5 Jeff Woywitka, D 31 1 10 11 -4 38 18:14 1 5 0 0 32 3.1 Roman Polak, D 44 1 10 11 -5 29 21:30 0 4 0 0 49 2 B.J. Crombeen, RW * 3183 11 -4 65 13:04 0 2 1 0 57 14 Brad Winchester, LW 2982 10 -4 47 12:48 4 2 0 0 41 19.5 Yan Stastny, C 3434 7 -14 20 12:45 0 0 0 1 30 10 Eric Brewer, D 2815 6 -14 24 25:07 1 2 0 0 49 2 Mike Weaver, D 2804 4 -2 6 15:31 0 0 0 1 16 0 , RW 3813 4 -4 92 5:34 0 0 0 0 16 6.3 Dan Hinote, RW 2811 2 -5 35 10:46 0 0 0 0 14 7.1 Jay McKee, D 3611 2 -3 19 16:54 0 0 0 0 20 5 Tyson Strachan, D 1702 2 2 24 13:19 0 0 0 0 13 0 D.J. King, LW 101 1 E08:2000000 0 Goalie Statistics PLAYER GP W L GAA SV SV% SHO TGA TSA PIM ENG Manny Legace 28 13 9 3.12 587 88.8% 0 74 661 0 1 Chris Mason 22 5 14 2.94 546 90.5% 2 57 603 0 6

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

Blues Leaders Blues All-Time Leaders Goals Brad Boyes 20 Games Played 927 Assists David Perron 25 Goals Brett Hull 527 Points Brad Boyes 37 Points Bernie Federko 1,073 Plus/Minus Patrik Berglund 13 PIM 1,873 PP Goals Brad Boyes 12 Goalie GP Mike Liut 347 Wins Manny Legace 13 Wins Mike Liut 151 GAA Chris Mason 2.94 GAA Jacques Plante 2.07 Save PCT Chris Mason 90.5% Glenn Hall 16

Whaddaya Want, Fucko? Want Some? St. Louis Game Time G AME TIME Page 7 Philadelphia Statistics

Skater Statistics PLAYER GP G A PTS +/- PIM ATOI PPG PPA SHG SHA SOG SPCT Jeff Carter, C 48 32 21 53 14 36 21:25 9 8 4 0 209 15.3 Mike Richards, C 48 18 32 50 18 37 21:50 4 17 4 2 141 12.8 Simon Gagne, LW 45 20 27 47 20 24 18:48 6 7 4 4 112 17.9 , LW 48 18 17 35 9 84 18:06 3 5 1 0 120 15 Mike Knuble, RW 48 18 14 32 4 36 18:28 8 6 0 1 97 18.6 Kimmo Timonen, D 47 3 26 29 8 38 24:51 2 18 0 0 52 5.8 Joffrey Lupul, RW 45 15 14 29 -1 32 15:44 5 6 0 0 103 14.6 Braydon Coburn, D 48 5 13 18 E 65 25:16 3 5 0 1 83 6 Scottie Upshall, LW 44 6 11 17 4 51 13:14 2 1 0 0 100 6 Matt Carle, D * 3029 11 6 4 21:43 0 5 0 0 32 6.3 Glen Metropolit, C 4419 10 -3 9 13:34 1 0 0 1 48 2.1 Ossi Vaananen, D 4019 10 8 22 19:39 0 0 0 2 17 5.9 Andrew Alberts, D 4519 10 9 48 15:32 0 0 0 1 25 4 Daniel Briere, C 954 9 -3 10 16:42 2 2 0 0 22 22.7 Arron Asham, RW 4434 7 E 120 8:27 0 0 0 0 31 9.7 Luca Sbisa, D 3807 7 -4 36 17:33 0 4 0 0 38 0 , D 1622 4 4 16 19:21 1 0 0 0 23 8.7 , RW 913 4 2 4 14:09 0 0 0 0 15 6.7 Darroll Powe, LW 2622 4 -3 12 9:19 0 0 0 0 24 8.3 Andreas Nodl, LW 2913 4 -11 2 12:09 0 0 0 0 29 3.4 Josh Gratton, LW 1912 3 -2 57 6:14 0 0 0 0 14 7.1 Jonathon Kalinski, LW 1212 3 -207:370000714.3 Lasse Kukkonen, D 1902 2 -1 10 11:19 0 0 0 0 10 0 , LW 3601 1 -4 102 4:05 0 0 0 0 15 0 Goalie Statistics PLAYER GP W L GAA SV SV% SHO TGA TSA PIM ENG Martin Biron 30 15 10 2.89 813 90.5% 1 85 898 0 1 Antero Niittymaki 20 11 3 2.51 555 91.9% 1 49 604 0 1

Flyers Leaders Flyers All-Time Leaders Goals Jeff Carter 32 Games Played 1,144 Assists Mike Richards 32 Goals Bill Barber 420 Points Jeff Carter 53 Points Bobby Clarke 1,210 Plus/Minus Simon Gagne 20 PIM Rick Tocchet 1,817 PP Goals Jeff Carter 9 Goalie GP Ron Hext all 489 Wins Martin Biron 15 Wins Ron Hext all 240 GAA Antero Niittymaki 2.51 GAA Ro ma n Ce c hma ne k 1. 96 Save PCT Antero Niittymaki 91.9% Shutouts Bernia Parent 50

Enter Our Contests, Win Our Tickets. www.StLouisGameTime.com Volume 4, Issue 25 Page 8 January 31, 2009

Like The Photos in GT? The Big Johnson Joke of the Day Hey there, Fillies, you wanna know how big my Now available for purchase Johnson is? My Johnson is so big, the concession from our photographer stands now sell popcorn in sizes small, large and My Johnson. My Johnson is so big, when the city went to build a statue of it, they ran out of cement. My Johnson is so big, it’s in a boy band with four other giant dicks.

Great Rates! The Roman Polak Joke of the Day Perfect for autographs! Roman Polak walked into the Great gifts for your favorite fan! locker room with a big pile of View the shots online. dogshit in his hands. “Look what I almost Contact: Andrew D’Angelo stepped in!” [email protected] (314) 546-0369

Wanna Be Semi-Famous The BJ Crombeen Joke of the Day (Regionally)?

Do you have a different perspective? What’s the difference between Passion? Knowledge? Desire? love, true love and showing off? Work well under deadlines? Ever pay kick-backs to an editor Spitting, swallowing, gargling. to get better space?

We’re looking for writers, graphic artists, statisticians and comedy writers. Contact: [email protected]

Write Drunk, Edit Sober. Or Whatever The Fuck. St. Louis Game Time G AME TIME Page 9 The View From The Blue Suit By Trevor Kraus

[This article was submitted by a member of the DrinkScotch do, and the best advice I can offer, is to politely (and I know it’s Center staff. You know, the great people that we go out of tempting to yell and throw empty beer cups at people who our way to crack on for little to no reason. We sincerely hope make you miss a goal or a nice hit) remind people that they he doesn’t get fired for consorting with us.] should wait before going to and from their seats. And there is First, it’s an honor to write for this first-class (well, maybe no problem whatsoever if, when an amateur hockey fan who is second-class) publication. Allow me to introduce myself: I’m sitting in the middle of your row asks you to get up, you tell him a senior at Parkway North High and a soon-to-be Journalism nicely that you’re going to wait until there’s a stoppage in play. major at Mizzou, but more importantly, I’m a second-year That’s an easy way to teach him a lesson. Chances are that fan Student Guest Service Host (a 10 dollar word for ‘usher’) at will be a little embarrassed, and I’m sure that his lesson will be Scottrade Center. So, when I read in the Dec. 6 issue of Game learned. Time where Chris Gift wrote, “Putting Another potential solution is to have more ushers in the upper bowl to stop more notices put on the jumbotron people from going back to their seats during the game that tell people they during play should be priority number have to wait until there’s a stoppage in one,” I felt compelled to respond. His play before going back to their seats. I’ve comment was a follow-up to ‘The Top called the Blues about this, and I got the 11 Things the Blues Are Doing to obligatory, “We’ll see what we can do,” Thank Ticket Holders’ from Nov. 21, but still, there is just the one notice on which sarcastically listed “Hiring the jumbotron 15 minutes before the more ushers in the upper bowl to stop puck drops. If you’re concerned enough people from going back to their seats about this problem, I’d suggest you call during play,” at number eight. the Blues and ask for Mark Tamar, who Controlling the masses takes handles game-night production, includ- On behalf of the loyal season ticket patience and tolerance. And a few ing the jumbotron. If enough people call, holders who feel they’re getting the more people who will do it for about something has to be done. short end of the stick when it comes to $10 an hour. Guest Services, I ripped out Chris A few other thoughts: Gift’s comment, highlighted the pertinent parts of it and In my opinion, the staff at Scottrade is the best anywhere. stuffed it into the suggestion box in our break room. But, Clearly, the Blues have the best, nicest, and most accountable based on previous conversations I’ve had with my boss, you owners in the city and it can be seen through the Guest Service probably won’t like the response. staff. Compare the next time you have your ticket scanned at Still, it’s both expected and understandable. As much as we Scottrade with the next time you have your ticket scanned at would like to have an usher in every single section, we just Busch or the Dome. At one of those places, you’ll get a friendly don’t have the manpower to do it. And although every Blues welcome. At the other two, good luck getting eye contact. I can fan who walks into the Scottrade Center is important to us, guarantee you can tell which place is which by looking at the we have to have more ushers downstairs because a bigger top of the organization. We’re even referred to as ‘Team problem than the non-hockey educated going to and from Members’ because management sees to it that we play a part in their seats during play is seat “flopping.” Flopping is people getting the casual Blues fan to come back again and again with from the upper bowl finding empty seats closer to the ice. We good guest services. just can’t have people who paid $18 for their tickets sneaking And speaking of ticket takers, please, if at all possible, when into the seats right next to people who paid $100 for their you’re walking through a turnstile before a game, after your tickets. ticket taker welcomes you to the building, say hello or thank When there are ushers in the upper bowl, though, we will you, or some other friendly greeting in return. All the ushers at do everything we can to make sure to enforce the “puck in Scottrade work their tails off, but the people who take tickets play” rule and to teach newcomers how hockey etiquette probably endure the most; when it’s really cold and windy out, works. Unfortunately, however, there is nothing we can do the cold air blows in from the open doors and really takes its when people get up from their seats to go out to the toll on the ticket takers, who have to stand taking tickets from concourse in the middle of an odd-man rush. The best we can (Continued on page 23)

It’s Not Our Site, It’s Your Site. www.StLouisGameTime.com Volume 4, Issue 25 Page 10 January 31, 2009 The Ghost of the Blues With Jeff Browning

The St. Louis Blues and the Philadelphia Flyers both came time they met here was on a Sunday a few years back when into the league at the same time, and were the two best of the Eagles and Rams played in the morning, and the place the “Next Six” expansion teams. The was packed with football fans. So what are Eagle fans doing Blues made it to the finals the first this year? They aren’t enjoying the Super Bowl, that’s for three years, but the Flyers were the sure. The Eagles flew into a wall named Kurt Warner. The first to win it all in 1974 and again in former St. Louis Blue and Gold quarterback is already to 1975. The Flyers first ever win came against repeat history by turning another awful team into champi- the Blues, but the Blues knocked them out of ons just like he did with the Rams and the Giants (face it Eli, the playoffs their first two seasons. There is a he taught you everything you know). So the Blues may not lengthy and rich history between the rivalries of these two have much to cheer for, and the Cardinals are looking at a teams. huge McGuire family storm coming, but the city has Actually, that’s about it. something to cheer for now. They do have a kinda similar situation to the St. Louis Back to hockey, it’s pretty boring. Jeff Eagles of 1934. The Philadelphia Quakers, formally the Woywitka was drafted by the Flyers in Pittsburgh Pirates, played one season in 1930. They the first round of the 2001 draft. He actually made the Eagles look good, winning only four quickly went to Edmonton’s minor games. Both teams would fold after one year due to team and then to St. Louis. As for the economic problems, and Hall of Famer Syd Howe also Flyers, their only player from here is Glen played for both clubs. For what it’s worth, St. Louis also Metropolit. The Blues acquired him, along with enough had a team, called the St. Louis Flyers who played in the draft picks to make any arbitrator happy, when they rented American Hockey Association and then the American out Keith Tkachuk to the Thrashers. He only had two goals, Hockey League from 1926-1953. but it was a great deal regardless. Scott Hartnell never played for St. Louis, but an imprint of his face is still visible The Blues never play the Flyers much anymore. Last on the bench turnbuckle, courtesy of Reed Low.

Blues Record When… With LosBri Playing at ItsOverUnlessWeWinToniteCentre 11-10-3 Somebody jump Hatcher for Demitra 19-24-4 Playing on the road 8-14-1 Leading after the 1st 8-3-3 Punch a Flyers fan for Arbour, and the boys 19-24-4 Tied after the 1st 6-8-0 They score first 11-4-3 Trailing after the 1st 4-13-1 The other team scores first 8-19-1 Hinotes' wife's measurements are 34D-24-34 They score fewer than 4 goals 6-23-3 Leading after the 2nd 11-1-1 The other team scores on the PP 7-17-3 Tied after the 2nd 4-7-2 The other team scores shorthanded 1-3-0 Trailing after the 2nd 3-16-1 A Blues players has multiple goals 6-2-1 Fight! Fight! Fight! 8-11-2 An opposing player has multiple goals 3-12-1 No fights 10-11-2 They take 30 or more shots 6-10-0 They are called for 7 or more penalties 6-9-2 They allow 30 or more shots 6-12-2 Other team called for 7 or more penalties 5-10-2 They played the day before 5-5-1 Manny "Somebody sign me please" Legace starts 12-11-2 The other team played the day before 4-4-2 Chris "Road games ONLY" Mason starts 5-12-1 Playing on Sunday 1-3-1 Ben Bishop Starts 1-1-1 Playing on Monday 3-0-0 Game is on FSN 8-17-4 Playing on Tuesday 1-4-0 Game is on KPLR 5-5-0 Playing on Wednesday 1-6-0 Playing the Eastern Conference 4-9-1 Playing on Thursday 2-4-1 Playing the Atlantic Division 0-3-0 Playing on Friday 4-2-1 Playing the Northeast Division 2-3-1 Playing on Saturday 7-6-1 Playing the Southeast Division 2-3-0 Playing in October 5-4-0 Playing the Western Conference 15-15-3 Playing in November 5-6-2 Playing the Central Division 7-2-1 Playing in December 4-10-1 Playing the Northwest Division 4-6-1 Playing in January 5-4-1 Playing the Pacific Division 4-7-1 About time Joey Mullen came back 19-24-4 Metronome, Metrolink, Metropolitan. That guy we had. 19-24-4 Page 11

Franchise Foundations

St. Louis Blues Philadelphia Flyers Year Player Year Player 1999 Barret Jackman ~ Drafted 1st rd (17 overall) by STL Simon Gagne ~ Drafted in 1st rd (22 overall) by PHI 2001 Jay McClement ~ Drafted 2nd round, 57 overall by STL 1998 Antero Niittymaki ~ Drafted in 6th rd (168 overall) by 2002 D.J. King ~ Drafted in 6th rd (190 overall) by STL PHI 2003 David Backes ~ Drafted in 2nd rd (62 overall) by STL Jeff Carter ~ Drafted in 1st rd (11 overall) by PHI 2004 Roman Polak ~ Drafted in 6th rd (180 overall) by STL 2003 Mike Richards ~ Drafted in 1st rd (24 overall) by PHI T.J. Oshie ~ Drafted in 1st rd (24 overall) by STL Randy Jones ~ Signed as Free Agent (undrafted) Eric Brewer ~ Acquired from EDM with Jeff Woywitka Mike Knuble ~ Signed as Free Agent (BOS) 2005 and Doug Lynch for Chris Pronger 2004 Jeff Woywitka ~ Acquired from EDM with Eric Brewer Riley Cote ~ Signed as Free Agent (undrafted) and Doug Lynch for Chris Pronger 2005 Derian Hatcher ~ Signed as Free Agent (DET) Erik Johnson ~ Drafted in 1st rd (1 overall) by STL 2006 Claude Giroux ~ Drafted in 1st rd (22 overall) by PHI Patrik Berglund ~ Drafted in 1st rd (25 overall) by STL Scottie Upshall ~ Acquired with Ryan Parent and 2007 2006 Jay McKee ~ Signed as Free Agent (BUF) 1st and 3rd rd picks from NAS for Peter Forsberg Dan Hinote ~ Signed as Free Agent (COL) Braydon Coburn ~ Acquired from ATL for Alexei Manny Legace ~ Signed as Free Agent (DET) Zhitnik Yan Stastny ~ Acquired from BOS for 5th rd pick in Lasse Kukkonen ~ Acquired with a 2007 3rd rd pick 2007 from CHI for Kyle Calder Brad Boyes ~ Acquired from BOS for Dennis Martin Biron ~ Acquired from BUF for a 2007 2nd rd Wideman pick 2007 David Perron ~ Drafted in 1st rd (26 overall) by STL Darrell Powe ~ Signed as Free Agent (undrafted) 2007 Keith Tkachuk ~ Signed as Free Agent. Originally Scott Hartnell ~ Acquired with Kimmo Timonen from acquired from PHX in 2001 for a 1st rd pick in 2002, NAS for a 2007 1st rd pick Ladislav Nagy, Michal Handzus and Jeff Taffe Kimmo Timonen ~ Acquired with Scott Hartnell from Paul Kariya ~ Signed as Free Agent (NAS) NAS for a 2007 1st rd pick Andy McDonald ~ Acquired from ANA for Doug Daniel Briere ~ Signed as Free Agent (BUF) Weight, Michal Birner and a 7th rd pick in 2008 Joffrey Lupul ~ Acquired with from EDM Tyson Strachan ~ Signed as Free Agent (CAR) for Joni Pitkanen, and a 2009 3rd rd Cam Janssen ~ Acquired from NJ for pick Mike Weaver ~ Signed as Free Agent (VAN) Luca Sbisa ~ Drafted in 1st rd (19 overall) by PHI Chris Mason ~ Acquired from NAS for a 4th rd pick in Glen Metropolit ~ Signed as Free Agent (BOS) 2008 Ossi Vaananen ~ Signed as Free Agent (COL) 2008 Brad Winchester ~ Signed as Free Agent (DAL) Aaron Asham ~ Signed as Free Agent (NJ) B.J. Crombeen ~ Claimed off waivers (DAL) Andrew Alberts ~ Acquired from BOS for Ned 2008 Alexander Steen ~ Acquired with Carlo Colaiacovo Lukacevic and a 2009 conditional draft pick from TOR for Lee 'Dutchie' Stempniak Josh Gratton ~ Acquired from NAS for Tim Ramholt Carlo Colaiacovo ~ Acquired with Alexander Steen Matt Carle ~ Acquired with SJ 2009 3rd rd pick from from TOR for Lee 'Dutchie' Stempniak TB for Steve Eminger, and a 2009 4th rd pick

What’d McGrath Trade For These Guys? St. Louis Game Time Volume 4, Issue 25 Page 12 January 31, 2009 NHL Leaders NHL Leaders Points Goals Against Average Shootout Goals 1. Evgeni Malkin, PIT 73 1. , CLB 1.98 1. Wojtek Wolski, COL 6 2. Sidney Crosby, PIT 66 2. Manny Fernandez, BOS 2.07 2. Mike Ribeiro, DAL 5 3. Alex Ovechkin, WAS 60 3. Jonas Hiller, ANH 2.15 3. Ales Kotalik, BUF 5 4. Marc Savard, BOS 59 4. Tim Thomas, BOS 2.15 4. Nikolai Zherdev, NYR 5 5. Zach Parise, NJ 58 5. Niklas Backstrom, MIN 2.24 5. Brad Boyes, STL 4 57. Brad Boyes, STL 37 36. Chris Mason, STL 2.94

Goals Save Percentage Rookie Points 1. Jeff Carter, PHI 32 1. Tim Thomas, BOS 93.2% 1. Kris Versteeg, CHI 36 2. Alex Ovechkin, WAS 31 2. Craig Anderson, FLA 93.0% 4. Bobby Ryan, ANA 33 3. Zach Parise, NJ 29 3. Steve Mason, CLB 92.8% 3. Patrik Berglund, STL 30 4. Thomas Vanek, BUF 29 4. Manny Fernandez, BOS 92.8% 4. Blake Wheeler, BOS 30 5. Patrick Marleau, SJ 26 5. Jonas Hiller, ANH 92.6% 5. Mikhail Grabovski, TOR 26 22. Brad Boyes, STL 20 27. Chris Mason, STL 90.5%

Plus/Minus Wins Defensemen Points 1. Dennis Wideman, BOS 28 1. , CGY 30 1. Dan Boyle, SJ 38 2. Blake Wheeler, BOS 27 2. Evgeni Nabokov, SJ 27 2. Andrei Markov, MTL 38 3. Marc Savard, BOS 26 3. , NYR 24 3. Mark Streit, NYI 37 4. David Krejci, BOS 25 4. Ryan Miller, BUF 23 4. Brian Rafalski, DET 36 5. Travis Zajac, NJ 25 5. Niklas Backstrom, MIN 23 5. Mike Green, WAS 34 36. Patrik Berglund, STL 13 25. Manny Legace, STL 13 72. Barret Jackman, STL 14 Around The

Forsberg Won’t Pull A Favre This Year — Once- Leafs and led them to the conference championship series in amazing but oft-injured star Peter Forsberg has ruled out a 1993 and 1994. return to the this season. Gilmour arrived in on Jan. 2, 1992, in a trade Forsberg told Sweden’s SVT yesterday that if he is able to with the Flames. The trade was engineered by Leafs first- play this season, it will be for his hometown club Modo in the year general manager , who had been fired by Swedish league. “There won’t be any NHL this season, that’s Calgary the previous year. As the Flames GM, Fletcher had totally clear.” traded with St. Louis to get Gilmour in 1988. The injury-plagued forward has been back on the ice in After retiring in 2003, Gilmour became involved in a recent weeks to test his ailing right foot. He made a number of business ventures, from construction to late-season return to the last year, but car-leasing, but returned to hockey as an assistant coach injuries kept him out of half of team’s final 18 regular season with the Leafs’ American Hockey League affiliate, the games and three of the four games in the second round of the . Earlier this season, he took over as coach of playoffs. the struggling of the Hockey In addition to winning two Stanley Cups with the League, his hometown club. Avalanche, he won the MVP award in 2003 after scoring 29 Devils Honor Broadcaster — The goals and 77 assists. honored their longtime television voice Friday night. Mike Another Number Goes To The Rafters — The Toronto “Doc” Emrick Night came after he received the Foster Hewitt Maple Leafs are retiring Doug Gilmour’s No. 93 tonight in a Memorial Award from the for his pre-game ceremony before the team plays the Pittsburgh outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster. Penguins. It will be the 15th number retired by the franchise. Emrick has been the television voice of the Devils since Gilmour, who retired in 2003 after returning as a Maple 1993 after serving in the same role from 1983-86. He is in his Leaf for one last game, is a likely candidate for the Hockey 21st year with MSG Networks, his 29th working NHL games Hall of Fame. He scored 450 goals and added 964 assists for and his 36th in professional hockey. Emrick also does play- 1,414 points in 1,474 NHL games with seven teams. He also by-play man on both Versus and NBC. He has worked nearly averaged better than a a game in the playoffs with 60 3,000 hockey games in his broadcasting career and has goals and 128 assists for 188 points in 182 post-season games. worked on 20 consecutive , 10 Stanley Cup Finals series, and seven NHL All-Star Games. Gilmour scored 452 points in 393 games for the Maple Volume 4, Issue 25 January 31, 2009 Page 13

Fried Chicken’s www.hockey-fights.com

Tonight’s Matchup: The rough and tumble Philadelphia Flyers currently lead the NHL in fighting majors with 52, and the Blues aren’t far behind with 43 fights of their own. These teams don’t see each other very often, but both are decked out with scrappy, physical players…so there is the potential for some fireworks. The Blues didn’t play the Flyers last year, and the last time they had any fights versus the Flyers was back in 2003. They had three fights in a feisty game that year, two of which featured old Blues defenseman Murray Baron. Let’s take a stroll through memory lane….

St. Louis Blues Probable Fighters Philadelphia Flyers Probable Fighters

•Cam Janssen – Janssen has done an admirable job filling •Riley Cote – With Josh Gratton on the IR, Cote is the only in for DJ King as the Blues top this season. At 6 feet pure enforcer on the Flyers. He is leading the NHL in fighting and 210 pounds, he often times gives up both height and majors this season. He has 16 fights this season, and he is weight against his opponents…but he doesn’t lose much. Cam always a willing combatant. He has decent size at 6’2, 216 has 12 fights so far. pounds, and he’ll fight anyone, any time…and he usually does well. •BJ Crombeen – Crombeen is 6’2, 212 pounds, and he has had 11 fights thus far. He’s a physical player who has to play •Aaron Asham – At 5’10 and 210 pounds, Asham isn’t the with a high level of energy to be effective. His last fight was biggest guy in the NHL. He is an active fighter, however, and Jan. 13 against the Flames’ Adam Pardy. he’s been involved in 12 fights coming into tonight’s game. He’s a physical who is strong along the boards, likes to •Brad Winchester – Winchester has the size of a heavy- crash the net, and is pretty good when he drops the gloves. weight at 6’5, 230 pounds. He’s proven to be an effective fighter throughout his career in the NHL and in the minors. •Scott Hartnell – Hartnell is a good overall power forward He has had 5 fights on the year, and with 8 goals in 29 games, who loves to crash and bang. He is 6’2 and 210 pounds, and he he is showing he can put the puck in the net a bit, too. has 4 fights so far this season. Hartnell would probably fight more often, but he is valuable offensively and has had concussion problems.

Best bet of the night: Lots of potential here. Janssen/Cote and Asham/Crombeen are my picks. — Jason Travers

Date Combatants Description Decision

Yabo issued Fedoruk a challenge at center ice, and The Fridge was pleased to oblige. They tied each other up and Jeremy Yablonski vs 12/30/2003 then Fedoruk landed one or two rights. Yablonski answered Draw Todd Fedoruk with a left and then he landed another that knocked Fedoruk off balance.

At the end of a nasty second period, these two came off a scrum throwing. Primeau got started with a few lefts. Baron Murray Baron vs caught Primeau with a short left that seemed to stun him. 12/30/2003 Win: Baron Keith Primeau Baron continued throwing lefts, with some landing. Primeau kept trying to throw too, but Baron was throwing more and better. The linesmen stepped in to save Primeau.

In the third period, Fedoruk went right after Baron and Murray Baron vs 12/30/2003 started throwing. Baron landed a couple back, but Fridge Win: Fedoruk Todd Fedoruk landed with both hands and finished with two good rights. St. Louis Blues Rosters General Manager: Larry Pleau Head Coach: Andy Murray and Statistics Asst Coaches: Ray Bennett

January 31, 2009 31, 2009 January Brad Shaw Volume 4, Issue 25 Issue 25 4, Volume Asst / Goalie Coach:

# Player Pos DOB City S/P Ctry Ht Wt S Rk GP G A Pts +/- PIM TOI/G Salary 4Eric 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 46 2 12 14 -11 56 22:48 $2,500,000 7Keith Tkachuk C Mar 28 '72 Melrose MA USA 74 232 L 44 15 16 31 -12 37 17:45 $4,500,000 9Paul Kariya L Oct 16 '74 Vancouver 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 16 6 12 18 -12 12 19:55 $3,333,333 13 Dan Hinote R Jan 30 '77 Leesburg FL USA 72 187 R 27 1 1 2 -5 35 10:43 $1,000,000 15 Brad Winchester L Mar 01 '81 Madison WI USA 77 228 L 28 7 2 9 -4 47 12:48 $600,000 18 Jay McClement C Mar 02 '83 Kingston ON CAN 73 201 L 46 4 9 13 -10 23 16:29 $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 46 6 11 17 -5 16 16:53 $1,700,000 21 Patrik Berglund C Jun 02 '88 Vesteras SWE 76 187 L Y 41 14 16 30 14 12 15:54 $850,000 22 Brad Boyes R Apr 17 '82 Mississauga ON CAN 72 195 R 46 20 17 37 -22 18 19:20 $2,500,000 25 Yan Stastny C Sep 30 '82 Quebec City 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 45 9 7 16 -5 91 11:42 $550,000 28 Carlo Colaiacovo D Jan 27 '83 Toronto ON CAN 73 200 L 37 1 12 13 -3 23 17:35 $1,400,000 29 Jeff Woywitka D Sep 01 '83 Vermilion AB CAN 74 217 L 30 1 9 10 -3 34 18:09 $725,000 42 David Backes C May 01 '84 Minneapolis MN USA 75 216 R 46 16 9 25 -4 121 17:24 $2,500,000 43 Mike Weaver D May 02 '78 Bramalea ON CAN 69 182 R 27 0 4 4 -2 6 15:13 $700,000 46 Roman Polak D Apr 28 '86 Ostrava CZE 73 227 R 44 1 10 11 -5 29 21:30 $475,000 55 Cam Janssen R Apr 15 '84 St. Louis MO USA 72 210 R 37 1 3 4 -4 92 5:33 $550,000 57 David Perron L May 28 '88 Sherbrooke QC CAN 72 180 R 45 5 25 30 4 30 15:44 $875,000 62 Tyson Strachan D Oct 30 '84 Melfort SK CAN 75 205 R Y 16 0 2 2 2 24 13:11 $575,000 74 T.J. Oshie C Dec 23 '86 Mt. Vernon WA USA 71 170 R Y 22 5 7 12 6 2 16:00 $850,000 77 Jay McKee D Sep 08 '77 Kingston ON CAN 76 203 L 35 1 1 2 -2 19 16:53 $4,000,000 TOTALS 121 208 329 -110 773 $42,683,333 # Player DOB City S/P Ctry Ht Wt C Rk GP W L OT SO GAA Sv% Salary 34 Manny Legace Feb 04 '73 Toronto ON CAN 70 200 L 28 13 9 2 0 3.12 88.8% $2,500,000 50 Chris Mason Apr 20 '76 Red Deer AB CAN 72 195 L 21 5 13 1 2 2.99 90.4% $3,000,000 TOTALS 18 22 3 2 $5,500,000 $48,183,333 Page 14 Page Page 15 Page Philadelphia Flyers Rosters General Manager: Paul Holmgren Head Coach: John Stevens and Statistics Assistant Coaches: / Jack McIlhargey / Goaltending Coach: Reggie Lemelin

# Player Pos DOB City S/P Ctry Ht Wt S Rk GP G A Pts +/- PIM TOI/G Salary 3 Lasse Kukkonen DSep 18 '81Oulu FIN72190L19022-11011:10 $900,000 5Braydon Coburn D Feb 27 '85 Calgary AB CAN 77 220 L 48 5 13 18 0 65 25:17 $1,200,000 6Randy Jones DJul 23 '81QuispamsisNBCAN74200L1622441619:21$2,500,000 9 Scottie Upshall R Oct 07 '83 Fort Mcmurray AB CAN 72 197 L 44 6 11 17 4 51 13:15 $1,250,000 12 Simon Gagne L Feb 29 '80 Ste. Foy QC CAN 72 195 L 45 20 27 47 20 24 18:49 $5,250,000 13 Glen Metropolit C Jun 25 '74 Toronto ON CAN 70 195 R 44 1 9 10 -3 9 13:34 $1,000,000 15 Joffrey Lupul R Sep 23 '83 Fort AB CAN 73 205 R 45 15 14 29 -1 32 15:44 $2,900,000 17 Jeff Carter C Jan 01 '85 London ON CAN 75 200 R 48 32 21 53 14 36 21:26 $4,500,000 18 Mike Richards C Feb 11 '85 Kenora ON CAN 71 195 L 48 18 32 50 18 37 21:50 $5,400,000 19 Scott Hartnell L Apr 18 '82 Regina SK CAN 74 210 L 48 18 17 35 9 84 18:06 $4,700,000 22 Mike Knuble R Jul 04 '72 Toronto ON CAN 75 230 R 48 18 14 32 4 36 18:29 $2,800,000 23 Ossi Vaananen D Aug 18 '80 Vantaa FIN 76 215 L 40 1 9 10 8 22 19:39 $1,000,000 24 Josh Gratton LSep 09 '82Brantford ONCAN74214L19123-2576:14 $550,000 25 Matthew Carle D Sep 25 '84 Anchorage AK USA 72 205 L 42 3 10 13 7 10 21:47 $2,950,000 28 Claude Giroux RJan 12 '88Hearst ONCAN71172RY91342 414:09 $850,000 32 Riley Cote LMar 16 '82Winnipeg MBCAN74220L36011-41024:04 $525,000 36 Darroll Powe CJun 22 '85SaskatoonSKCAN71212LY26224-3129:17 $507,500 41 Andrew Alberts D Jun 30 '81 Minneapolis MN USA 77 218 L 45 1 9 10 9 48 15:32 $1,400,000 44 Kimmo Timonen D Mar 18 '75 Kuopio FIN 70 194 L 47 3 26 29 8 38 24:51 $8,000,000 45 Arron Asham R Apr 13 '78 Portage La Prairie MBCAN71205R4434701208:26 $640,000 46 Jonathon Kalinski LMay 25 '87Bonnyville ABCAN73175LY12123-207:36 $562,500 47 Luca Sbisa DJan 30 '90Ozieri ITA74190LY38077-43617:34 $875,000 48 Daniel Briere COct 06 '77Gatineau QCCAN70179R 9549-31016:42$8,000,000 TOTALS 156 241 397 84 859 $58,260,000 # Player DOB City S/P Ctry Ht Wt C Rk GP W L OT SO GAA Sv% Salary 30 Antero Niittymaki Jun 18 '80Turku FIN73195L20113412.5191.9%$1,375,000 43 Martin Biron Aug 15 '77 Lac St. Charles QC CAN 75 180 L 30 15 10 5 1 2.88 90.5% $3,500,000 TOTALS 26 13 9 2 $4,875,000 $63,135,000

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 25 Page 16 January 31, 2009 NHL Referee Statistics 2008-2009 Since 2007 1st O O No. Born Blues Blues Blues Blues Blues Blues Game WLT WLT 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 3Leggo, Mike North Bay, ON 1997 5 24 15 2 2 1 12 58 46 5 6 1 4 McCauley, Wes Georgetown, ON 2003 2 4 7 0 2 0 5 14 18 1 3 1 5 Rooney, Chris Boston, MA 2000 4 13 17 1 3 0 11 48 58 3 6 2 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 3 21 23 1 1 1 9 42 56 5 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 2 16 10 1 1 0 8 50 53 5 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 2 8 10 0 1 1 9 32 37 3 5 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 4 21 21 1 2 1 9 40 45 3 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 4 14 19 2 2 0 13 54 66 9 4 0 27 Furlatt, Eric Trois-Rivieres, PQ 2001 3 15 12 1 2 0 6 29 28 3 2 1 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 2 5 6 1 1 0 7 27 30 3 4 0 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 2 9 7 2 0 0 3 16 13 3 0 0 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 Penticton, BC 2006 6 30 26 3 3 0 42 O'Rourke, Dan Calgary, 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 5 23 22 3 1 1 TOTALS 47 205 209 18 25 4 550 574 51 61 16 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 TIME Page 17 St. Louis Game Time Scorecard

St. Louis Blues vs. Philadelphia Flyers; Saturday, January 31, 2009

Referee: ______Referee: ______

Linesman: ______Linesman: ______

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

Flyers Flyers

Blues Blues

Blues Starting Lineup Goal Scoring

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

Flyers 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 25 Page 18 January 31, 2009

Ask Game Time’s Answer Man

Dear Answer Man, your snow tires and where’s the fun in that? It would also be Growing up we always thought of the typical hockey player hard to tell her, “Look, I’m finished now. Don’t look at me, as a guy who is missing teeth. We aren’t seeing that as wipe yourself off. You disgust me and get out!” Who can much any more. What we are seeing are the huge articulate any of that with a dental dam? Is it just me? I’m mouthpieces. Why are we seeing so many mouth pieces not being outlandish am I? nowadays? Back to mouth guards in the NHL. The main reason is not -Duane (Galena-MO) about losing teeth. It is about concussions. Take a look at the names of these new-jack mouth pieces for hockey. They are called Shock Doctor or Brain Pad. Notice when Cam Janssen You bring up something very near and dear to me Duane-o, goes into a fight, his teeth are clenched and cranked down the subject of teeth. Growing up I watched guys like Brian onto his black mouth guard. Why? It’s because if you get Sutter, Bobby Clarke, Mark Messier and Bobby Orr all rock popped in the chin, you stand a real good chance of taking a the no front teeth vibe. There was a dude nap face first into the ice. With a mouthpiece, it deadens the I played with in high school who had blow to give you a little bit better chance. You need a good a missing front tooth. So freakin’ chance when a 200-plus pound behemoth is trying to rear- cool. range your kisser. When I was 15 I took a puck to the What about the guys who will never fight? They most face and got blasted open. I could likely have performance-based contracts and any missed actually put my tongue through my games can cause them to miss some serious pay days. Take upper lip. Real gnarly. My face was Patrick Kane on Chicago. His mouth piece is never fully in broken but my teeth stayed intact. I his mouth. It is always hanging outside of his mouth like a was bummed. Not only did I have to dog with a pork chop. Not a big shocker, the kid is a giant sit out of hockey for about 10 days but I weirdo and is probably into buttplay with other guys. didn’t get any missing teeth action. I did get a really bitchin’ [Editor’s Note: Whoa! Way, way, wildly an exaggeration scar on my face though. Still don’t have feeling in that for the purpose of satire. Yikes.] section of my face after all of these years. I can do cool party Hell, even us Sr. Rec. Leaguers rock the mouth guard. tricks, though. Chicks dig it. Some dudes wear them because “I’m in sales” or “I don’t On the Blues you have BJ Crombeen rockin’ the no tooth have dental insurance.” I say poppycock to them all. I will look and it looks a bit like a David Letterman gap but we all wear one from time to time if I know it is going to be a rough know otherwise. You have to earn the “no tooth.” It is like a one. Just tell me straight, you don’t want to lose your teeth badge of honor. It hurts and hurts big time. I equate it to because it hurts or you like hard rubber things in your mouth getting a tattoo. There is a certain level of street cred (that’s what she said). involved. The pain is the right of passage and you gotta earn The missing tooth will always be around in hockey and it. there will always be guys who don’t wear a mouth guard. The You see tons of dudes with the mouth guards now. Man, reason for the increase is because concussions run so growing up you never saw them. It was like a visor. I notice it rampant in the league nowadays but that is a whole other most with Backes, Boyes and Tkachuk. They immediately column for a later date. take it out to talk or as soon as the whistle blows. They all seem to have these giant mouth pieces. I know they get the real expensive ones. Probably lightweight, biodegradable and Send your questions on hockey (NHL or rec league), the also probably glow in the dark. Busch beer or any other thing that keeps you awake at night to: [email protected] and have them I always thought of a mouth guard as like one of those answered here. dental dams. You know those things you hear about in health class for when you kiss some broad on her downtown? To me, they didn’t make much sense. It would be like licking

Changing The Way You Feel About The Phrase ‘Goin’ Downtown.’ St. Louis Game Time G AME TIME Page 19 The Fantasy Files By Duke

This has been one hell of a season for injuries. There’s a give whatever it takes to land the best keeper of a generation. pretty good chance that if your fantasy squad isn’t in as good of a position as you think it should be, then you have a major In Colorado, Stastny’s season-ending injury combined with injury or two to thank for that fact. Martin Brodeur, Paul missing Joe Sakic promised to limit the Avalanches to being Stastny, and Brendan Morrow were each selected in the early one of the weakest offenses in the entire league. Just like guys hours of your draft, and their injuries have been disastrous to like Brad Winchester have stepped up for the Blues, Wojtek each and every one of their owners. The upside here is that Wolski came from the second line to fill the void. Chances are opportunities have been that he’s no longer available on your league’s waiver wire, but created, and you’ve still got 2005’s third-round draft pick T.J. Hensick has netted six points the chance to capitalize on in the past seven games from Colorado’s second unit, and is some other manager’s probably not on the radar of anyone else in your league. misfortune. Finally, Brendan Freaking Morrow was one of the few guys Starting with the goal- that I managed to draft onto every single one of my fantasy tending situation in New teams. I try to never “target” specific players when I sit down Jersey, Martin Brodeur for any draft, but rather take the best available player at each should be back on the ice by spot until positional needs win out, but somehow I wound up this time next month. That with Morrow on each team, and I wasn’t upset about that fact makes this week your last in any way. Morrow’s the type of guy that I would love to see as chance to sell interim a leader on the ice for the Blues, and it’s always nice to have a starting Scott few guys on your roster that would make you want to stop Clemmensen at his highest flipping through channels when you happen to see that they’re value, and the same goes for televised. trying to pick up Brodeur at And then it happened. A knee injury in late November ended Injuries can devastate the low end of things. The his 2008-2009 season just as it was gaining steam, and the your fantasy team. Just Devils aren’t 32-15-3 with- seven points that he put up during the final four games of ask anyone who drafted out their franchise goal- October suddenly meant nothing at all. Fabian Brunnstrom, Brendan Morrow tender by accident; their last summer’s big import free-agent signing, couldn’t hang with (several times). 2.41 GAA as a team is good the physical game at the NHL level and has been placed on for fourth-best in the NHL. Dallas’ IR with a “lower-body injury.” Let’s cut the bullshit; his The towel-boy’s empty soul vagina hurts. I was a big proponent of Brunnstrom once he could post elite fantasy numbers if you managed to dress it in finally made his debut, and his failure will be taken into pads and a red jersey, which is why Clemmensen became an consideration if I ever think about supporting a non-Blue fruit overnight star following a short battle with journeyman Kevin Euro again. Weekes for the number one spot. We all know what happened with Sean Avery in Dallas, and For those of you in head-to-head leagues, your playoffs James Neal hasn’t been the answer, but it looks like Steve Ott should be starting in about six and a half weeks. Doing might be. He’s got the ability to put the puck in the net, and everything in your power to snag Brodeur now means that should be a nice physical compliment on Mike Ribiero’s line. he’ll be able to help you out for the last couple weeks of the Ott, Hensick, and Brodeur are likely to be major forces down regular season and can be the MVP of your team’s playoff the stretch in head-to-head formats, and hopefully they’ll be hunt. If you honestly assess your goaltending situation and able to make a difference for your team. think that what you’ve got isn’t going to get you first place, Go Blues!

You Wanna Know How I Know… ...The Blues Weren’t Trying That Hard On Thursday?

• Angelllla got like four shifts. • Couple guys forgot to bring sticks when they took • Wicked session of Rock Band in the locker room their shifts. during the second period. • Few guys clearly playing their PSPs on the bench. • Woywitka actually had a Senators jersey on for a • Crowd was actually right a couple times when while. they were yelling out, “Shooooot!” Volume 4, Issue 25 Page 20 January 31, 2009

Tomorrow’s Blues By Brian Weidler

Ranking The Blues’ Top Prospects Camp, and won’t even hit his 19th birthday until mid-March. In a recent edition of his ‘Morning Skate’ blog at the Post- 6. Ian Cole. A key member of Team USA at the recent Dispatch website, Blues’ beat writer Jeremy Rutherford let World Junior Championships, the 6’1, 211-pound stay-at- slip the names of the ten prospects he’ll be profiling for the home blueliner is also a core player and leader of the top- annual Hockey News “Future Watch” edition. ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. There have been In alphabetical order, they are: Jake Allen, Ben Bishop, rumblings lately that the Blues are urging Cole to turn pro at Ian Cole, Lars Eller, Simon Hjalmarsson, Jonas Junland, the end of the college schedule, and his big shot and physical Philip McRae, Aaron Palushaj, and Brett play would be a welcome addition to Peoria’s playoff run. Sonne. Rutherford didn't reveal the order in which he and 7. Jake Allen. Called “the best goalie in the QMJHL” by THN have ranked the prospects, but your Game Time his head coach, Allen would probably be a top five prospect Prospect Department is taking our best guess, as follows: in almost any other organization, and a strong case could be 1. Lars Eller. At age 19, and made for him to be one in this despite missing a half-dozen games One has organization as well. The only strike while playing in the U-20 Division I made it, the against Allen at the moment is his World Juniors, Eller is holding his other’s on limited high-level experience, as he own (9-9-18, 20 PIM, plus-5 in 39 his way. is in only his second year of major games) against veterans in the 2007 draft- junior... but the experience he does Swedish Elite League. The Blues’ ees Lars have, including backstopping Team first pick in the 2007 Entry Draft Eller (L) and Canada to the U-18 World Junior (13th overall) is expected to put up a David gold medal last year, is impressive. Perron take real fight for an NHL roster spot 8. Brett Sonne. Perhaps the next season. a breather at the Blues’ most fitting tribute to the depth and 2. Alex Pietrangelo. The Develop- strength of the Blues’ system is that fourth-overall pick in the 2008 ment Camp a player with 31 goals and 69 points Entry Draft missed the Blues’ mid- last in 43 games isn’t ranked any higher summer Development Camp with a summer. than eigth in the team’s Top Ten lacerated spleen, but recovered Prospects listing. Sonne has always sufficiently to start the year on the (Game Time has a knack for scoring goals (72 in NHL roster. Twin towers Pietrangelo photo by 207 career WHL games to date, (6’3) and Erik Johnson (6’4) are Brian a .348 goals-per-game clip), and this expected to be the nucleus of the Weidler) season he has burst onto the scene Blues’ defense for the next decade as an all-around scorer and team and beyond. leader. He’s a strong bet to turn pro as soon as his season 3. Aaron Palushaj. Five players from the 2007 Entry with the Calgary Hitmen concludes. Draft populate this list, and one more (David Perron) is 9. Simon Hjalmarsson. This dynamic scoring forward already an NHL regular. Palushaj, chosen 44th overall by the is having a breakout season in the Allsvenskan, which is Blues in 2007, may be the most dynamic offensive prospect essentially the Swedish equivalent to the AHL. Hjalmarsson on the Blues’ list not currently playing in a pro league. He is has led his club, Borås HC, in scoring from day one, and at 11 11th in points per game among Division I players with 1.29 -15-26 in 33 games played is second in Allsvenskan scoring PPG (8-23-31 in 24 GP), and fourth in assists per game with among junior-age (U-20) players. Hjalmarsson will turn 20 0.96. years old on Feb. 1, and could also find himself in central 4. Ben Bishop. The big man gets the nod as the top Illinois next fall. goaltending prospect in the organization thanks to his size, 10. Jonas Junland. Again, the strength and depth of his raw skills, and his brief but promising NHL experience (1 the Blues’ developmental system is made evident by noting -1-1, 3.18, 89.0%, one shared with ). that a player who started the season on the NHL roster is He’s been getting the bulk of the starts in Peoria, and has only the team’s tenth-highest ranked prospect. Junland has turned his season around after a slow start in October and become fully integrated into the Peoria game plan in his November. rookie season, and is currently ranked 19th among all AHL 5. Philip McRae. The son of ex-Blue Basil McRae, defensemen in scoring with 9-13-22 totals and 26 PIM in 39 Philip has his father’s size at 6’3, 190. He also has the goal- games. scorer’s touch that his father lacked; in 43 games for London No matter what order you put them in, that’s as good a list (OHL), McRae is 27-30-57 with nine power play tallies. He of prospects as you’ll find anywhere in the league. And when was impressive at the Blues’ midsummer Development (Continued on page 21) G AME TIME Page 21

Briere and by 2006 draftee Claude Giroux. Drafted in the first round (22nd overall) by the Flyers, Giroux spent three years in Gatineau of the QMJHL developing his sniper’s instincts. He scored 39, 48, and 38 goals in his three seasons with the Olympiques, and never By Brian Weidler accumulated less than 103 points in any junior season. Giroux had cups of coffee in Philly at the end of the 2006 -07 season with the AHL Phantoms, and across the street Claude Giroux with the Flyers at the end of the 2007-08 season. Shoots: Right He was assigned to the Phantoms at the start of this season, his rookie pro year, and was tearing Height: 5’ 11 up the AHL to the tune of 17-17-34 in 32 games Weight: 180 before being called up to the Flyers on Boxing Day, Dec. 26, 2008. Birthdate: January 12, 1988 Not the biggest player on the ice by any Birthplace: Hearst, Ontario means, Giroux will have to establish himself as a Philadelphia is known for being a blue-collar, player who can stand up to the pounding and hardworking town, and the Flyers have been a physicality of the 82-game NHL schedule. In his collection of hard-nosed American grinders and favor are a set of flashy moves, top-notch bare-knuckles Western Canada brawlers for creativity and offensive instincts, and plenty of much of their 40-plus years of existence. Now that they are ability to finish. He missed five games recently with a beginning to rise to the top again, the Flyers are doing so by concussion, but is 1-3-4 with a plus-2 and 4 PIM in nine introducing an element of French-Canadian skill and games with the Flyers this year. finesse to the lineup, embodied by free agent signing Daniel Tomorrow’s Blues (continued)

(Continued from page 20) all), the 5’8, 165-pound defenseman is making a big impact at highly-ranked Boston University as a freshman this year. you also take into consideration that NHL players like Warsofsky plays much bigger than his size, is absolutely Johnson, Patrik Berglund, T.J. Oshie, David Perron and fearless, and has chipped in 14 assists and a plus-14 mark in Roman Pola'k are all 22 or younger, the future is brighter still. his first 25 games of Division I play. Even B.J. Crombeen is still a fresh-faced 23 years of age, and 15. Chris Porter. Originally drafted 282nd overall by Steve Wagner is just 24. Chicago in 2003, Porter was signed as a free agent by the Even the list of the Blues’ Next Ten Prospects contains play- Blues in 2007 after failing to come to contract terms with the ers that would be top ten in a lot of other organizations. Here’s Hawks. A hardworking grinder with some scoring upside, our ranking of the next 10 prospects in the organization: Porter made his NHL debut this season and scored his first 11. . Another goalie, and a big one at 6’3 and NHL goal against Chicago on Oct. 18. 221 pounds. The Rangers may have made a big mistake letting 16. Julian Talbot. C, 6’0, 185, 23 years old. Peoria the 23-year-old get away, as he’s currently 7-5-0, 1.70, 93.2% (AHL), 32 GP, 12-12-24, plus-3, 20 PIM, nine power play in 13 games with Peoria, and has pushed former first-round goals. pick Marek Schwarz all the way back to the Czech Republic. 17. Jay Barriball. LW, 5’9, 160, 21 years old. Minnesota 12. Anthony Nigro. A midseason trade from Guelph to (WCHA), 19 GP, 7-14-21, plus-3, 42 PIM. Ottawa (OHL) has allowed this 2008 draft pick (155th overall) 18. Cade Fairchild. D, 5’10, 186, 20 years old. Minnesota to really shine. A hardworking player with good faceoff skills, (WCHA), 20 GP, 5-16-21, plus-3, 42 PIM. Nigro is 12-13-25 in 23 games since joining the 67's, and 19-24 -43 overall in 48 total games played. 19. Jori Lehtera. C, 6’2, 191, 21 years old. (Finland), 48 GP, 7-28-35, minus-2, 22 PIM. 13. Nicholas Drazenovic. Drafted 171st overall in 2005, Drazenovic rescued his fortunes in the organization with a 20. Kristofer Berglund. D, 5’10, 180, 21 years old. Luleå strong 2007 playoff (9-10-19 in 15 GP) for Prince George HF (Sweden), 43 GP, 3-18-21, even, 30 PIM. (WHL), and followed that up with 16-26-42 in 69 AHL games Join us next time for a few words with 2008 first-round last year as a rookie. Currently 7-15-22, plus-5, 29 PIM in 44 selection Alex Pietrangelo, and remember... “if we do not GP for Peoria. prepare for ourselves the role of the hammer, there will be 14. David Warsofsky. Another 2008 draftee (95th over- nothing left but that of the anvil.” Auf wiedersehen. Page 22 The Five Hole (continued)

(Continued from page 5) one that just moved back to Texas, famously said “You’re either with us, or you’re against us.” I’m tickled for Kurt Warner. I have nothing but good things Picking up your team and moving to Arizona makes you to say about him. However, if after World War II, Dwight against us. Playing for that team after playing here makes you Eisenhower defected to Cuba, I’m not so sure I could root for against us. him in a war. So you’ll have to excuse me while I find a few true Steeler Jerry Seinfeld talked about how when you think about fans to watch the game with among a town full suddenly sports, it all boils down to clothes. We Blues fans want the forgiving Big Red bandwagoners. people wearing the clothes that the Blues’ wear to do better than the people wearing the other team’s clothes. Just remember that tomorrow at around V:XXX the team Contact: [email protected] wearing the clothes with red and white in them used to be ours, but we weren’t good enough for them. Speaking of famous XLIIIs, a certain former president, the

Each page cost you 14.2 cents. Some are worth 15. St. Louis Game Time

Remember Me? By Brad Lee & Chris Gift Dan Quinn hoped for. He moved on in the offseason to Philadel- phia. He would go on to play in Minnesota, Los Born: June 1, 1965 Angeles, Ottawa, Philadelphia again and Pittsburgh Played for the Blues: 14 regular season games in 1990- again. It was never the same after a notorious party in 91 season 1992 while he was in Minnesota. Dan Quinn was the guy in the When Quinn was 27, he was infamous deadline trade with Van- accused of raping a 19-year-old in a couver in the spring of 1991 that Bloomington, Minn., hotel room. He probably made Blues fans regret was arrested and freed on $30,000 that deal for years. Known as a bail. Quinn said the sex was consen- gifted offensive player, he had four sual and authorities declined to file seasons with more than 70 points. charges. But the damage had been He had scored more than 30 goals done. The North Stars released him three times. Of course playing with for “violating team rules.” He would in Pittsburgh might play for five teams in seven years help, but some of his best seasons and retire as an afterthought. came with Calgary before coming to You may have seen Quinn play in St. Louis. the annual celebrity golf tournament In 14 regular season games he in Lake Tahoe they show every year scored four goals and seven assists. As everyone where current and retired athletes play golf with knows, that season the Blues blew it in the playoffs in Michael Jordan and Ray Romano. He’s pretty damn the second round against Minnesota, but Quinn good and has won several tournaments on the played pretty well, scoring four goals and seven assists celebrity tour, whatever that is. He lives in Florida (matching his regular season output) in 13 games. But with his wife and three kids. Quinn didn’t show the jump or flair that the Blues had G AME TIME Page 23

009 Top 11 Things That 008-2 The 2 uffle Looked Better Than The ate Sh cky Sk Lu er Blues Did On Thursday Track 11. Mickey Rourke’s face. 10. Matt Millen’s resume. Times Occurred 9. The inside of that Blue Rat costume. Finishing Point This Year / 8. Dany Heatley’s Lamborghini. Percentage 7. Your morning commute. 6. When a piece of shit vomits. 5. That snowball in hell. Puck finishes in same 17 / 70.8% 4. The Phoenix Coyotes’ financials. skate as starting point. 3. Roman Polak’s X-ray. 2. The Blues’ playoff chances. 1. Mike Weaver’s hall of fame credentials. Puck finishes in skate one

place lower than start 7 / 29.2% From the reasonably normal adolescence of point. Childhood Trauma and the 12 Fluid Ounces of Gallagher’s Brain Puck finishes in skate one place higher than start 0 / 0.0% point.

We’re Just Tryin’ To Make It Look Mean. St. Louis Game Time

The View From The Blue Suit (continued)

(Continued from page 9) make sure that you, the fan, are enjoying yourself as much as possible (no matter how badly the Blues are stinking), we the time the doors open at 6:30 until strictly adhere to the rules. There is a usually the end of the first period, around reason behind all the seemingly petty 8:15. regulations we have and we take them As I’m sure you’ve noticed, Scottrade seriously. Center has three different types of em- That being said, we’re a group of ployees who are stationed among the fans: fun-loving Blues fans. Most of the ushers Guest Service Hosts are in the blue suits, are passionate fans who care about the security are in the black suits, and super- team and its players. We like giving fans visors are in the gray suits, but really, the high-fives after goals, and we like to see Guest Service Staff is a cohesive unit our guests having fun and celebrating. I’m whose sole goal is to make sure the fans sure you’ll run into me at a game are enjoying themselves. “Security! Security! Someone get a sometime, and if you do, say hi. I’d like to Going to as many games as most of you guy wearing black! Security!” hear any further suggestions you have to go to, you’re bound to have had an experi- help us improve the game experience at ence with Scottrade Personnel where you thought the employee Scottrade. was being overly strict. If that’s the case, please understand that although our number one goal each and every game is to Volume 4, Issue 25 Page 24 January 31, 2009 NHL Standings—Fresh Start Time

Eastern Conference GP W L OTL PTS GF GA PP% PK% HOME AWAY L10 1Boston 49 35 8 6 76 174 112 24.9 83.0 18-3-3 17-5-3 6-2-2 2New Jersey 50 32 15 3 67 157 125 19.0 82.3 15-8-1 17-7-2 9-1-0 3Washington 49 30 15 4 64 155 141 22.0 78.5 19-3-1 11-12-3 5-4-1 4NY Rangers 50 29 17 4 62 132 133 14.9 87.6 16-8-2 13-9-2 6-3-1 5 Philadelphia 48 26 13 9 61 159 141 25.9 83.2 15-5-3 11-8-6 5-3-2 6Montreal 48 27 15 6 60 149 137 16.1 81.9 15-4-4 12-11-2 5-5-0 7Buffalo 49 25 19 5 55 147 140 20.9 85.6 13-9-2 12-10-3 6-4-0 8Florida 48 23 17 8 54 137 135 17.0 82.2 12-6-5 11-11-3 6-1-3

9 Pittsburgh 50 24 21 5 53 153 152 16.8 79.8 12-11-2 12-10-3 5-4-1 10 Carolina 50 24 21 5 53 126 147 15.3 78.7 13-10-1 11-11-4 4-6-0 11 Toronto 49 18 23 8 44 144 178 20.5 73.2 8-10-5 10-13-3 2-6-2 12 Tampa Bay 50 17 23 10 44 129 157 16.8 80.3 8-9-7 9-14-3 6-4-0 13 Ottawa 47 17 23 7 41 112 135 18.5 83.0 11-8-4 6-15-3 4-5-1 14 Atlanta 50 17 28 5 39 148 179 19.9 75.1 9-14-2 8-14-3 4-6-0 15 NY Islanders 48 14 29 5 33 120 168 17.4 81.2 8-12-3 6-17-2 2-7-1 Western Conference GP W L OTL PTS GF GA PP% PK% HOME AWAY L10 1San Jose 47 36 6 5 77 165 108 23.5 85.9 23-1-2 13-5-3 8-2-0 2Detroit 48 31 10 7 69 177 140 27.7 78.4 16-4-2 15-6-5 5-3-2 3Calgary 48 30 14 4 64 154 141 19.7 85.6 19-5-3 11-9-1 7-3-0 4Chicago 47 26 13 8 60 157 121 21.1 81.7 14-4-5 12-9-3 4-5-1 5Edmonton 48 25 20 3 53 137 149 17.8 75.5 12-9-3 13-11-0 6-4-0 6Columbus 49 24 20 5 53 133 135 11.7 79.9 15-7-1 9-13-4 6-3-1 7Phoenix 50 24 21 5 53 129 148 13.7 80.1 16-7-2 8-14-3 5-5-0 8 Anaheim 51 24 22 5 53 145 143 22.4 80.8 13-11-3 11-11-2 3-7-0

9 Dallas 47 22 18 7 51 136 154 16.0 78.0 12-6-4 10-12-3 6-2-2 10 Minnesota 48 24 21 3 51 124 111 21.4 87.4 14-9-3 10-12-0 5-5-0 11 Vancouver 49 22 20 7 51 140 142 17.0 80.0 11-11-3 11-9-4 1-5-4 12 Los Angeles 47 20 20 7 47 122 133 18.9 82.3 13-11-6 7-9-1 5-4-1 13 Colorado 49 23 25 1 47 135 150 17.2 77.0 14-12-0 9-13-1 4-6-0 14 Nashville 48 21 24 3 45 117 140 14.7 83.9 12-9-1 9-15-2 4-6-0 15 St.Louis 47 19 24 4 42 134 152 22.0 80.4 11-10-3 8-14-1 5-4-1

Wish You Had Game Time When You Watch The Blues At Home? Subscribe! [email protected] G AME TIME Page 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 17-24-3 Huet/Legace Oct 11 Sat @Islanders 2-5 1-1-0 MacDonald/Mason Jan 19 Mon @Bruins 5-4 SO 18-24-3 Mason/Thomas Oct 13 Mon @Maple Leafs 5-4 SO 2-1-0 Legace/Toskala Jan 21 Wed @Blackhaw ks 2-0 19-24-3 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 19-25-3 Elliott/Mason Oct 24 Fri Kings 0-4 4-3-0 LaBarbera/Legace Jan 31 Sat Flyers Oct 25 Sat Panthers 4-0 5-3-0 Bishop/Anderson Oct 30 Thu Hurricanes 0-1 5-4-0 Ward/Mason

Nove m be r Fe br uar y 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 Nov 5 Wed @Ducks 2-5 5-6-0 Giguere/Mason Feb 3 Tue @Blue Jackets Nov 6 Thu @Sharks 4-5 SO 5-6-1 Nabokov/Bishop Feb 5 Thu Oilers Nov 8 Sat @Kings 3-5 5-7-1 Ersberg/Legace Feb 7 Sat Avalanche Nov 12 Wed @Sabres 3-4 5-8-1 Miller/Mason Feb 10 Tue Canucks Nov 14 Fri @Blackhaw ks 4-3 OT 6-8-1 Legace/Khabibulin Feb 12 Thu @Predators Nov 16 Sun Canadiens 2-3 SO 6-8-2 Price/Legace Feb 13 Fri Blackhaw ks 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

De ce m be r M ar ch 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 25 Page 26 January 31, 2009

Bully Street Broads (continued)

(Continued from page 1) fucking thing. old set his career high in points last If you’re one of our veteran readers, season with 53 points. Now in his Speaking of Mason, he’s putting into you probably remember hating the fourth year, he enters tonight’s game question the Blues’ plans for next year. Flyers with a passion back in the day. with 53 points. So that’s pretty good for The odds are not in Emmanuel Legace’s And it probably dates back to Jan. 6, him. Carter has three goals and three favor for him returning after such a 1972 when the Blues and Flyers were assists in his last five games. So if the down season and the number of involved in one of the worst brawls in Blues want a chance, they need to shut injuries he’s faced the last three years. I league history. That night in the City of him down. love him and his passion for the team Brotherly love, tensions flared with If Carter is contained, they will need and the game. But when his contract some rough play and a high sticking to look out for Mike Richards. Oh to be expires, I would bet good money so will penalty by the Blues’ Gary Sabourin. 23 and have 32 assists in the NHL, 13th his time with the team. Dude has the Coach Al Arbour argued with officials most in the NHL right now. He has spirit, but I don’t think the body is shortly thereafter and was given a assists in four straight games and willing or able. bench minor. scored two goals in their last game The goaltending options in house At the end of a period, Arbour against Tampa. So if the Blues win, they include Mason, who is under contract chased after the officials toward their better try to shut down his passing for one more season after this, rookie dressing room to continue the argu- lanes. Ben Bishop who has found all the Big & ment. Some jackass Philadelphia fan If Richards is kept off the scoring Tall stores in Peoria, and Rick who probably booed Santa Claus at an sheet, then the Blues will probably have Wamsley. Marek Schwarz who had Eagles game poured a beer on Arbour. to pay attention to Simon Gagne. His been seeing rubber in Alaska decided to At that point all hell broke loose. Blues nice mix of 20 goals and 27 assists is go back home to Europe. No other players battled with the police, a group pretty good for a guy who pronounces prospects in the system would be even of players led by the diplomatic Bob his first name like it has an e on the end close to being considered for NHL Plager charged into the stands to of it. He missed 27 regular season action by October. institute some marshal law to the fans. games and 17 playoff games after Mason has decent peripheral statis- Yeah, they were still wearing their suffering a concussion late last season. tics by stopping 90.5 percent of the skates and were wielding their sticks. The Flyers’ website described it as a shots he’s faced and a 2.94 goals- The police ended up calling in rein- mild concussion, but I would imagine against average. But his record is 5-14- forcements and soon 150 cops were the person who wrote that hasn’t had a 1. Sure he’s been snake-bit in some thumping skulls. The Blues somehow concussion and didn’t realize missing close losses. He allowed just one goal in scored three unanswered goals and won the equivalent of half a season isn’t very a 1-0 shutout loss to Carolina. The Hur- the game 3-2. And they led the Flyers in mild. Dumbass. ricanes also beat him 2-1 and Calgary arrests. Coach Arbour, player John The Flyers have a little goalie beat him 3-1. Of course he was the Arbour, Floyd Thompson and Phil controversy on their hands. Martin starter in a 6-2 loss to Los Angeles and Roberto were all arrested and had to Biron has played in 30 games while a 6-3 loss to Calgary. The bald-headed post $500 bail. If that had happened Antero Niittymaki has played in 20. netminder has yet to score a win at during the era of ESPN, Nancy Grace Biron has 15-10-5 record while Niitty home as a Blue. And as we saw and 24-hour cable news, the NHL may has a 11-3-4 record. Biron has stopped Thursday night, he might have the have had to shut down. But if you ask 90.5 percent of the shots he’s faced, same flaw as Roman Turek: the any of the Blues players involved with Niitty 91.9. They’re close, but the unexpected soft goal. Mason can play that monumental night, it was the backup has obviously outplayed the out of his mind, like during the 90 Flyers, their fans and the referee’s fault. starter. It will be interesting to see who second 5-3 power play for Ottawa on The Flyers of today are a somewhat gets more playing time as we get closer Thursday. And then allow a short- streaky team. They have five and six- to the playoffs. Plus, Niittymaki is on handed goal and the game winner to a game win streaks. They are 6-3-2 in my fantasy team and daddy needs more rookie who was skating down on a two January. They could wear their starts. on four chance. The soft goals with a uniforms to go deer hunting. young team are spirit breakers. The No telling if the Blues will play well Blues can have all the momentum in Philadelphia has three players who tonight. No telling if they won’t. Just the world and a random shot from the have more points than games played don’t be surprised either way. point that sneaks inside the post or dips this season and six players with at least Let’s Go Blues. under his glove wrecks the whole 10 goals. The Flyers are led by Jeff Carter and his 32 goals. The 24-year- G AME TIME Page 27 Game Time Bingo!

Fight! Time to get Hate to say it, but Tkachuk goes Patrik Berglund gets Strachan a big boy Fight! no do-overs on the offsides. Again. another point. uniform number. Dutchie trade. Fight!

Barret Jackman “How much time is You can properly PING! Someone gives someone the Cowboy still a fan left!?” spell Flyers’ goalie hits the post. ‘you’re an idiot’ of the liquid gold. Antero’s last name. “Thank you!” look. Dancing Kid’s Another $200 stick Sec. 307 really Spot someone else Mite game ends Q-Rating is breaks at the worst wants to see filling out the GT in a tie. definitely dropping possible time. Bingo card. Towel Boy jump. in here.

Hear people in the Angelllla still hasn’t Andy Murray calls A goal is scored in Poutine Perron wrong jersey managed to finagle a time out in the the first two minutes makes you say getting booed on No. 69 for her first period. of any period. ‘wow.’ the concourses. jersey.

Cam Janssen Angelllla’s jersey You love Boyes so Someone takes out smelllls like a weird much that you defends the pride OSHIE! an official. mix of creepy dude should be in of Eureka sweat and perfume. NAMBLA.

Get five in a row in any direction and you win!

Tales From The Crease

By Jeremy Pratte Like A Swift Kick To The Nuts.

St. Louis Game Time www.stlouisgametime.com