TM

never ending PR spins and desperation to make headlines is

sickening. The Stars, led by the out of place and over-matched

Brett Hull, gave Avery that ridiculous free agent contract over the

summer after he had already worn out his welcome in Detroit,

Los Angeles and New York. And he put himself in the spotlight

with the harmless yet headline-grabbing ―sloppy seconds‖ joke

guaranteeing that he would never play for Dallas again.

Finally after some bullshit anger management and time off,

Avery‘s back in the minors. But because the Stars

somehow don‘t have a minor league team this

season, their prospects are parceled out through-

out the backwaters of the American Hockey

League. So when Avery was sent down to the

minors as part of his banishment, he was

assigned to the Hartford Wolfpack…the AHL

affiliate of the New York Rangers. He made

his debut with the Wolfpack Friday night. It

had been nine years since he last played in the

AHL and two months since he played in a real

hockey game.

―I feel good that Dallas has given me an opportu-

nity to come here and play and that the team in

Hartford has allowed me to come in and play,‖

Avery told reporters. ―I probably could have had a few points if I

had buried a few chances or a couple other guys had scored, but

other than losing, it was a pretty good night.‖

It‘s just too bad the Rangers haven‘t pulled the trigger on a deal

and brought him up before tonight. The front page of this rag

would have written itself, I tell you. Instead, I have to mention

something about the 1-0 shutout win over the Blackhawks and (Continued on page 26)

By Brad Lee

While everyone at the Drinkscotch Center who was rooting for

the Bluenote Friday night was desperate for a win, the guys in the

suits who write the checks would relish a victory tonight even

more.

Lead owner Dave Checketts, some of his business partners and

team president John Davidson all have strong ties to the New

York Rangers organization and Madison Square Garden.

Now I‘m not going to say there‘s definitely bad

blood there, but I would guess they probably

don‘t exchange Christmas cards. When the

Blues played there the first time after

Checketts and his group took over the Blues,

Davidson was treated to a warm reception

and an on-ice ceremony thanking him for

his time as a player and broadcaster with

the organization. Checketts and his group

were part of the crowd standing and

applauding during the ceremony. In fact, they

were part of the paid crowd out in the stands.

You know when you‘re watching a game and the

other team‘s leadership is in attendance, if they make it

on TV it‘s usually from a luxury box or at least the press box.

It‘s a common courtesy kind of thing. Checketts wasn‘t given any

courtesy. I bet he had to go to a scalper outside the stadium for

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

afford the mark-up. And tell them to take Sean Avery from

Dallas. That‘ll end well.

I‘m glad I‘m not a fan of any New York teams. The drama, the

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

Today’s Records, Injuries & News Today’s Team Records:

Blues: Rangers:

23-25-7 (53 points) 30-21-6 (66 points)

5th in Central 3rd in Atlantic

14th in Western 6th in Eastern

Last Ten Games:

Blues: Rangers:

5-2-3 3-5-2

Season Series: All-Time Series:

0-0-0 35-72-18-0

Today’s Injuries:

Blues: LW Paul Kariya (hips), LW

Yan Stastny (thumb), D Roman Polak

(foot) and D Eric Brewer (back surgery)

are out.

Rangers: D Dmitri Kalinin (back) is

day-to-day. D Paul Mara (shoulder) left

the game yesterday.

Today’s News & Notes:

Mike Green (WAS) sets NHL record for

defensemen with goals in eight straight

games.

With a 3-on-5 goal yesterday, the

Flyers now lead the league with 14

short-handed tallies.

Game Time staff willing to bite the

bullet and get drunk early on a

Monday.

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.

Volu me 4, Is su e 3 0

Febr uary 1 6, 20 09 Game Time St Louis

From The Editor St. Louis Game Time

Established: November 6, 2005

St Louis, Missouri

Phone: 402-2266

www.StLouisGameTime.com

Godfather

Jeffio

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Sean Gallagher

gallagher@StLouisGameTime.com

Advertising

gallagher@StLouisGameTime.com

gift@StLouisGameTime.com

Distribution

John Nicolay

Amy Benoist, Becky Benoist, Billy Cash, Clarence Walker

Columnists

Chris Gift, Duke, Brad Lee, Answer Man & Brian Weidler

Contributors Jeffio, Jeff Browning, LosBri,

Childhood Trauma, Dan Doke, Jeff Fahrenkrog, Jeremy Pratte & Chris Reed

Photographer

Andrew D‘Angelo

Mission:

Game Time will provide prospect information, up-to-date statistics, articles

that spark discussion and humor that points out the best and worst about our

favorite team and sport. We are all fans of the Blues and our opinions will reflect

those of subjective fans.

The paper is published for every home game, excluding the pre-season, which we

all know sucks.

Rights & Permissions:

All material printed herein is copyrighted and protected. Do not reprint in any format without expressed, written permission from Game Time LLC.

Logos & Photos

Team logos and pictures used herein are the property of the individual teams

and/or the NHL and are used solely for identification and editorial purposes.

Today’s Thought: A weak team that battles is better than a skilled team with no heart.

The firing of Penguins coach Michel Therrien

yesterday has hockey fans everywhere

buzzing. That man took that team to the

Stanley Cup finals just last season. The team

is one winning streak away from regaining

their confidence and being a legitimate

playoff threat. If that guy can get fired, goes

the conventional wisdom, who is safe?

Closer to home, if that guy can get fired at

this point of the season, how safe is Andy

Murray in his position with the Blues?

While I don‘t think that very many

NHL head coaches sleep that well

on an everyday basis anyway, I

have to say that I think Andy

Murray‘s job is pretty safe. The

obvious reason that we can point to is the

injuries. The Blues have been the top two

teams all year in terms of man-games lost to

injury and if that could be undone, we‘d be

talking about one of two topics: the Blues

and their playoff chase or the imminent

firing of Andy Murray. If he‘d had Paul

Kariya for more than 11 games and Erik

Johnson for more than 13 holes of golf and

hadn‘t missed big chunks of time with Andy

McDonald and the Teej and Eric Brewer

(sorry, haters, the Blues record with him in

the lineup is better than their record without

him) then I have no doubt they‘d be right in

the mix of the playoff bubble teams right

now.

Take away that variable and people are

still trying to find a reason to call for Andy

Murray‘s job. Personally, I think those

people are as crazy as anyone who wears

airbrushed articles of clothing in 2009. One

of the best coaches in NHL history, whether

you‘re talking pure numbers or you‘re talking

about a Svengali-like hold over well-paid and

presumably jaded professional athletes, is

Scotty Bowman. And one of Scotty Bowman‘s

greatest attributes, from the time he was the

rookie coach of Bobby Plager and the other

early Blues to the time he drove a veteran

and well-seasoned Detroit team to yet

another Stanley Cup, was his ability to get

into his players‘ heads.

The stories abound in books and in verbal

histories of the players themselves; Bowman

didn‘t care if it was a fresh-faced rookie or a

veteran leader, he sent messages to his team

and kept them on their toes any way he

could.

Jay McKee, a 12 year veteran of the NHL

wars, was benched on Saturday after he

contributed two assists to the Nashville

Predators in their come from behind

victory. McKee, predictably, was (as we

call it in the business) pissed. He even

told the media that he stopped hearing

what Murray was saying to him as he

processed the information.

Good.

Actually, better than that. Great.

Fucking beautiful, in fact. It‘s about time

that Jay McKee starts getting pissed

off around here. And whether he

takes to the ice pissed off at

Murray about the benching or

pissed off and ready to teach a

Ranger a lesson doesn‘t matter.

Just as long as he hits the ice

pissed off and ready to have a

performance that makes people recog-

nize that he is an NHL talent who is not

to be fucked with, I‘ll be happy.

Wouldn‘t that be great? To have a big,

angry, motivated Jay McKee in the

lineup? I‘ve waited a couple years to see

that. Hopefully tonight is the night. And

Andy Murray will be the man to thank

for that, not Jay McKee.

Likewise, fans have gone Christian

Bale with the recent demotion of David

Perron to the fourth line. For those of

you who like to make yourself crazy by

hanging around irrational people, try

checking in on some of the Blues

message boards to see what‘s being said.

For every ‗Drunk History‘ the internet

has given us, there is the polar opposite,

and sports fan message boards are the

seventh level of hell as far as I‘m

concerned.

David Perron is 20 years old. He is

going to lose his focus. He is going to

take certain aspects of his job less

seriously than those of us who have

actual work jobs would take them. He is

going to need to be woken up from time

to time. If a kid who is in the NHL is

given a pass when he slacks off, the

message is loud and clear: you are

special. You can do whatever you want.

Just give us an assist every other game

and you‘ll be fine.

That is a sure-fire way to wind up with

a Nikolai Zherdev on your hands. A kid

who has a ‗special‘ set of skills and is

given a different set of rules so that he

feels comfortable and happy.

(Continued on page 22)

Volume 4, Issue 30

February 16, 2009

Top 11 Reasons That

New York Sucks

11. All the murders and mayhem of Detroit without the Midwestern charm.

10. Eating the pizza involves origami.

9. Brett Favre who hasn‘t missed a game in a couple decades doesn‘t even want to play there again.

8. The Mets play there. Nuff said.

7. Sean Avery left some of his sloppy seconds in the New York dressing room.

6. Hard to tell when the garbage workers aren‘t on strike.

5. The sludge in the Hudson River is thick enough to support landing an airplane.

4. Has the stink of New Jersey all over it.

3. Statue of Liberty is not supposed to be green.

2. Remember, the Islanders play there too.

1. They call it the City That Never Sleeps because of all the gunfire.

From the Empty Beer Cup of Brad Lee

Tonight’s Trivia

By Childhood Trauma

G AME T IME Pag e 3

Game Time would like to apologize for making those

Blackhawks fans so upset on Friday. Who knew they

were so touchy about

their mothers?

[This apology is listed

as day-to-day.]

Game Time printed the

wrong picture of the

world’s second

biggest baby in the

last issue. The correct

picture is shown here.

Corrections & Clarifications

First Period (true or false):

1. Having tragically lost Alexei Cherepanov the Rangers are

trying to get a compensatory second round pick this summer.

2. Scott Gomez and Chris Drury both wore number 23 before

they signed with the Rangers on the same day. Scott wears

No. 23 as a Ranger because he won a coin toss.

First Intermission (T/F):

3. New York‘s current governor, Warren Hearns, is the first

legally blind person to become a governor.

Second Period (multiple choice):

4. Henrik Lundqvist could become the second goalie to win

30 or more in his first four seasons. Who did it first: Ron

Hextall, Mike Vernon, Tom Barrasso, or Grant Fuhr?

5. Which player did not play for Mike Keenan in both New

York and St. Louis: Glenn Anderson, Craig MacTavish, Doug

Lidster, or Darren Turcotte?

Second Intermission:

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 goaltender to jump from juniors to a full

season in the NHL?

8. What current NHL head coach owns the Rangers‘ record

for goals by a rookie (36)?

9. Rangers captain Chris Drury is an American. Name the

previous American captains of the Rangers and/or Blues.

Overtime!

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.

1. True. The Rangers would get the 17th pick in the second round.

2. False. Drury that won the toss.

3. False. While he is the first blind person to hold the office, his name is David Patterson.

4. Ron Hextall. Four is the longest NHL streak.

5. Darren Tucotte joined St. Louis post-Keenan. Other Keenanites were Greg Gilbert, Esa Tikkanen, Mike Hudson, and Jay Wells.

6. Meet Me in St. Louis.

7. John Davidson. He played juniors in ‗73, and started here in ‗74.

8. Avalanche head coach Tony Granato set that record in 1989.

9. Brian Leetch.

10. Andre Dupont, Steve Durbando and Bob MacMillan are the former Ranger first-rounders. MacMillan‘s son, Logan, was the first round pick of the Ducks in 2007.

www.stlouisgametime.com

One Goal: Total

Domination.

Volu me 4, Issue 3 0 Febru ar y 16, 20 09 Pag e 4

G AME T IME Pag e 5

The Five Hole

With Chris Gift

After a few games played, every team in every sport on every

level, from the NHL to a week night no-check league at

Brentwood always looks back and says ―if we‘d only beat

this team,‖ or, ―if we would have scored against them,‖ or ―if

that doesn‘t happen then our record would be this…‖

Thinking about woulda, shoulda, coulda can almost drive

a team crazy.

But as the Blues play regular season game 56, eight

points out of a tie for eighth place and only nine points out

of a tie for fifth, to find only woulda, shoulda, couldas that

resulted in losses or overtime losses wouldn‘t be fair.

Sure, the team is in 14th place, and there isn‘t much

further down to fall, but while the 23-25-7 record could be

much better with a few breaks, it could also be a hell of a lot

worse.

This season for the Blues can be sectioned off in two eras:

the Manny Legace era, and the Chris Mason era.

And because Mark McGwire reminded us to not talk

about the past, it doesn‘t make sense to rehash things that

happened during the Legace Administration.

Oddly enough, the unofficial transition to the Mason

Administration took place over the course of the games at

Boston on January 19th, and at Chicago on January 21st.

Wasn‘t there some sort of transition of power going on

around that time in Washington DC? I wonder if the

Legaces had the Masons over for dinner and if Manny was

given a ride to Peoria in the team‘s helicopter. Maybe he

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.

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

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

differently. Going back to Manny‘s last decision (the 2-1

overtime loss at home to Chicago) the Blues have

squandered four points in overtime in the past 30 days.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda? How about if the Blues woulda

won those four games it woulda given the Blues 57 points,

Edmonton 59 (instead of 60) and Nashville 56. The Blues

shoulda been four points out of a playoff spot.

In the name of fairness though, that game at Boston

shoulda been a loss.

A win at Boston, after losing to them 6-3 at home in a

game that was about as one sided of a loss that the team has

had all season, after being up a goal at the end of two periods,

but then allowing three goals in 99 seconds, then scoring on

the power play with 1:20 left, then scoring on David Backes‘

crossbar high tip with three-tenths of a second left to force

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.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda? Lady and gentlemen, that

shoulda been a loss.

Games are supposed to be taken one at a time. The thrill of

the 1-0 win against Chicago should be out of our minds by

now, and the back-to-back road games on Wednesday and

Thursday against Columbus and Nashville shouldn‘t be in our

minds yet. The team had a marathon road trip last March and

was so uptight about collecting points before the trip that it

screwed up two months for the team. February wasn‘t worth a

damn attempting to get points on home ice, while March

sucked because of the trip that had the team playing just

about everywhere but Sri Lanka.

The Rangers just had it fed to them 5-2 yesterday by

Philadelphia on home ice. The Blues tarred and feathered

Philadelphia three weeks ago in this building 4-0. The

Rangers are in a tailspin, the Blues have been playing better.

This is probably going to be a win for the home team. But

don‘t be surprised if there are wouldas, couldas, and shouldas

all over Game Time on Saturday about this game and the trip

to Ohio and Tennessee later this week.

Contact: gift@stlouisgametime.com

The Jeffio Joke of the Day

Chris Drury’s kid and Scott Gomez’ kid were

arguing over whose mom was the biggest scaredy

cat.

Drury’s kid said, ―My mom is so scared that

when lightning strikes, she hides under the bed.‖

Gomez’ kid replied, ―Yeah? That‘s nothing.

My mom is so scared that when my dad is on a

road trip, she sleeps with the man next door.‖

Blues All-Time Leaders

Games Played Bernie Federko 927

Goals Brett Hull 527

Points Bernie Federko 1,073

PIM Brian Sutter 1,873

Goalie GP Mike Liut 347

Wins Mike Liut 151

GAA Jacques Plante 2.07

Shutouts Glenn Hall 16

St. Louis Blues Statistics

Volu me 4, Issue 3 0 Febru ar y 16, 20 09 Pag e 6

Trying To Win The Hard Hat Every Game.

St. Louis Game Time

PLAYER GP G A PTS +/- PIM ATOI PPG PPA SHG SHA SOG SPCT

Brad Boyes, RW 55 25 25 50 -18 24 19:18 14 11 0 0 144 17.4

Patrik Berglund, 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

Keith Tkachuk, 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

Carlo Colaiacovo, 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

Barret Jackman, D 55 3 12 15 -12 62 23:22 1 1 0 1 62 4.8

Alexander Steen, LW * 35 4 11 15 -3 18 17:40 2 6 0 0 67 6

Jeff Woywitka, 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

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

Skater Statistics

Goalie Statistics

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

Blues Leaders

Goals Brad Boyes 25

Assists David Perron 28

Points Brad Boyes 50

Plus/Minus Patrik Berglund 14

PP Goals Brad Boyes 14

Wins Chris Mason 9

GAA Chris Mason 2.55

Save PCT Chris Mason 91.6%

New York Rangers Stats

Join Project Mayhem.

www.StLouisGameTime.com

G AME T IME Pag e 7

Rangers All-Time Leaders

Games Played Harry Howell 1,160

Goals Rod Gilbert 406

Points Rod Gilbert 1,021

PIM Ron Greschner 1,226

Goalie GP Mike Richter 666

Wins Mike Richter 301

GAA Lorne Chabot 1.61

Shutouts Ed Giacomin 49

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

Brandon Dubinsky, 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

Ryan Callahan, RW 56 13 8 21 -1 33 16:44 2 2 1 0 162 8

Wade Redden, D 56 2 17 19 -10 41 22:11 1 5 0 1 111 1.8

Nigel Dawes, 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

Marc Staal, D 57 2 7 9 1 50 20:35 0 1 0 0 67 3

Blair Betts, 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

Colton Orr, RW 57 1 4 5 -10 138 6:59 0 0 0 0 31 3.2

Corey Potter, D 3 0 1 1 -1 0 13:53 0 0 0 0 1 0

Patrick Rissmiller, 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

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

Skater Statistics

Goalie Statistics

Rangers Leaders

Goals Markus Naslund 17

Assists Nikolai Zherdev 28

Points Nikolai Zherdev 44

Plus/Minus Nikolai Zherdev 2

PP Goals Chris Drury 6

Wins Henrik Lundqvist 25

GAA Henrik Lundqvist 2.57

Save PCT Henrik Lundqvist 91.2%

Game Time GearGame Time GearGame Time Gear

Time to get your gear.

Any color. Any size.

Represent.

StLouisGameTime.comStLouisGameTime.comStLouisGameTime.com

Like The Photos in GT?

Now available for purchase

from our photographer

Great Rates!

Perfect for autographs!

Great gifts for your favorite fan!

View the shots online.

Contact: Andrew D’Angelo

mesmereyezme2@yahoo.com

(314) 546-0369

Volu me 4, Issue 3 0 Febru ar y 16, 20 09 Pag e 8

Hey New Yawk, you wanna know how big my freakin‘

Johnson is?

My Johnson is so big, my ‗patch‘ is

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 Big Johnson Joke of the Day

After their cruise ship sank in the ocean, three Blues were

stranded in a lifeboat. They floated around for days without

food or water. One afternoon a bottle

floated up to the boat. They grabbed the

bottle and when they pulled the cork out,

a genie appeared.

‗I‘ll grant each of you a single

wish,‖ said the genie.

―I wish I was home,‖ said Barret

Jackman. Poof! he disappeared.

―I wish I was home, too,‖ said Alex

Steen. Poof! He disappeared too.

Roman Polak looked around. ―Man, I‘m kind of lonely,‖ he

said. ―I wish my friends were here with me.‖

The Roman Polak 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

McGee came into the booth and started her confession. ―Oh

Father, I have done the unforgivable. I have given into carnal

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,

he peered his head out of the confessional and asked an altar

boy, ―Son, what does the minister give for oral sex?‖

The altar boy replied, ―Two Snickers bars and a Coke.‖

The BJ Crombeen Joke of the Day

G AME T IME Pag e 9

Advanced Hockey Statistics

This table shows the Blues roster‘s Corsi Rating.

The Corsi Rating was initially developed by Jim

Corsi, the goaltending coach for the Buffalo

Sabres.

The Corsi Rating measures a player by tallying

the number of shots for his team during his shift

minus the number of shots taken against his team

during his shift.

Shots that miss the net and/or goaltender are

not counted, just like any shots that are blocked.

This gives us a new way to look at the effective-

ness of a player, whether playing forward or

defense for the team.

Additionally, we have included a statistic

labeled as +/- vs Team. This stat shows each

players‘ plus/minus rating relative to the team‘s

overall rating.

This +/- vs Team gives us a picture of which

players are above the average and which are

below the average for the team.

These statistics show the total number of

Penalties Drawn by each player as well as the

total number of Penalties Taken by the player.

As we‘ve noted all season, David Perron has

become pretty adept at drawing penalties and

avoiding taking retaliatory minutes. He leads the

team in both number of penalties drawn and in

differential, at plus-12.

On the opposite end are David Backes, whose

physical style of play has garnered him a

negative-11 differential and rough-and-tumble

blueliner Barret Jackman who has a minus-9

differential.

As you might expect, defensemen fare worse in

this analysis than their forward counterparts. The

blueliner with the best differential is Mike

―Dream‖ Weaver at minus-1. In 33 games he has

somehow managed to take only two penalties.

Name Pos GP Drawn Taken Diff

David Perron LW 52 25 13 12

BJ Crombeen RW 53 14 13 1

Jay McClement C 53 12 7 5

David Backes RW 53 12 23 -11

Patrik Berglund C 48 11 7 4

Brad Boyes RW 53 10 6 4

Keith Tkachuk LW 51 10 13 -3

Alexander Steen C 54 8 9 -1

TJ Oshie C 30 8 3 5

Brad Winchester RW 36 6 10 -4

Eric Brewer D 26 5 10 -5

Jay McKee D 41 5 9 -4

Andy McDonald C 18 4 4 0

Carlo Colaiacovo D 45 4 7 -3

Barret Jackman D 53 4 13 -9

Roman Polak D 42 2 10 -8

Steve Wagner D 20 1 8 -7

Mike Weaver D 33 1 2 -1

Jeff Woywitka D 37 1 5 -4

Tyson Strachan D 25 1 6 -5

Paul Kariya LW 11 0 1 -1

Rk NAME POS CORSI +/- vs Team

1 Keith Tkachuk LW 6.3 -5

2 David Backes RW 4.0 -2

3 Brad Boyes RW 3.1 -14

4 Paul Kariya LW 2.5 2

5 Carlo Colaiacovo D 0.7 0

6 David Perron LW 0.6 8

7 Alexander Steen C 0.3 -6

8 TJ Oshie C -0.3 6

9 BJ Crombeen RW -1.3 -7

10 Patrik Berglund C -1.4 17

11 Tyson Strachan D -1.7 4

12 Andy McDonald C -1.9 -11

13 Barret Jackman D -2.1 -12

14 Roman Polak D -2.3 2

15 Eric Brewer D -2.7 -8

16 Mike Weaver D -3.3 -7

17 Jeff Woywitka D -4.6 -2

18 Brad Winchester RW -7.6 -1

19 Steve Wagner D -8.4 -2

20 Jay McClement C -9.5 -10

21 Dan Hinote RW -15.8 -6

22 Cam Janssen RW -18.2 -6

23 Jay McKee D -18.3 -6

24 Yan Stastny C -25.4 -11

By far the biggest name tying these two teams together is

someone who is not a player, not a coach, not a general

manager, not a…to tell you the truth I‘m not even sure what

he does. John Davidson was drafted by

the Blues fifth overall back in 1973. In

hindsight, if we really wanted a workhorse

player with future front office aspirations,

we should have picked Bob Gainey who went

three picks later, but that‘s the past. Regardless,

he was at the time the highest drafted goalie ever,

and the first goalie to go straight from Juniors to the NHL.

He only spent two years with the Blues, his first being the

first year ever that the team didn‘t make the playoffs, but

that‘s not where he became famous. He went to the New York

Rangers, where he was the team‘s best netminder for five

years. He may be most remembered for his 1979 Finals

appearance where he stole game one on an injured knee, but

that‘s not where he became famous either.

It wasn‘t until after his injury-ridden career that he took to

the camera. From 1986-2006, he was the Rangers color

commentator for MSG, and it was there when he rose to be

the best in his business for any sport. His résumé lists numer-

ous Finals, All-Star games, Olympics, and more for every

network under the Sun: NBC, ABC, FOX, ESPN (they used to

televise hockey?), CBC, Outdoor Life Network (OK, that's

more like it) and more. He won the Lester Patrick Award in

2004. I‘m not exactly sure what that entails, but Larry Pleau

won it too, so it‘s unimportant to me. But Davidson has also

won an Emmy and a CableACE award. CableACE? Now he‘s

famous.

Then he became the president of the Blues. There went his

fame. But in his defense, how many other team presidents can

you name?

Glen Sather, New York‘s GM and president (so that shot my

last sentence), and best known as Edmonton‘s coach during

their glory years, actually had a long NHL playing career. His

best season was 1973-74 with Davidson and the St. Louis Blues.

Despite his 44 points being third on the team, that was his only

season here.

Scott Gomez was the first Alaskan native to make the NHL,

and he is proud of his heritage as he spent the lockout playing

for the Alaska Aces, a team St. Louis would make their secon-

dary minor league team the next year. His 73 assists was the

best out of any out-of-work NHLer, but

none of his teammates were with the

Blues. As for what was probably the best

team during the lockout, it had to be the

Ornskoldsvik Mordo Hockey of the Swed-

ish Elite League. Hometown boys Peter

Forsberg, the Sedin Twins, and current

Ranger Markus Naslund played alongside

non-Swedes Alex Steen and Dan Hinote.

New York‘s leading scorer, Nikolai Zherdev, just came to the

team during the offseason in exchange for former Blue

Christian Backman. Good to see him provide for some team.

The Ghost of the Blues With Jeff Browning

Volu me 4, Issue 3 0 Febru ar y 16, 20 09 Pag e 10

Blues Record When… With LosBri

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

Franchise Foundations

Pag e 11

What’d McGrath Trade For These Guys?

St. Louis Game Time

Year Player1999 Barret Jackman ~ Drafted 1st rd (17 overall) by STL

2001 Jay McClement ~ Drafted 2nd round, 57 overall by STL

2002 D.J. King ~ Drafted in 6th rd (190 overall) by STL

2003 David Backes ~ Drafted in 2nd rd (62 overall) by STL

2004 Roman Polak ~ Drafted in 6th rd (180 overall) by STL

T.J. Oshie ~ Drafted in 1st rd (24 overall) by STL

Eric Brewer ~ Acquired from EDM with Jeff Woywitka

and Doug Lynch for Chris Pronger

Jeff Woywitka ~ Acquired from EDM with Eric Brewer

and Doug Lynch for Chris Pronger

Erik Johnson ~ Drafted in 1st rd (1 overall) by STL

Patrik Berglund ~ Drafted in 1st rd (25 overall) by STL

Jay McKee ~ Signed as Free Agent (BUF)

Dan Hinote ~ Signed as Free Agent (COL)

Yan Stastny ~ Acquired from BOS for 5th rd pick in

2007

Brad Boyes ~ Acquired from BOS for Dennis

Wideman

David Perron ~ Drafted in 1st rd (26 overall) by STL

Keith Tkachuk ~ Signed as Free Agent. Originally

acquired from PHX in 2001 for a 1st rd pick in 2002,

Ladislav Nagy, Michal Handzus and Jeff Taffe

Paul Kariya ~ Signed as Free Agent (NAS)

Andy McDonald ~ Acquired from ANA for Doug

Weight, Michal Birner and a 7th rd pick in 2008

Tyson Strachan ~ Signed as Free Agent (CAR)

Cam Janssen ~ Acquired from NJ for Bryce Salvador

Mike Weaver ~ Signed as Free Agent (VAN)

Chris Mason ~ Acquired from NAS for a 4th rd pick in

2008

Brad Winchester ~ Signed as Free Agent (DAL)

Chris Holt ~ 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

2007

2006

St. Louis Blues

2005

2008

Year Player2000 Henrik Lundqvist ~ Drafted in 7th rd (205) by NYR

2002 Petr Prucha ~ Drafted in 8th rd (240) by NYR

2003 Nigel Dawes ~ Drafted in 5th rd (149 overall) by NYR

Blair Betts ~ Acquired with Jamie McLennan and Greg

Moore for Chris Simon and a 7th rd pick in 2004

Lauri Korpikoski ~ Drafted in 1st rd (19 overall) by

NYR

Brandon Dubinsky ~ Drafted in 2nd rd (60 overall) by

NYR

Ryan Callahan ~ Drafted in 4th rd (127 overall) by NYR

Marc Staal ~ Drafted in 1st rd (12 overall) by NYR

Michal Rozsival ~ Signed as Free Agent (PIT)

Colton Orr ~ Claimed off waivers (BOS)

Dan Girardi ~ Signed as Free Agent (undrafted)

Stephen Valiquette ~ Signed as Free Agent (playing in

Russia)

Paul Mara ~ Acquired from BOS for Aaron Ward

Chris Drury ~ Signed as Free Agent (BUF)

Scott Gomez ~ Signed as Free Agent (NJ)

Fredrik Sjostrom ~ Acquired with David Leneveu, Josh

Gratton and a conditional 2009 draft pick from PHX for

Marcel Hossa and Al Montoya

Aaron Voros ~ Signed as Free Agent (MIN)

Wade Redden ~ Signed as Free Agent (OTT)

Nikolai Zherdev ~ Acquired with Dan Fritsche from

CLB for Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman

Markus Naslund ~ Signed as Free Agent (VAN)

Dmitri Kalinin ~ Signed as Free Agent (BUF)

2009 Erik Reitz ~ Acquired from MIN for Dan Fritsche

2005

New York Rangers

2004

2006

2007

2008

NHL Leaders

Points Goals Against Average Shootout Goals

1. Evgeni Malkin, PIT 81 1. Steve Mason, CLB 2.06 1. Wojtek Wolski, COL 7

2. Alex Ovechkin, WAS 74 2. Tim Thomas, BOS 2.12 2. Ales Kotalik, BUF 6

3. Sidney Crosby, PIT 72 3. Manny Fernandez, BOS 2.15 3. Brad Boyes, STL 5

4. Pavel Datsyuk, DET 70 4. Jonas Hiller, ANA 2.20 4. Mike Ribeiro, DAL 5

5. Zach Parise, 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. Thomas Vanek, 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. Miikka Kiprusoff, CGY 33 1. Mike Green, WAS 50

2. Pavel Datsyuk, DET 30 2. Evgeni Nabokov, SJ 28 2. Brian Rafalski, DET 46

3. David Krejci, BOS 30 3. Ryan Miller, BUF 27 3. Andrei Markov, MTL 42

4. Dennis Wideman, BOS 29 4. Niklas Backstrom, MIN 27 4. Dan Boyle, SJ 42

5. Mike Green, WAS 28 5. Marty Turco, DAL 26 5. Nicklas Lidstrom, DET 40

43. Patrik Berglund, STL 14 40. Chris Mason, STL 9 53. Carlo Colaiacovo, STL 20

Volu me 4, Issue 3 0 Febru ar y 16, 20 09 Pag e 12

NHL Leaders

Around The So, What Have You Done For Me Lately? — The

Pittsburgh Penguins fired head coach Michel Therrien on

Sunday, less than a year after he took the Penguins to their

first Stanley Cup final since 1992.

The 45-year-old Therrien was hired by the club in Decem-

ber of 2005 and led Pittsburgh to a 105-point season and a

playoff berth the following season - its first since 2001.

Therrien led the Penguins to 47-point improvement over the

previous campaign, the fourth-biggest turnaround from one

season to the next in NHL history.

The native of Montreal broke into coaching in the Quebec

Major Junior Hockey League with Laval and Granby, posting

a .720 winning percentage in four seasons. His teams reached

the league finals three times, and he captured the Memorial

Cup with Granby in 1996. He was head coach of Montreal‘s

AHL affiliates in Fredericton and Quebec from 1997-2000

and was head coach of the Canadiens from 2000-03. He led

the Canadiens to the playoffs in 2001-02. He then coached

the AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to the AHL finals

before being called up the following season to replace Ed

Olczyk mid-season.

Dan Bylsma, head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

Penguins of the American Hockey League, will take over as

interim head coach. The Penguins also reassigned assistant

coach Andre Savard within the organization, while assistant

coach Mike Yeo and goaltending coach Gilles Meloche will

remain on staff. Tom Fitzgerald, the team‘s director of player

development, will join the staff as an assistant coach.

General manager Ray Shero said the change was made

because, ―We believe we need a change in direction and, with

25 games remaining in the regular season, our goal remains

to finish strong and qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.‖

The Penguins have a 27-25-5 record this season and are

struggling to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff picture,

sitting five points out.

Bylsma, who did not even get a chance to practice with his

team before they took on the New York Islanders earlier

today, said that his plan for the Pens was to make them an

up-tempo team and utilize all aspects of their skills.

―With the strengths we have, we should be able to go into

buildings and make teams deal with the quality of players we

have at every position. I look at a group that can win games

right now, and we need to do that. We can do this, but the

players have to believe we can do this. We need to put the

brakes on; we‘re in a hole, but we need to stop digging and

get focused on what we need to do to play good hockey. We

need to be an aggressive group, and get focused on playing

back to our strengths, and focus away from this situation the

last while here.

Bylsma played nine NHL seasons with Los Angeles and

Anaheim from 1995-2004. He played 429 NHL regular

season games and also played in the 2003 Stanley Cup Final

with Anaheim. He has lead the AHL Penguins to a record of

35-16-1-2.

www.hockeywww.hockeywww.hockey---fights.comfights.comfights.com

Volu me 4, Issue 3 0 Febru ar y 16, 20 09 Pag e 13

New York Rangers Probable Fighters

Colton Orr – Orr is an enforcer that loves his job. After all

his fights, win or lose, he‘s always beaming with a big smile.

He is one of the best in the business, regularly tangling with

the top heavies in the league and usually doing very well. Orr

is listed at 6‘3, 220 pounds. He has had 12 fights this year.

Aaron Voros – Voros is a physical winger who‘s not too

shabby in the fisticuff department. He is 6‘4, 200 pounds, and

he has eight fights this season. He had 14 fights in 55 games

playing for Minnesota last season, which was his first in the

NHL.

Brandon Dubinsky – Dubinsky is a two way center who

will do whatever it takes to help his team win, which includes

dropping the gloves from time to time. He has six fights so far

this season, including two fights in the Rangers last two

games. He is 6‘1 and 210 pounds.

St. Louis Blues Probable Fighters

Cam Janssen – Janssen has done a great job against this

season against opponents that are usually bigger than he is.

He is listed at 6‘0 and 210 pounds, and he currently has 15

fighting majors. Janssen fought the Ranger‘s Colton Orr twice

when he played for the Devils, edging Orr in the first one and

losing to Orr in the second battle.

BJ Crombeen – Crombeen is a physical player who is

willing to drop the gloves when need be. He is 6‘2, 212 pounds,

and he‘s been in 14 fights this season. Crombeen fought

ex-Blue Matt Walker in the last Blues game.

Brad Winchester – Winchester has the size of a heavy-

weight at 6‘5, 230 pounds. He‘s proven to be an effective

fighter throughout his career in the NHL and in the minors.

He has had six fights on the year, including one against

Chicago‘s Ben Eager in the Blues last game.

Fried Chicken’sFried Chicken’sFried Chicken’s

Best bet of the night: Janssen vs Orr III ~ Jason Travers, 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.

Date Combatants Description Decision

2/11/2009 Colton Orr vs

Donald Brashear

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

landed a big right to the ear of Brash, and then Brash landed

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.

Draw.

2/9/2009 Colton Orr vs

Mike Rupp

This was the third fight these guys had with each other in

their NHL careers, with the two fighters each earning a win

each. The had each other at arms length to start, with each

trying to land some from a distance. Orr got inside and then

nailed Rupp, who fell to the ice like a sack of dirt.

Win: Orr

1/28/2009 Colton Orr vs

Eric Godard

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

the puck was. Orr threw with frequency and Godard picked

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.

Win: Godard

St. L

ou

is B

lue

s R

os

ter

s

an

d S

tatis

tics

Volu me 4, Issue 3 0 Febru ar y 16, 20 09 Pag e 14

Ge

ne

ra

l Ma

na

ge

r:

La

rr

y P

lea

u

He

ad

Co

ac

h:

A

nd

y M

urr

ay

Asst C

oa

ch

es:

R

ay

Be

nn

ett

B

ra

d S

ha

w

Asst / G

oa

lie C

oa

ch

: R

ick

Wa

msle

y

# P

lay

er

Po

s D

OB

C

ity

S/

P

Ctry

H

t W

t S

R

k

GP

G

A

P

ts

+/

-

PIM

TO

I/G

S

ala

ry

4E

ric B

rew

er

DApr 1

7 '7

9Vern

on

BC

CAN

75

222

L28

15

6-14

24

25:0

7$4,5

00,0

00

5B

arre

t Ja

ckm

an

D

Mar 0

5 '8

1Tra

ilBC

CAN

72

203

L55

312

15

-12

62

23:2

3$2,5

00,0

00

7K

eith

Tka

ch

uk

CM

ar 2

8 '7

2M

elro

se

MA

USA

74

232

L53

17

17

34

-11

41

17:3

4$4,5

00,0

00

9P

au

l Ka

riya

L

Oct 1

6 '7

4Vancouver

BC

CAN

70

180

L11

213

15

12

18:0

6$6,0

00,0

00

10

An

dy

McD

on

ald

C

Aug 2

5 '7

7Stra

thro

yO

NCAN

71

183

L19

714

21

-13

14

19:2

1$3,3

33,3

33

13

Da

n H

ino

te

RJa

n 3

0 '7

7Leesburg

FL

USA

72

187

R34

12

3-5

45

11:0

3$1,0

00,0

00

15

Bra

d W

inch

este

r L

Mar 0

1 '8

1M

adis

on

WI

USA

77

228

L37

94

13

-2

62

12:4

1$600,0

00

18

Ja

y M

cC

lem

en

t C

Mar 0

2 '8

3Kin

gsto

nO

NCAN

73

201

L55

810

18

-9

25

16:2

5$950,0

00

19

D.J

. Kin

g

LJu

n 2

7 '8

4M

eadow

Lake

SK

CAN

74

228

L1

01

10

08:2

0$550,0

00

20

Ale

xa

nd

er S

tee

n

CM

ar 0

1 '8

4W

innip

eg

MB

CAN

73

205

L55

613

19

-7

24

16:5

5$1,7

00,0

00

21

Pa

trik B

erg

lun

d

CJu

n 0

2 '8

8Veste

ras

SW

E76

187

LY

50

16

19

35

14

14

15:5

6$850,0

00

22

Bra

d B

oy

es

RApr 1

7 '8

2M

issis

sauga

ON

CAN

72

195

R55

25

25

50

-18

24

19:1

7$2,5

00,0

00

25

Ya

n S

tastn

y

CSep 3

0 '8

2Q

uebec C

ityQ

CCAN

70

191

L34

34

7-14

20

12:4

4$500,0

00

26

B.J

. Cro

mb

ee

n

RJu

l 10 '8

5Denver

CO

USA

74

212

RY

54

97

16

-6

118

11:5

8$550,0

00

28

Ca

rlo C

ola

iaco

vo

D

Jan 2

7 '8

3Toro

nto

ON

CAN

73

200

L46

218

20

-1

25

18:0

3$1,4

00,0

00

29

Je

ff Wo

yw

itka

D

Sep 0

1 '8

3Verm

ilion

AB

CAN

74

217

L39

112

13

-3

40

18:3

7$725,0

00

42

Da

vid

Ba

cke

s

RM

ay 0

1 '8

4M

inneapolis

MN

USA

75

216

R55

18

14

32

-5

133

17:3

4$2,5

00,0

00

43

Mik

e W

ea

ve

r D

May 0

2 '7

8Bra

male

aO

NCAN

69

182

R34

05

5-3

616:3

1$700,0

00

46

Ro

ma

n P

ola

k

DApr 2

8 '8

6O

stra

va

CZE

73

227

R44

110

11

-5

29

21:3

0$475,0

00

49

Ste

ve

Wa

gn

er

DM

ar 0

6 '8

4Gra

nd R

apid

sM

NUSA

74

200

LY

20

22

4-3

18

15:4

4$635,0

00

55

Ca

m J

an

sse

n

RApr 1

5 '8

4St. L

ouis

MO

USA

72

210

R44

13

4-5

107

5:2

7$550,0

00

57

Da

vid

Pe

rron

L

May 2

8 '8

8Sherb

rooke

QC

CAN

72

180

R54

728

35

540

15:2

7$875,0

00

62

Ty

so

n S

trach

an

D

Oct 3

0 '8

4M

elfo

rtSK

CAN

75

205

RY

25

03

35

34

13:2

1$575,0

00

74

T.J

. Osh

ie

CDec 2

3 '8

6M

t. Vern

on

WA

USA

71

170

RY

30

712

19

66

16:1

7$850,0

00

77

Ja

y M

cK

ee

D

Sep 0

8 '7

7Kin

gsto

nO

NCAN

76

203

L43

11

2-3

25

17:1

1$4,0

00,0

00

TO

TA

LS

14

72

54

40

1-1

08

93

8$

43

,31

8,3

33

# P

lay

er

DO

B

City

S

/P

C

tryH

t W

t C

R

k

GP

W

L

OT

SO

G

AA

S

v%

S

ala

ry

35

Ch

ris H

olt

Jun 0

5 '8

5Vancouver

BC

CAN

75

229

LY

00

00

00

0.0

%$475,0

00

50

Ch

ris M

aso

nApr 2

0 '7

6Red D

eer

AB

CAN

72

195

L30

915

44

2.5

491.6

%$3,0

00,0

00

TO

TA

LS

91

54

4$

3,4

75

,00

0

$4

6,7

93

,33

3

Ne

w Y

or

k R

an

ge

rs

Ro

ste

rs

an

d S

tatis

tics

Pag e 15

Ge

ne

ra

l Ma

na

ge

r:

Gle

n S

ath

er

He

ad

Co

ac

h:

T

om

Re

nn

ey

Assis

tan

t Co

ach

es:

be

no

it Alla

ire

/ Pe

rr

y P

ea

rn

/

M

ike

Pe

lino

Go

alte

nd

ing

Co

ac

h:

No

ne

Le

ge

nd

: S:S

ho

ots; C

: Ca

tches; R

k: R

oo

kie (a

ny

pla

yer w

ho

ha

s pla

yed

fewer th

an

25

ga

mes in

the p

reviou

s seaso

n o

r fewer th

an

26

in th

e prev

iou

s two

yea

rs

an

d h

as n

ot rea

ched

ag

e 26

); GP

: Ga

mes P

layed

; G: G

oa

ls; A: A

ssists; Pts: P

oin

ts; PIM

: Pen

alties in

Min

utes; T

OI/G

am

e: avera

ge T

ime O

n Ice p

er Ga

me.

# P

lay

er

Po

s D

OB

C

ity

S/

P

Ctry

H

t W

t S

R

k

GP

G

A

P

ts

+/

-

PIM

TO

I/G

S

ala

ry

3M

ich

al R

ozsiv

al

DSep 0

3 '7

8Vla

sim

CZE

74

205

R56

719

26

-13

44

22:4

1$7,0

00,0

00

4E

rik R

eitz

D

Jul 2

9 '8

2Detro

itM

IUSA

73

222

R37

11

2-6

55

10:0

2$500,0

00

5D

an

iel G

irard

i D

Apr 2

9 '8

4W

ella

nd

ON

CAN

74

210

R57

313

16

-12

24

21:1

2$1,5

00,0

00

6W

ad

e R

ed

de

n

DJu

n 1

2 '7

7Llo

ydm

inste

rSK

CAN

74

212

L56

217

19

-10

41

22:1

0$8,0

00,0

00

10

Nig

el D

aw

es

LFeb 0

9 '8

5W

innip

eg

MB

CAN

69

193

L46

89

17

-1

15

13:0

1$587,5

00

13

Nik

ola

i Zh

erd

ev

R

Nov 0

5 '8

4Kie

vUKR

74

203

R57

16

28

44

227

16:4

7$3,2

50,0

00

15

Bla

ir Be

tts

CFeb 1

6 '8

0Edm

onto

nAB

CAN

75

210

L56

53

8-2

10

11:2

2$615,0

00

17

Bra

nd

on

Du

bin

sky

C

Apr 2

9 '8

6Anchora

ge

AK

USA

73

205

L57

820

28

-4

74

16:2

1$635,0

00

18

Ma

rc S

taa

l D

Jan 1

3 '8

7Thunder B

ay

ON

CAN

76

209

L57

27

91

50

20:3

4$765,0

00

19

Sco

tt Go

me

z

CDec 2

3 '7

9Anchora

ge

AK

USA

71

200

L52

10

28

38

-11

46

21:1

8$8,0

00,0

00

20

Fre

drik

Sjo

stro

m

RM

ay 0

6 '8

3Färg

ela

nda

SW

E73

218

L55

43

7-11

18

12:1

4$840,0

00

23

Ch

ris D

rury

C

Aug 2

0 '7

6Tru

mbull

CT

USA

70

190

R57

15

19

34

-10

20

20:2

3$7,1

00,0

00

24

Ry

an

Ca

llah

an

R

Mar 2

1 '8

5Rocheste

rNY

USA

71

188

R56

13

821

-1

33

16:4

4$600,0

00

25

Pe

tr Pru

ch

a

RSep 1

4 '8

2Chru

dim

CZE

72

175

R22

34

7-2

912:2

0$1,6

00,0

00

27

Pa

ul M

ara

D

Sep 0

7 '7

9Rid

gew

ood

NJ

USA

76

212

L56

511

16

-2

77

19:4

7$1,9

50,0

00

28

Co

lton

Orr

RM

ar 0

3 '8

2W

innip

eg

MB

CAN

75

222

R57

14

5-10

138

6:5

8$550,0

00

29

La

uri K

orp

iko

ski

LJu

l 28 '8

6Turk

uFIN

73

195

LY

44

55

10

-7

811:2

2$984,2

00

34

Aa

ron

Vo

ros

LJu

l 02 '8

1Vancouver

BC

CAN

75

215

L49

87

15

-8

110

11:3

4$1,2

00,0

00

45

Dm

itri Ka

linin

D

Jul 2

2 '8

0Chely

abin

sk

RUS

75

210

L51

19

10

-9

26

17:2

3$2,1

00,0

00

91

Ma

rku

s N

aslu

nd

L

Jul 3

0 '7

3O

rnskold

svik

SW

E72

191

L57

17

18

35

-12

30

17:5

6$5,0

00,0

00

TO

TA

LS

13

42

33

36

7-1

28

85

5$

52

,77

6,7

00

#P

lay

er

DO

B

City

S

/P

C

try

Ht

Wt

C

Rk

GP

W

L

OT

SO

G

AA

S

v%

S

ala

ry

30

He

nrik

Lu

nd

qv

ist

Mar 0

2 '8

2Are

SW

E73

195

L47

25

17

52

2.5

791.2

%$7,7

50,0

00

40

Ste

ph

en

Va

liqu

ette

Aug 2

0 '7

7Eto

bic

oke

ON

CAN

78

210

L13

54

11

2.8

290.7

%$725,0

00

TO

TA

LS

30

21

63

$8

,47

5,0

00

$6

1,2

51

,70

0

Volu me 4, Issue 3 0 Febru ar y 16, 20 09 Pag e 16

NHL Referee Statistics

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

Blues

Games

Blues

PP

Blues

PKW L

O

T

L

Blues

Games

Blues

PP

Blues

PKW L

O

T

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 Penticton, BC 2006 1 8 11 1 0 0 7 38 37 4 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 1 5 5 1 0 0 6 28 27 4 1 1

TOTALS 55 244 252 22 26 7 589 616 55 62 19

2008-2009 Since 2007

1st

GameBornOfficialNo.

St. Louis Game Time Scorecard

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

Referee: ________________________ Referee: ________________________

Linesman: ______________________ Linesman: ______________________

Shots Team

Rangers

Blues

1st

2d

3rd

OT

SO

F

Score Team

Rangers

Blues

1st

2d

3rd

OT

SO

F

Blues Starting Lineup

C:

LW:

RW:

D:

D:

G:

Rangers Starting Lineup

C:

LW:

RW:

D:

D:

G:

Three Stars of the Game

1st Star:

2nd Star:

3rd Star:

Other Stars of the Game

GWG:

GW Goalie:

Hard Hat:

Per. Time Team Goalscorer 1st Assist 2nd Assist

Per. Time Team Penalized Player Penalty

Goal Scoring

Penalties Called

Game Notes:

G AME T IME Pag e 17

Ask Game Time’s Answer Man

first big signing by the new ownership group. He was loved

in Buffalo but was the odd man out when the salary cap

became an issue. It is just like your fat friend at the roller

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

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

them because he has very high expectations. It isn‘t personal,

trust me. Andy Murray has been doing this long enough to

know how to navigate through egos and bullshit. Not only

that, all players take a turn in the coach‘s dog house, it is just

up to them how long they stay and how uncomfortable their

stay is.

You also asked me ―…what does a weirdo like you do for

Valentine‘s Day?‖ I will just assume you call me names

because you are jealous of my huge guns and my regional

pork rind empire. I am a traditional type of guy. I split

Valentines‘ Day into two nights. One for Answer Mom and

one for a local skank I‘m trying to bone. I took the skank out

on Friday night and it was fun but she got a call in the middle

of dinner (Ponderosa on the Rock Road of course) and had to

leave right away because of a family emergency. It sucked too

because we had only eaten three steaks and I still had room

to pound a few more.

I took her back to her place and I headed out to Pop‘s in

Sauget to rock the night away. It was great, I found another

skank who totally put out and put out big time. I snuck her

out in the morning just before Answer Mom was finished

making hash browns. I didn‘t get her name so I really don‘t

care. She‘ll just be another notch on the bunk bed post.

I took Answer Mom out to a real nice dinner at Red

Lobster on the 14th. She has such elitist tastes. A real high

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

for her. I made sure I was shirtless too so I didn‘t get any

dead foot skin on my sweet Doobie Brothers‘ softball style

T-shirt. Go Blues!

Send your questions on hockey (NHL or rec league),

Busch beer or any other thing that keeps you awake at night

to: answer-man@stlouisgametime.com and have them

answered here.

Dear Answer Man,

Two things, why are Perron and McKee on such short

leashes with Andy Murray? Second, what does a weirdo

like you do for Valentine’s Day? I gotta know.

-Rick (Cahokia-IL)

Ricker, were you ever jealous that Alfonso was a better

dancer than you or were you cool with it because your dad

had that really bitchin‘ train that went all over the house?

Man, that train was sweet.

Man, Perron has been talk of Blues Nation as of late, huh?

He is the team‘s second leading scorer

at the age of 20. That is crazy to me

and he is French which is even

crazier. I can only assume he likes

chicks with hairy pits. Just an

assumption though.

Perron was relegated to fourth-

line duty recently. One big reason

was that Andy ―The Mack‖

McDonald came back into the line

up. Did everyone all of a sudden forget that Perron also plays

on the first power play unit? Quit your bitchin‘. Perron is this

team‘s version of a woman. That means he gets second class

citizen treatment. He still needs to earn his stripes. Perron is

having some success and the guy is a talent but to me he just

has that blank gaze (a.k.a dumbass French look) on his face.

In Nashville he turned it up and scored one hell of a goal.

That is the type of work he is capable of producing but with

maturity, he will produce more and more. He just needs to

grow up, be less ―Frenchie‖ and earn his stripes. Get off

Murray‘s back.

Jay, sometimes referred to as ―Fragile Jay‖ McKee, got to

be a spectator with Mr. Hinote against the Blackhawks.

Why? He was on the ice for the last two goals that the

Predators scored. He missed on a clearing attempt (which

bounced off of him into the crease) and Nashville scored with

three seconds to go. To me, that is inexcusable from a

10-plus year veteran. Jay is such an odd commodity though.

He should have been a goalie more then anything. This guy

sees more rubber than the Michelin Man‘s gay lover.

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

Volu me 4, Issue 3 0 Febru ar y 16, 20 09 Pag e 18

Because You’re Kinda Twisted, Too.

St. Louis Game Time

G AME T IME Pag e 19

The fantasy season continues to tick down to the wire as

competitors in leagues of all shapes and sizes are battling for

position and a shot at fantasy gold. Throw the names you

know out the window at this point; they no longer matter.

This is the section of the fantasy calendar where the men are

separated from the Nashville fans, so prove that you‘re not

some fruit who‘s been in fewer hockey fights than they‘ve

seen episodes of Friends, and make the moves that are going

to help you win this

April.

It‘s time to start

turning over your

roster. I‘m not saying

that you should jump

on your cell phone right

now and drop Chris

Osgood (18-5-6), but

he‘s killing you. With a

3.78 goals against aver-

age over his last nine

starts, which includes a

2 0 - mi nu t e e f f or t

against Dallas at the

end of January, his only

redeeming quality has

been something that is

entirely out of his

control: the Detroit

scoring machine. The

end of winter means

that the search for

Detroit‘s playoff goaltender is officially on, and Osgood has

been doing an excellent job of making sure that he won‘t have

to worry about anything more than opening and shutting the

door at the end of the bench until his shower-buddies are put

out of their collective misery.

Current timeshare recipient Ty Conklin (19-7-1) has done

well to separate himself from the 36-year-old Osgood in the

stats column, stopping 3.4% more of his shots faced, and

allowing nine-tenths of a goal less per sixty minutes. Combine

those numbers with the fact that Conklin has posted six

shutouts in 27 starts, and you‘ve got to wonder why Detroit is

even toying with the idea of giving Osgood valuable ice time

from now until the end of the season. The writing is on the wall,

so dump Osgood before his value falls through the floor.

He‘s just one of dozens of big names who you can still cash in

on in a trade before deadline passes, and finding a good trade

partner could mean the difference between coming out of the

bathroom with nothin‘ but your dick in your hand and finding

that revolver that was taped to the back of the toilet tank. Take

a good look at your roster, and even go so far as to check the

trends by checking player rankings over the last 30, 60 and 90

days. You owe it to your playoff chances to try and trade away

those guys whose trends are going down faster than Sean Avery

on a male purse salesman, and if you can‘t sell, dump them

after the deadline if they don‘t pick up their respective games.

You don‘t have time to deal with poor performance, so get out

there and shoot your dinner partners!

Checking in on GT‘s Bob Plager fantasy hockey Invitational

where eight teams vying for four playoff spots were separated

by just 10 points in the standings at the start of last week, some

big things happened. Reader Dooks, previously two spots out of

the playoff rankings, kicked the living shit out of reader Tim,

who previously held the most comfortable seat among those on

the bubble. A seven-point week for Matthew Lombardi to go

along with a pot-shot shutout from Alex Auld helped seal the

deal on this one, as the previous roles have been switched so

that now Dooks sits among the top of the wanna-bees and Tim

is hanging on by the Red Berenson Cowboy‘s beard.

Elsewhere around the league, Gallagher‘s ―Penis Machinists‖

rebounded from last week with a solid win which should move

them one spot closer to the playoffs, while the top-two teams in

the league have come closer to the first-round playoff byes that

have nearly become a foregone conclusion.

Go Blues!

The Fantasy Files By Duke

Seriously? You’re gonna

trust this oblivious fuck

with your fantasy team’s

success in the coming

weeks?

All healthy scratches required to report there for

40 lashes during the second period.

Having a Mormon side and a non-Mormon side

conjures sweet memories of the McDLT.

Whole place probably smells like they‘re printing

money in there.

Can tell that they always yell, ―JUUUUUUUMP!‖

after Towel Boy does his shtick.

Installed WiFi so they can post in the Game Time

Game Day Thread under the name ‗Carnie‘.

When they dump their beers on Hawk fans in the

section below them, security just laughs and

throws the Hawk fans out of the game.

You Wanna Know How I Know…

...Watching A Game In The Owners’ Box Is Sweet?

(see: Khabibulin, Nikolai or Fernandez, Manny). There are

slim pickin‘s in the U-30 market, but one name that jumps

right out of the pile is current Philadelphia backup Antero

Niittymaki.

A June 18, 1980 birthdate mean the Turku, Finland native

will be 29 years old when next season rolls around; young

enough to be well worth a three-year deal, which will give the

Blues‘ Kiddie Corps in goal enough time for one of the three

to separate himself from the pack and establish himself as

the true Goalie Of The Future ®.

The 6‘1, 195-pound Niittymaki

currently pulls down $1.375 million from

Philly, and would probably be looking for

a raise somewhere into the $2.5 to 3 mil-

lion a year range. His current stat line for

the Flyers is 24 GP, 13-5-4, one SO, 2.59

GAA, 91.6% save percentage.

Should the Blues decide to dip into the

restricted free-agent pool, a prime target

should be Minnesota‘s Josh Harding.

The 24-year-old Regina, Saskatchewan

native is just entering his prime as an

NHL goaltender, and the Blues could offer

to triple his current $750K salary to $2.25

million a year by offering him a four-year, $9 million deal,

and still not have to give more than a second-round pick in

compensation thanks to the provisions of the new CBA.

An offer like this would put the Wild between a rock and a

hard place; if Minnesota opted not to match the offer sheet,

the Blues could very well have solved their goaltending issues

for the next decade. If, however, the Wild did choose to

match, then the money to re-sign unrestricted free agent

Niklas Backstrom will probably not be there. The Blues could

then swoop in and throw $6-7 million a year at the 31-year-

old Backstrom and have one of the top starting goalies in the

league, still young enough to buy the Blues that three-year

window to develop one of their youngsters.

Harding‘s stat line for the year isn‘t particularly

impressive at 12 games played, 1-6-1, with no shutouts... but

a 2.23 GAA and 93.0% save percentage is considerably more

appealing. If the alternate scenario played out, and the Blues

made a play for Backstrom, they‘d be getting themselves a

goalie who has appeared in 46 games this year, racking up a

27-17-2 record, six shutouts, a 2.19 GAA and a 92.7% save

percentage.

Young(ish) Guns

When it comes to scoring, the Blues will probably have to

look to their own deep prospect pool for help next season.

There‘s a pretty good group of forwards in that pool who are

NHL-ready, or very nearly so; names like Julian Talbot (38

GP, 13-13-26, 24 PIM, plus-5, 9 PP goals with Peoria), Lars

(Continued on page 21)

One of your Game Time Prospect Department‘s favorite

pastimes is taking part in mock drafts. It‘s a kick to wheel

and deal with other get-a-lifers who live and breathe for the

NHL Entry Draft, and a big part of the fun is when we make

mock trades to try and improve our draft position as well as

the team on the ice right now.

With the Information Revolution well established, the

availability of extensive player statistics and team payroll/

salary cap information is greater than it

has ever been. This information adds a

degree of realism to the mock draft proc-

ess, in that all of us armchair GMs have

to make our trades with some of the same

restrictions as the real NHL bosses have.

We can‘t just go out and buy a champion,

New York Yankee style; we have to make

trades to relieve pressure on the salary

cap, and try to sweet-talk the other GM‘s

into taking our worthless aging veterans

salary dumps off of our hands.

Naturally, when taking part in these

affairs, your Game Time Prospect

Department invariably plays the role of

the Blues general manager. While some

might blanch at the prospect of even pretending to be Larry

Pleau, we here at your GTPD relish it.

Submitted for your approval, then (as the late, great Rod

Serling used to say), are some of the moves that we would

make if we were sitting in the drivers‘ seat at 14th & Clark;

we hope that at least some of these thoughts and ideas are

well-grounded in reality, and would be representative of

things that the real-life movers and shakers in the organ-I-

zation might consider.

Priority One: Goaltending

The Blues have been snakebitten for the longest time

when it comes to drafting and developing a legitimate

starting NHL goaltender. They may be on the way to doing

so now, with twin towers Ben Bishop and Chris Holt in the

system, as well as 2008 second-rounder Jake Allen... but the

issue is that none of those three goalies are really ready to

step in next season and be even a capable backup to Chris

Mason, let alone a starter.

So, the obvious answer is that the Blues need to find

themselves a goaltender that is capable of being the number

one guy right now, preferably as young a goaltender as

possible, which means either a trade or free agency. We

won‘t get into trade rumors or speculation here, but there are

a number of possible solutions available in the free agent

market.

If the Blues want to stick with unrestricted free agents,

there are a lot of big names available, but most of them are

well over thirty years old and/or prohibitively expensive

Tomorrow’s Blues By Brian Weidler

“Life Is just A Fantasy…”

These prospects (L to R, Brett Sonne,

Aaron Palushaj, Julian Talbot) may

soon find themselves in a race for an

NHL spot

Volu me 4, Issue 3 0 Febru ar y 16, 20 09 Pag e 20

G AME T IME Pag e 21

Tomorrow’s Blues (continued)

Eller (43 GP, 10-11-21, 24 PIM, plus-7 with Frölunda HC),

Brett Sonne (51 GP, 39-43-82, 50 PIM, plus-31 with the

Calgary Hitmen), Aaron Palushaj (30 GP, 10-30-40, 20

PIM, plus-17 with the University of Michigan), Simon

Hjalmarsson (35 GP, 11-17-28, 24 PIM, plus-4 with Borås

HC) and Jori Lehtera (51 GP, 8-29-37, 24 PIM, minus-4

with Tappara Tampere) spring to mind.

At least two of these players, and perhaps all six, can be

expected to compete for NHL jobs in next year‘s training

camp, but if the Blues want to look to add some talent from

outside the organization, there are at least two relatively-

youthful unrestricted free agents out there who may be of

interest.

From the Calgary Flames‘ organization, RW David Moss

could be looking for a new home over the summer. Blessed

with NHL size at 6‘3, 203 pounds, Moss also has some ability

to put the puck in the net. Skating on Calgary‘s third line,

Moss has struck for 16 goals in 55 games this year, a success

rate that puts the Detroit native on pace for 23 goals this year.

Only recently turned 27 years of age (born Dec. 28, 1981),

Moss is making $575,000 this year from the Flames, and

should be able to be had for something in the $650-900K

range.

Looking to the east, Pittsburgh property Janne Pesonen

is another player who might benefit from a change of scenery.

(Continued from page 20) A veteran of six seasons in the Finnish Elite League (SM-

Liiga) where he racked up 94 goals and 216 points in 285

games played, the 5‘11, 180-pounder from Suomussalmi,

Finland has crossed the pond this year to try his hand at the

North American game.

In 44 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of

the AHL, the left-shooting Pesonen is better than a point-per-

game player with 15 goals (seven on the power play) and 31

assists for 46 points. He also has a plus-8 mark and 21 PIM for

the Baby Pens, and has had a cup of coffee with the big club

this year as well. Pesonen has a May 11, 1982 birthdate, which

will make him just 27 when the 2009-10 season opens, and he

is making a pro-rated $875,000 a year whenever he‘s up with

Pittsburgh. A small bump, and a shot at playing in the NHL on

a more regular basis, should get him out of the Igloo and into

the Note.

The forward signings will not have the impact that a major

overhaul in goal would have, but either or both of the players

mentioned here would make the Blues a more dangerous team

on their bottom two lines in 2009-10 and beyond.

Join us next time for more of the latest on the Blues‘

prospects, and until then, remember... ―if we do not prepare

for ourselves the role of the hammer, there will be nothing left

but that of the anvil.‖

Auf wiedersehen.

Lauri Korpikoski

Shoots: Left

Height: 6' 1

Weight: 190

Birthdate: July 28, 1986

Birthplace: Turku, Finland

Yes, his name really is Lauri. And what‘s really

amazing is, he's not the first player in NHL

history with that, uh, unusual first name. Laurie

Boschman slugged his way out of the schoolyards and back-

yard rinks of western Canada and into a 14-season, 577-

point, 2,265-PIM career with Toronto, Edmonton, Winni-

peg, New Jersey and Ottawa. Lauri Korpikoski has a ways

to go to match those numbers, but he's off to a fine start.

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.

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

year. He played two years with the TPS senior

team beginning in 2004-05, and finished the

2005-06 season by crossing the pond and

playing five regular-season games and 11 playoff

tilts with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL.

In 2007-08, his second season in North

America, Korpikoski racked up 23-27-50 totals

in 79 games for Hartford, served 70 minutes in

penalties, was a sparkling plus-20, and contrib-

uted six power play tallies and two shorthanded

markers. He made his NHL debut in the playoffs

for the Rangers that season, scoring in his first game.

In 43 games played for the Blueshirts this year,

Korpikoski has four goals and nine points, with eight

penalty minutes. He posted a goal and an assist in 15:00 of

ice time against Washington on Feb. 11.

By Brian Weidler

Remember Me?

Brian Noonan

DOB: May 29, 1965 in Boston, Mass.

Position: Right Wing

Played for the Blues: 94 games from 1995 to 1996

For the first time in 54 years, the New York Rangers won

the Stanley Cup in 1994. Mike Keenan brought in quite a few

players that were solid defensively, unspectacular but

capable offensively and bought into Keenan‘s system of play.

They were, for lack of a better of a term,

Storm Troopers. They did what their

leader instructed them to do and did it

fairly anonymously.

Once their leader went to a new fran-

chise, some of them followed, including

Brian Noonan.

Noonan actually played for Keenan

three times; in Chicago from 1989-1992,

then with the Rangers, and finally with the

Blues.

Noonan would best be described as a

glorified version of Dan Hinote. He wasn‘t

afraid to go in the corners, wasn‘t afraid to

mix it up (although he fought less than

Hinote does), and made a nice career out of being an at-best

third line player.

Signed as a free agent prior to the lockout shortened in

1995 season, Noonan came to the Blues as part of Keenan‘s

―embrace change‖ program.

While with the Blues, he scored 15 times and contributed

42 assists. In 13 playoff games he had four goals, an assist

and took five penalties. Those numbers are nothing

spectacular, but not awful.

Noonan was sent back to the Rangers

in exchange for Sergio Momesso early in

the ‘96-‘97 season.

Over the course of 11 NHL seasons, and

with stops in Vancouver and Phoenix in

addition to his time served with Keenan,

Noonan played in 629 games with 275

points and 518 penalty minutes.

He has returned to Bushwood Country

Club in Nebraska, where he works for

Spalding Smails, since the death of Lou

Loomis he has taken over running the

Caddyshack. He and Ty Webb are still

debating on whether this is Russia or not.

By Brad Lee & Chris Gift

Volu me 4, Issue 3 0 Febru ar y 16, 20 09 Pag e 22

From The Editor (continued)

Fuck that noise. David Perron, if he‘s anything like a lot of us

were when we were 20, is looking for a reason to fuck around.

Or fuck off. Or waste some fucking time. Or make a bad fucking

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

habit and then become a bad character trait. Andy Murray

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

(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

team should be better for it and the franchise mentality should

be strengthened by it. Andy Murray‘s job should be more

secure because of it, not less.

-Sean “and using timeouts early is no big deal

anyway” Gallagher

Your Kids Gotta Learn Bad Words Somewhere.

www.stlouisgametime.com

Top 11 Facts About

David Backes

11. David Backes doesn‘t block shots. The puck veers away from him in fear.

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 in Cote d‘Ivoire.

7. Clint Malarchuk is forever thankful that it was Steve Tuttle 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 simply exploded on impact.

6. David Backes is one-quarter Chippewa. He wasn‘t born that way , the dude fucking ate Central Michigan University whole.

5. When in the presence of David Backes, European players become more Canadian, French-Canadian players become less French, Canadian players become more American, and American players become SuperAmerican.

4. David Backes wears a visor on his helmet not for eye protection, but as a tool to collect opposing 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 David on the shoulder. We now know that moment as, The Death Notice To The Rest Of The NHL.

1. David Backes is God‘s apology for allowing the Chicago Blackhawks to happen.

From the Donut King and his

loyal subjects at StLouisGameTime.com

The 2008-2009

Lucky Skate Shuffle

Tracker

Finishing Point Times Occurred

This Year /

Percentage

Puck finishes in same

skate as starting point. 20 / 71.4%

Puck finishes in skate one

place lower than start

point.

8 / 28.6%

Puck finishes in skate one

place higher than start

point.

0 / 0.0%

G AME T IME Pag e 23

Over/Under on number of people from your

section who show up late: 37.

Odds Nikolai Zherdev looks just like the lazy,

uninterested player he was in Columbus: 1:1.

Over/Under on number of times you‘ll hear

someone complain about the Vs Network tonight:

5.5.

Odds that every guy you see wearing a Rangers

jersey is also trying to do some bad Sopranos

accent: 12:1.

Over/Under on Cam Janssen PIM tonight: 7.

Odds that Bernie doesn‘t believe the Blues goalie

had any chance on that last goal: 750:1.

The Degenerate Gambler’s Guide

To Tonight’s Game

www.stlouisgametime.com

Only About

86% Drunk.

Volu me 4, Issue 3 0

Febru ar y 16, 20 09 Pag e 24

NHL Standings—Still Chasin’ It

Wish You Had Game Time When

You Watch The Blues At Home?

Subscribe! gallagher@stlouisgametime.com

Eastern ConferenceGP 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 ConferenceGP 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

St. Louis Blues Schedule and Results

G AME T IME Pag e 25

October January (continued)

DATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORDWINNING/LOSING

GOALIEDATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORD

WINNING/LOSING

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

DATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORDWINNING/LOSING

GOALIEDATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORD

WINNING/LOSING

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

DATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORDWINNING/LOSING

GOALIEDATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORD

WINNING/LOSING

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

DATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORDWINNING/LOSING

GOALIEDATE OPPONENT SCORE RECORD

WINNING/LOSING

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

how the Blues are still ―only‖ seven

points out of the playoffs as of Sunday

evening.

Seriously, it was a satisfying win to

see the Blues slow the Hawks down and

really try to get under the skin of

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.

Several times when the young Hawks

were on the ice, Andy Murray sent out

the David Perron line. More impor-

tantly, Perron would take the ice with

his buddy Cam Janssen who tried to

extract some Valley Park justice on

more than one occasion. It worked,

didn‘t it? The Hawks were held off the

scoreboard and more than once Toews

got pushy after the whistle in a ―Hey,

you can‘t do that! Don‘t you know who I

am?‖ sort of way. It‘s an interesting

idea that the Blues are building a

reputation as a team that‘s tougher

than the opposition. When was the last

time that was the case? Couple decades

minimum, right?

Chris Mason continues building

confidence in his own play and in his

teammates. I wouldn‘t say he was

severely tested on five shots in the first

period or on six shots in the second.

But he did stop them all and the 11 put

on net in the fast and furious third

period. He‘s going to have to show

down the stretch that he can steal a

game and keep the soft goals out, so

maybe Friday night may be a stepping

stone towards that result. Or it was just

a bad night for the Hawks on the end of

a long road trip.

The Blues are still in this thing. Kind

of. If you‘re the eternal optimist. They

haven‘t won back-to-back games since

Jan. 19 and Jan. 21, the miracle come-

back in Boston and then another beat

down of the Hawks. They need a lot

more for the front office to justify

printing off season ticket bills. They‘ve

got the Rangers tonight, a team that‘s

struggling and lost yesterday at home.

Then it‘s on the road Wednesday and

Thursday at Columbus and then at

Nashville. The Predators come calling

(Continued from page 1) Saturday night for a rare home-and-

home series. The Blue Jackets are 6-3-1

in their last 10 and in the middle of the

playoff hunt. That‘s no gimme game.

The Blues do have some potential

motivation in making up for the fucking

shootout debacle from last Thursday

night that caused me to get three hours

of sleep that night.

Then the Blues wrap a very busy

month with games against Phoenix,

Dallas and Phoenix. It‘s not like they‘re

playing Detroit every single night, but

it‘s also not like the Blues are above any

of these teams in the standings. So it‘s

easy to be cautiously optimistic, but at

the same time realistic in realizing the

Blues haven‘t put together long

stretches of good hockey all season.

After a 5-2 loss at home Sunday

afternoon to the Philadelphia Flyers,

the Rangers now have only one win in

their last eight games. It‘s been a free-

fall down the standings for the

Blueshirts. They‘re currently in sixth

place but still pretty safe with five

points between them and out of playoff

contention. But there‘s still a lot of

hockey left and plenty of time for them

to blow it, which probably why they‘re

talking about bringing Avery back.

Somehow Nikolai Zherdev leads the

Rangers in points with 16 goals and 28

assists on the season. It‘s the same

Zherdev we made jokes about falling

asleep on the bench and playing at

one-quarter speed half the time.

Already in his fifth season at age 24, the

perpetual losing and missing the

playoffs had to take a toll on the

Ukrainian. He‘s only 17 points off his

career best season total. He doesn‘t

have the big fat coach yelling at him all

the time. That has to help too. In 28

career games against St. Louis, Zherdev

has five goals and 12 assists.

Scott Gomez is getting paid a shit-

load of money to score 38 points in 52

games this season. He was a minus-2

Sunday afternoon. The slightly under-

sized Alaskan has only two points in his

last five games, a pair of assists in a

shootout loss to Washington last week.

The former Devil has just 10 goals on

the season.

I didn‘t even remember Markus

Naslund was with the Rangers until I

looked at the team stats. The former

Canuck is hitting the wall at age 35.

He‘ll never approach his three-year run

from 2001-2004 when he scored a total

of 278 points in three seasons. He‘ll be

lucky to get 55 this season. Maybe he

misses Todd Bertuzzi.

Chris Drury makes a lot of money to

score 34 points a season. And just so

you remember before you hear it 200

times today, he did pitch in the Little

League World Series.

Henrik Lundqvist has a 25-17-2

record on the season, but only one win

in his last five games. He has the ability

to take over a game and could be the

difference in tonight‘s game if he starts.

The Blues will be more rested and

more composed tonight with the

Rangers traveling after a frustrating

loss. The Blues will have to take it to

New York early, keep it up during the

middle of the game and finish it. You

know, the opposite of most of last week.

Maybe they‘ll be motivated to give their

owners some bragging rights over their

former organization.

Let‘s Go Blues!

These Little Town Blues...

(continued)

Volu me 4, Issue 3 0 Febru ar y 16, 20 09 Pag e 26

New Ranger Nik Zherdev shows us

his wiping finger.

G AME T IME Pag e 27

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

Game Time Bingo! Spot the first fan

Steen jersey.

Bobby Plager is on

the jumbotron.

No. 18 earns some

more of your

respect.

You love Boyes so

much that

NAMBLA is

recruiting you.

A goal is scored in

the first two

minutes of any

period.

Barret Jackman

gives someone the

‗you‘re an idiot‘

look.

Red Berenson Cowboy

stackin‘ cups like it‘s his

job. We hope it actually

is his job.

Cotton-Eyed Joe

guy makes an

appearance.

Perron gets off

the fourth line.

75% of the Horn

Guys suck tonight.

Someone passes

you a bag of candy

after a Blues goal.

Cam Janssen

shows us his tits.

Pretty sure that

Towel Boy‘s shirt

lights up to say

8LUES.

No call on a blatant

Mite penalty.

Chris Holt starting to

wonder if he should

even bother putting the

uniform on.

Hear people in the

wrong jersey

getting booed on

the concourses.

Spot someone else

filling out the GT

Bingo card.

Still don‘t get why

GT keeps referring

to Chris Holt as

‗Steve Holt!‘

Stempniak who?

Bluie gyrating way

too close to some

poor kid‘s face.

Another $200

stick breaks at the

worst possible

time.

Fight!

Fight!

Fight!

Angelllla looks

nervous about the fan

she‘s standing by.

Charles Glenn rules

all.

Andy Murray calls

a time out in the

first period.

Tales

From

The

Crease

By Jeremy Pratte

Trust Us.Trust Us.Trust Us.

We’ll Pick Out The We’ll Pick Out The We’ll Pick Out The

Good Stuff For You.Good Stuff For You.Good Stuff For You.

St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis

Game TimeGame TimeGame Time