Section 324 Row H (above the Zamboni entrance). $65, like i said in the headline, that's the face value of the ticket.

Email me gtfivehole(at) gmail.com

11. Hey Doug, Its Greg..Greg Sherman. Any chance we can pretend that trade last year never happened?

10. "No sir, Carlo isn't fragile he just has bad luck"

9. "Yes Ben, I know you want a shot at the NHL but Columbus basically is an AHL team"

8. "No Darcy, I said Brad Boyes was worth a 2nd round at the bar, not a 2nd round draft pick"

7. "Mr. Stillman, yeah it's Doug. Any chance you can speed this shit up?e

6. "Yes Larry, I remember you trading for Valeri Bure. How did that work out?"

5. "Pierre, I dont consider the Halak and D'agostini trades to be lopsided. Tell your scouts to do their fucking jobs"

4. "Hey Pleau, on 2nd thought, how did you pull off that Tkachuk trade?"

3. "No Greg, For the last time, you cannot have Shattenkirk back."

2. "Sorry, Mr. Caron. But remember the last time you wanted to shake things up?"

1. "J.D., I dont care what you read on STL Today or Twitter but Berglund, Stewart, and Bishop wont get you Rick Nash."

I'll be joining Rob Rains on the Sports Zone Radio Show at 2:00 Central time to talk hockey

Click below to listen, that's what all the cool people do.

http://www.kfns.com/Other/streamtheworld-1380.html

I might even say Car RamRod.

My cousin that lives in Philadelphia and is a Flyers season ticket holder can't make the Blues game on the 22nd.  He's offering his tickets, Section 118 (behind the goal the Blues shoot at twice) Row 14, Seats 13 & 14, and his parking pass for $205.00.

Email me at gtfivehole@gmail.com if you're interested.

 

According to multiple sources, including the Post-Dispatch's Bernie Miklasz and Globe and Mail's James Mirtle, the Blues have and President of Hockey Operations John Davidson have reached an agreement on a multi-year contract extension.

Davidson was named president of the club in 2006, and his five-year, $10 million contact was set to expire on June 30.

With the team, the lease on Scottrade Center, and the Peoria Rivermen being for sale, the extension will keep JD at the helm of the Blues through any ownership transition period. Instead of the new owner coming in with a new plan and starting yet another rebuilding project under new management, having Davidson (and presumably General Manager Doug Armstrong) in place will solidify the Blues' current blue plan for future success.

Since Davidson took over, the Blues have changed coaches twice (Mike Kitchen to Andy Murray to Davis Payne), and made one playoff appearance, in 2009.

The team has a press conference scheduled for this afternoon at Scottrade Center to make the extension official

First Eric Brewer, then Jay McClement and Erik Johnson; most recently Brad Boyes. Hopefully there's a contender out there that need a mascot sans trousers.

While another thunderstorm blew through St. Louis last night, the Blues traded Brad Boyes to Buffalo for a 2nd round pick in this year's draft. That gives the Blues five picks in the first three rounds of the draft.

According to FSN Midwest's Darren Pang, Barret Jackman just realized that he indeed does have a complete no-trade clause and he won't be going anywhere. Pang Chung also said this morning on TSN that Doug Armstrong doesn't expect much and that as of now all is quiet with the Blues.

Much like last night's third period, expect there to be plenty of activity involving the Blues, but with nothing going all the way through and the Blues having a zero in their column at the 2:00 Central Time deadline.

In the name of shameless self promotion, I'll be on with Rob and BJ Rains on 1380 AM (sportsradio1380.com) in the 1:00 hour talking about the trade deadline.

Use this as your GDT, or TDT, and we'll keep up as best we can with anything that happens.

Trade updates, re-signings, and witty banter after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

I could lie to you and say this is a big night.

I could tell you that this is a must-win game.

I could tell you that if the Blues want to keep the playoff hopes alive, they have to win tonight.

But I won't. The point is, many us of us—even the most optimistic around here—know that this season is doomed. The Blues have a 6.9 percent chance of making the playoffs and hey, anything can happen, but this team hasn't shown the ability to string win together since October.

Tonight Vancouver comes into town and they are really good. Roberto Luongo is 16-0-5 since January. That's pretty good.

Here's the skinny for tonight: The game won't be on TV, unless you have Center Ice. Center Ice is offering a free preview, so some of you may get lucky.

This is your GDT. Grab the radio, ignore your significant other and comment like nothing else matters. It sure as shit beats watching anything else on TV.

A friend of mine, and a GameTime reader, who has a pretty strong Internets filter at work and no SB Nation ID has a single ticket available for "a 5 or 10 game package."

The headline is probably giving away where the seat is, but in case you have some odd sort of learning disability that prevents headline reading, the seat is in Section 322, Row C. It is inside the blueline across on the end the Blues attack once.

Contact him at milleric (at) hotmail.com, with the subject line of GameTime, for more details.

The link will give you an idea of "the view from the middle of the section," according to the Blues' website.

http://www.scottradecenter.com/seating/seat.asp?section=322

Using tsn.ca's list of unrestricted free agents, and not counting players that were a part of the Blues' system last season, with the right contract language, an entire team of active players that were once property of the Blues could be yours for the right price. 

Stanley Cup contenders? Hardly, but it would be a complete enough team to dress four lines of forwards, three defensive pairings, two nearly serviceable goalies, have two spare parts and another goalie in reserve.

Sign them all, and their new team will change their logo to the one that Big Walt is showing off.

Top line - Lee Stempniak (Phoenix)- Doug Weight (New York Islanders)- Bill Guerin (Pittsburgh)

Second Line- Dean McAmmond (New Jersey)- Craig Conroy (Calgary)- Pavol Demitra (Vancouver)

Energy/Checking Line- Yan Stastny (Vancouver)- Jamal Mayers (Calgary)- Ryan Johnson (Vancouver)

Fourth Line- Jeff Hoggan (Phoenix)- Mike Glumac (Montreal)- Glen Metropolit (Montreal)

Spare Forwards- John DiSalvatore (Minnesota)- Jeremy Yablonski (Ottawa)

Defense 1- Jay McKee (Pittsburgh)- Brendan Bell (Columbus)

Defense 2- Mike Van Ryn (Toronto- Injured and will not play in 2010-2011)- Rory Fitzpatrick (Florida)

Defense 3- Andy Wozniewski (Boston)- Shawn Belle (Montreal)

Goaltenders- Manny Legace (Carolina)- Patrick Lalime (Buffalo)- Chris Beckford-Tseu (Florida) 

So who of these players, if any, would you like to see return? And you can forget about Stempniak coming back. The team made "news" by resigning Brad Winchester, what makes you think they'll win a bidding war for a 27 year old player that scored 28 goals last season.

San Jose and their high powered offense, great defense and terriffic goaltending visit the struggling Blues. If that's not some hometown motivation for the game, I don't know what is. This is your Game Day Thread. This is the link for the watering hole where we are meeting up after the game www.tincantavern.com

Welcome Carlo Colaiacovo back to the Blues lineup, while Darryl Sydor gets the night off.

The Blues have allowed two goals or less in five of their last seven, but have only won twice in that span. Hopefully good defense (even by Eric Brewer and Barret Jackman), and good goaltending by Chris Mason will get some consistant offense to go with it.

This is your Game Day Thread 

 The Blues two games in 24 hour road trip concludes this afternoon/evening in the Atlanta. Through the unique NHL standings, the Blues can be pleased and ticked off at the results of the last two games played. While losing both games 2-1- Thursday in St. Louis versus Calgary, and last night in Philadelphia- the Blues hung on long enough to send the game to overtime and get a point in both games. So while the team has only won once in the last five games played, they are riding a two game point streak.

It is almost 80 degrees in St. Louis today. That'll put a smile on your face (unless you're not in St. Louis).

Other things to be happy about, regardless of your location:

- Atlanta's franchise best player, Ilya Kovalchuk has a broken foot and won't be with us today. Don't worry, he's not dead or anything, but he wont be playing.

- According to our friend Jeremy Rutherford of the Post-Dispatch, Roman Polak is expected to play today, and Barret Jackman and Andy McDonald are healthy enough to play. Chris Kerber tweets that Keith Tkachuk and Darryl Sydor are being given "maintenance days" by the team and will sit out today's game.

- Ty Conklin gets the start in goal.

-  Project Mayhem continues. It has been confirmed that DanGNR, and Mrs. DanGNR are in attendance at Philips Arena, and it can be assumed that HildyMac will be there as well. Don't be surprised to see a Game Time logo somewhere in the crowd.

Here is your game day thread. Make us proud.

In a battle of terrible powerplays, the Carolina Hurricanes (25th at 15.6%) host the St. Louis Blues (24th at 16.2%)tonight. The Post-Dispatch's Jeremy Rutherford reports that Carlo Colaiacovo may be a no-go tonight with an upper body injury. This is your GDT.

According to tweets from both the Post-Dispatch's Jeremy Rutherford, and KMOX's Chris Kerber, for those of you in the St. Louis area with DishNetwork, the Blues game will not be shown tonight.

No reason was given, nor was anything said if the game (either the St. Louis, or Phoenix feed) would be blacked out on NHL Center Ice (you know, those cool channels that start at 627).

Even if you don't subscribe to the Center Ice package, it might be worth it to check those channels for the game. The free preview is still um...free. If you're lucky you'll get the Phoenix feed with Dave Strader and ex Blue Tyson Nash, yep, Tyson Nash.

There has been neither confirmation, nor denial of the rumor that Dish Network had everything set up for a broadcast from the Hamilton, Ontario area tonight and wasn't told that the team hasn't moved just yet.

Tune in to team1380.net tonight at 7:05 to hear a certain Game Time columninst (I don't want to use first person, oh wait I just did, twice) on "On the Line with the Z-Man." Click the "Listen Live" box over on the right side. Unless you're watching the Blues game "live," of course.

And if that's not enough, you can follow that columnist on that twittter thing now at twitter.com/chrisgift

According to the team's website, the Blues have resigned 26 year-old center Jay McClement to a multi-year contract.

Continue reading this post »

Does anybody have a link for his Voices that was on NHL Network a few months ago? I missed it and haven't seen his replayed.

The matchups are set, the teams are preparing, the Blues are in, and the Red Berenson Cowboy has successfully taught TJ Oshie, David Backes and Chris Mason how to lick their elbows.

Now let's find out how good we are at predicting who Mr. Bettman (no, that's not him in the picture) gets to hand the Stanley Cup to in two months.

Nothing fancy, nothing spectacular, and no wagering (getting the money converted to Euros if Gerard or Marcus win would be a real bitch).

We're not looking for anaysis of every series. Just tell us three things: Stanley Cup Winner, Stanley Cup Loser, Conn Smythe Winner.

I'll go first, and it is the same thing I said last year:

San Jose over Washington with Joe Thornton winning the Conn Smythe

For the third time out of the last four Saturdays, the Blues welcome a Western Conference foe to Scottrade Center tonight. One problem though, these guys are really, really good.

Can Big Walt and friends steal one from the Sharks? Will the slide continue? The next best thing besides being at the game is posting on our Game Day Thread.

By Chris Gift

Various media outlets, including tsn.ca, are reporting that the Blues have traded Lee Stempniak to Toronto in exchange for Carlo Colaiacovo and Alex Steen.

In his last home game with the Blues Friday night, he scored the game winner in overtime. In the 2006-07 season, Stempniak showed potential scoring 27 goals and 52 points. Last year he came back to earth and netted only 13. Hampered by a knee injury early, Stempniak has been hot of late scoring 13 points in 14 games played. This may be a case of the Blues selling high on a guy they believe to be a streaky contributor at best.

Undersized and not the fastest skater, Stempniak has always had a nose for the net. He plays the point on the power play fairly well and likes getting the puck in the high slot. What he will most be remembered for in St. Louis is being the first face of the franchise's rebuidling effort along with Jay McClement. That's probably why you see so many No. 12 sweaters around the Drinkscotch Center. That and he's scrappy. St. Louis loves scrappy.

Colaiacovo is a former first round pick in the 2001 draft. He's played in 111 games over the course of six NHL seasons only playing in more than 28 games in a season once. Steen was a first round pick in the 2002 draft and is a regular with Toronto. He's averaged about 16 goals a season his first three full years in the league.

Salaries. According to NHL Numbers, Stempniak makes $2.5 million this year, $3.5 million next and will then be an unrestricted free agent. Colaiacovo is making $1.4 million this year and next before he becomes unrestricted. Steen is making $1.7 million this year and next before he's a restricted free agent.

So if you add it up, the players coming to St. Louis cost more this year but are cheaper next year than Stempniak by about $300,000.

Other sites list Stempniak as making $2.5 million this year and next. So we'll have to sort that out.

More details to follow.

Continue reading this post »

By Chris Gift

Nothing beats sitting down on a Sunday afternoon/evening for a hockey game. Especially when the local football team is over two months in to their season and still talks about both of their wins.

As per most home games, most GT staffers are at the game, so here is the thread, and a great picture of Youppi.

A few quick things to note about tonight's contest:

- Montreal has looked awful in their last two games, losing 6-1 in Boston on Thursday, and 2-1 last night at home to Philadelphia.

- Look for Carey Price to be in goal for the Habs. Jaroslav Halak played last night.

- Heavyweight Champion Georges Laraque visits tonight, perhaps a bout with David Koci is in our future.

- Sacre Bleu (or more accurately) "sacrebleu" is literally translated to "sacred blue," a reference to the Virgin Mary. It is used instead of swearing, and has fallen out of common usage in French vernacular in recent times.

- Fuck Detroit, which we prefer, is a reference to the entire Detroit area. We use it whenever possible, and highly recommend saying it. Not only is it profane, but it also keeps Mary out of it.

Continue reading this post »

By Chris Gift

It seems like just hours ago that the Blues were about to start a five-game road trip with a game at Anaheim, ready to work out the kinks on the road and come home with a little bit of good karma.

Paul Kariya's lower body injury eliminates any of that good karma crap, at least for now.

The game starts at 9:30 central time, and I'll be guiding you through the first period.

What we know so far about the game tonight is...

- St. Louisan Ben Bishop is the starting goaltender, with Chris Mason backing up (expect Manny Legace to play Saturday night in Los Angeles).

- According to our friend Jeremy Rutherford of the Post-Dispatch, the hasn't been a player recalled from Peoria to replace Kariya. That means the team will either dress seven defensemen (not likely) or David Koci will make his Blues debut. Hmmm, Jody Shelly plays for the Sharks. I wonder if Mr. Koci and Mr. Shelly will have a go at it tonight?

- Also according to JR, Andy Murray has said that in Kariya's absence look for Andy McDonald to see more ice, with a few other players being double shifted as well.

- The Blues will be without Kariya- who has returned to St. Louis to have his injured lower body examined, and TJ Oshie- his high ankle is still sprained. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have a left ankle and a right ankle, not a high one and a low one.

- San Jose is really, really good (11-2-0), and lately the Blues have been really, really bad (going 1-5-0 after starting 4-1)

- The Sharks are 12-1-1 against the Blues since January of 2004

- The Sharks had a crappy uniform with lots of teal in it. When everybody redesigned their uniforms, San Jose did the logical thing- added more teal and a bit of orange just for good measure.

The puck drops at 9:30, I'll see everybody back at around 9:29 and a half.

********* And away we go ************

For the record, Gallagher has a hockey game tonight (we aren't blogging that one), and Brad is doing the crazy thing of actually parenting (his kid, believe it or not), so I'll be doing this for a while and one of the other Boyes will take over at some point.

I'll be too busy counting votes in Missouri to see if we're red or blue- like it matters.

9:19 pm- Do these pregame shows get cheesier and cheesier? How about starting the broadcast about five minutes before the game and getting on with it.

I think this feature I'm half paying attention to is the same one I paid 1/4 attention to last night about the same time.

Cam Jannsen wants to meet Elvis. If Elvis is still alive, I'm guessing he's not living too far from Eureka.

David Backes had a Mighty Ducks poster in his room when he was a kid. That question is almost appropriate for tonight, considering they're playing San Jose. It would have been great last night- wait, it wasn't great last night either.

9:24- Good to see Bishop spent his time while he was injured getting his mask painted. I guess he's a big Billy Corgan or Uncle Fester fan.

Okay, enough bullshitting, here are the lines, according to FSMidwest (or whatever they're calling themselves this week)

Tkachuk-McDonald-Boyes

Stempniak-McClement-Backes

Hinote-Berglund-Perron

Koci (wearing #33)-Stastny-Janssen (God help us on this line)

On defense:

Brewer-Wagner

Jackman-Pietrangelo

McKee-Pola'k

Tonight's Roman Pola'k joke: What do you call a cute girl in Poland? A tourist.

Hey Chris D, fellow Red Devil, can you keep track of how many times they mention CCP tonight? Pat Parris said it once already.

Looks like Dooks' favorite TV celebrity, Skeletor, isn't on the Dobbs' commercials this season. I feel for you, Dooks.

It'll be interesting to see how much ice the fourth line as it is drawn up on paper gets. I expect to see a crapload of double shifts.

19:43- This camera is mounted on Mars. If it were any higher (insert your own Bay Area hippie joke here.)

18:02- Sharks new coach Todd McClellan was handed a Ferrari, Ron Wilson couldn't get it in gear and with McClellan's Detroit background, I see a long playoff run for these teal wearing pansies.

17:00- Perron and Koci on the ice together, so much for those lines.

15:23- I'm not expecting much tonight, but a powerplay goal to start off would be nice.

Sharks Penalty- Rob Blake, 2:00 for looking too much like a young Bob Hope

14:46- Goal Blues- Federko actually made a good point about the Blues standing around too much on the 5 on 3. Tkachuk from Stempniak and Pietrangelo

I'm assuming that Brewer isn't on the PP tonight because he's been playing a bunch of minutes lately, and JD was on Bernie's show today saying that Brewer hasn't been playing well.

Luckily Bernie and Jay, Jr. did a good job of interviewing JD and not completely kissing his ass, like they do sometimes on 1380.

13:47- There's Brewer on the PP, Chris. Second unit, where he should be.

13:30- Holy Shit, another GOAL- Stempniak from Berglund and Perron. Let's all raise a glass for Dutchie's first of the season. One down 91 to go. Somewhere Wayne Gretzky is nervous.

12:32- Up 2, on the road, good move by Murray to send out the 4th line, San Jose is bound to try to stir the pot a little here.

11:54- It has been so long since Stempniak scored, he's going to give Jamal Mayers credit for the great pass.

11:24- When Mike Grier was in the Blues' system, I sure thought he'd be more than a journeyman third/fourth line player his entire career.

Simple math- Joe Thornton + wide open in the front of the net + rookie goalie = goal

10:11- Thornton from Marleau and Setoguchi (or some spelling like that) 2-1 Blues.

9:03- Without even looking at the comments, I know Chris D. is bitching about Brewer and Jackman being out on the ice for that goal. I chalk that goal up to Joe Thornton being a hell of a player, and his line being a hell of a line.

8:51- I heard booing, where's Chris Pronger?

7:21- Seeing "Pavilion" on the ice makes the place look much more elegant. I bet their bathrooms still smell like stale piss at the end of the game.

6:35- So far, the Blues are doing things to win the game. Powerplay goals (with Blake screwing up on the 2nd one that was close enough), killing penalties, winning faceoffs in San Jose's zone.

5:47- Did I just hear a TG Oshie from Federko?

5:27- Dear FSMidwest. GET THAT GOD DAMN FOOTBALL OUT OF THE WAY DURING A HOCKEY GAME.

Thank you.

4:30- One of the forwards needs to give Fragile Jay his stick.

2:51- How in the hell did the official that is four feet from the trip not call that?

1:27- Every time I see Joe Thornton, I wonder how close to getting him the Blues were. I know the answer is probably somewhere along the lines of "Neptune is closer than the Blues were to getting Thornton."

1:01- Good save from "the ladies' tees" by Bishop

0:21- How it isn't 2-2, I have no idea. The Blues were dead out there.

0:00- I'll get the second period up here in just a few.

Continue reading this post »

By Chris Gift

To answer Brad Lee's question, Niklas (no C required) Hagman scored the Leafs fourth goal.

Pucks were flying in the net fairly often in the 2nd period. I'll go over the 2nd period scoring real quick:

0:33- Boyes (3) from McDonald and Oshie (3-1 Toronto)

4:47- Berglund (1) from Perron and Wagner- Powerplay Goal (3-2 Toronto)

5:35- Tkachuk (4) from Kariya and McDonald- Powerplay Goal (3-3)

14:00- Hagman (1) from Mitchell and Mayers (4-3 Toronto)

I'm confused, if the faceoff was at 14:06, and the goal was right off the faceoff, how did Mayers "lose" the faceoff, but still get an assist?

19:04- Okay, here's one for you, we're 2 and 2/3 games into the season, but who is having the better rookie year, Oshie or Berglund?

18:57- If Mayers' eyebrows are extra bushy early in the fall, does that mean we're in for a colder winter?

17:49- Toronto puts together a nice little rush there and gets off two shots on goal at the end of a shift. I was expecting a dump-in and player change.

17:17- While the game has been fairly chippy, the officials are doing a decent job of calling the big stuff, but not turning this game into a special teams contest. Like in the NFL, there's a penalty on every play, you just have to pick and choose the flagrant ones.

15:35- Goal by Kariya 4-4. Great play by Berglund. These kids sure know how to play.

14:27- I have a feeling that it might take more than 5 to win. Very, very entertaining game. How there hasn't been a fight, I don't know.

12:48- Great shift by Oshie. He looks like he belongs at this level no matter where on the ice or what the situation is. In that shift alone he had the puck behind Legace, and Toskala and I had all the confidence in the world in him in both instances.

11:21- If missing the open net was the object of the game, the Leafs would be up by about six right now.

10:37- Antropov stones himself on a breakaway. Even Ears Toivonen could have saved that one. Great outlet "slap-pass" from Kubina, but he couldn't finish, burying the puck in Manny's leg pads.

9:36- Manny robs Dominic Moore. Those are two players who have impressed me today, Manny, and Dominic Moore.

8:40- Good play by McClement to take out two Leafs and free Backes to take control of the puck beind the Leaf goal.

7:20- Still tied, should the Blues be happy with the point and play for OT?

5:34- Looks like the bench has been shortened- no sign of the 4th line recently.

3:47- Good save by Manny on the shot from the boards.

3:08- The last two times in the Blues' zone, the Leafs have brought it up the left wing, and thrown it at the net with a cutter to the goal. Scouting, or coincidence?

1:58- Four times in a row, up the left side. Just one time, I'd like to be able to have a backhand like Kariya had on the 4th goal.

1:08- Good play by Brewer to grab a loose puck that might have ended up in a partial breakaway.

0:10- At 3-0 after 20 minutes if you'd have mentioned OT, I'd have taken it.

OVERTIME

5:00- Here we go. Let's get the bonus point here, it would be a hell of a win.

3:16- This will probably be the only entire Leaf game I watch this year. Luke Schenn belongs. What a deep draft it was this year, and its good to see that the Blues didn't HAVE to draft Pietrangelo, that there were other choices.

2:22- I just heard about players TG Oshie and Pollock.

0:45.3- Great play by Schenn on Kariya. That was a must call on Kubina. 4 on 3 for 45 seconds.

0:23- Toskala stands on his head to rob Walt and save the game.

SHOOTOUT

Okay, I'm not the biggest fan of the shootout, but I don't get a say in it, do I?

Toronto goes first.

Nik Antropov- Dekes to his forehand and shoots wide 0-0.

Andy McDonald goes upstairs (not quite roofing it) and scores 1-0 Blues.

Kulemin and Boyes both score with relative ease to make it 2-1 Blues.

Manny stones Kubina and the Blues WIN. 5-4.

Leafs TV gives the three stars to...

3. Tomas Kaberle (not in South Bend, Indiana)

2. Paul Kariya

1. Brad Boyes.

It was fun, now for a long homestand- seven games starting Thursday and going until November 1.

Continue reading this post »

By Chris Gift

Now that the Leafs TV talent has taught us how to win a faceoff during the intermission, let's get things going on the 2nd period- it can't be any worse than the first.

19:40- Ever watch a tennis match where the ball never goes on one side of the court? I think that's what I'm watching now.

19:27- I love Boyes from I love McDonald and I love Oshie.

18:50- McDonald has 5 helpers in 2+ games. Now playing the part of Adam Oates- Andy McDonald.

18:10- Not sure why the picture at the top of the thread disappeared- we're working on it. I'm blaming Marcus (he's the farthest away).

17:47- Granted we're all homers, but 5 and a misconduct is the correct call there. Pietrangelo probably thinks he's in Burma by now after that hit.

17:14- One goal is a must on the 5 minute power play, 2 would be nice, anything past that is just a bonus. Players like Ryan Hollweg are why the league will never lose its image of being full of thugs.

15:45- Berglund just pulled a Mayers- that should have been in the net.

15:13- That's more like it. Some are calling Berglund a darkhorse for the Calder.

14:48- Walt, from Kariya. Could the PP be the team's biggest strength?

13:34- Hollweg's suspension is like getting multiple speeding tickets for going 95 on the highway- how many times do you have to be told that you can't do it until you stop doing it? Three games is too few for crap like that.

12:11- Eight minutes in- fist TV timeout of the period.

12:01- Looks like we might have a decent little game here.

11:25- If Dooks is looking for the girl from the Dobbs commercials that he used to call Skeletor, look no further than Toskala's mask.

10:47- Jannsen is out there to do one thing- beat the hell out of somebody. Why is he touching the puck? Reminds me of when football teams have the punter try to run for a first down on a fake punt- that's not his job.

10:11- Pavel Kubina took about the most awkward interference penalty I've ever seen. He should have had figure skates on for that move.

9:20- The flow of the game since Hollweg's hit is exactly the reason that fighting is still in hockey. Had Jannsen not taken that crappy penalty he and one of Toronto's players would have settled things with their fists, instead of this Fruit Euro shit that's been going on for the past minute. It is too bad that somebody didn't go after Hollweg before he was thrown out of the game. None of this crappy stick work would have had to happen.

9:11- No, the Leafs do not visit St. Louis this year. Jamal Mayers Appreciation Night was the preseason game on October 1. He was a minus-3 that game.

8:15- If Jannsen would have scored there, I'd have liked my chances in Powerball on Wednesday night.

7:20- Good for Luke Schenn to wear a low number, right, TJ Oshie?

6:42- The Leaf play-by-play man just said the puck was "smuggled, juggled." I have no idea what that means.

6:00- Off the faceoff- put anybody in the league (except Cam Jannsen) in that spot with nobody in front of him, and they'll light the lamp too. Nice win on the faceoff by Mayers. Although he didn't "win" the faceoff cleanly, the Blues never controlled the puck- Jackman giving it away was all part of trying to gain initial possession.

4:28- Double minor to McDonald- this could get out of hand. In Emmanuel We Trust. Look at it this way, they can't score 3 goals on a double minor.

4:08- Mike Van Ryn- once traded for Mr. Candace Cameron. The call on McClement, the ref had to call, but that was one hell of an acting job by the Leaf player.

2:49- Every shift TJ Oshie takes, I like him more.

1:54- Good kill, and getting McClement back fresh on the 5 on 4 helps. Hopefully this is killed and they can catch McDonald streaking out of the box.

0:29- Pardon me while I stand and applaud.

0:00- If you'd have told me 4-3 at the end of the period when it started, I'd have taken it. Let's see how it ends up.

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By Chris Gift

Good afternoon, and away we go.

It seems that they take hockey pregame shows a hell of a lot more seriously in Canada than they do here in St. Louis.

Leafs TV must have gotten into the video game background music vault for the pregame music. I was waiting for a Castlevania commercial to start.

Start of game: Again, and thankfully, Manny Legace is in the net for the Blues, and if you're watching on Leafs TV, I'm already disliking the font and logo at the top of the screen.

18:43- Backes takes a penalty- they called it holding, I thought it was boarding. The Leaf announcers said the Leafs had the 3rd best powerplay in the league. That's fantastic, three games into the season. After the first game, Walt Tkachuk was on pace for 164 goals.

17:14 Boyes and McDonald are killing penalties. I always felt that the penalty killers last season had little or no chance to score shorthanded goals, these two should help.

16:38- Goal by Toronto. Funny things happen when you don't clear the puck right after killing a penalty. Kaberle from Van Ryn and Antropov. If I have all three of those words spelled write (sic) I'll enter the next spelling bee.

15:07- Through excellent reporting from the Leafs broadcasters (translation: none whatsoever)- I see that Yan Stastny is making his season debut today for the Blues.

14:00- In the battle of the high drafted teenaged rookie defensemen, Luke Schenn beats Alex Pietrangelo by getting his name mentioned first by the play-by-play man.

12:32- Let's see how TJ Oshie plays with Tkachuk (who is being called "Tkachook") and Perron (who they are calling "Perrin") today.

11:24- These five Blues are on the ice at the same time- Jannsen, Stastny, Oshie, Pietrangelo, and McKee. I'd have never guessed that a year ago at this time.

10:36- I like the idea of not being able to go to a TV Time Out after an icing call. During last night's Colorado-Edmonton game, Colorado coach Tony Granato had to take his timeout after 4 consecutive icings. His guys were gassed, with no relief in sight.

9:43- Very one sided game so far. The Blues have yet to have a real good chance, while the Leafs already have a goal.

9:28- Still not crazy about Jay McClement anywhere but on the 4th line.

9:14- Backes lays a big hit. Mayers is on the ice. The Jamal Mayers that we knew would have stuck up for his teammate in an eight man frackas like that was. Mayers gave Tkachuk a stinky glove and that's about it.

Backes and Dominic Moore dropped the gloves, wrestled for a little while and Backes fell on him. Looked like a fight, sounded like a fight and I assumed it was a fight- both players were given 2:00 for roughing.

8:00- For the record, Mr. Mayers holds the Blues record for most games played by someone named Jamal, with 595. Malcolm-Jamal Warner finished tied for second with zero.

7:09- Still not a whole hell of a lot going on in the Leafs' end. Two games and a half of a period in to the third, the Blues haven't done much 5 on 5 yet this season.

6:13- Brewer hit in the shoulder and reacts a la Cosmo Kramer after being spit on by Keith Hernandez.

5:47- Kulemin makes it 2-0. Thirty seconds ago, I had no idea there was a player in the NHL with Kulemin as a last name. But after seeing Nashville 37 times a season, I call tell you about as many Legwands as you'd like. Antropov gets his 2nd helper of the game.

Chris D. Says:
October 13th, 2008 at 11:34 am e

What in the hell is the deal?

I'll be as direct as possible here, man. The Blues are a decent team at home, and not very good on the road. Add the fact that this is an afternoon game and playing in Toronto is a big deal for lots of the players...that adds up to potential disaster.

3:40 Bad play by Pietrangelo- blind pass behind his own net to nobody leads directly to the third goal.

3:12- Jannsen wants to dance, Mayers wants no part of it. I don't blame him.

2:25- Schenn takes a penalty. Maybe he feels bad for Pietrangelo giving it up for the Leafs third goal.

Look at it this way- on Saturday night, it was 4-1 after a period, so I guess this is better. Maybe.

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By Chris Gift

Greetings, and Happy Monday, Boyes and girl.

The Blues are on the ice at noon local time in Toronto, playing the ever-popular quasi-holiday matinee.

Contrary to popular belief, the Blues have no interest in moving their game against the Kings next Friday the 24th to a noon start in honor of United Nations Day.

Chris Kerber will be providing the descriptions and accounts for most of us via KMOX, unless you have the NHL's Center Ice package. The game will be shown internationally on something called LeafsTV.

It looks like one-time Game Time adopted favorite son, Lee Stempniak, will be sitting out his second game in a row (Jesus, he's missed 2/3 of the season- he needs to start earning his money).

Because of Dutchie's abscence, the Post-Dispatch's Jeremy Rutherford is reporting that TJ Oshie has been promoted to Stempniak's spot, on the left side of the line with Andy McDonald and Brad Boyes. Once again, the Blues' coaching staff is going to give fourth line center Jay McClement a shot at being a center on a scoring line, inserting him in Oshie's spot between Walt Tkachuk and David Backes.

Look for Manny to be in goal, and Chris Mason to be back on the bench- Ears, Jr. is off to a rousing start, isn't he?

JR is also reporting that Paul Kariya, Patrik Berglund and David Perron will form another line, while only Cam Jannsen and Chris Porter are listed as fourth liners.

Will the Blues dress seven defensemen and 11 forwards as they did on Saturday on against the Islanders? Don't put it past them, but DJ King and Yan Stastny may both be healthy enough to dress today.

Check back around noonish for witty commentary, indepth analysis, and random pop-culture references.

Update: That Brad Lee, is one smart feller. He pointed out that...

Tune in to Channel 627 on DishNet to view the game in all of its glory.

Brad also points out that not only do Canadians love Christopher Columbus, but they're also celebrating Thanksgiving today. So happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends up north.

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By Chris Gift

Believe it or not Boyes and all three girls (Hi, Jessica, Diane, and the lacrosse player from Detroit) the regular season is just around the corner. While most teams are gearing up for a run at either the Stanley Cup, or at the very least a playoff spot, our "Whatever it Takes" Blues don't seem to be contenders for either.

Like dogsledding, the metric system, and curling, Canadians cover hockey just a tad better than we do here in the states (but they punt on third down in the CFL, so let's call that war a draw).

TSN (Canada's version of ESPN) is previewing all 30 teams and predicting where each team will finish the season.

To prove they are going through every team, they promised (while ice fishing), to preview the Blues on September 25.

So what are they going to say? Did the team underacheive last year, was the team's finish just aboot right? What aboot (I love that joke) the potential unrestricted free agents (Walt Tkachuk, Andy McDonald, Jesus Legace)? Will any or all of them be back next season, be dealt at the deadline, or both?

Be realilstic, they're not going to say "This team really sucks." That would be true, and something you'd find on stltoday.com's boards, but it would be spelled "sux."

For example, for the Boston Bruins (after the Celtics winning, the Red Sox winning, and Tom Brady becoming a martyr for the season, do you think anybody in the Hub cares about the BB?) their bottom line aboot the team was:

If they can build on last year's success in the regular season and playoffs, they just might be mentioned in the same breath as their championship-calibre (yes, that's how they spell it up north) peers.

Each team is broken into five categories: An introduction, statistical leaders, then sections called "What they did," "What to watch for," and a "Parting Shot."

Since the Blues did nothing- except turn 14th and Clark into a Country Club, tell us what you think we should watch for, and your parting shot. If you're extra creative, tell us what you think TSN is going to watch for, and what their parting shot will be.

The winner gets to read the closing credits in a style of my choosing.

As for what my predictions are. If I told you now, what the hell would I write about in the first print issue of the new season?

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By Chris Gift

Okay, fellers and fellerettes, enough with saving a Sunday night sports show, dressing up Jay McKee like Marilyn Monroe, or finding out from each other how we became crack-addicted Blues fans.

The season is right around the corner, and it is time to start looking to what the Boy(e)s of Winter have to offer this season.

Once again, the Blues will be coached by Andy Murray, and in a recent column on espn.com, columnist Terry Frei (I wonder what it is like to be a columnist for a site that nobody goes to...oh wait) ranked the NHL coaches.

Some were easy to rank highly. He had Nashville's Barry Trotz, Minnesota's Jacques Lemaire, Buffalo's Lindy Ruff, and Detroit's Mike Babcock ranked in "The Elite..."- the first three were ranked there for annually making chicken salad out of chicken shit, the latter was there for staying the hell out of the way and winning a Stanley Cup.

Then there was "The Proven" category. That category consisted of Randy Carlyle (Anaheim), Ken Hitchcock (Columbus), Peter Laviolette (Carolina), Craig MacTavish (Edmonton), Murray, Tom Renney (New York Rangers), Michel Therrien (Pittsburgh), and the newly hired Ron Wilson (Toronto, late of San Jose).

For those of you that hate Mike Keenan like the rest of us, he fell in the bottom category, "The Suspect."

While each coach had a comment (that wasn't nearly as entertaining as if we'd have written it) what Frei said about Murray kind of makes one wonder if maybe Murray has all of us, including Louie, Jeffio, Angella, and Blues upper management just a tad on the brainwashed side.

Frei said about Murray: If you don't believe he's one of the best coaches in the league after his work in Los Angeles and then with the Blues, just ask him.

Okay, what the hell is that supposed to mean?

Does it mean that Murray is a self-centered, egotistical prick that never admits to being wrong?

Does it mean it is a "my way or the highway (but you'll have to detour to 170 to get around the construction" way of coaching with him?

In the name of Brian Noonan, I realize that certain coaches have certain players that they can count on, but the cryptic "If you don't believe he's one of the best...just ask him," makes you wonder.

One of the beefs (beeves?) with Keenan was that when the team won it was "we" and when the team lost it was "them." Is this what we're headed towards with Murray? Is it a "look how great I am, except when John Davidson and Larry Pleau's players underperform" type of situation?

This is a coach that hasn't led a team to the playoffs in his last five seasons behind the bench (four full seasons, one partial season taking over for Mike Kitchen). If Frei's "he'll tell you," is accurate, what is he telling us?

The last time the Blues made the playoffs, Joel Quenneville started the season behind the bench. That same Quenneville that made the playoffs two out of three years in Colorado, and is 155 games over .500 for his career.

Funny, I've never heard a "just ask him," for the Jack Adams Award winner (just ask Murray how many of those he has won) who was immensely popular with the fans here in St. Louis and won quite a bit while he was here too.

By the way, he's looking for a job. I wonder if we can ask Murray how good Quenneville is if they decide to go in a different direction.

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By Chris Gift

From Slobo in goal (as an aside, I was shocked to see that Slobo passed away a few weeks ago, that and I was shocked that he was in his fifties. There's a sign that we're all getting old, even us Steamer fans) to Steve Pecher, Carl Rose, and Tony Bellinger on defense. Plus forwards such as Don Ebert, Ricky Davis, Njego Pesa- face it, for most of the people reading this column, I could put Richard Marx's name down as one of the players and most people wouldn't give two shits know if he was a former Steamer or not. I knew, and loved the Steamers, and was a season ticket holder.

My first official sports road trip was to Kemper Arena to see the Steamers play (and lose to) the Kansas City Comets (little did I know how often I'd be making sports road trips in the coming years).

As for hockey? I couldn't have told you the difference between a blue line and A Chorus Line; or Doug Gilmour and convicted killer Gary Gilmore; Wayne Gretzky or Wayne Newton.

When most of the city was having a Fred Knipscheer fit about the Blues leaving for Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, I was worried that Tony Glavin's chronically terrible knees weren't going to make it through another season.

Hell, I thought Hartford was in Canada, and that Canucks had an H in it.

But being curious, and sometimes bored during games, (right, Kelly and Liam Gallagher?), I tried to start to figure out just what in the hell they used the old barn for when the Steamers weren't filling it up on a weekly basis (they averaged 17,107 a game in the 1982-1983 season).

I wondered why the Steamer games were always on Friday nights. As a God-fearing Catholic School Boy, eating the cheese pizza at the Arena on Friday nights during Lent got old.

I wondered why it was always cold in the Arena.I was puzzled by the large mounds of shaved ice outside the garage doors with the funny looking trucks by them.

I didn't know why if the Steamers were kicking an orange ball there were black marks on the end boards.

Then my sister started dating a guy from Canada.

I wasn't even 10, but before I knew it I was quickly saying "eh?" after every fifth word.

He taught me how to skate. He attempted to get me to learn to shoot left.

He helped me transform my basement from the Arena where the Steamers play, to the Arena where the Blues play (we threw away the Nerf soccer ball, and replaced it with a few sticks and plastic pucks). We even installed Plexiglas- once a puck went through the window, and my dad went through the roof.

After seeing my aptitude, or lack there of, for both skating and shooting, he reminded me how much fun the game was to watch too.

Pretty soon the season tickets for the Steamers stopped, and I was infatuated with this new sport I was learning- hocky as I used to spell it habitually.

My buddies at school also seemed to catch the hockey bug at the same time.

Slobo left my thoughts and Rick Wamsley and Greg Millen replaced them. Pecher, Rose, and Bellinger? No thanks, I'd moved on to *cough, cough* stalwarts like Brian Benning, Ric Nattress, and Gaston Gingras. Forwards? Mark Hunter, Bernie Federko, Brian Sutter, the young Rod Brind'Amour, Gilmour…I loved all of them. Even ding-a-lings like Tony Hrkac, Doug Evans, Mark Reeds, and Eddy Beers (boy if Game Time was around back then, would he have been popular) were part of the team I went to sleep thinking about- now it has become…well, I'll keep those thoughts to myself.

I remember seasons where I might go to a game. The chill in the air, the bright white of the Blues home sweaters reflecting off of the even brighter white of the freshly zambonied ice hooked me. So did the sounds of skates cutting into ice, and tape-to-tape passes, plus the oohs an ahhs of the crowd- next time you’re at a game, close your eyes and just listen to how great the game sounds.

The Steamers drifted away into Bolivion, and the Blues (with some kid named Brett Hull- who I used to call Brent) gained more and more prominence in the local media, in my classroom, and more importantly my thoughts.

Now, and not because of the little newspaper thing that we have going, I feel lost if I don't go to a home game.

I've gotten to the point in my life where I realize that sports are nothing more than an escape from reality. I realized that as I pickled my liver the night the Cardinals won the World Series in 2006, only realizing that my hungover ass had to be reffing a soccer game at 8:00 the next morning. That no matter how good or how bad your favorite team is, life goes on, and to not live and die with each win, loss, or overtime loss.

That's all well and good, unless you're talking about the Blues. Much like everyone else that contributes to the website and newspaper, or reads either one, I love the Blues. I've learned that it is okay to live and die with them, if you don't mind losing.

I'm just happy my sister didn’t start dating a Mexican.

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By the remaining contributors of Game Time

In a bittersweet move, as first reported by ESPN, Sean Gallagher has been acquired by the Oakland A's.

While most are suprised by the move, with a little simple analysis, the deal makes perfect sense for both parties.

Face it, Game Time readers, Sean was the most visible GT staffer, and because of that, Oakland GM Billy Beane coveted him. At his news conference discussing the trade, Beane said, "I think we've taken a step forward for the next three to five years."

This trade does make Game Time look like sellers with the July 31 trade deadline fast approaching.

However, after a long, drunken staff meeting (we had to drink Gallagher's beer after we kicked him out of the GT HQ), we realized that with Brad doing the front page again this season, Gift taking on the statistical work that Sean contributed and Jeffio writing the letter from the editor, that GT will be streamlined and as strong as ever.

We hope you understand why we made this decision and will continue to support us this upcoming season.

Game Time would like to thank Sean for all of his hard work and dedication throughout the last three hockey seasons and two baseball seasons and wish him and his new Oakland A's teammates the best of luck.

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