Airing at 630pm CST on FSMW.

No, I didn’t say anything about the Wild game last night. There was just not much to say, before or after, other than to remind you, yet again, that CGDS is pretty awesome at this whole hockey playing thing. I haven’t been so ambivalent towards a game in recent memory, which is certainly saying something.

Oh, and we were finally mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Since the playoffs have been a dream that was optimistic to the point of naivety for quite some time, this is yet another moment that requires a “meh” and a shoulder shrug. Whatever.

Anyway, tonight we play the Scum. Again. You know how I feel about them. I feel that even moreso after watching the Hawks/Wings game the other night and seeing Bertuzzi’s seemingly-attempted shoulder to the head of Ryan Johnson. It certainly looked intentional to these eyes. Either way, I figured that tonight I would try something different. It’s kind of an experiment, which is fitting since I’m a scientist, but I am going to live-blog this game. Usually I am Twitter-happy during the games, but I figured I could put it all here this time.

For posterity’s sake…..or something like that.

If you’d like, you could join me in the comments. Or on Twitter. Either one.

If you want a real preview, you know where to look, but I’ll link to the Blues site anyway. And if you would like an opposing viewpoint, Alyssa will go ahead and disagree with me all night at Hockeytown Beat.

See you at 630.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————

• Bulletpoints? Bulletpoints. I guess this is how you do this.

First Period:

• 21-25-17. Nice starting line.
• Also, the Bertuzzi hit was more than “controversial,” JK. It was horrendous.
• 3-for-16 against Detroit on the PP? No good. CGDS, I’m gonna need you to get this done.
• Can I just mention how much I love CGDS parking in the crease always and forever? Pretty.
• Abdelkader is a fun name to say.
• This game must be in traffic. Because it stops and starts a lot? Shut it, I think I’m funny.
• Booooo broken sticks leading to rebounds leading to Scum goals.
• No seriously, how many times has this game stopped? I quit counting.
• Ok, so another power play. Let’s DO this guys.
• Pink Floyd in the Joe? Good job, music guy.
• Oh no. Get up, Cracks. Please get up.
• MacDonald, please stop being a decent goalie. Just stop.
• I probably shouldn’t have started this thing while hungry.
• I’ve said it before, but the dirty jokes that can be made during a hockey game are awesome.
• Are these sticks actually toothpicks in disguise? Seriously now.
• TIE GAME!!!! CGDS AGAIN!!!
• Welcome back, Frank.
• CAM JANSSEN GOT HIS FIRST GOAL HOLY CRAP THIS IS SO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!
• He just looked so happy after that! For real.
• I don’t know if I even care about this game anymore. First Janssen goal in 115 games? That’s a sign of the end of days or something.
• Well, now I feel a little sheepish. Stupid scum goal.
• Oh no wait! Porter!!! Yessssss.
• Good period, boys. Now I’m gonna get a sandwich.

Second Period:

• Get him, Polak.
• No but seriously, my sandwich isn’t made. Hold please.
• Neat, I’m not missing anything as they review that maybe goal by D’Ags.
• MWAHAHAHAHA, YESSSSSSSSS.
• And now Beener? And Backes straight up high jumping out of the way? Is this real life?
• Next thing you know Oshie is going to score from STL.
• Aaaand, Zetterberg to the box. Where he will feel shame.
• INGLORIOUS BACKES ON THE PP GOAL!!!!
• Halak-it-a-lot. Keep it up, #41.
• Last time the Blues scored six against Detroit was 2003? Pre-lockout? Holy crap.
• Suck it, Detroit.
• Also, the too many men on the ice penalty irritates me. Mostly because it shouldn’t ever happen. Stay on the bench til your shift, guys.
• ROMAN POLAK!!! No really, where are the locusts?
• Frank Frank Frank Frank!!!!!!! Holy crap. This is AWESOME.
• I am pretty sure I’m dreaming now.
• Good god, I picked a good game to live blog.
• I’m just so….somebody pinch me.

Third Period:

• I want another Inglorious goal so he can have 100.
• And a Petro goal.
• But Bergie? I’LL TAKE IT!!!
• NOT HAPPY! That whistle wasn’t before the shot!
• This is my angry face.
• Liking Halak tonight. For the most part. Minus those three goals.
• Also, loving how well I can hear the guys yelling on the ice tonight.
• The Joe is EMPTY right now. Wow.
• TEN!!! I’M DYING!!!
• I want a Gordie Howe hat trick by Cam. WHEN ELSE WILL HE HAVE THIS OPPORTUNITY?!?!

So, 9 different goal scorers; Sobe, CGDS, and Porter with three points apiece; Halak with 41 saves; and Cam was THE FIGHT short of th Gordie Howe hat trick.

This is my favorite hockey game ever.

Suck it, Detroit.

On the eve of SobeSobe’s grand return to the ice, ahead of schedule no less, our dear little TJ Oshie decided that the news should be focused on him and no one else.  If you haven’t noticed by now, I am a pretty huge fan of Twitter. Today is no different.

Once the news broke from multiple sources that Teej was a “no call/no show” to practice, the world began to wonder.

#WhereIsOshie?

This is seriously my favorite hashtag since the Chris [goddamn] Stewart nicknames list. And for your enjoyment, I am compiling some of my favorites here.

There were the many having to do with his hair and those frosted tips, or getting a perm, or other hair related activities.

There was the “Climbin’ in yo’ windows, snatchin’ yo’ people up,” that I saw on multiple timelines, including my own.

Quite a few non-Blues fans decided to remind us that Oshie is “Not in the playoffs.” Those jerks.

There was a plethora of references to him raising money to buy the Blues, talking contracts with Albert Pujols, being stuck on the East Side with hookers and blow, hanging out with Mario and Luigi, and spending time with/looking for Waldo. There were the ones about the Bermuda Cup, the ones that implied he was off working on his mayoral campaign, and more than I can count suggesting Kyle Wellwood ate him.

But then there were those that should be recognized for their hilarity and their ability to make an otherwise mundane afternoon entertaining (and not even slightly productive) to quite a few of us unable to walk away from the computer screen. Many of these Tweeters had a few that made me laugh right out loud. » Continue reading “Where In The World Is Carmen San DiegOshie?”

Airing at 7pm CST on FSMW.

Do I need to remind you about what happened last time the Blues had a home-and-home with the Wild? I certainly hope not, because I don’t really like to remember it. (Hint: It was ugly).

But now the Wild are hanging out with us in that not-so-lovely “no playoffs this year” group of teams. Neat, huh? Yet another game that doesn’t mean anything.

So let’s look at something just a little bit different. Last night I was sitting around with a bunch of other Blues fans, and when tonight’s game was brought up, one of them said, “Oh, they’ll lose tomorrow. Wild doesn’t end in ‘S’.” I asked him to clarify what he meant, and he let me in on the wonderful fact that the Blues are pretty abysmal against teams that don’t end in ‘S’. Just how many times this season have the Blues won against a team whose name does not end in ‘S’?

Answer?

Zero. Out of six attempts.

Granted, there aren’t many hockey teams whose name don’t end in ‘S’. The Lightning, the Wild, and the Avalanche. Regardless, the Blues haven’t won against any of these teams all year. The most recent loss came against the Avalanche. You know the game I’m talking about. The first one EJ and Silent Jay played in an Avs uniform against us, less than a week after being traded. Yeah, that one where EJ scored. I don’t like remembering that either.

So what do you guys think? Is it a legitimate jinx? Is it a guaranteed loss tonight just because of that elusive 19th letter? Or will the fact that Minnesota is hard-core slumping help the Blues to break this mini-curse?

Either way, Marek Zidlicky, John Madden, and Cal Clutterbuck will all be in the lineup for Minnesota, which will give their offense a boost, give them back one of their fighters (as dirty as he may be at times), as well as return one of their blue-liners.

The Blues own the second-worst away from home record. Awesome? Someone call up Oshie and tell him to keep doing whatever it is before the games that’s had him on his current tear.

I’m hoping to break this mini-curse. Maybe the amount of snow they’re hearing about in St Louis right now will fake the team into thinking it’s actually the middle of winter, and there is still a lot of time left in this season! But, well just in case, anyone know any sacrifices we could make to the hockey gods?

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

So, at the end of tonight’s game, John Kelly said, “Total domination by the Blues in this game.”

That doesn’t happen often, so you know what? I’ll take it.

Let’s not talk about how much the game didn’t matter or anything like that. Because I had fun watching this one. Oshie’s goal was just BEAUTIFUL. CGDS was right in the crease during the power play. Reaves? I guess his mama said knock them out. And holding the Oilers to 12 shots on goal? Yes please.

I just….I’m so happy right now. I don’t even care about anything else. For real.

Airing at 7pm CST on FSMW.

Welcome to the game that doesn’t mean anything! No seriously. Thirteenth in the conference versus last place in the conference.

Well, this is fun.

Especially since OH MY GOD EVERYBODY ON BOTH TEAMS IS HURT, AND NO I WOULDN’T POSSIBLY EXAGGERATE TO THE POINT OF RIDICULOUSNESS FOR EFFECT!!! Seems that way, though. The injury reports for both teams are as long as a Fruit by the Foot.

Which, by the way, are delicious.

Either way, because of those injuries, this game is essentially the Peoria Rivermen versus the Stockton Thunder*.

Two comments on the previous statement. One, remember when John Stockton and Karl Malone played for the Utah Jazz? Man, I loved them. Two, the Oilers are moving their AHL team to Oklahoma City…..and changing the name. Obviously, because how confusing would it be to have the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA and AHL, respectively)? Exactly.

So clearly there’s not a lot to say about this game.

Oh, no wait! There’s one more thing. Halak is starting between the pipes tonight. Out of the three games against the Oilers, and the three different goalies who’ve started against them (Halakness Monster, Conk-block, and Bish), Halak is the ONLY ONE TO HAVE LOST.

Nothing like a positive note to go out on, right? Right.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!

*Edited to add: Apparently I fail at google research. Mental note: don’t write posts on a Thin Mint high. Anywho, the Thunder already moved, as Kat pointed out in the comments. They’re now the OKC Barons. But I’m leaving it as is above because how else would I have my awesome Utah Jazz reference? Exactly.

Airing at 900pm on FSMW.

Why? I’ll tell you why. Because instead of doing Daylight Savings like the REST of the country (except Hawaii), they decided to be obnoxious and not bother with the semi-annual hour shift, which is the reason this game is at 900pm instead of 800pm like it would have been.

Well, that and I broke my middle finger over the weekend so it’s all splinted straight, which makes me flip everyone off. Details though, right? Look at me, trying to be like Barret Jackman!

Real quickly, can I just ask what kind of name the Jobing.com Arena is? I mean really.

Anyway, tonight. So the Coyotes may or may not have just had a 5-game win streak broken by our division rivals to the north (Chicago….Columbus is north too, I suppose, and so is Detroit….hmmm, direction fail). Given that the loss came in a Chicago power play that the Yotes were less than thrilled about, I have a feeling they’re not going to want that to happen again….the power play or the loss. It seems like so many times in just the past couple months the Blues have gone up against someone who’s coming off a loss they were REALLY upset about. Hmmm.

On the ice, the Yotes have decided to dub their own “Kid Line” of Kyle Turris, Brett MacLean, and Mikkel Boedker, but these three tend to lack the consistency that comes with being more of a veteran in the game. Like so many young players, though, there’s the potential there. That combined with their scoring-by-committee type play means a really big night is needed from our blue liners, as well as from our goalie (Halak probably, but I haven’t seen confirmation as of writing this).

From what I’ve read, since I didn’t see the game, Halak was pulled on Saturday. Now, I’m not sure if that was because of his lack of seeing the puck, or from a lack of d-men getting in the Sharks’ way, but if this season has taught me anything, it’s a combination of both. The frustrating thing for me, most likely you, and I’m almost positive for them, is that on some nights they’re all GREAT! See: Thursday’s game against the Kings. So I just don’t know what gets into their heads some days.

So they are out of the playoffs. That doesn’t make a loss sting any less. Is it distracting to come off a loss that from what I hear was just awful to watch? I’m sure it is. Do they have concerns about the ownership situation? I’m sure they do. So do the Coyotes. Yet I know our boys can pull it together for just a couple more games. If not for wins, at least for entertainment’s sake. I don’t want to stay up way past my bedtime for a boring game, like I did for their game against the Ducks.

For our sakes, for our team’s sakes (for heaven’s sake?), I hope we bring home a win tonight.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!

One of my favorite things about the Blues is the amount of philanthropic work they do in the community. Barret Jackman and David Backes both work with animal rescue programs. The team is doing a school supply drive during Thursday’s game. And for the fifth year in a row, they’ll be putting together a team with Fox Sports Midwest for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, which is going to be run on June 11 in downtown St Louis.

Breast cancer has in one way or another affected just about every person I know. My mom’s best friend, who might as well be my second mom, survived it. Twice. She is one of the strongest people I know. She is why I have the tattoo that I do (a pink ribbon on the inside of my left ankle).

This year I will finally be able to run the race instead of just donate, as every other year I’ve had conflicting commitments. I will not only be joining up with the Blues/FSMW team, but also with the wonderful people over at Bluenote Zone in what is sure to be a pretty awesome sub-team.

Kelly, one of the BNZ writers, has even more personal reasons to participate in the Race. She explains a little more, along with giving more details about the sub-team here and here. Like she says, many of the sub-team members will be doing the Fun Walk due to her surgery three weeks prior to race day. I’ll be running the 5K. Regardless of which you’d prefer, you should still come out and join us.

If you are interested in joining the sub-team, email Kelly at kmquirin@gmail.com and please be sure to put “BNZ Komen” in the subject line so she sees it.

I am so very thrilled to be able to be involved in this. This cause is incredibly important to me, and I think it’s a fantastic opportunity to band together with other Blues fans. I’ve met a bunch of the BNZ writers, and they’re terrific people. I am looking forward to meeting the rest, meeting more readers, and being around Blues fans in general.

Guys, let’s make cancer feel foolish.

The other day, one of the girls I follow on Twitter (@QueenCrash) posted the most amazing picture, and she said I could put it up here, so I am. Boom.

I love this so much. The play on the Kid Line, the oil-painting-esque look of the whole thing. I can’t wait until all of the Kid Line is back to being healthy (come on, 57!) and playing to the full potential that all three of them have. It will be a beautiful thing.

If you guys are interested in more things like this, check out Alexa’s tumblr page at Pucks and Pixels. There’s some very cool stuff on there. She’s also got a blog here and the very top post is a bunch of other things like this Oshie picture that I want to steal over and over again because they are amazing.

The biggest reason I have to pimp her blog, though, is her Female Fan Frenzy section. She has created a questionnaire to be filled out by female hockey fans, and asks questions about things like how they became hockey fans, what they think about stereotypes towards the female fan base (more on this in a second), and how they feel about the puck bunnies. My responses are here. Thing like this are so important thing to me, especially lately, writing for this wonderful network. It’s really obnoxious to have to sometimes “prove” myself as a legitimate sports fan to people before I’m taken seriously, and I have been so fortunate to get to know some of the most incredible and passionate female sports fans who are taking these “women don’t know anything about sports” stereotypes and absolutely CRUSHING them.

Lately, it seems like with increasing frequency, there have been main-stream articles for the female watching big sporting events like the Superbowl that tend to feed off of stereotypes and preconceived notions about all women. The most recent showed up in the Huffington Post and was a guide for women filling out NCAA March Madness brackets. Lauren, our Packers writer over at Lombardi Avenue, has already responded to this, and I agree with her on every single point she made.

I love female sports fans like Alexa and Lauren. They are incredibly talented and are one of my biggest inspirations. The biggest kudos to both of them. Credit where credit is due and all.

I am a woman. I am a sports fan. I am not going anywhere. And I am absolutely unapologetic about these things.

And for the record? I am, and have been since Thursday, number one in my NCAA pool.

Stereotypes are made to be broken.

Airing at 930pm CAR on FSMW.

I’m still out of town, so this is going to be….well, short.

The road trip continues in San Jose tonight, where hopefully the momentum from Thursay’s game will pull us to another win.

Fingers crossed. Cheer loudly for me!

LET’S GO BLUES!!

Airing 930pm CST on FSMW.

Crap, that’s the wrong whiskey for St Patrick’s Day. Oh well.

So today our boys, who are still the Blues and don’t change to the Greens for the evening (hi, this is my lame joke for the day), will continue hanging out in a time zone that is no fun for us folks here in the Midwest in order to play the Kings. Hey, we love our sleep, but we love hockey more. Starbucks Friday tomorrow anyone?

We know that the Kings have been pretty hot lately. I mean, 4-0-0 on their road trip type hot. BUT. The Blues have won every single matchup between these two this year, and the last six against them in a row. Though if they think how they played last night will get the job done, they are sorely mistaken. They’re going up against people like Anze Kopitar, who now holds the Kings’ record for most consecutive games played and is on fire with 7 points in his last five games, and goalie Jonathan Quick, who even though he is only 1-6-1 against the Blues, is 7-0 in shootouts (and we all know how much the Blues like to get into obnoxious overtime situations).

On top of this, the Kings are looking to start enforcer Kevin Westgarth. Hey Cam! Get that right hook of yours ready.

I would just appreciate our boys NOT looking like they are skating through pudding like they looked last night.

The game is a late one, and due to my own schedule I will be unable to watch (sorry, Twitter folks), so there won’t be a recap for this one. However, cheer loudly for me, and let’s break the Kings’ win streak.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!

There’s always another side. Check out theirs with Danielle at The Royal Puck.