Sure, "it's hard to tell" if Hossa banked in the shot off of his own stick in his goal last night against the St. Louis Blues (no it's not - he didn't). And sure, this goal didn't basically eliminate the Calgary Flames from playoff contention despite their 6-1 drubbing of the Edmonton Oilers (yes, it probably did). And obviously Ty Conklin's completely ok with it (he's not - he's really pissed).

But while Conks is busy withdrawing cash for the fine he'll probably get slapped with for speaking his mind, Hossa could be busy working on his kicking skills. Sure, retirement's a long ways off for Hoss, but you have to have plans, right?

Let's see... he could always do the obvious and become a professional soccer player:

Time to break this out again. See? Break? Ha!

EDIT: I goofed - I could have sworn that we were taken out by Boston last season too, but it was the Devils, two games later in the season. That 4-0 curbstomping by the Bruins just *felt* like the end.

Hey, let's admit something to ourselves as Thrashers fans. Boston didn't eliminate us last year. Boston didn't eliminate us this year. The Thrashers eliminated themselves in January of both seasons single handedly - slipshod goaltending, bad defense (Zach Bogosian is a -26 on the season. A MINUS TWENTY SIX), too many shots allowed from high percentage areas, too many shots taken from low percentage areas, bad puck tracking, questionable snap judgement - that's not just a summary of today's game, that's a summary of this franchise.

This year it's more frustrating than before. The team started the season off so very well, even leading the division at one point. And then Jim Slater got hurt, the team's face-off percentage dropped, and puck posession dropped. Compounding that (though I like the return) was the trade of Rich Peverley ithout getting anyone to make up for that face-off ability. When you add the fact that the coach puts people inappropriate to the situation out on the ice (Thorburn, Stapleton, and Schremp out during the dying minutes of today's game, and Stewart, Thorburn, Stapleton, Dvorak, et al are all often put out on the powerplay) and can't seem to figure out how to best manage his goaltending effectively, you have a serious problem.

You can point to the bad schedule in December. You can point at the defense. Or the coaching. Or the "give a crap factor" again. Whatever - it's a compound fracture and, like the eggs in the picture above, no one's going to put it together again. At least not until next season.

Muhahahahahahahahahaha.



And yeah, sure, say "well, at least we're going to the playoffs." You just got your ass handed to you by the 13th place team in the Western Conference. How far do you think you're gonna go?

End of the season, neither team'll have a Cup, and we'll start this dance all over again. 

For his first goal in 114 games (his last came in 2009, just for perspective), Cam Janssen put it into the net in true Cam Janssen style - with his shin and with enough forward motion that the goal had to be reviewed. It was heartrending. It went from this:

 

To this:

 

Back to this:

 

I'm posting this at the end of the 2nd period, and it's 8-3 Blues over Red Wings. I'm pretty sure the next post'll be a shot of the scoring summary and just hysterical laughter. Wait on it. 

So, then, which of your teammates do you blame your hair on, Brett?

Good lord, I pity Brett Hull's kids' teachers. Can you imagine?

"My son doesn't have the homework because you didn't post anything on your blog as a reminder."

"My son forgot to study for your test because you didn't hold his hand and write it out in his agenda."

"My son thinks that Africa's a country because his 4th grade geography teacher didn't get that far in the curriculum and I don't have time to teach my kids anything at home."

I love Hull as much as any Blues' fan does. Heck, they reminded us on the broadcast that the 20th anniversary of Hull's 86 goal season's coming up, which was a not-so-subtle way of saying that we'll be having Brett Hull night #4 at Scottrade here soon. Guy's a St. Louis hero even if he does work for the Dallas Stars. But come on, Brett - blaming TJ Oshie's missing practice and getting suspended on his teammates? Really? How is that even legit?

Sayth Brett:

“I don’t know what the reason is, why he missed,” Hull said. “But to me, I put less blame on him and blame his teammates. When we played together … (Kelly Chase), (Adam Oates) and (Brendan Shanahan) … we took care of each other. That never would have happened. Someone would have been at his house getting him up and getting him to practice.

“So to me, I would blame more the teammates than I would him. You’ve got to take care of each other, especially that team. They’re so young. They’ve got such an opportunity to bond together and be a great team. There’s so much talent there. They’ve got to take care of each other in those situations off the ice.”

I can understand Hull's point. Teammates look out for you, even if you're doing something stupid like, oh, staying up late the night before practice probably hanging out with the North Dakota hockey team and showing them around the East Side*. Pick up the phone, give the guy a call, and say "get your ass out of bed, drunkie - we have practice at 10:30."

Teammakes can do that - but do they have to do that? No. You set your alarm, you make your decisions what to do the night before a practice. These practices are part of your job, and while we've all had mornings after doing something stupid, a lot of us have sucked it up (literally) and dealt the next day for a hell of a lot less cash than Oshie's making.

Everyone loves Teej. He's a firecracker on the ice, and some call him the "emotional heart" of the team. That's swell - but that doesn't give him a pass to do stupid things. Patrik Berglund just innocently slept through his alarm and got suspended for that night's game - it says something that Oshie got suspended for last night's game and tonight's against Detroit. Coach Payne and the brass put their foot down to foster personal responsibility. GM Doug Armstrong saying that the situation will be "evaluated further" might be beating a dead horse, but maybe the 24 year old Oshie needs that.

Yeah, teammates can look out for one another, but is it really Roman Polak's job to call Oshie in the morning? And who would want a wake up call from Polak? Food for thought.

*Totally conjecture - no one said that Teej had a hangover or that he was out partying or whatever.

The ownership situation of the Atlanta Thrashers, Hawks, and Philips Arena is the subject of more rumors and speculation that you can shake a stick at. Everyone with a net worth of half a billion bucks or more who ever went to a NBA/NHL game in their lifetime are being tossed out there as a potential owner. This is partially because the fans really want Atlanta Spirit to sell the team to someone with some clout, and partially because fans just want the Atlanta Spirit out of having anything to do with either team or the arena. Mismanagement of assets has led to a sub-par product on both ice and court, and fans deserve someone who will care about their investment and not treat it like a plaything to be tossed in a toy box when the shiny wears off.

Atlanta radio broadcaster John Kincade of 680 The Fan has been crowing for quite some time regarding a mystery party interested in all three entities as a package deal. He's refused to come right out and say anything, and I understand why. Partially he hasn't spoken probably because as the in-arena guy for the Thrashers as well as a participant on the postgame show and television broadcasts, Atlanta Spirit signs one of his paychecks. I would most certainly not want to anger one of my employers.

Also, he is a reporter acting possibly on condition of confidentiality. If the prospective buyer doesn't want a media circus, but still wants attention, a "who is the Balkan?" Twitter campaign is a damn good way of doing it. Not only has this tweet from Kincade been re-tweeted by a billion people, folks are using his #thebalkan hashtag to discuss ownership possibilities.

Coupled with the fact that the "plan is in motion" is the fact that Kincade has been dropping hints, apparently per request of this mystery suitor. Kincade tweeted on March 17th that the Balkan is a graduate of a Big Ten university. Hm. That only narrows the field down to approximately a billion people. Obviously when you factor in that this prospective owner is probably exceedingly rich, that cuts the number down quite a bit.

Next stop, Wikipedia. Wikipedia lists a comprehensive list of notable alumni of every university. I poked around all the lists, and a name popped out at me: Anson Carter, the former hockey player who has been rumored to be in talks as part of a group to buy at the very least the Thrashers. There he was, on one of the pages for a Big Ten school. With very wealthy individuals who could afford to bankroll the entire thing.

I'm not going to reveal who I believe The Balkan is, because I don't want to step on John Kincade's toes with the release of this info. Nor do I want to say anything and spoil any sort of non-disclosure agreement this individual, man or woman, has with Kincade or the Atlanta Spirit Group. That would be exceedingly inappropriate of me as a blogger - like hell I'm getting involved with business transactions between billionaires. Pfft. The point of this post is just to prove that Google, Wikipedia, and some dot-connecting can come in handy for something.

And best of luck to The Balkan. Which, to my knowledge, is a General Hospital nickname that Kincade came up with. When I searched for "the Balkan" on Google, several references to GH came up. Wait a second... General Hospital? Could it be?



Naaaaahhhhh. 

Almost right after the KMOX-broadcast conference call in which Dave Checketts announced that the St. Louis Blues were for sale, the guys on the radio said the "M-Word:" Moving. Noooo, Canada's going to steal the Blues just like they're going to steal the Thrashers and Coyotes!

Um, no.

Here are just a few reasons why:

• The Blues have been in St. Louis for well over 40 years. They've been in significantly worse straits than this. The Laurie's nearly killed the franchise with idoitic moves. They viewed it as just a springboard for an NBA team that wasn't ever going to happen. Purina? Sure, they're a sponsor now, but one of the years they owned them, the Blues didn't even bother to show up for a draft. If they can survive that stupidity, they can overcome anything - except apparently injuries and the 2nd round of the playoffs.
• There isn't the panic-attack urgency that there is in Phoenix and Atlanta.
• It's a very attractive market. The Blues have sold out every home game this season. Fans care, fans believe (to a degree) in the current re-build. And fans have deep-rooted attachments to this team. They're not a new franchise. People root for the Blues because their parents do; their parents cheer for the Blues because their parents did. It's part of the community.

It's not a gamble. It's not a non-traditional market. It's not a bad team, or at the very least the problems aren't irreparable. There's buzz still around these guys and what they can do when they're healthy. And besides - who doesn't like a fixer-upper? At least this one's not a money pit. Whoever decides to buy it, be it metro money or just someone who wants a hockey team as a hobby, will be getting a good deal.

Apparently the guys heard my criticism (and the criticism of everyone else in the free world), because they played one of their best and most entertaining games of the season last night.The highlight was Chris Stewart taking down Derek Dorsett with some super hard punches (not breaking his hand, too) and then as he skated off to the penalty box did the Kovalchuk v. McCabe crowd pump thing. Cam Janssen then fought Jared Boll yet again in one of the longest fights ever.

The real highlight was the shootout. Not only because the Blues won, but because Steve Mason showed that he is the heir apparent to the nickname "Mr. Fivehole." All but one of the goals scored in the shootout went right between his legs. Watch out, Marty Turco - he's coming for you! A discussion of Mason on Twitter prompted this from my friend @heatonrob:

If that looks familiar to Blues fans, it's because we once had this guy on our team:

Sorry Chicago - he's your problem now.

 

Actual towel.

 

Amazing. You know, I thought that Towel Guy was the only one who threw towels. I guess he's a trend starter, because Saturday's Blues were throwing towels left and right. The 5-2 loss against the Islanders was quite possibly the worst game of hockey that I have watched since the 2006 Blues decided to suck so hard they drained the Mississippi. There was no passion. No drive. No actual will to even play. I don't know if it's because they're still reeling from the trades of Boyes, Brewer, and Winchester - or if they took that as ownership's sign of surrender, so they followed that same path. There was a time at the end of the game when the camera cut to TJ Oshie, usually the team's emotional heart out there on the ice. He looked bored. I've never seen him look bored. It was indicative of the entire team in that game.

These guys are out of the playoffs, yes, but they have personal pride and point sheets to play for. More importantly, they have fans that have supported them through these rebuilding fits and starts. Fans that they salute after every win. You know what? Salute them after every loss, too, because we're putting up with them while they skate around like zombies and allow the Islanders to undress them.

Very rarely will I ever negatively compare the Blues to the Thrashers, but during the past three seasons, even 2007-2008 when they never had a prayer, I never, ever saw the Thrashers play totally devoid of emotion like I saw the Blues do Saturday. At the very least, Boulton, Slater, and Thorburn always supplied some spring to their step that crept up to the higher lines. I turned off the Blues game numb, maybe more so than they were. It was an effort to drag myself to the Thrashers game.

Honestly, I'm glad I made the decision to go to the game Saturday night. I actually got to watch an NHL team play hockey. Jeremy Rutherford had a game summary in the Post-Dispatch that ended with a quote from David Backes: "Everything is wrong. It's not very enjoyable to be here every day." You feel that way, David? You, who the fans have already annointed the next captain? Then stand up in the room, motivate these guys to finish with a shred of dignity, and fix it. It's no fun when you lose, but it's a hell of a lot more fun than getting steamrolled. The Blues didn't lose Saturday. They got steamrolled.