Nothing drives me more nuts than people complaining about how people perceive them based on things that they can't change, like gender or race. It's always been my experience (and as an educator, I have more in this field that I really want) of people defaulting to things such as that to take blame for why people don't care for them. It's a lot easier to blame folks for disliking you for reasons outside of your control than it is to take responsibility for your actions and change what you do. Women pull this stunt. "Oh, I didn't get a promotion because I'm a woman!" Ok, yes, that does happen sometimes, maybe - but what about your job performance? Do you talk about people cattily behind their backs? Does your boss like you? Are you a decent employee? Answer those questions first before you start stating people passed you up for a promotion because you're a woman. 

Also, guys don't say inappropriate things to women just because women have ovum.  Guys do it when you walk into a locker room dressed like you bought your gameday wear at Charlotte Russe. You embarrass women who actually love the sport, and they shy away from working in the field of journalism and sportscasting because they don't want to get lumped in with you. I'm not saying that all men who say stuff to women are justified or egged on by the women themselves, nor am I saying that lady sportscasters are fluff - I think Erin Andrews proves both of those assumptions wrong. But honestly, if you further the stereotype of the sideline reporter who is out there overdressed and asking inane questions, you're doing women a disservice.

Usually when someone departs us, euologies are said, wreaths are lain, tears are shed. Anniversaries - at least the first ones - usually get that treatment too. So what of ilya Kovalchuk's one year anniversary of departing the Atlanta Thrashers? Will there be flowers strewn on the ice at Philips Arena in some sad, depressing ceremony of what might've been?

Pfft. No.

It's perfunctory that I, and every other Thrashers blogger note this day. I almost have to point out that the Devils are still in second to last place in the Eastern Conference - a full eighteen points behind the eighth place Thrashers. I have to do the standard chuckle when I recount Kovalchuk's stats for the season - fifteen goals and sixteen assists. I have to remind Devils fans that hey, he made your team better about as much as he made our team better, but we got him for (basically) free, while New Jersey had to sell the farm and some good building blocks.

I'll pour a 40 out for you later tonight, k?

All that is valid for a Thrashers fan to do, but as Craig Custance pointed out today, the Thrashers are exactly one point better and one position better this year than they were last. The fact that the Thrashers aren't still closer to the top of the Conference standings comes from a lack of goalscoring recently - which Kovalchuk could have added to. To say that Ilya'd put us into the playoffs this season with goals alone (and he would be scoring more with the Thrashers than the Devils - that is practically a given considering the styles of the two teams) is slightly misleading. If we still had Kovalchuk, we also would not have Oduya, Bergfors and Cormier, and there runs a possibility that we would not have Ladd, Byfuglien, or Sopel either. This team would be last season's team - unable to right the ship, unable to play with any spark or strength whatsoever. Whether this season's Thrashers team can fix this season remains to be seen, but it is evident that they can play with more swagger and skill than they ever tried to do last year.

I doubt that a careful explination of point totals from this year to last can persuade a Thrashers fan that they were as well off with Kovalchuk than without him. Maybe it's psychological - maybe we want a clean break, or a chance to prove to him, New Jersey fans, and the pundits who said that the Thrashers were finished after he left just how strong of an organization this is. Perhaps Thrashers fans are stubborn. Honestly, numbers are only a part of this issue. Feeling can't be quantified, and this has felt like a team, not like a Kovy and pony show, since he left.

Here we Blues fans were, cautiously happy with tonight's return of Andy McDonald. Sure, our last game got cancelled on account of blizzard. Sure we're still out Carlo Colaiacovo and probably Barret Jackman for tonight's game. And yes, David Perron's still out. But McDonald and his giant bobble-headed sized helmet will score and add oomph to the powerplay and we'll win and things'll be swell, right?

Please. We're Blues fans; we're not THAT delusional. Our star defenseman and coach take pucks in the face during the same practice. We haven't had a season plagued by injury and catastrophe since before the lockout. So why is something really truely not good happening to the team earth shattering? They played without an entire top line and all but two defensemen broken. The Blues can overcome ANYTHING.

Except not having Jaroslav Halak in goal.

Halak's day to day with an upper body injury. Granted, he's been a bit wonky this year so far growing into his starting role, but he's still doing a good job at keeping the team in most games. Ty Conklin, though, is been having a bit of a rough go. His stats are awful thanks to a couple games where he was in net for seven goals against. He'll be the team's starting goalie until Halak gets back, with Ben Bishop acting as his backup. Now's a good time for him to get on a roll. It's not like he hasn't been in that situation before - when Marc-Andre Fleury went down for an extended period in 2008, Conkblock hopped in and played lights out. That still doesn't do much to assuage Blues' fans concerns. The team's been beaten so many times this season, and with McDonald coming back there was some hope for the team jumping back into the playoff race. That can still happen - the Blues are a streaky team, and it's about time for another five game winning streak - but it's going to be tough to do with the starting goaltender out.

Also odd is that there's no mention of what happened to Halak - he has an upper body injury. Ok. That's suitably vague - the teams never shout what injuries are from the rooftops. Apparently even the folks at the Post-Dispatch have no clue what happened or when it happened. Obviously it happened during practice, since the Blues haven't played a game since before the All-Star Break. 

Maybe he tweaked a flipper:

There are no words for this video. 



Oh, wait, no, there are. A quick rap? Did you ask PK Subban for one too, JR? How about Subban, Byfuglien, and Weeks getting together for some Public Enemy style hip hop? Pass over a giant gold watch to Weeksie, because I'm sure that he'd just love to play your little personal Flavor Flav (especially since he mentions the word "flavor" 100 times). I'll almost forgive him for also calling Byfuglien a forward.

Keven Weekes: Goalie of Love. I'd watch that.

Of course, in a bid to make me wait until the very end to see what the Guardians from my two favorite teams were going to look like, they had to lose in every match-up so far. Well, ok, the Blue had to lose in all of his match-ups. The Thrasher just got released on accident. 



Ok, he doesn't seem to be a copycat of any superhero that I can think of, which is a plus considering some of the ones that've come out so far. I also like the fact that they're connecting the military - specifically the Air Force - to the guy, since not only is he a bird, but Dobbins Air Reserve Base is located just to the north of Atlanta. Nice touch. I do have to admit that the "consummate Southern gentleman" part made me either think he'd have a pencil moustache a la Rhett Butler, or that he'd look like this guy:

For the Blue, after I read his description the first time, the initial thing that popped into my head was "Trenchcoat Mafia." And then I thought about it for a second, and really he's not some creepy kid at the back of the class. He's a Beatnik. His favorite author is probably Jack Kerouac, he probably dug Audrey Hepburn's skin-tight black outfit, and he sits around smoking black clove cigarettes while he ponders the meaninglessness of life, much like many Blues teams have done since the  lockout.


It's funny. The other ones have been mock-worthy, but this is the worst I can come up with for the Blue and his magic mind controlling sax (thank God it's not a trumpet - too many failed 3rd jersey jokes):

And honestly, Blues fans, why WOULDN'T It upset you enough? I mean, 14th place for a team that started the season so amazingly well? Half of the team being broken at some point over the year? Random AHL call-ups? Dave Scatchard? I mean, what else could irritate St. Louis fans as much as all of this?

I hate you.

Yep. That. Mike Keenan. THAT will upset Blues fans faster than anything else in the world except for another TJ Oshie injury. How wonderful, then, that I stumbled across this from Sports Illustrated, detailing the worst deals in Blues history. And two-thirds of them are thanks to Iron Mike. I'm sure that other teams've had dummy trades made, but so many by one man? Other than Mike Milbury (must be the name), I can't think of one person making so many stupid trades. This is a man who made Brendan Shanahan cry. Do you know how impossible that is? I still blame Keenan for Shanny considering himself a Red Wing for life, when he easily could have been a Blue. Of course, the Blues got Chris Pronger out of that, so it worked out ok... until the doofy Pronger trade made by Bill Laurie.

This just killed me:

Mike Keenan Has Had Success in the NHL,
but Not Everyone Agrees with His Methods
The Boston Globe -- Oct. 29, 2000
By Kevin Paul Dupont

A source from St. Louis said that the Keenan-Joseph relationship was doomed from the moment they met. Keenan called Joseph into his office, according to the source, and said, "I don't care who the **** you are." All told, the meeting lasted about one minute. "Curtis Joseph," said the source. "Maybe the nicest human being you can meet, sensitive and kind -- and Keenan just clobbered him."

Bastard. So, next time you look at the standings and have to fight the urge to throw things, just remember - it could always be worse. We could have an inept GM and awful coach, rolled up into one package. And God knows no one wants that to happen again.

I need to get a couple of Thrashers tickets for two friends of mine (I shan't mention who or anything, because it might be a surprise, and I'm atrocious at giving those away). Usually I'll go through my season ticket rep, or I'll poke around on Stubhub.com to see if anyone's selling them at super cheap prices. My STH discount only goes so deep, though, and StubHub.com has some absurd fees. Why would I pay those things if I can just walk up to the box office and get a seat for the same price in close to the same value area? That, and the closer you get to the event date, the higher the prices.



I got a chance to try ScoreBig.com, and I was pretty impressed with how unique it is amongst ticketbrokers. The closest thing I can compare it to is Priceline. You go in, select the quality of seat you want based on section of the arena, and then you extend an offer of what you're willing to pay per seat. Generally, most of the Thrashers tickets were around half off, with no fees and you don't have to pick up your tickets from random places. Blues tickets were generally about 25% off, and considering the fact that most - if not all - of the home games are sell-outs, this's pretty darn handy.

All in all, I had a great experience, saved myself a decent amount of money, and didn't have to bitterly mutter to myself about Ticketmaster fees - which, let's admit it, are the bane of everyone's lives.  There is a wait list for membership, but if you use the link contained in this blog post, you don't have to worry about it. Think of me as your ticket hook-up.

Unfortunately, the Law of Hildy was broken last night, and not in a good way. After the Thrashers lost in overtime (AGAIN) to the Tampa Bay Lightning, I was listening to the Blues fight back from a 3-0 deficit against the Detroit Red Wings on my way home from the Atlanta game. Overtime was forced, and the Blues had a chance to snatch two points from the jaws of defeat. Unfortunately, they only snatched one point, and that could very well be because two referees and two linesmen need Coke bottle lenses. I don't like saying "the refs cost us that game!" over missed calls, because it's my philosophy that the team should be playing hard enough for sixty minutes that missed calls or silly penalties don't cost them the entire match. Yeah, I get upset when I see missed calls - who doesn't? But one blown call shouldn't keep your team from getting points in the standings.

The frustrating part is that the Blues really fought back to tie the game and force the overtime period. It doesn't excuse the fact that they had to fight back as hard as they had to so they could make up ground, but it does add to the irritation level. Darren Helm scored the game winning overtime goal last night to help the Wings win, 4-3. Good for him. But he did it on a Detroit five on four. The problem? It's overtime - five players on the ice are too many men. Here's the goal - it's a clear as day:

Apparently even the Detroit TV crew caught it it was so obvious. Because, well, people can count to five. In screengrabs of the replay nabbed by St. Louis Game Time reader PeacockJac, it's even more obvious (scroll to the comments). As a Red Wings fan commented in that same thread, bad calls have happened to the Wings in worse situations - like the Stanley Cup Finals, where the refs didn't call a too many men penalty even though the Penguins had six guys out on the ice for twenty-two seconds of play (and 15 minutes of NBC freaking out). Bad calls happen in worse situations than they did last night - but it seems like they happen fairly often. Nearly daily you see posts on blogs regarding missed or blown calls that cost games, goals, or players.

What can be done? Some calls are just missed because they happen during the speed of the game. Human error is going to contribute to that, and that's fine. Frustrating, but understandable. Calls like too many men, though, usually aren't those kind of calls. Officiating can be more than occasionally inexcusably sloppy. Video review can't be made of every hit, and games can't entirely be re-played because of a doofy call or non-call. In situations like this, though, where play continues after an obvious too many men penalty, it almost seems like there's enough time to review and fix the problem (of course, unless a goal happens ASAP like last night). The problem is, how? Anyone have any suggestions?

Plan the parade; the Mayor is back! TJ Oshie has been physically cleared to play, and is a game time decision for tonight's game against the LA Kings. Apparently Kyle Wellwood won't be missed that awful much.

Frosted Tips speaks:

God, that was a clunky title. Anywho, apparently the San Jose Sharks REALLY want forwards of marginal value from my two favorite teams. The Sharks have both claimed Kyle Wellwood from St. Louis and have traded with Atlanta for Ben Eager. Wellwood was signed finally by St. Louis yesterday to a one year, two way contract worth $650,000. The Blues are trying to keep from using AHL talent by replacing it with talent that wasn't even good enough for the KHL. I think I'd rather have the AHL talent, because they can at least learn and grow, and not in the way that people expect Wellwood to grow. The downside is that Schnucks no longer has a ready audience for the stale gooey butter cakes that they were planning on donating to the "Feed Kyle" fund.

Sorry, Kyle.

In a move for some more grit, or more stupid penalties and a guy that half the locker room will ignore, the Sharks traded a fifth round draft pick for Ben Eager. Eager, if you mighht remember, has recently been suspended for four games because he wanted to punch annoying forward Colby Armstrong in the beak with his glove on and his stick in his hand. Toronto then scored four goals on the five minute power play. He had been a healthy and then injured scratch before that moment of derp, and did not fit into the Craig Ramsay model of intelligent hockey. This will give improving forward Niclas Bergfors a roster spot where he belongs, and also might give someone like Tim Stapleton a more regular job as the spare forward in the press box, depending on who gets sent down once Jim Slater and Freddy Modin come back from the IR.

The Blues are probably just as well off without Wellwood and the Thrashers are better off without Eager. So, yeah, thank you, San Jose. Let us all know how this works out for you.