St. Louis Blues

jstriebel · PostFeb 16, 2015#3262015-02-16T17:03+00:00

I don't see anything on Twitter about Shattenkirk being done for the year. But we'll see.

I feel good about this squad. As a Blues fan, I have to being cautious. I think we all know that. But this team can score timely goals. Brian Elliott is more than capable of getting hot, and is rarely bad (and if you look at how many teams have won the Cup lately, that's been their goaltending formula, not a superstar).

Our defense has finally played more... defense. And it's showed.

They have to prove it. But I'm excited about what this team could finally do.

PostFeb 16, 2015#3272015-02-16T17:09+00:00

As for Hawks fans, there's no question there's a bit of "I've been watching since I'm old enough to, and you just started watching when your team got good."

And for me, also throw in the fact that I watched and went to games when they stunk. Yes, that's a factor, and I think a reasonable one.

I'm sorry if this sounds lame to you, but fans need to know what they don't know. If you're a new fan because your local squad finally started winning and you got hooked—hey, that's actually great. Grow the game. But don't watch hockey for 2 years and act like your the expert, become the biggest trasher talkers, and start patting your fan base on the back.

Enjoy your teams incredible success and the fact that you didn't bother to suffer through any of the hard times. Enjoy it. But don't be a douche. Unfortunately, there's a huge amount of the new Blackhawks fan base that doesn't understand that. And being in Champaign at the peak of this made me that much more jaded.

DogtownBnR · PostFeb 16, 2015#3282015-02-16T17:39+00:00

Dweebe, Gould reported that there are rumblings coming from Blues sources, that Shatty could be done for the entire season, not just the regular season. He did not elaborate on the 'sources'. He started talking about how that would hurt our playoff run. While Butler has been very good, he's not Shatty. I'd like to see Butler in there more as well.

Speaking of the Hawks, as much as I can't stand losing to them, you got to respect them, for the most part. Check out this sick move yesterday, from Kane in the shootout. Awesome!

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=753707

Regarding Hawks fans, I respect the older fans more than the younger ones. The older ones seem to be much cooler and understand the rivalry. Some of them witnessed the brawls at the old Arena and Chicago Stadium. Those games with Hull, Shanny, Belfour and Probert, were classic. I would have loved to have been there back then.

blzhrpmd2 · PostFeb 16, 2015#3292015-02-16T19:00+00:00

I was pretty young in the Arena days, but I remember those Blues Blackhawks games as really charged. Every game in the Arena was magical as a youngster but those Hawks games were especially energetic with crowd fights, lots of chanting, and man it was loud.

I agree on Elliot's puck play behind the net- every time he leaves the crease I hold my breath. Yesterday he kind of blindly flicked it right past one of our defenders and a more apt Panther probably would have scored, but it was a pretty extreme angle.

Also, for those that watched the Blackhawks' game against the Penguins right before the Blues game yesterday, the Hawks first 3 shooters in in the shootout just looked dominant. Those guys are so good. Kane's move looked like a man messing around with a kid in goal. We have definitely progressed and have more of an offensive threat these days, but I still fear those Blackhawks especially with a lot on the line.

It was pretty sad to let the Panthers take that game to OT/SO last night also. You could see that goal coming off of the timeout as they were taking it to us in third period. Nice to come out of there with the points and the win though.

DogtownBnR · PostFeb 16, 2015#3302015-02-16T19:08+00:00

Yeah, not too many teams can get outshot 20-6 and hold on to a one goal lead. That 3rd was ugly.

jstriebel · PostFeb 16, 2015#3312015-02-16T22:34+00:00

Blues are actually a better shootout team than the Hawks, I believe. Could be wrong. Certainly hurts not having Shattenkirk there, though. On the other hand, the gimmick becomes irrelevant in the postseason, so that's nothing to hang our hat on.

But yeah, last night was brutal. Blues could have won easily if not for Luongo standing on his head in the first. But once it got to the third at 1-0, Blues were just trying to hanging on. That rarely turns out well. At least they got the 2 points.

blzhrpmd2 · PostFeb 19, 2015#3322015-02-19T13:34+00:00

It's games like Tuesday night that keep long time Blues fans skeptical that this season won't end in familiar fashion. Interesting stretch here should provide some good games and hopefully they continue their success against the east.

roger wyoming II · PostMar 24, 2015#3332015-03-24T19:45+00:00

Check out what is coming to the City Museum...

how sweet is that?

dweebe · PostMar 24, 2015#3342015-03-24T20:02+00:00

roger wyoming II wrote:Check out what is coming to the City Museum...

how sweet is that?

Completely sweet. Wow.

roger wyoming II · PostApr 08, 2015#3352015-04-08T03:51+00:00

Lucked out tonite with Nashville and Chicago losing.

DogtownBnR · PostApr 08, 2015#3362015-04-08T13:38+00:00

^They really could have solidified their position and took a lot of pressure off, with regards to winning the division, by beating the Jets. Agree though, dodged a bullet. Now the pressure is on, to beat the Hawks Thursday. I believe the Wild are set, as the #1 Wildcard team in the West. Maybe they rest their stars, knowing the Blues will need a win. The Blues can earn home ice and avoid Chicago in the First round by going 2-0.

On a different note, I have to say, I hate the new playoff alignment. It is odd. I prefer a 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5, set up, giving home ice to the division winners. I would even prefer the previous setup. This new playoff alignment is confusing to the average fan. It also requires the 2nd and 3rd place teams from each division, to play every year. I know that can be fun, but now, if you finish 2nd or 3rd in your division, you will not play anyone from the West in the 1st round. I'm not a fan!

blzhrpmd2 · PostApr 08, 2015#3372015-04-08T22:32+00:00

^Agree it is a strange set up.

It's hard to believe we're back to a netminder riddle at this point in the season again.

dweebe · PostApr 08, 2015#3382015-04-08T22:37+00:00

DogtownBnR wrote:On a different note, I have to say, I hate the new playoff alignment. It is odd. I prefer a 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5, set up, giving home ice to the division winners. I would even prefer the previous setup. This new playoff alignment is confusing to the average fan. It also requires the 2nd and 3rd place teams from each division, to play every year. I know that can be fun, but now, if you finish 2nd or 3rd in your division, you will not play anyone from the West in the 1st round. I'm not a fan!

Hopefully it will be one-and-done for this goofball setup. I'm not a fan of it either.

jstriebel · PostApr 09, 2015#3392015-04-09T17:43+00:00

Two-and-done at least. Existed last year too. It's why getting knocked out in the first round last year wasn't really as bad as it sounded (or felt).

The goalie situation is unfortunate, and yet, proper. Allen's better right now. I'm glad we're starting the better goalie.

Also, the officiating down the stretch (and always really) has been brutal. Blues were straight up robbed beyond debate of a point a couple weeks back vs. Detroit. And then robbed again the other night. Blues didn't play well for a lot of that game, but they DID tie the game, and they did deserve about 8 minutes of PP time, including a 5-on-3 and a penalty shot.

I've seen a lot of bad officiating, and I let people know how often I've seen bad officiating. And that was the worst officiated hockey game I've ever seen. It's costing the Blues in the standings. (With that said, Nashville got screwed out of a point as well. They had a clearly good goal called back, too.)

DogtownBnR · PostApr 17, 2015#3402015-04-17T14:51+00:00

While I am very disappointed with the game 1 outcome, I am not ready to panic yet. It was only one game. I was there and it really looked like the Blues had some rust to shake off. Their passes were not crisp, lots of pucks jumping around, lots of trouble entering the zone, staying in the zone and clearing the pucks from their own zone. I thought the speed of the Wild was on display last night. They really flew around the ice. The Blues clearly were shell-shocked until the 3rd period. They started to play better towards the end, but could not get over the hump. It was the second worst game I've seen them play recently, besides, the 3/30 Vancouver game. Hopefully, they step it up in game 2.

Regarding pre-game, it was an amazing atmosphere. The light show on the ice was amazing. The crowd and overall vibe was electric. It is disappointing that the Blues did not come out with that kind of energy. The fanbase is tired of playoff failures. So much, the crowd booed Jay Bouwmeester for holding the puck too long behind the net. Boos reigned out several times throughout the game. Hope that is the last we've heard of the boo-birds this series.

jstriebel · PostApr 17, 2015#3412015-04-17T15:05+00:00

I actually thought the Blues played solid in the 1st period, just couldn't get much on goal. The Wild scored on a bit of an odd play.

I figured the Blues would take control in the 2nd, but I wasn't even close. They got completely owned. Their comeback efforts came too late.

They're clearly a better team than the Wild, so it really comes down to how hard and how consistent they play. They could win the next 4 if they play every game like last night's third.

But if they don't, they could be in trouble.

dbInSouthCity · PostApr 17, 2015#3422015-04-17T15:13+00:00

Lehtera had about half a goal wide open towards the end there to tie it at 2-2 and he would have if the puck wasn't bouncing when he shoot it...

yet..

at 5pm tomorrow if it isn't tied 1-1 going to Minnesota

moorlander · PostApr 17, 2015#3432015-04-17T15:42+00:00

The team was dead. It was one of the more boring games i've been to since January.

The best part of the night was the pregame video programming displayed on the ice. WOW. that was cool!

dbInSouthCity · PostApr 17, 2015#3442015-04-17T15:55+00:00

moorlander wrote:The team was dead. It was one of the more boring games i've been to since January.

The best part of the night was the pregame video programming displayed on the ice. WOW. that was cool!

they were very active in the first 25 min and then went flat for the most of the 2nd period and the first 5 min of the third...needed more power plays!

also the video display on the ice...its amazing how much the US is behind stuff like this...this was done at the 2008 Beijing Olympics for the first time...7 years later, we are getting it.

dweebe · PostApr 17, 2015#3452015-04-17T16:31+00:00

dbInSouthCity wrote:
moorlander wrote:The team was dead. It was one of the more boring games i've been to since January.

The best part of the night was the pregame video programming displayed on the ice. WOW. that was cool!
they were very active in the first 25 min and then went flat for the most of the 2nd period and the first 5 min of the third...needed more power plays!

also the video display on the ice...its amazing how much the US is behind stuff like this...this was done at the 2008 Beijing Olympics for the first time...7 years later, we are getting it.

Other teams have had this for a few years. The Blues are behind on most everything.

DogtownBnR · PostApr 17, 2015#3462015-04-17T18:32+00:00

I would almost have to say, based upon what I saw, the ice was bad. It was close to 80 outside, yesterday. While I did not actually skate or play on it, I do play and I know when ice gets choppy. Both teams had more passes than normal IMO, fly over sticks or end up in unintended places. It was not at all cold inside either. With almost 20K people, I'd bet the ice was bad. I know the speed-skating Wild look fast and furious, but our skilled guys did not handle the puck well. Many one-timers flew over sticks. I hope the Scottrade Center is looking into this and can remedy the ice issue, assuming that they have an issue. I think bad ice hurts the Blues more because I believe the Blues are more skilled. Just a thought.

Aesir · PostApr 17, 2015#3472015-04-17T19:53+00:00

It's long been speculated that Scottrade was built on the cheap. Money wasn't spent on ice quality systems that should have been. Combine that with the period (early 90's) when computerized ice systems were just being developed, the city owning the arena, and you end up with consistently one of the worst ice surfaces in the NHL.

jstriebel · PostApr 17, 2015#3482015-04-17T20:32+00:00

I've never noticed the ice being consistently bad (I don't play on it, obviously, just from watching the games), so I'm not sure if that's accurate or not. I wouldn't doubt it, but it's just never stood out as a major problem.

With that said, I agree about the ice last night. As early as the middle of first period the puck was bouncing all over on guys. By the end of the game, it had cost us two "sure-thing" goals. (One from Shattenkirk on the PP and one from Jaskin, I think, near the very end.)

dweebe · PostApr 17, 2015#3492015-04-17T20:48+00:00

Aesir wrote:It's long been speculated that Scottrade was built on the cheap. Money wasn't spent on ice quality systems that should have been. Combine that with the period (early 90's) when computerized ice systems were just being developed, the city owning the arena, and you end up with consistently one of the worst ice surfaces in the NHL.

If you've been to any other mid 90's built NHL/NBA arena it's clear Scottrade was built on the cheap. Plus there's been little in the way of updates and maintenance work.

I thought though that when the Kiel first opened it had one of the best, well-regarded ice surfaces in the league outside of Canada? Then again that was a generation ago.

jstriebel · PostApr 17, 2015#3502015-04-17T23:38+00:00

I sort of wonder if that means we did Scottrade right. We didn't spend lavishly to build it. We haven't spent lavishly to refurbish it.

Yet, we've still go the Blues. It still regularly hosts early rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, the MVC basketball tournament, and NCAA wrestling. It still books arena tiered concerts. It took 2 decades, but it DID lead to there renovation and re-opening of the attached Opera House (with primary private funds, I believe). And it's still a pretty darn good building to enjoy all those things (bells and whistles or not).

Some day we'll have to spend some money on it again, but I don't see any reason to believe it will be excessive. And I do believe whenever that time comes it will be more than doable to turn it into a top-notch building.

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