Brian Elliott Cuts a PSA Promoting Gay Athlete Acceptance

Categories: Blues, LGBT
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St. Louis Blues goalie Brian Elliott re-tweeted a link this past Saturday to his PSA for the You Can Play Project, which works to promote the acceptance of LGBT athletes in all sports. You Can Play is trying to change the culture of the locker room and the arena from casual homophobia to one that focuses only on an athlete's skill, competitiveness and work ethic.
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Tom Stillman Finally Owns the St. Louis Blues

Categories: Blues
Tom Stillman.jpg
New and hopefully long-term owner of the St. Louis Blues, Tom Stillman.
At long last, the Blues ownership matter is settled. The NHL board of governors unanimously approved the sale of the team yesterday for an estimated $130 million to the ownership group headed by local businessman Tom Stillman. Other local luminaries in the group include former Senator John Danforth, Donn Lux and Steve Maritz; there are additional minority partners who have yet to be officially named, but who are hopefully also residents of St. Louis. Today's official announcement of the sale will bring closure to a process that started two years ago. 

As a fan of the team for more than 30 years, I have two requests of the new ownership.
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The Blues' Final Stand

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Our Blues are singing the blues today. The season is over. 
The word 'unceremonious' comes to mind at times like these. It's a good word, unceremonious; it is perfectly evocative of it's intended meaning. Whatever it is you're describing, whatever it might be that has happened, you know that there was no pomp, no circumstance, no fancy, no schmancy, no party and certainly no hearty. There was no ceremony. 

The Blues were swept unceremoniously out of the playoffs yesterday by the Los Angeles Kings

See, isn't that a nice sentence? Well, maybe not a nice sentence, exactly; it's a real kick in the balls to read, after all. But it's a really good sentence all the same. It tells you exactly what happened. Not only were the Blues beaten; they were swept. In fact, they were more than swept. They were swept unceremoniously. No pomp, no circumstance. It happened quietly, with a minimum of excitement. It was unceremonious and deeply depressing for fans of a team whose history of postseason failings is far too long to list. 

It wasn't supposed to be like this, you know. This team was supposed to be different from all those other Blues teams. No, don't ask me why! It just was, alright?! I'm too busy trying to find the bottom of this bottle of scotch to explain it to you anyway. 

But they really were supposed to be different. 

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The Blues Get Embarrassed at Home

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It's been a great season for the Blues. A really, really great season. 

They started off slow under Davis Payne, but ever since making a coaching change and bringing in Ken Hitchcock, the Blues have been among the best teams in the NHL. For long stretches of time, in fact, it looked like the Blues were quite possibly the best team in the league. They played strangling, smothering defense, boasted the best goaltending tandem in hockey, and beat all comers nightly throughout the meat of the season. 

Unfortunately, it looks like the season is now pretty much over. 

Going into last night's game two against the Los Angeles Kings, the Blues were down 1-0, needing to come out with their absolute best effort to even up the series and show the Kings this was going to be a war. 

Kings 5, Blues 2. Enough said. 

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Ken Hitchcock Nominated for Jack Adams Award

Categories: Blues
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The Jack Adams Award, perhaps headed for St. Louis.
St. Louis Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock was today officially announced as a nominee for this year's Jack Adams Award, which is given to the NHL's head coach who has "contributed most to his team's success." Considering the dramatic turnaround in the team's play once Hitch was hired in early November -- they went from sub-.500 team to 43 wins under Hitchcock (49 total) -- the nomination is both well-deserved and kind of obvious.
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The Blues Dig Themselves Into a Hole -- Again

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For the second series in a row, the Blues have put themselves behind the eight ball by coming out and playing one of their worst games in the opener. Worse yet, they've done it both times while playing at home in the Scottrade Center, where they were the NHL's best home team this season. 

Of course, playing against the San Jose Sharks in the first round, the Blues were able to come back with a vengenance, rolling off four straight victories following a double overtime loss to take the series in five games. The lone loss was a frustrating one, to be sure, but the series never really had the feeling of careening out of the Blues' control. They dictated the pace and tempo for most of the series despite the Sharks' best efforts, and always felt undoubtedly like the team in the driver's seat. 

Unfortunately, that's not really the case here. The Blues didn't outplay the Kings Saturday night only to see the game slip away late. Los Angeles did at least as much dictating as the Blues did, and Jonathan Quick did what Jonathan Quick does. The result? A 1-0 series deficit that feels much more dangerous than the last one. Add in a potential injury to the Blues' top defenseman and I would be lying if I told you I wasn't very, very worried about this series. 

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It's St. Louis Blues Day, And Actual Useful Hockey Information

Categories: Blues
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My first hockey hero.
Mayor Francis Slay officially proclaimed today to be St. Louis Blues Day, because the Blues won the Central Division, their first round of playoffs, and set a new franchise record for home wins. It's a nice honor, sure, but it seems kinda premature. Let's say the team wins this next round -- do we get St. Louis Blues Weekend? If the Blues go all the way and seize their first-ever Stanley Cup (Sutter be praised), will we get a whole Blues Week?

 I'm all right with either of those options, by the way, particularly if they come with official holiday status -- the Sharks beatdown gave me a 27-hour hangover, so I'll need some personal time if they keep playing this well.
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St. Louis Blues Go Full Wonka, Hide Free Playoff Tickets for You to Find

Categories: Blues
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Social media could get you to the game.
The first two games of the Blues vs. Los Angeles Kings second-round playoff games don't have set dates yet, but they're guaranteed to be at the Scottrade Center. They'll set you back a tidy $65 to $442 a pop, plus service fees of course, and they're going fast. You could, however, win a pair if you're willing to play the St. Louis Blues Playoff Ticket Hunt game, a sort of high-tech scavenger hunt set up by the team.
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Up Next For the Blues: Quickly Come the Kings

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Artist's rendition of Ken Hitchcock running practice up at the Mills right now. 
The St. Louis Blues, having defeated their aquatic foes in round one of the playoffs, are now resting quietly, recuperating mind and body to prepare for the next challenge. 

It's a little like the dialogue screen from Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, where the opponent would hurl some insult at Little Mac, perhaps questioning why a three foot tall k.d. lang impersonator is trying to win a boxing title in the first place, while Mac's coach offered up some sage piece of wisdom, such as, "Don't let him punch you in the face!" Hopefully Ken Hitchcock is madly mashing the select button right now to build up some extra health for his team. 

That's right; I just used a Mike Tyson's Punch Out reference and a K.D. Lang reference in one paragraph. In other news, I'm really enjoying 1988. I'll let Tom Brunansky know you said hi. 

Anyhow, now that I've met my contractual obligation of at least one thing per column guaranteed to make any reader think, "Why in the hell am I reading this crap?" we can move on to the actual subject at hand: the Blues second round opponent. We don't know exactly when the series will start yet, but we do know who our beloved Note will be playing. The Los Angeles Kings eliminated this year's President's Trophy winner, the Vancouver Canucks, last night in Vancouver in game five of that series. It sets up an intriguing -- and slightly terrifying -- matchup of defensive powerhouses in the next round. 

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The Blues Go On, The Sharks Go Home

Ah, the sweet smell of victory. The air this lovely Sunday morning seems a little fresher, a little cleaner, a little...well, sweeter. Birds are chirping, squirrels are, um, making whatever noise it is squirrels make, hungover hockey fans are groaning and moaning as they smack the snooze button for the third time. 

It is a good morning here in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. We have a hockey team that defied all odds -- well, okay, they were actually favoured in the series, but we Blues fans know perfectly well that doesn't mean shit when it comes to this team in the playoffs -- and defeated their rivals from San Jose. The Sharks are heading home to lick their wounds, think of what have been, and contemplate where an aging franchise goes from here. 

The Blues, meanwhile, are moving on and moving up, one step closer to the dream of a Cup, moving to round two of the playoffs. 

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