NHL St Louis

Actor Alan Thicke whom you may remember from such roles as Dr. Jason Seaver on 'Growing Pains' and the host of the game show 'Pictionary' (OK, you probably don't remember the latter.) recently made an appearance at the St. Louis Blues' Hockey Fest. Thicke took part in the celebrity shootout, which is exactly what the title implies -- celebrities participating in a shootout. His brave efforts give us our YouTube clip of the day. I'm not sure who the goalie is in this clip but they certainly had the right idea of not getting in Thicke's way.

Back in 2004, a Minnesota high school star named Blake Wheeler was the first-round pick of Wayne Gretzky and the Phoenix Coyotes. Eyebrows were raised, as Wheeler wasn't projected by anyone to be a potential top pick.

Four years later, it appears Wheeler will finally get a chance to play professional hockey.

The Minnesota Gopher junior is expected to sign a deal to join the Coyotes organization, forgoing his final year of eligibility at Minnesota. Wheeler starred at Breck School, a private school in the Twin Cities area, leading them to the 2004 Class A state championship. He played one year of junior hockey in the USHL before joining Minnesota, where he has tallied 42 goals in his Gopher career.

Some Gopher fans have been disappointed with Wheeler's production, expecting more out of a guy Gretzky was so high on when he played in high school. But Wheeler has rounded into a nice player, and he's the kind of guy whose size and hands make for a constant threat. If there's one negative to his game, it's his tendency not to play strong on his skates. Wheeler isn't a diver, but he can look like one at times, and that's as bad as actually being one.

In other signing news, we're still waiting for 2005 first-round pick T.J. Oshie to sign with St. Louis. Oshie just completed his junior year at North Dakota, helping his team to a fourth straight Frozen Four appearance. I would be lying if I said I thought Oshie would return to school, but I thought the same thing last year.

(A tap of the stick goes to Western College Hockey.)

(UPDATE: WCH now reports that Wheeler has withdrawn from classes at Minnesota and has 30 days to sign with Phoenix before becoming a free agent.)

Back in August before the season began, we told you about how the front office in St. Louis was working feverishly to woo back fans that had abandoned the team over the past few years as it had crashed to the bottom of the standings. Well, it looks as if they're doing something right, as the latest Western Conference figures released by the NHL say attendance is up 49.1% over the same period last year.

The why behind the turnaround ought to be apparent, as the team's fortunes and management's willingness to spend on free agents have helped lure the fans back to the point where the Blues are now playing before 91% of capacity at home. A number of creative promotions hasn't hurt either, like the free food promotion that Team President Dave Checketts (pictured above) participated in last weekend.

The other big movers in the survey shouldn't be a surprise either. Attendance is up nearly 18% in Chicago where the Blackhawks rose from the grave right around the same time that owner Bill Wirtz headed in the other direction. Meanwhile, back in Orange County, the defending Stanley Cup Champion Ducks are up a modest 8.8% over the same period from last season.

So who's crashing through the floor? While nearly everyone likes to think that putting a competitive team on the ice is the quickest solutions to woes at the gate, the exact opposite seems to be true in Detroit, where the Red Wings continue to disappoint when it comes to ticket sales. They're down almost 8% over last season. Ditto the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are playing better now than they ever have in the short history of their franchise. They're down almost 18%.

Other significant drops in the wrong direction: Colorado (-5.9%), Nashville (-2.5%) and Los Angeles (-2.0%).

HT: Sports Business Daily (Subscription required)

Previously on FanHouse:
No Free Beer for Blues Fans
The Ice Sheet: The Blues are Back
Blues Tell Fans: 'We Want You Back'

While St. Louis Blues fans can get free food for attending home games, it appears that they won't be able to get free beer, despite a promotion that hyped such a thing.

We all know the way to most men's hearts is through their stomach. Free beer? How could that not work? You could get men to do many embarrassing things for free beer, or at least mundane household chores.

Thinking along those lines, the St. Louis Blues planned a section of discounted tickets for Tuesday night games where by the buyer would get free watered-down room-temperature stadium beer.

Unfortunately, the PC Police must have seized upon this, because now the promotion was canceled before it even began. Phooey!

Shortly before lunchtime Thursday, the St. Louis Blues sent an e-mail to fans announcing "Tuesdays on Tap," a promotion offering unlimited free beverages, including beer, for certain tickets to five upcoming home games.

At 4 p.m., Blues executive Peter McLoughlin told the Post-Dispatch, "This one is not happening."

Asked why, he said that it was a "business decision."

A business decision? Bah! More like those screeching harpies over at MADD heard about the Rob Ramage sentence and got their panties in a knot. "Oh, noes!!! How can a team give away alcoholic beverages? The world will slip into chaos!!"

On a more serious note, how could any major league sports team think that giving out free UNLIMITED beer would be a good thing? A (single) beer? Fine. A whole bunch of them? That's just asking for trouble, lawsuits, and potential DUI-related accidents. Let's face it, most people can't handle their alcohol, and many aren't smart enough NOT to drive after downing a few brewskis.

When Han Solo's visage was frozen in Carbonite, it wasn't exactly a moment to celebrate. Of course, it didn't help that he was IN the statue, and couldn't admire himself.. Such thoughts cross ones mind when catching part of a Star Wars marathon *ahem*.

To have a statue made in your honor has to be one of the highest ego boosts one could ever hope to have. A banner just has your name, but a statue is a non-living embodiment of the person, giving everyone a chance to see the man in 3D detail. You pretty much know you are THE MAN if somebody wants to put a stoned version of you somewhere for pigeons to poop on.

So, Al MacInnis must be on Cloud Nine after hearing he'll be immortalized in stone, joining the likes of Stan "The Man" Musial and Bernie Federko in St. Louis statued tribute.

The St. Louis Blues honored Al MacInnis on his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Friday night, announcing they've commissioned a bronze statue in his likeness.

Dave Checketts, principle owner of the franchise, said the statue would be situated next to one of Hall of Famer Bernie Federko. Federko's statue is inside the concourse of the Scottrade Arena, but MacInnis said he's been told both will be moved outside to give more tourists a chance to see them.

"To put up a statue alongside another Hall of Famer, after my kids grow a little bit older and walk by it with their kids and look at that stuff will be much more meaningful probably than it is today," MacInnis said. He added, jokingly: "The only thing I said to Mr. Checketts is to make it better-looking than the live picture."

So, where's the statue of Brett Hull? :)

I'm sure some of you sick Blues and Avs fans have been praying for the Detroit Red Wings to be involved in a plane accident of some sort. Admit it, you've probably had a few dreams about Chris Chelios screaming like a little girl as his plane goes down.

Well, now your dreams have come true! Yes, the Red Wings were involved in a plane accident last night after their game against the St. Louis Blues.

First, they lost 4 to 3 to the St. Louis Blues. Then the team plane skidded off the runway while trying to take off late last night.

A Red Wings spokesman says the teams DC-9 charter jet was traveling down the north runway, when the right wheels slid off the runway, into the grassy median.

The right side of the aircraft sunk into the mud, tilting the plane to the point where the right wing is about a foot off the ground. No one was hurt, and everybody was evacuated without incident. The plane remained stuck Wednesday morning.

Ha ha! OK, so nothing bad really happened, and the Wings are just a little shaken and stirred. The plane was traveling at just a few miles per hour, so the Wings were never in any real serious danger.

In all seriousness, hockey players do have to do an awful lot of traveling, and it's a good thing incidents like this are few and far between. Sorry, No Photos

Every season, there are a few surprising teams that rise up from the ashes of a poor season and get off to a bullish start. Some teams, like the Carolina Hurricanes two seasons back, keep the momentum and show that they are 'for real'. For many other clubs, the clock strikes midnight and they go back to being as crappy as they usually are.

This season is no different, as a few misfits from last season, as Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch notes, are off to great starts, and have some potential to make the leap from pretender to contender.

Let's have a look at who is for real, and who is bound to come back to earth.

Chicago Blackhawks: After the death of "Dollar Bill" Wirtz, the whole club seems to come out of a decades-long dark cloud, and into the 21st century. Young stars like Jon Toews and Patrick Kane have the chiefs off to a 5-5-0 start. A 27-29 goal differential shows that the club isn't a total fluke. They have managed to do this without Martin Havlat in the lineup, as well.

That said, a 5-5 start isn't overly impressive, and one losing streak is enough to take care of any playoff hopes. With a young team and a lack of depth up front, chances are that this team will struggle eventually and finish out of the playoff race. Still, this is a true building year and Hawks fans ought to be hopeful for the future.
Sergei Samsonov: What a waste of skin. Just two assists and -6 in 10 games?

I have to admit that I am a St. Louis Blues fan (yeah, stop snickering already), and I have to admit that I never expected the Blues to be doing this well. After last night's win over the Chicago Blackhawks (OK, not a great feat in and of itself), the Blues are now 4-1-0 and looking better than Jane Seymour.

Let's start giving the Blues some credit for being "for real". Ever since Andy Murray took over the coaching reigns from Mike "Dirty" Kitchen, the Blues have truly been a team to be reckoned with.

With Murray's record over .500 with the Bluenotes, it's a real possibility that the Blues will be contending for a playoff spot in a few months. That is, if Doug Weight does better than he has been doing. One point all season? C'mon ... you can't be THAT washed up, can you? *grumble*

Overall, the Blues still have a shaky looking defense corps (especially since Jay McKee can't stay healthy), but their offense is vastly improved and Murray is an excellent coach. Getting easy points from the Blue Jackets, Blackhawks, and perhaps Predators will certainly help the Blues in their quest to start a new playoffs-made streak.

Stunned I am. Simply stunned. This is too much deja vu for one man to handle. Last year in pre-season, after signing a 4 year, $16 million contract, Jay McKee tweaked a knee that would sideline him for the early part of the season. Last season was a nightmare of injury after injury for the former Buffalo Sabre (and my personal favorite for a while). Check out his player page at TSN.ca, it's a litany of just about every bad thing that could happen to a good guy.

All in all, McKee played just 23 games for the Blues last season. I'm sure they were hoping that this season would not be a repeat of 2006-07, but as we Sabres fans know, Jay plays the game hard and without much respect for his body. When guys like him start to break down, they break down fast. The decision by Darcy Regier not to aggressively pursue re-signing him brought forth a wall of angst from Sabres fans, fresh off an emotional playoff run that saw McKee put in his finest series of performances in his 10 years with the franchise.

But, hockey is a cruel sport, and there's a reason why I call him Darth Regier. He's utterly ruthless in how he makes his personnel decisions, especially the high-profile ones. Re-signing McKee to a contract close to the magnitude of what Davidson offered would have been disastrous for them in the long run, in Regier's opinion and no matter what the public pressure, he wouldn't be swayed.

All of that said, of course, I hope that McKee recovers from this latest setback fully and is able to perform the job for which he was hired and handsomely paid, namely being a veteran tutor to the Blues young stable of blue-chip defensemen, while sucking up vital PK minutes.

Ta,

Who's In? Erik Johnson, D; Martin Kariya, F; Paul Kariya, LW (Nsh); Keith Tkachuk, F (Atl); Hannu Toivonen, G (Bos)

Who's Out? Dallas Drake, F (Det); Radek Dvorak, W (Fla); Glen Metropolit, F; Ville Nieminen, F; Curtis Sanford, G (Van)

What's Changed? The most significant move for 2007-08 actually came midway through last season, when broadcaster-turned-team-president John Davidson turfed then-coach Mike Kitchen in favor of veteran bench boss Andy Murray, who almost immediately turned the Blues' fortunes around.

St. Louis put together a 19-game stretch last season where they went 13-2-4 under Murray, something that turned heads around the league and really set the team up nicely to at least entertain thoughts of the playoffs this season. Given the Blues finished dead last in the NHL with 57 points about 18 months ago, that's quite a leap.

Other major changes will see Paul Kariya take on top-line duties alongside Keith Tkachuk, and having a bona fide NHL sharpshooter should help St. Louis bump their offensive production up from last season, when the team was 26th in goals scored. Other room for growth up front will come from the likes of Brad Boyes, Lee Stempniak and David Backes, all young and all headed for decent offensive careers. Boyes, in particular, could rebound on the top line after struggling in his sophomore season.

The blue line remains relatively intact, with the notable exceptions being the presence of a (hopefully) healthy Jay McKee, who missed all but 23 games last season, and rookie Erik Johnson, the franchise-saving first-rounder from the 2006 entry draft.

Who's on the Hook? It's more of a pressure-on-a-committee type situation here, but if there's any one player who the Blues absolutely must have a big year from, it's Barret Jackman. Jackman, 26, finally got in a somewhat healthy campaign last season, and his presence went a long way toward stabilizing a back end that's been in disarray since Al MacInnis's retirement three years ago.