arena report: scottrade

i had the most awesome trip to st.louis and i would actually recommend it to people on a weekender or the like, presuming that they can get a good deal on flights/hotel. the gateway arch is unbelievably magnificent in real life, and the city museum is inexplicably FUN in a totally hands-on crazy way.... in addition to the flames v. blues game (which was a riot, culminating in a flames' victory !), we also checked out the laumeier sculpture park, fitz's, the loop, euclid records, and jason's buddy's band, trigger5. just an all-around awesome, awesome time.

the al mcinnis statue outside of scottrade...
methinks we need more statues at the 'dome.

a young blues fan rawkin' the 3D foam finger


st.louis kids sure know how to heckle :)

apparently, the flames have also been cruisin' along this past week, notching three straight wins (albeit two with extra time). here are some notable thoughts from your ever faithful hitthepost author:

1. the glenX/drury hit
curtis glencross received a 3-game suspension today for his ill-advised hit on rangers' captain, chris drury, early in saturday night's game at the sutterdome. personally, i think this might have been the league responding to the the increasing pressure to minimize headshots, as well as owning up to the fact that the flames have sure gotten away with a LOT of shit in the past little while... i think glencross ended up as the fall guy for the team's recent history of rule-dodging:

• kiprusoff took the night off in dallas and was told to go back to the hotel to sleep off the flu. according to the nhl rulebook, rule 15d states, "Each Team shall have on its bench, or on a chair immediately beside the bench, a substitute goalkeeper who shall, at all times, be fully dressed and equipped ready to play." uh, oops....

• last season's cap debacle forced the flames to dress than a full roster for a couple of games towards the end of the year. while the rulebook talks about dressing "no more than eighteen skaters" (exclusive of netminders), and does not specifically discuss LESS than 18, rule 5.1 does say that "A team shall be composed of 20 players (18 skaters and two goalkeepers) who shall be under contract to the Club they represent." it seems kindof like a loophole to me, and can therefore be considered classic daz.

• the dion phaneuf hit on okposo definitely fell in a grey area, and went unpenalized both from the refs and the league officials. in my humble opinion, the okposo hit was far shadier than the drury hit, as there is some debate on whether dion left his feet and whether his elbow might have been high.... i'm not sure the politics, here, but i kindof feel that glenX got the suspension for both his and dion's headshots.
  

clearly the glenX hit was interference, and should definitely have been penalized as such on the ice but from some angles it looks dirty, from others it looks harmless.... i do, however, have to wonder if this would have been an injury if the hit was on a younger, healthier player with no history of concussion. what i mean to say is that (like it or not) drury's got a soft head a la eric lindros/keith primeau, and i'm totally convinced that his grey matter gets injured far easier than most players. also, correct me if i'm wrong but i'm pretty sure that glenX had an otherwise clean record for such dirty hits...
my conclusion ? 3 games is probably 2 games too many.

2. the flu vaccine
this has all probably been beaten to death while i was in the 'lou but here's my stance: the flames got their h1n1 shots when it was still being offered willy-nilly to anyone with an alberta health card. the fact that they didn't have to line up with the rest of the public is a bit suspect, sure, but the fact is that the team requested a private clinic from the appropriate government officials and got one. attending it just seems like a no-brainer to me..... this is not a sports issue this is a political issue. as for the abbotsford HEAT, well it sure looks like a TERRIBLE public relations move in the wake of the flames' situation, but in some ways i believe that pro athletes ARE high risk: they sure sweat and spit alot, and they do a lot of travelling. not to mention the unavoidable interaction with the public: autograph signings etc.etc.etc.etc.etc. i'm probably the wrong person to ask cause i'm not 100% sold on the idea of the h1n1 vaccine to begin with but i'm not sure i see the big deal, here.... not to mention that i have to wonder where the premier got his flu shot (cause i'd be surprised if he waited in line)....

3. the wildcard
olli jokinen is still terrible. he actually didn't look TOO bad in st.louis but from what i've heard and watched on the ranger game, he's reverted to indescribably awful. 5.5 million dollars worth of awful, by the by. ;) maybe he and craig anderson are the opposites of some kind of magical spectrum and will both revert to centre at some point (soon, hopefully). it just seems like the kind of thing that could be amusing the hockey gods....

4. apologies
condolences to nhl official mike cvik and family for the loss of the pater familia, cyril. my good friend and commenter, mikeH, ran across the news today and forwarded me the info.... to be honest, i'm not sure why mike's surfing the obits (looking for a nice apartment to rent, perhaps ?) but he did offer the following: "if you're not doing anything on Thursday, I say we go by the funeral with a couple of dozen eggs in case Kerry Fraser shows up."

.... of COURSE he's kidding !!!! (too soon ?)

5. the mayan calendar
does anyone else find it interesting that the world is supposed to end on 12/21 ? maybe a hint that sutter should be keeping jokinen and iginla apart. ;)

kay, that's it for the moment.
big game tomorrow against a surging squid and his habitants.... i can't WAIT.

also, i'll be the first to suggest the annual xmastime nerdy blogger meet-up.... perhaps december 23rd v. the blues ? the last time we hooked up it was v. the blues, and brandon prust played his last game in a red #29 (if i'm not mistaken) when cam janssen broke his jaw..... oh, and we lost. we always lose in the blogger meet-up game, but i say we do it anyways....
flames central ?

who's in ?
:)