Whew.

So, we never have to worry about something as ridiculous as "Mighty Ducks of Anahaim" on the Cup. Next year, they'll be just the Anaheim Ducks (still silly, but acceptable in a University of Oregon Ducks sort of way) and will have lost that goofy logo finally. And that's good, because this is a team that in a non-Blues playoff I would cheer. They are more exciting than I originally thought and in a non-Disney, non-Blues context I could root for them. Sorta.

So, good for Edmonton, which is a really Cup-worthy team. They are scrapping and digging and paying the horrible price demanded by the Stanley Cup playoffs. Broken teeth, broken down bodies, battling the flu as it ravages the locker room... the Cup requires sacrifice. And these guys are sacrificing.

On the other side, I'm still pulling for the Canes, but I won't be upset if the Sabres move on. Both teams have a lot to like, and both give hope to Blues fans, who can see reason to believe that we could be the obnoxious fans rooting for our team in June.

With the new NHL rules, the Blues are in position to improve with a resurgent Keith Tkachuk (I believe), a good group of character/role playing youngsters (Dutchie, McClement, Wideman, Dallman) other NHL proven players who can improve on 2005 (Drake, Jackman, Brewer, Cajanek) and plenty of new faces via free agency. I've mentioned several times the Blues HAVE to spend millions this summer just to get to the salary floor, so we could easily see 2/3rds of a top line, a number 1 defenseman and a new top netminder all come to town. All of that won't happen, but plenty of it will. Plus, we could see a #1 overall draft pick wearing a Note come October. (On a side note, I really think it'll be Staal that the Blues pick come June 24th)

So, there's no reason to think they won't make the playoffs next year, IF they make the right moves. Be like Carolina and Buffalo and Edmonton - spend on speed, hands and a couple key spots (#1 D and a #1 goalie). Invest in your youth (give every prospect a chance in camp). Pick up a key guy at the right time (plenty of cap room available). I'm not quite ready to call for a Cup run, but I definitely think that a savvy management team can get these Blues back into the playoffs next year.

They better anyway, or Son of GT might wind up a Sabres fan for real.

One Mystery Solved; Addressing One Blues Off Season Suggestion

Well, I now know why the Son of GT loves those Sabres.

It never made much sense. He's already saddled with a Blues-first love of hockey (due to his father) and his unbelievably awesome first professional hockey game ever, but I had several theories as to why he had some weird link to upstate New York. From least likely to most likely, they were:

1. The kid loves the new NHL and its emphasis on speed and skill. These guys are fun as hell to watch play. They are dangling the puck, firing big breakouts, using speed around the outside.... They are a team that we should want to win.
2. Buffalo's effective use of former has-beens. The Land Of Misfit Toys, NHL Style. Connolly (out w/a head injury), Dumont, Briere, Hecht, Drury, Jillson, Lydman and Pyatt have all been cast-off by former teams that gave up on them. Most have blossomed. Some (Jillson and Pyatt for sure) are still looking to break out.
3. They have cool sweaters. Sure, the blue and gold with the actual buffalo and actual sabres was a nice uni, but the black/red/silver with the charging Buff is pretty cool. I actually thought this was the main reason that Son of GT was on board with them.
4. A personal vendetta, like his sister says she hates the Sabres. Usually enough of a reason to get behind a team, if the 1st Daughter of GT, (who doesn't care about hockey nearly as much as she cares about Hilary Duff and the latest Kelly Clarkson single), had so much as said, "I don't like the Sabres", Son of GT would pick up the torch for life. The kid is a lot of things, and steadfast is definitely one of them.

But no. If I'd been smart (which is seldom an accusation around the GT HQ), I would have looked for a simpler solution. During Game 3 of the eastern conference finals, as we watched the game and I silently rooted for the Canes, I asked the gloating and preening Sabres fan why he liked them so much.

"Because their name is like Lightsabers."

Oh yeah. I recently purchased the Star Wars trilogy for the boy and he has taken to it like...well, like his father took to it back in 1977-1980.

New Blues 2006-2007

There is some local support to 'Retire 51' for the Cardinals. In a much, MUCH smaller movement, after an internet column, there is some local support to "Bring Back Soupy" - Jim Campbell, the onetime 20-goal scorer and let him have a run at making the Blues roster this summer.

To this I say, "break The Cycle".

Look, I know that everything in St. Louis that is popular gets several runs and that many people in St. Louis have a hard time accepting anything new over anything old, but cheese and rice, Soupy hasn't been good since St. Louis had a massive flood eat a good portion of the northern river coastline.

In the article, he says that he can make $100-150k in the minors, but he'd love a shot at the Blues (minimum NHL wage=$450k). No shit. I'd love a shot at making the Blues at minimum, too. Hell, I'd go anywhere in the world to play hockey and make Soupy's 'comfortable' $100-150k. Wouldn't you? Play a game for six months in a Europe, play and eat and drink during off days and have your summers off? It's like being a teacher, but at 5 times the pay and 1% of the responsibility. Of course you'd play minor league hockey. Pro hockey on a minimum salary of $450k? That's 4.5times the fun and 450% less responsibility.

Excuse me, Soup, but no shit.

I really hope that new management is smart enough to say, thanks, but no thanks to Soupy and Harry York and Blair Atcheynum and Joe Murphy and Terry Yake and Pascal Rheaume.

The page has turned, and while we're looking for untapped talent, you guys are what we call 'tapped talent'. We know what we get with you, so good luck in Europe.

I'd love to see a huge training camp roster, full of our prospects and newly signed free agents and every AHL kid who can't get a look in Detroit and Colorado.

But enough already with the former Blues pulling on the Note one last time. Soupy had like two good months. Let's not pretend he's going to become another 20 goal scorer at age 33.

So, This Is Kinda Funny

Not really sure how to preface this whole story, but I think it all starts with the fact that a certain NHL referee somehow manages to reside within two blocks of the GT Empire HQ. I've never met the guy, but I have received his copy of the Hockey News before (I sure hope the United States Postal Service managed to get that little snafu fixed). He also happens to reside right next to some folks who happen to be friends of the wifeditor.

So, the wifeditor went out with said friend and a couple other gals tonight. They went here and there, but finally wound up at some club where the music was a tad too loud and the market is focused on new meat. The wifeditor noticed her friend talking to someone and went up was introduced to the guy, her friend's NHL ref neighbor.

Now, some of you who have followed the NHL playoffs remember a story from the first round, back when the Hurricanes were losing the series 2-0 to Montreal. The story was that a referee made a call from the redline that cost the Hurricanes a big goal. The penalty that was called 'occurred' down near the net, about 10 feet from the other referee in the game.

In the end, the controversial call did not get too much press because the Whalers...Canes won the series and moved on, but at the time, it was a bad call that was press-worthy in Carolina and with the OLN crew. I must have mentioned it to the wifeditor.

So back to tonight. Once introduced to the NHL referee neighbor, wifeditor, as if on some sort of GT version of Punk'd, immediately jumps into the guy with, "so, my husband says you made a bad call during the playoffs."

Peel goes with, "I don't know about that."

"You sure, some strange call...?"

"I didn't hear about it."

"I did."

Pause. Awkward silence.

Wifeditor: "So, are you doing any more games or are you done?"

Peel: "I'm done."

See why I love this girl? In perfect GT fashion, going for the joke somehow comes out on top of everything else.

Here's a List of Stuff I Suck At.

1. Not ending blog post titles with a preposition.
2. Being romantic with the wifeditor.
3. Not being a jackass to drunk jackass Cardinals fans.
4. Picking the hockey playoffs this year.

That first one is obvious. I actually did it on purpose because I have a great friend who used to always note whenever someone ended a spoken statement with 'at' or 'from' by adding some other random crap. For instance:

Anyone: So, where did you get that at?
Goebel: From At To.

Which he and the wifeditor and I think is funny. Everyone else finds it a tad jackassy. To which I say, well, then that just says something about where you went to school at.

From At To.

That Second One.
Actually works in my favor because the wifeditor, back in her pre-Gallagher days had a boyfriend who invited her over to his place, only to greet her with some soft music, a bottle of champagne and two flutes.

She dumped him like immediately.

So, that tells you a little bit about where the wifeditor comes from.

At To From.

I Am Kind Of A Jackass To Other Jackasses.
Maybe I'm boiling down my 'why I like Blues fans better' theory, but I went to the Birds game last night. The jackass in front of one of my buddies clearly hates his life. We were laughing and joking and having fun in spite of a fairly boring stretch of the game (commonly known as the second through eighth innings; I kid, I kid). But hoosier with an attitude goes out of his way to delineate certain actions that we could take that would cause us (him and the four of us) to have 'a problem'.

Being significantly more sober than we wanted to be, we defused the situation by telling hoosier, 'well, none of that is a problem, so no worries.'

His reply? 'Oh, I'm not worried, I'm just letting you know how it is.'

In other words, "I'm an ass and I hate how my life turned out, so I'm going to fight someone tonight. I can't find any Mets fans, so I'll have to be ok with fighting a Cardinals fan. Yes, I know we're all here to cheer for the same team and to hopefully have fun doing it, but, as previously stated, I hate my life and must compensate for it by trying to start a fight with anyone I can find. At."

I'm paraphrasing, of course, but you know what I mean. I can still laugh about it because my buddy who he started with spent the next three innings spilling beer onto the huusier's seat and making sure that his peanut shell dust and fibers fell onto the guy's knockoff jersey.

Meanwhile, I've never had that happen at a Blues game, ever. Somehow the Blues fans can all manage to remember that we all live in the same town and are cheering for the same team. Hell, go dump your beer on the freakin' guy who is wearing the Red Wings jersey, even though the game is against the Preds (sure he's there, he's always there).

But somehow I've had the confrontation with the drunk Cards fan happen at like 60% of all the Cardinals games I've gone to.

From At To.

It's Like I'm The Grim Reaper Of Hockey Picks.

I hope you guys don't have any vested interest in the teams left, because if I pick your team, they are in trouble. I went one-for-four last round, but I still believe the Sharks were the better team in that matchup.

So, here we go. In an attempt to pick teams I want to win versus teams I think will win, I'm going with Carolina and Edmonton.

I think the Sabres could win this series for sure, and son of GT will clearly be pulling for them, but I can't help but want to see Weight and Stillman and Brind'Amour move on to a shot at the Cup.

Sure those guys have issues, but they all do. Weight may or may not have been part of the discord that cost Coach Q his job. Stillamn may or may not have been a cancer in the room after his arrival in exchange for the likeable Craig Conroy. Maybe Brindy did or di not sleep with some former teammate's girlfriend...or had his wife.girlfriend slept with by a teammate...I can never remember which crazy rumor it was....

But I still have to pull for them. I'm a fan, and as a fan, I root for the guy on the ice. Whatever happens off of it is their deal and whatever I hear about them is probably at least 50% wrong 98% of the time.

And I like the way those guys play hockey. I hope they move on to the Finals.

I want Edmonton to win, but not for the same reason. For whatever reason, I couldn't care less if Chris Pronger wins a Cup. Maybe it's my bias towards forwards over defensemen, but I just want Edmonton to move on because I don't want to have to live with 'Mighty Ducks of Anaheim' on the Cup.

If they win next year, when they have been re-named the Anaheim Ducks, I'll probably be fine. I just find the MDoA crap to be so demeaning to hockey fans. Thank you, Disney, for ruining a whole team and making them a freakin' non-supportable group of good guys. That team is good and dangerous and have won me over. A bit. Next year, with a new logo and a new name? Ok, then I might get past it. Until then, I hope they get kicked right back to where they came from.

At To From.

Second Round - Can You Muster Any Excitement?

Are you ready for some football?

I am trying very hard to watch these games. Center Ice helps because I don't have to watch the OLN guys try to figure out how to broadcast a hockey game OJT-style.

Tonight, I was subjected to the Ducks/Flames game seven, which had all the makings of the Ducks' 2003 run to the Cup Finals. It made me think about a lot of hockey junk. For one, I'm a huge fan of the new NHL with the new changes. In 2003, when the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim made a run to the finals, a 2 goal lead was 'change the channel' time. Find another game, because that one is over. The Oilers wild four-goal third period against the Evil Empire on Thursday was about a million times more exciting. A fast, young team beat the Wings despite being down 2-0 with only 20 minutes to play.

Diggity-different and me likey.

I can only hope that the Ducks, who do not play a full-blown trap game, but have managed to slow down play somehow, get eliminated by the much more exciting Avs. Tons of scoring versus tons of defense. Come on scoring.

And the other big thing I was reminded of is that horrible name. The Ducks lost to the Devils in game seven two Cups ago. Which means we were just a couple bounces of luck away from having "Mighty Ducks of Anaheim" engraved (FOREVER) on the coolest trophy in sports. Yikes.

Under new ownership, the team from not-quite-LA is getting a name and logo change this summer, but if they win this year the travesty could still happen. Meanwhile, I'm sure they are going to lose the 'Mighty' crap and the back-asswards team name before location garbage, but the name is still going to 'incorporte' the name Duck.

Great. The OC Mallards? The Bedroom Community Whitebellies?

Jesus. Just scrap it all. People out there think they're attached to the Duck name, but give it two years and they'll all be saying, "what was I thinking? Dude."

On With The Crappy Predictions

1 Ottawa v 4 Buffalo
I like the way the Sabres have played, and I know that son of GT will be pulling for them, but they're about to run into a sickly talented team. Great goaltending, with Hasek waiting in the wings, nasty (Chara and Phillips) and mobile (Redden and Meszaros and Volchenkov) defensemen, and just a silly array of scoring forwards (too many to list, but they just added Havlat after a huge injury layoff this year and he leads the team in goals with 6 and points with 10).

I'd love to say Sabres, but Ottawa is just too sick right now. Sens in 5.

2 Carolina v 6 Jersey
Another series that is pulling me in two directions, I have a hard time going against NJ, even without Stevens and whatnot. But the Weight and Stillman factor and the excitement of Eric Staal and a young goalie in Cam Ward gives me reason to see the Blues in them. Our team could draft a younger Staal in just a few weeks and could have a youngster goalie start the new season in net. Maybe I'm grasping again, but I'd like to see the Canes get the win. Against NJ, I'll take 'em in 7.

5 San Jose v 8 Edmonton
Hey, great job Oilers in beating the Wings. We tip out cap. But the Sharks are a silly amount of good and will win this thing in 6. Thornton/Cheechoo are going to break out and soon. Unfortunately, we'll all be subjected to that lame-ass shark-chomp arm thing they do out there (when they're not all furiously checking their Blackberries en masse).

6 Ducks v 7 Colorado
Please, Q. Please. Keep up the scoring and get just good enough 'tending from Theodore and get the Ducks and their crap-ass style of play out. Please.

See, I'm saying please? Avs in 7.

Some of you liked my non-game predictions last round, so I'll add some more this week.

The Playoffs

I really thought that I'd find the playoffs more interesting. I thought that'd I'd really be able to get behind some teams. I sat with the son of GT and talked about the teams we liked and would support: Carolina (Dougie Weight); San Jose (that's a good freakin' team); Buffalo (the kid really like the Sabres for some reason); anyone playing Detroit (family rule).

Lots to watch; lots to root for, right? Wrong.

There's just something about having your team out that makes hockey so much less exciting. I've watched the Ottawa/Tampa series. I'm sure that was great for Sens fans and heart-wrenching for Bolt fans. I'd hoped to be watching and jumping out of the couch for the big goals. Didn't happen. Some sweet goals, for sure, but Ijust did not care. Ottawa is a machineand they are Cup Final bound. But without a chance that ourNote couldbe there, I become more analytical than fanatical.

Back in '99 the Blues were playing the Coyotes in the first round. I was living in Virginia at the time and working where I had to be at work no later than 7 am. The Arizona games were coming on so late that I was jeopardizing my entire day of wakefulness just to tune in. So of course they went to 7 games.

Game seven started at about 10pm in VA. By the time they went to OT, it was 1am. By the time Turgeon scored and they won, it was after 2. Along the way, in order to help the cause, I'd gone upstairs and pulled out my away Blues jersey (which I wore when I played pick-up). Then I'd gone upstairsand gotten my home Hull jersey and put that on. On TOP of the the other jersey. Somewhere else along the line I'd grabbed a Blues hat. I think I even ransacked the sleeping wife's gear for other STL-related garb.

When the Blues scored and beat freaking Jeremy Roenick, god-damn keith Tkachuk (wasn't a Blue yet, so I hated him) and stoopid-lookin' Nik Khabibulin, I screamed out loud with my fisted hands up high. Then I shut down the tube and basically ran up to go to bed.

When I woke up less than four hours later to go to work, I still had the jerseys on and the smile was still on my face. Nothing beats the playoffs.

When your team is playing.

But this year, my first year as a fan without a playoff team in the fight, I'm having a hard time getting excited. I'm glad the Hurricanes have battled back because I'm pulling for Weight. It's too bad that Sillinger's season is over, but the Sharks were obviously way too much for the Preds once they lost Vokoun to a woman-disease. Chris Mason played hard, but come on. You're not a career minor league goalie at age 30 because you have the potential to put together a 60-day Cup run.

I do find it funny that The Visor helped sink an already-sinking Vancouver team. The only way to beat that is if the Blues could have gotten Detroit to take Lalime to be their starting goalie and then folded in the first round. Of course, they folded anyway, but it wasn't Lalime's or even Osgood's fault. But I'm glad they're done. Do you think Chris Pronger is thinking, "hmm. That wasn't impossible, after all. Why was that so hard in St. Louis?"

Do you think he and Shanahan had a moment in the handshake line? "Hey. Traded for you. Maybe we can both win Cups after leaving St. Louis?"

Further Predictions

OK, everyone likes predictions, so I'll throw some out. Of course, going off my first round predictions, I called the Wings, Stars and Rangers to move on. I got the Sharks and Sens right, but calling the Flyers, Canes and Flames are still up for grabs (yes, I called the Flyers even though the son of GT wants the Sbres - don't tell him).

For the rest of the first round, I think the Sabres will close it out, but I would like to see the Flyers move on and have youngster Umberger become their rallying point. That kid got destroyed with a huge, clean hit and came back to score a goal in his next game (he missed one as a precaution). Drafted in the first round by Vancouver (home of The Visor), traded to NYR and let go as an UFA by the Blueshirts, I've always thought the kid deserved a chance. Behind Carter and Richards, he doesn't get much rookie-love press, but he could easily become the next Rod Brind'Amour.

I also think that the Canes (and Weight) close out Montreal and advance, as do the Flames at home in game 7.

I'll do some second-round stuff when it all gets settled, but here are a few other Gallagher GT predictions:

-Kovalev (MTL) scores at least one more sweet move to score.
-I stand out at the next Cardinals' game selling GT and think, "I can't wait until we get back to hockey crowds".
-Dougie Weight lobbies to come back to St. Louis while on-air during the playoffs.
-I bump an open beer with my elbow and think, "when the hell did I open that?"
-Hasek causes controversy in Ottawa by proclaiming himself ready to "start in net", even though Ray Emery has been awesomely deliciously awesome in net for the Sens and is clearly the new starter.
-RJ Umberger becomes a cult hero. Unless the Flyers can't come back. In which case...
-Chris Drury becomes a cult hero. Again. And we have to hear about how he pitched the game that won the Little League World Series when he was 12 years old. Again.
-Detroit throws their goaltending under the bus.
-The wifeditor wakes up and urgently says, "what're you doing?" before falling asleep while mumbling, "hot".