Jon Hamm Loves the Blues

With the long anticipated premiere of the hit show Mad Men, it's time to point out the Blues' number one celebrity fan.

       "...I follow the Blues, they're my team..."
                               -Jon Hamm


John Hamm is not just a casual celebrity fan, he love da Blues. He even totes around that old hat that he remembers buying from the Kiel Center (who cares when the date was?).

He recently talked to Toranto.com about being such a big fan. He says that the team's success has given him some bragging rights against his on-screen fiancee from Mad Men, Jessica Pare`, a native of Montreal and avid Canadiens fan:

"It's non-stop hockey talk," said Hamm. "I'm from St. Louis, our Blues are doing very well this year, and I can lay into her beloved Canadiens."

I wonder how much Halak has come up in those conversations...

We've all seen those ads that Hamm did for the 2009 season, but here is an excellent interview where he talks about what hockey and the Blues have meant to him, and the fact that he considers hockey to be "the most immediate, exciting, fun sport on the planet." My thoughts exactly.



Good luck on the show Mr. Hamm, I'm a big fan. The show is fantastic!

Yahoo Video: Are the Blues the NHL's Best Team?

Playoff Bound!

The Blues become the first team in the NHL to clinch a playoff spot with their 100th point on the season.

With a 3-1 win at Tampa Bay Saturday night the Blues reached 100 points, and more importantly, clinched a playoff berth. They became the first team to reach those two milestones in the NHL. The New York Rangers are the next closest team with 95 points.

The game-winning goal came from Jaden Schwartz in his first NHL game. He became the 13th player in franchise history to score in his debut.

Schwartz got acclimated to the "loose Blues" in the warm up skate when the team had him lead them onto the ice, but they all stopped at the bench. Schwartz proceeded to the ice and did two laps alone while the rest of the guys got a good laugh from the tunnel.

Berglund opened the scoring with a short-handed goal in the first made possible by a fantastic set-up from Alex Pietrangelo. Perron added the third goal on a partial break. Halak made 22 saves.

Andy McDonald did not play and is "week to week" as Hitchcock puts it. David Backes left the game early with a foot injury, not great news.

Even with all the injuries, the Blues continue to win. They are surging and doing it on the road. All this is a great testament to the system that Hitchcock has sold to the team.

Blues Blanked by Canes

Can't Hang on In Chicago

May the Schwartz Be With Us

Jaden Schwartz will join the Blues in Chicago.

The Blues were silent during the trade deadline mainly due to the ongoing ownership fiasco, but on Monday they added a player without giving up a thing. The Blues first round pick in 2010 and 14th overall, Jaden Schwartz has signed a three-year entry level contract. He will join the team in Chicago today and be available to play in Tuesday's game.

So the questions for fans to ponder become: Will he play? How much will he play? How big of a contribution is the team expecting from him down the stretch and into the playoffs? Can he make an impact? Who sits? (This is not a good sign for the return of Steen and D'agostini.)

The decision of how much Schwartz will contribute will be in the hands of his almighty, Ken Hitchcock.

"Ken knows hockey, does his research," Blues' GM Doug Armstrong said. "He will make those decisions."

By rule, a player who signs a contract this year has to play in the NHL, so Schwartz will not be shipped to the minors. He will be with the Note for the rest of the season.

Schwartz, 19, lead Colorado College with 41 points in 30 games. Their season came to a surprising end Saturday when they were upset by Michigan Tech in the WCHA playoffs.

More impressively, he was named the captain of team Canada's 2012 World Junior team. A rarity considering he was a college sophomore playing in the United States.

Armstong said that scouts were very impressed with Schwartz's play and thought he was ready for the NHL. Taking in the fact that the Blues are injury depleted, they felt that signing him was a benefit for the team.

There is a good chance Blues fans will see the NHL debut of Jaden Schwartz Tuesday in Chicago.


Que the jumbo tron:

Super Tuesday

With Tuesday's convincing win against Chicago the Blues show they're Presidential contenders.

The Blues came back from a productive road trip to Scottrade on Tuesday. They beat the rival Blackhawks 5-1, outplaying them for 60 minutes. They are used to dominating teams on home ice, but the recent trip, where their record was 5-1, was very successful for several reasons: The Blues nabbed 10 of 12 points, they took over first place in the Central from the Red Wings, and they proved they can win on the road.

The Blues' special teams are also improving. On the trip they shut down the top four power plays: Edmonton, Nashville, Vancouver, and San Jose. On the other end, the Note's power play went 5-for-16.

The Blues are improving in most their trouble areas from earlier in the season, including getting plenty of offensive boost from the return of Andy McDonald.

They are running on all cylinders and there is no reason why they can not make a run at the President's Trophy. The hardware doesn't mean much, hopefully their minds are on a different piece of hardware, but the home ice advantage throughout the playoffs will mean a lot.

"It's hard not to look at the standings and see where we are," McDonald said. "It's exciting. we realize there is a lot of hard work left. More importantly, we have to make sure we're getting our game to a spot where we're ready for the playoffs and improving, not kind of coasting into the playoffs. We want to be playing at the top of our game."

If they continue playing at this pace, they may cruise into the playoffs atop the NHL.

Highlights: