Al MacInnis's #2 retired

[DEAD!]

The Blues have retired the #2 jersey of one Al MacInnis

What really struck me was this:

[Stampman]

Brett Hull?

Interesting.

It seems too soon on one hand to retire his number, but then what else have Blues fans to look forward to?

I do hope the Flames will retire his number as well--he was a FLame longer and won the Cup & the Conn Smythe with them.

(And deserved a Norris or two during his time as a Flame.)

[NJTank]

They retire Hull's # next year

[SEMOSTLfan]

They retire Hull's # next year

they may as well have done it years ago...its been my feeling that its been retired unofficially for a long time. Not a single Blues player has worn #16 since he left. Even when Cory Stillman came here he wore #12, and then switched to #61.

[FiddySicks]

Wait. St. louis has a hockey team?

[Lee.]

Brett Hull?

Interesting.

It seems too soon on one hand to retire his number, but then what else have Blues fans to look forward to?

I do hope the Flames will retire his number as well--he was a FLame longer and won the Cup & the Conn Smythe with them.

(And deserved a Norris or two during his time as a Flame.)

Maybe Brett can be on hand when the Flames retire MacInnis's number all over again.

They could tour together, like Johnny and June.

[STL FANATIC]

I was there tonight, and it was a AWESOME ceremony followed by an AWESOME game.

The ceremony lasted about 50 minutes, but it never seemed like it was taking long. It was a perfect way for MacInnis to be honored.

The game was great, the Blues played awesome, and their goalie, Jason Bacashihua deserved a shutout. Only a 6 on 4 goal with 24.1 seconds left by former Blues Chris Pronger prevented it.

Even prior to that, Pronger was getting booed everytime he touched the puck. I didn't care for that, I liked Prongs and he never did anything to St. Louis. The Blues made a (bad) cost cutting decision and traded him. Not his fault.

Other than Al, Brett Hull got pretty easily the biggest ovation of the ceremony. His number will be officially (yes, it's been unofficial a while) shortly we all hope.

The Blues current regime of owner Bill Laurie, President Mark Sauer, and GM Larry Pleau got booed when they were introduced. I thought that was pretty classless. Sure, they (mostly just Laurie..Sauer and Pleau have just been doing what they've had to and haven't done that bad of a job) have sucked this year, but they all gave it a great run and had this team contending for a while. I think booing them, especially on this occassion was just not a great move. I applauded.

On a related note, during the game, new owner (sale has been completed, but it's been announced), Dave Checketts was sitting in a suite and shown and introduced on the big screen. Blues fans gave him a HUGE ovation.

Blues attendance tonight was 19,090. I don't know for sure, but I'd guess that this was easily the highest attended Blues home game this year.

And Al deserved it.

Congrats Al.

[CC97]

Tonight was just another example of how the Blues are well on their way to a playoff spot next season!

[STL FANATIC]

Tonight was just another example of how the Blues are well on their way to a playoff spot next season!

Good point.

Because you know with a healthy Barret Jackman and Eric Brewer and others, the Blues will have a solid core. Curtis Sanford and Jason Bacashihua look like they're real, real good NHL goalies. A new owner means we might make a splash in the free agent market. And of course, the Blues will probably have a top 3 pick meaning we can hopefully nab and NHL ready stud.

(but I'm not kidding...)

What tonight definatley WAS an example of is how the Blues are one of the classiest organization's in hockey no matter who is running the team.

[CC97]

Tonight was just another example of how the Blues are well on their way to a playoff spot next season!

Good point.

Because you know with a healthy Barret Jackman and Eric Brewer and others, the Blues will have a solid core. Curtis Sanford and Jason Bacashihua look like they're real, real good NHL goalies. A new owner means we might make a splash in the free agent market. And of course, the Blues will probably have a top 3 pick meaning we can hopefully nab and NHL ready stud.

(but I'm not kidding...)

What tonight definatley WAS an example of is how the Blues are one of the classiest organization's in hockey no matter who is running the team.

Ok, now spin the 13 game losing streak into a positive Mr. Simpson

[OMMF]

Blues attendance tonight was 19,090. I don't know for sure, but I'd guess that this was easily the highest attended Blues home game this year.

Opening night was 18354. The next 3 were north of 15000. Everything since has been in the 13-14000 range.

[STL FANATIC]

Ok, now spin the 13 game losing streak into a positive Mr. Simpson

No positives there other than we played some good teams really well. Like yesterday we played the Avs real well and Bacashihua played real well. Didn't play well enough for a win though. Earlier in the losing streak we played the Avs well, but it ended up in a shootout where we lost.

We were playing crappy for sure.

But, we lost our top Dman and assistant captain in Jackman, our captian in Drake, and our number 2 (after our number 1 had just gotten hurt for the season) goalie to injury during that streak.

It was poor play, but at a certain point your just accept things aren't happening for you this year. I still think we'll have what it takes to be in the playoffs next year though.

[SEMOSTLfan]

I'm not sure why they booed the lauries...I have no hard feelings toward them since the Blues have been more successful under their ownership than any other. They did what the felt was best for the franchise in the long run. The Blues will be back next year, the streak was bound to come to an end eventually.

Congrats to Al Mac, I definitely miss him on the ice and in the community.

[STL FANATIC]

One more photo to add. First, you can see the 2 on the corner boards. These were in at least the 2 corners I could see, and probably in all 4. There were also similar 2's painted behind the nets.

An interesting thing is the patch on the jersey. I saw it close up once on a television screen while buying concessions, but I can't really describe it. Looks classy though.

Maybe someone kind find a better pic or graphic somewhere, but I haven't yet.

[DEAD!]

One more photo to add. First, you can see the 2 on the corner boards. These were in at least the 2 corners I could see, and probably in all 4. There were also similar 2's painted behind the nets.

An interesting thing is the patch on the jersey. I saw it close up once on a television screen while buying concessions, but I can't really describe it. Looks classy though.

Maybe someone kind find a better pic or graphic somewhere, but I haven't yet.

try one of the pics where. Maybe you'll get a better look.

http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source/se...0%7c0&p=2&tag=1

[STL FANATIC]

Here's a little bit better shot, as well as another interesting photo.

More Detail

As has been done for other number ceremonies in the league, the Blues all wore Al's jersey for warmup. Oddly enough, I didn't notice this at the game...

Everyone in 2's

[STL FANATIC]

Alright, the Blues are auctioning off the jerseys worn that night for charity. I believe they are the game jerseys not the warmups (not sure though). I'm not sure what's supposed to happen with the warmups.

Here's that link:

http://stlblues.com/auctions/MacInnis-Jerseys.html

Anyways, they have a big photo of the patch worn.

Here's that:

[NJTank]

Nice STL it will bhe added in a few weeks.