Rite of Spring '14: Can you fall asleep with a panic switch?

[Alex Houston]

Van Houtens: So, why are you a Sharks fan?

Chief Wiggum: Well, y'know...when I was a child.....good regular seasons.....liked the logo.....

Van Houtens: Um, I'm sorry, you didn't really answer me. You just trailed off.

Chief Wiggum: Yea.....yea I did, didn't I?

[NJTank]

Well the Sharks logo is cool that is why they are my second favorite team.

[CS85]

Is this the part where I follow admiral's footsteps in how I wish I was a more intellectual sports fan but fall victim to my own inner meatball from time to time? Because I like it much better when we get along.

[The_Admiral]

We all go dumb. It's sports. It's not an intellectual pursuit. Now if I start making March Madness brackets to make Thomas Pynchon fight Dave Eggers, I'll be in trouble.

[Kramerica Industries]

In theory, the Blues shouldn't ever be in need of a goaltender who can "steal" them a series. This was a team that led their division for 90% of the season; they should've been good enough with Halak, in that case. Ryan Miller, frankly, held more name value than on-ice value at this point; it just seemed as if that if the Blues got that "big name" goalie they would be better equipped to make a deep run. It's fallacial thinking.

Any word on why Brian Elliott does not get to play a lot? His numbers look pretty good for his time in St. Louis. Is it about postseason performance (which is sub-.500 but the numbers don't seem too bad). Is it just that important to get a "big name" like Miller? He looks like a number 1 goalie to me.

I wouldn't want Brian Elliott as the starting goaltender of my time. He works well in a tandem and he works well on a team with excellent defensive structure and puck possession (you know, like St. Louis) but he gets exposed quite badly as a clear-cut starter. I rate Jaro Halak, on average, higher than him.

I must re-iterate that I think the Blues were horrible victims of bad luck more than anything else. They are a much better offensive team now than I thought they were the past couple of seasons and I really can't get enough of Vladimir Tarasenko and what his goal scoring capabilities promise to be going forward. Jaden Schwartz is a burgeoning two-way machine. That offensive firepower that I have always doubted with them isn't as much of a huge hole now compared to what it used to be, as far as how I see it. I don't know, I stress to death the idea of having star-level talent come the postseason because of how star-power plays up in small sample sizes, and I think St. Louis legitimately has that now both on the blueline and with their forwards.

But then more than half their forwards got hurt late in the season, and they lost the Central Division title. St. Louis is not like San Jose, from how I see it; that's not an elite team with a fragile mentality. But last season and this season, they did run into two teams that are kind of better versions of what St. Louis is/was; mainly, teams that had championship pedigrees, something the Blues were not able to attest to. St. Louis is a team that's only going to, at worst, maintain this level of performance in the coming years; that's an excellent hockey team. Problem for them is that the West is loaded both now and in the long-term so it isn't as if Chicago, LA, or Anaheim are going away any time soon, and I do think Colorado, inflated metrics duly noted, are a young enough team that they will improve in other ways and continue to, at worst, be a playoff contender in the coming years.

I've actually got a ton of research planned for the off-season on these matters so I'll be interested with what I end up finding.

[CS85]

We all go dumb. It's sports. It's not an intellectual pursuit.

Tell that to Jeremy Schaap.

[Kramerica Industries]

Never draft a defenseman first overall! I keep saying it. Even if they had gotten Backstrom, they'd be in good shape.

And yeah, over the Hawks' five-year span of lottery picks, they whiffed on Barker, Skille, and Beach. Barker was out of the league by 27, Skille is a borderline NHLer, and Beach never made the NHL at all out of a great first round where almost everyone did. It's their depth drafting that paid off.

I didn't pay as much attention last year at many of the propsects involved in the draft, and such, and so it seemed like it was stupid from my ignorant POV with all the reports that said Colorado would pass up drafting Seth Jones in the draft. There was also some of that ignorant type of confusion about "gee whiz, Lightning have one blueliner and five stacks of , so they draft a winger instead of Jones" that ran through my head.

Now, Seth Jones is a promising blueliner and all of that stuff, but it sure seems like people on average are a whole hell of a lot more hyped up about Jonathan Drouin than Seth Jones. I'm also doing my part to make sure I don't make those same stupid mistakes again because, damn, I know I have no problem looking stupid on my own merits, but I don't need to self-inflict it to hammer home the point.

[IceCap]

I like Ells a lot.

So this isn't aimed you in particular STL, you just sort of brought it up. And it's not aimed at any one fanbase either. It's aimed at ALL of hokey fandom.

I hate it when hockey fans start coming up with these sorts of nicknames for players on their teams. Brian Elliot becomes "Ells," Mike Smith become "Smitty," Steven Stamkos becomes "Stammer," James Reimer becomes "Reims."

Now nicknames for athletes has been a thing since forever, but stuff like "RG3," "LT," "King James," and "The Great One" were/are goofy in a "hey, it's sports" sort of way.

No, the trend that annoys me is when hockey fans start giving players nicknames as if they were drinking buddies. It also seems confined to hockey. I don't think any Colts or Broncos fans have ever called Peyton Manning "Manny."

It just bugs me because it seems to further some negative stereotypes concerning hockey fans.

I've heard the practice defended as "it's just the way hockey fans are" but I don't know. I'm a hockey fan and I was raised in one of the largest, most passionate hockey hotbeds in the world and I find the practice silly.

Again STL, I don't mean for this to come off as an attack on you. Your post just brought the subject to mind. Consider this a misplaced "what grinds your gears?" post.

[Kramerica Industries]

I don't think it's nearly as much of a hockey-specific thing as you seem to think it is.

[Sport]

The Pittsburgh/Chicago model was suck for a while, get very lucky in the draft, surround the superstar kids with defensive talent and veteran forwards, profit. St. Louis, like Columbus, didn't suck enough to get their Crosby, Stamkos, Kane, McKinnon etc. The difference between drafting first and drafting third or fourth is HUGE.

The reason the Oilers still suck is that they only got sort of lucky in the draft, and then failed to get anybody to play defense. The Oil gave up the most goals in the NHL this season. Taking Yakupov was probably an example when drafting a defenseman number 1 overall (Scott Howson has said on record he would've taken Murray #1 even if the Blue Jackets had won the lottery) was the right move, but that was also a wimpy draft and is likely the exception.

[Still MIGHTY]

I like Ells a lot.

So this isn't aimed you in particular STL, you just sort of brought it up. And it's not aimed at any one fanbase either. It's aimed at ALL of hokey fandom.

I hate it when hockey fans start coming up with these sorts of nicknames for players on their teams. Brian Elliot becomes "Ells," Mike Smith become "Smitty," Steven Stamkos becomes "Stammer," James Reimer becomes "Reims."

Now nicknames for athletes has been a thing since forever, but stuff like "RG3," "LT," "King James," and "The Great One" were/are goofy in a "hey, it's sports" sort of way.

No, the trend that annoys me is when hockey fans start giving players nicknames as if they were drinking buddies. It also seems confined to hockey. I don't think any Colts or Broncos fans have ever called Peyton Manning "Manny."

It just bugs me because it seems to further some negative stereotypes concerning hockey fans.

I've heard the practice defended as "it's just the way hockey fans are" but I don't know. I'm a hockey fan and I was raised in one of the largest, most passionate hockey hotbeds in the world and I find the practice silly.

Again STL, I don't mean for this to come off as an attack on you. Your post just brought the subject to mind. Consider this a misplaced "what grinds your gears?" post.

But it is just sort of a hockey thing, Mike haha. I think the fans pick it up from the players.

Like on the Ducks, I don't think I've heard anyone use full names in interviews ever. It's Getzy, Pears, Bones, Cogs, Beauch, Hillsy, etc. Hell, over the last two years, Teemu is apparently just "T".

So, in turn, I hear a lot of the fans (whether at games, in casual conversation, or on Twitter) refer to the players as such. It bleeds over.

[Breakwood]

RDS is reporting the Habs-Bruins series will begin Thursday night at 7:30. Game 2 is on Saturday at 12:30. Ugh afternoon hockey is horrible.

[STL FANATIC]

Again STL, I don't mean for this to come off as an attack on you. Your post just brought the subject to mind. Consider this a misplaced "what grinds your gears?" post.

Nah, you're good. And you're totally right. I actually laugh at this a lot. Especially when the nickname is actually longer because it's the same name just with a "y". Example: Jaden Schwartz = Schwartzy.

But at the end of the day, I follow their lead and use 'em I guess haha. In the case of Elliott, his Twitter handle is "KidElls1".

Moral of the story: hockey players are weird.

[The_Admiral]

All hockey names can be suffixed with -s, -ie, or -er.

[STL FANATIC]

Unless of course your name already sounds like a nickname. Then you cut it in half. (Ex. Oshie to Osh.)

[monkeypower]

I like Ells a lot.

So this isn't aimed you in particular STL, you just sort of brought it up. And it's not aimed at any one fanbase either. It's aimed at ALL of hokey fandom.

I hate it when hockey fans start coming up with these sorts of nicknames for players on their teams. Brian Elliot becomes "Ells," Mike Smith become "Smitty," Steven Stamkos becomes "Stammer," James Reimer becomes "Reims."

Now nicknames for athletes has been a thing since forever, but stuff like "RG3," "LT," "King James," and "The Great One" were/are goofy in a "hey, it's sports" sort of way.

No, the trend that annoys me is when hockey fans start giving players nicknames as if they were drinking buddies. It also seems confined to hockey. I don't think any Colts or Broncos fans have ever called Peyton Manning "Manny."

It just bugs me because it seems to further some negative stereotypes concerning hockey fans.

I've heard the practice defended as "it's just the way hockey fans are" but I don't know. I'm a hockey fan and I was raised in one of the largest, most passionate hockey hotbeds in the world and I find the practice silly.

Again STL, I don't mean for this to come off as an attack on you. Your post just brought the subject to mind. Consider this a misplaced "what grinds your gears?" post.

But it is just sort of a hockey thing, Mike haha. I think the fans pick it up from the players.

Like on the Ducks, I don't think I've heard anyone use full names in interviews ever. It's Getzy, Pears, Bones, Cogs, Beauch, Hillsy, etc. Hell, over the last two years, Teemu is apparently just "T".

So, in turn, I hear a lot of the fans (whether at games, in casual conversation, or on Twitter) refer to the players as such. It bleeds over.

I was quite disappointed when in that Ducks magazine you get at the games said that Lovejoy's nickname was "Lovey". Come on! He's the Reverend!

But I would guess Reverend is kind of hard to use as a nickname in a sentence and whatnot and Lovey works better, which leads into my gripe based on Ice_Cap's post. Most hockey nicknames follow the same unoriginal formula. Drop a couple letters off the last name and add a Y.

Lovey, Hillsy, Getzy, Smitty, Iggy, etc.

[CS85]

This is all too much. Sports isn't supposed to be fun, what the hell is the matter with everyone?

[Kevin W.]

All hockey names can be suffixed with -s, -ie, or -er.

Seabs, Kaner, Sharpie... yep, that's pretty accurate.

[DDR]

All hockey names can be suffixed with -s, -ie, or -er.

Seabs, Kaner, Sharpie... yep, that's pretty accurate.

I thought Seabrook's nickname was "The Headhunter?"

[CS85]

All hockey names can be suffixed with -s, -ie, or -er.

Seabs, Kaner, Sharpie... yep, that's pretty accurate.

I thought Seabrook's nickname was "The Headhunter?"

At least St. Louis/Chicago relations were good for a few short hours.