Wednesday Links - Stacy's Grandma

BLUES NEWS:

• The Blues' prospects beat the Wild(s) 7-1 to earn a spot in the third place game at the Traverse City Tournament . . . [SLGT]
• . . . which the Blues won, over the Hurricanes, 5-1. Surely Brian will have more on this soon. [StL Today / Morning Skate]
• St. Louis was named one of three finalists for the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championships. (I'd go. Get it done!) [SLGT]
• No one has really been talking about Magnus Paajarvi this offseason. Not shocking. But Lou Korac talked to the young Swede regarding his plan for the upcoming season. [In the Slot / Lou Korac]
• Leave the C on the chest of David Backes, says buffa82. [SLGT]
• Hildy wonders (along with other pundits) if Scottie Upshall and Scott Gomez are upgrades for the fourth line. (Uhhhhhhh, yes.) [SLGT]
• Some dorknostril decided to try and predict which Blues would make 2016 WCoH rosters. [SLGT]
• Ken Hitchcock and the rest of the coaching staff (which, somehow, is still entirely intact despite last year's playoff folly) discuss 3-on-3 overtime strategy. [SLGT FanShots]
• The life and death of the St. Louis Arena, AKA The Checkerdome, in a massive slideshow. [StL Today]

HOCKEY NEWS:

• YOU can be an NHL concussion spotter! (No, really, you can be.) Anyway, the NHL will have off-ice "concussion spotters" at every game this season, though they don't have to be medically trained, which seems . . . ummmmm, I dunno, NOT good? [NHL.com]
• Ryan Lambert ponders the slim possibility of a 50-goal-scorer in the NHL this season in this week's What We Learned. (And he continues to lambaste a certain Blues blog that is not good at its' craft . . . no, it's not us.) [Puck Daddy]
• Lambert also wonders if we have a skewed perception of Steven Stamkos in Trending Topics. [Puck Daddy]
• A poll of 35 NHLers showed that 34 of those 35 would be accepting of an openly gay teammate. Which is very good. #YouCanPlay [USA Today]
• Three key things to know about the new apparel deal between the NHL and Adidas, which was made official yesterday. [CBS Sports Eye on Hockey]
• Simon Gagne has decided to retire after a 14-year NHL career. [Sportsnet]
• The agent of Islanders forward Brock Nelson says the team hasn't talked with him in "six weeks". Ironically, six weeks ago, the Isles offered Nelson a two-year deal. Nelson has to sign by tomorrow, or the team can tell him to fuck off for a year if they so desire. [Newsday]
• Maple Leafs defenseman and Captain Dion Phaneuf was candid regarding trade rumors and whether or not he requested a trade. (He didn't, he says.) [TSN]

OTHER SHIT:

• Candy corn is terrible. Coming up with a way to put MORE candy corn flavor in something . . . is worse. [Jezebel]
• I . . . REALLY didn't want to know that, NASA. [Nerdist]
• Facebook is apparently adding a "Dislike" function soon. Oh joy. [NPR / The Two-Way]
• Shocking revelation . . . you won't win money playing daily/weekly fantasy football games! (I fucking could've told you that.) [Deadspin]
• Over in Ireland, an uprooted 200+-year-old tree revealed a nearly 1000-year-old skeleton. Eeeek. [Mental Floss]
• NOTE: When committing a burglary, don't leave your keys and cell phone at the crime scene . . . and if you do, don't go back for them. [Y! / AP]

VIDEO:

No, seriously, this is about Stacy's grandmother:

Oh, and well done.

No Beyond Checkerdome this week. Episode #98 will come your way sometime next week, we hope.