Saturday Links - Postmodern Heroes

BLUES NEWS:

• The Blues lost to the Sharks Thursday, as you might recall. [SLGT]
• Fear The Fin, obviously, liked what they saw. [Fear The Fin; Fear The Fin]
• Despite being 3rd on the team in points per game, winning 55.6% of his draws, playing stellar defense against the other teams' top players, killing penalties, playing nearly 20 minutes a night and somehow making even Magnus Paajarvi look passable alongside him . . . the Blues somehow need more from Paul Stastny. My question, and I think it's a fair one, is . . . WHAT THE BLOODY FUCKING HELL MORE DO YOU WANT FROM HIM?! DO YOU WANT HIM TO BLOW YOU?! [SLGT]
• Meanwhile, Jake Allen returned to the practice ice yesterday. So that's a good sign, as he'll come in handy when Brian Elliott hits a proverbial wall soon. [StL Today / Morning Skate]
• And the DrinkScotch is now back to being . . . well, KINDA the DrinkScotch. Unlimited food/drink club seats are coming back! [Frozen Notes]
• For Episode #117 of Beyond Checkerdome, we chatted with Dan Bradley of The Predcast and On The Forecheck about the All-Star Game in NashVegas, that dreadful ass game from Tuesday and a bunch of other stuff. Check it out! [SLGT]

KNOW YOUR ENEMY--THE MINNESOTA WILD(S):

• For news and fan views on the Wild(s)--as well as a great podcast that recently got restarted after some technical problems--head on over to Hockey Wilderness. [Hockey Wilderness]

SCORES AND SCHEDULE:

• Part of the NHL digital redesign from MLB Advanced Media . . . is that you have to search the dates yourself. Sorry. There were 12 games Thursday and four last night. There will be 12 games today/tonight. [NHL.com Scores]

HOCKEY NEWS:

• $35 gets you a sweet John Scott shirt and a signed letter from the man himself, with part of the proceeds going to the Bell Let's Talk Mental Health Initiative. (S/T to BluesMay) [Sauce Hockey]
• Speaking of which . . . one of the storylines heading into the All-Star Game was his wife Danielle soon expecting twin girls. Well, they were born yesterday morning. [CBS Sports Eye on Hockey]
• oh gee isnt it nice the nhl is going to give an outdoor game to two really underserved hockey markets [Puck Daddy]
• The trade deadline could be uneventful. Well no shit. [USA Today]
• Zack Kassian is with the Oilers now, and the car accident that led him to rehab may have been a blessing in disguise for him. [Sportsnet]
• Meanwhile, the team Kassian was traded to but never played for--the Canadiens--are so unbelievably fucked right now. [TSN]
• Former Army coach and the man behind the bench for the 1960 Team USA Winter Olympic hockey team that won gold in Squaw Valley, CA, Jack Riley, passed away Wednesday at age 95. RIP, sir. [The Sporting News]
• People are starting to give a shit about concussions . . . but not quite enough, it appears. And definitely not the right people, it seems. [SB Nation]
• Former NHL enforcer Donald Brashear won $500K on Canada's version of Shark Tank (called Dragon's Den) recently, pitching an idea for a low-cost hockey stick company. [The Color of Hockey]

OTHER SHIT:

• Man, 2016 has been rough. BMX legend Dave Mirra has died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. [NPR / The Two-Way]
• A mason working on the old football stadium at Kansas State University found a note in a tobacco tin that appears to have been written in 1928. That would be 88 years ago. [Y! / AP]
• Chinese soccer teams are offering some outrageous transfer fees for some of the world's top soccer stars. The one they offered to Chelsea for Brazilian midfielder Oscar (which was rejected) shows these Chinese clubs are serious. [Deadspin / Screamer]
• Students storm a high school basketball court after an unreal buzzer-beating shot wins the game. [SB Nation / #Lookit]
• Former Blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge is writing a fictional series about aliens. Alrighty then. [Nerdist]
• Archaeologists in Turkey are unearthing a massive underground city that is quite impressive. [Mental Floss]

BEER OF THE DAY:

• When I lived in Missoula, I used to love heading up to Great Northern Brewery in Whitefish. Among their fine selections was Going To The Sun IPA, named after the road that goes through the stunning landscape of nearby Glacier National Park. It's a pretty damn tasty beer too. [Untappd]

VIDEOS:

The latest from the Postmodern Jukebox crew is a stunning tribute to the late David Bowie:

Just for one day.

And . . . yeah, fuck it, let's post the original version . . . well, a live version from Live Aid in 1985, anyway:

What a thrilling song.

AND NOW, FOR AN IMPORTANT UPDATE:

As noted Tuesday, the ol' schedule bug bit Hoosier Blue in the ass, and he will no longer be able to do off-day links. He did leave the door open for a possible return later, but for the time being, he's out. I thank him for his contributions, and he's welcome back any time as far as I'm concerned.

And as noted Tuesday, we're going to go in one of two ways, but it all depends on crowd participation:

1. BluesMay and I will split game days, as we've been doing, and there will be no links on off-days, or
2. One (or two, or several) of YOU enterprising folks can step in and help with links during off-days!

This offseason, after J-Mill had to bail on links, BluesMay and I simply anticipated going into the regular season splitting links schedule duties among ourselves for the entirety of the 82-game schedule and taking care of long breaks (such as that massive one we just had) accordingly.

Then, Hoosier Blue came along and took over Blues off-days. It helped fill a schedule, sure, but it mostly helped fill a huge void. Because for real, man . . . days without links are boring. And he didn't disappoint.

So, if you want to keep our Blues off-days from being boring and you have time to help out, give me a shout and we'll work you into the schedule here at the Links Factory. Again, it doesn't pay anything, but you can become the best kind of famous . . . REGIONALLY FAMOUS!

Shoot me an email . . . gtdonutking AT gmail DOT com . . . if you're interested in testing out your chops.

Otherwise . . . the schedule as I know it right now is that BluesMay will be back Tuesday and I'll return Friday.