head coach: Joel Quenneville

roster: C - Pierre Turgeon, Darren Turcotte, Harry York, Craig Conroy, Pascal Rheaume. LW - Geoff Courtnall, Tony Twist, Pavol Demitra. RW - Brett Hull, Jim Campbell, Joe Murphy, Scott Pellerin, Rudy Poeschek, Blair Atcheynum, Kelly Chase, Terry Yake. D - Al MacInnis, Chris Pronger, Steve Duchesne, Marc Bergevin, Chris McAlpine, Jamie Rivers, Rory Fitzpatrick. G - Grant Fuhr, Jamie McLennan.

injuries: Rudy Poeschek, d (back spasms Jan. 22, day-to-day); Joe Murphy, rw (surgery to repair torn ligaments in left wrist Nov. 6, indefinite (placed on injured reserve Nov. 6)).

transactions: Loaned Michel Picard, f, to Grand Rapids (IHL).

standings:

Western Conference - Central Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
Dallas       57  36  13   8    80  174  115
Detroit      58  31  15  12    74  177  136
St Louis     59  30  21   8    68  173  145
Phoenix      57  24  22  11    59  162  159
Chicago      56  22  25   9    53  134  133
Toronto      55  19  29   7    45  129  162

game results:

1/27 at Buffalo  T 3-3
1/29 Toronto     W 2-0
1/31 Dallas      W 6-3
2/04 at Toronto  L 3-2
2/05 at Boston   W 3-1
2/07 Detroit     W 4-1

team news:

by Jim Iovino, St. Louis Correspondent

Team MVP shows worth in return

How much does Brett Hull mean to the St. Louis Blues? If Hull's return from a broken wrist means anything, his worth to the club is priceless.

With Hull out of the lineup for 14 games, the Blues struggled. They went 4-7-3 in his absence and were weighed down with a seven-game winless streak when Hull returned to the ice on Jan. 29 against Toronto. Although Hull didn't score in the game (he had three shots), his presence made all the difference as the Blues ended their winless streak with a 2-0 blanking of the Leafs.

Two nights later, Hull announced to the rest of the league that he was back by notching four assists in the Blues' 6-3 drubbing of the Dallas Stars. Hull started the game quickly by racking up two assists before the match was even five minutes old. Just 58 seconds in, Hull earned a helper on a goal by Steve Duchesne. Hull's second assist in the first period came at the 4:50 mark when he set up Al MacInnis. Hull later assisted on both of Craig Conroy's goals, as well.

Things were looking good for St. Louis after the victory over the league-leading Stars. But the Blues suffered a slight setback in their next game when they blew a lead to the Leafs and lost 3-2.

Igor Korolev got the Leafs the lead early in the game. With the Blues on the power play, Korolev blocked a pass at the Toronto blue line, gathered the puck and then took off the other way. The St. Louis pointmen couldn't catch Korolev, who scored shorthanded against Grant Fuhr.

St. Louis took control of the game after that miscue and went to the locker room after the first period with a 2-1 lead. The score remained the same until the third period when special teams helped out the Leafs again. Derek King scored on the power play just 1:06 into the third to tie the game. Then with 6:25 to go in the game, Fredrik Modin threw a wrister on net that deflected up into the air off Fuhr's shoulder, bounced behind the Blues goaltender and into the net. Oops. That's gotta suck. Leafs win, 3-2.

Instead of curling up into the fetal position and feeling bad for themselves for the next couple games, the Blues rebounded from the tough loss well. The team traveled to Boston and defeated Bruins, 3-1, then returned home and handed the Red Wings a 4-1 loss to close out the pre-Olympic games.

The win also gave the Blues a 4-1 record since Hull's return, an impressive record considering Hull didn't score his first goal since being injured until there were 15.1 seconds left in the third period against Detroit. Hull didn't even shoot the puck on net, but it was counted as a goal by referee Paul Stewart. Detroit had pulled their goalie, and when Hull got some open ice defenseman Larry Murphy threw his stick to try to knock the puck off of Hull's stick. That, my friends, is an illegal move and an automatic goal for Hull. It was his 20th of the season.

Where in the heck are we?

With the team's winning ways of late, the Blues remain in the hunt for the third spot in the Western Conference. Dallas is cruising along with 80 points and control of the top spot. Both Colorado and Detroit are next with 74 points each, but since Colorado is tops in the Pacific, they get the second spot and Detroit is third. St. Louis is ranked fourth in the West with 68 points and a 30-21-8 record.

I dub thee an Olympian Blues fans have four reasons to cheer for Olympic ice hockey in Nagano. That's because St. Louis sent four players to participate in the Olympic Games. Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger will play for Team Canada, Brett Hull will be a key for Team USA and Pavol Demitra will suit up for Team Slovakia.

MacInnis almost cost Team Canada a superstar during the Blues-Red Wings game. MacInnis tried to flip a puck out of his zone, but he didn't quite get all of the puck. The vulcanized rubber greeted Brendan Shanahan's face with a smack, drawing blood. Shanahan had to get stitches for the cut, but said he'll be just fine when Team Canada begins play in the Olympics.

New Unis

Last report I mentioned the Blues were going to have a third jersey. Well, they unveiled the jersey/sock combination against the Stars on the 31st, and while they're not the greatest things since sliced bread, they're not as nutritionally deficient as sliced bread, either. I have no idea what that means...

The jerseys do have that "classic" look to them. It's as if Bob Plager is skating alongside Bernie Federko. Well, not quite, but they look kind of old school. All of the diagonal craziness that is happening in the new uniforms is gone. So is most, if not all, of the red. That just leaves the yellow and two shades of blue. Those would be dark and light. Solid stripes are around the bottom of the jersey, while stripes that resemble the Penguins home unis sit on the shoulders. The socks are pretty plain, as well.

The jersey is very tame by today's standards, but if you're a fan of the classic hockey look, this could be the jersey for you.

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