Al MacInnis

Well, hockey fans... you won't see this superstar defensemen on the ice again unless you head out to the Chesterfield ice complex for a little youth hockey. The Blues retired my beloved #2 jersey last Sunday during a monumental ceremony at Savvis. Al is the first player to have his jersey hoisted into the rafters at the 'new' home of the Blues. He is the fifth in Blues history to have his jersey retired following the likes of Barclay Plager, Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, and the late Bob Gassoff. There were several Blues alumni on hand including Brett Hull, Rick Zombo, Jeff Brown, Marc Bergevin, Kelly Chase, Tony Twist, and a handful of others well before my time in hockey fanaticism. This game was the only sellout of the year after a season to forget. However, it was rather amusing when the previous owner and current GM were introduced and booed by a full house. Bill Laurie (shite owner highly guilty of franchise abandonment) and Larry Pleau (GM - as in Pleau must go) are certainly atop the shit list after failing to make key moves and prospective acquisitions during last year's lockout. At any rate, the ceremony was memorable as well as the career and accomplishments of Al MacInnis. It's disheartening that he will never play again, but it was an excellent send off for such a superb person. I generally make it a point not to get too attached to players, but I really enjoyed watching Al play for all these years.....esp. the St. Louis ones. I will miss not having him standing guard by the blue line. But the thing I will miss most is that wicked, 100mph slapshot. Spectacular. So yeah...I will miss the crap out of you , Big Al.

Here are a few more pictures from the ceremony along with some career highlights. Stay tuned next time for the humorous tale of the Village Idiot.

Al & family watching #2 rise to the rafters.

Same as above only from my point of view.


This was the door freebie....a mini-banner - front view.
The 2nd is the back of the mini-banner...chocked full of stats. Pretty neat.


This is the buffet available to you when you purchase Club Level seats. It's a mere $35/plate, which is a waste of good beer money if you ask me. However, I thought the picture I took was rather dynamic considering some of the other attempts I made throughout the night.

Career Highlights

• Ranks 3rd all-time among NHL d-men in goals, assists, and points. Goals = 340; Assists = 934; Points = 1,274
• Appeared in two Stanley Cup Finals and captured the cup with the Calgary Flames in 1989. He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy for postseason MVP.
• He attended the NHL All-Star game a total of 13 times. He also won the hardest shot competition several times as well.
• He was awarded the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL's best d-men in 1999.
• He earned a gold medal with Team Canada during the 2002 Winter Olympics.