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Best Wishes To The Pleau Family

January 8, 2007, 11:02 PM ET [ Comments]
Andy Strickland
St Louis Blues Blogger •1380 ESPN • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Our best wishes go out to Wendy Pleau, the wife of Blues General Manager Larry.

Wendy was recently diagnosed with cancer and will continue receiving cancer treatments for another three months.

Larry explained that there will be a lot of ups and downs during the next few months; understandably he needs to be her side as Wendy’s type of cancer is being treated very aggressively.

Larry appreciates the compassion President John Davidson has shown the Pleau family. He has told Larry to take as much time as needed.

Pleau still stops by the office in between hospital visits when he can. Davidson is the one taking calls from other GM’s and handling everything including just about all of Pleau’s day-to-day responsibilities.

Davidson, who talks with Pleau three to five times a day, told me how important it is that each person in the organization does his or her part to ensure Wendy wins this battle. He said the Blues are a very close organization and we need to help Wendy. “She will win”.

Larry has been watching most games on television and said he couldn’t be happier with the way the club is performing. He is thrilled with the overall energy of the team and is excited with a few of the recent crowds.

Please keep Wendy and the entire Pleau family in your thoughts.


Blues Clues!

On Monday goaltender Curtis Sanford practiced for the first time with the team since tearing his groin several weeks ago, and will make the trip to Columbus. Depending on how he improves over the next few days he could begin a conditioning assignment in Peoria by the end of the week.

Christian Backman has made the trip and is feeling much better as well. He has an outside shot at playing next Saturday at home vs. Los Angeles.

Ryan Johnson has skated for the fourth consecutive day on Monday. He still can’t shoot as he recovers from a separated shoulder. He should be healthy enough to returnm to the lineup in about 2-3 weeks.

D.J. King has been called up from Peoria. King has been playing much better as of late and the coaches along with JD need to see if he's capable of playing at this level. The organization feels he is much more than a tough guy. They see him as a player who can make plays, protect the puck, and cycle well. King will be in the lineup on Tuesday.

I thought there was something to the fact that the Blues play Cam Janssen and the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday, but Janssen was recently sent down to the AHL. Janssen is a tough kid who would no doubt be looking to put on a show against his hometown team. He entertained the St. Louis fans last year and would look to do the same this time around knowing people are watching on television back home.

Don’t waste your energy complaining about New Jersey and the trap. Every team in the NHL traps in one form or another.

Teams will change how they trap depending on how one team breaks out vs. the next.

The Jamal Mayers fight that involved Jordin Tootoo on Saturday was a decent tilt. It was obvious Mayers and Tootoo were trying to hurt one another and looking to KO.


United Hockey League Commissioner Richard Brosal would like to put a franchise back into the Family arena in St. Charles, Missouri. Brosal will meet with new St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann very soon.

Part of Ehlmann’s responsibility as County Executive is to run the Family Arena.

The UHL is hoping Ehlmann will give a new regime the necessary amount of weekend dates that would allow a franchise a opportunity to be successful. On average each franchise schedules 26 Friday and Saturday home games. The former St. Charles County Executive gave the Missouri River Otters 13 weekend games prior to folding after last season.

Brosal says there is plenty of Ownership interest from individuals that would like to put pro hockey back into the Family Arena. A ECHL team is also a possibility.

It was a great day on Sunday as every Blues player was out signing autographs at area rinks throughout St. Louis. It was priceless to see a David Backes racing a five year old, Barret Jackman playing keep away with the puck, or Keith Tkachuk holding and kissing babies (seriously), apparently Tkachuk was the life of the party at Affton ice rink where kids were going nuts meeting #7.

The Blues invited me to attend Kirkwood Ice Rink where Jackman, Matt Walker and Backes entertained the kids or visa versa.

It was great to see the interaction between some professional athletes that understand their roles as members of the community.

John Luetkemeyer is the director of the mite development program for the Kirkwood Youth Hockey Association.

Luetkemeyer grew up playing at Kirkwood as is now giving back as a coach. He said the kids had been bouncing off the walls in anticipation of skating with NHL players. It’s a big deal for the kids to interact with professional athletes but the parents appreciate it just as much. The players likely don’t understand how much it means to people when they make an effort to volunteer their time.

The youth hockey community is a tight group. Hockey is different than other minor sports. You don’t see parents using hockey as a babysitter like you might see in soccer, baseball, or softball. How many soccer moms are dropping off their kids at 5:30 in the morning for a 6:00 am practice?

The mite program Luetkemeyer runs in unique in the sense that kids don’t play a traditional schedule like the other minor hockey associations. It is simply a skill development program that keeps kids interested by instituting a variety of drills that prepare kids to move on to the squirt level.

If you live in St. Louis and have a 5-8 year old that is interested in playing hockey contact John Luetkemeyer with Kirkwood hockey at [email protected]

There is no question these kids will remember getting an autograph from one of their favorite Blues players. NHL players were no different when they were young. I asked a few to recall a memory when they received an autograph when they were kids.

Bill Guerin- signed photo of Dave Inkpen who played for the Springfield Indians.

David Backes- autograph of Tony Oliva who played baseball for the Minnesota Twins.

Jay McClement- wrote his favorite player Patrick Roy a letter and a few weeks later received a autograph photo from the Hall of Fame Goaltender.

Martin Rucinsky- signed hockey stick by Czech legend Ivan Hlinka.

Manny Legace- One time waited for Rick Vaive outside by the bus for several minutes. Vaive was playing for Toronto at the time. He was late for the bus and there was no time to sign for everyone that was there. Legace who was left disappointed ran into Vaive several years later in Florida when Laegace was playing in the East Coast Hockey League. He reminded Vaive about what he did and gave him trouble for it.

Ryan Johnson- John Maclean autograph. Maclean was playing for New Jersey but was in Winnipeg for a game. Johnson was there for a minor hockey tournament and went to the morning skate and got his signature.

Equipment Assistant Ray Halle who grew up in Hartford got an autograph from none other than Blues Assistant Coach Brad Shaw. Shaw was playing with the Whalers at the time.

The best story has to go to Jamal Mayers who made his way backstage at a Whitney Houston concert in Toronto when he was 10 years old. He and his brother both got Houston’s autograph. This was before Houston found Bobby Brown and several other extracurricular activities.

More to come,

Andy Strickland

[email protected]
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