Celebrating One Year
at Frozen Notes

A year has passed since FrozenNotes broke into the blog world and started churning out regular Blues content. A lot has changed over that time including the pretty disappointing 2009-10 hockey season. If you check in here regularly, you’ve read a few of the 175 (soon to be 176) posts that have covered everything from news to fantasy hockey to player profiles and a live report during the trade deadline. Today we look back and give some of the best memories we have had over the past year.

A Shift in Coaching
The Andy Murray era came and went and Davis Payne now finds himself as the main man behind the bench for the Blues. Payne had a rough stretch to try and prove himself and will be much easier to analyze when we see his system implemented from training camp rather than midway through the year.

Payne appears to have better chemistry with the youngsters on the squad which is a talent we can’t say Andy Murray possessed. The Blues have made it official that Payne will be the coach moving forward and now is the time to see what he can do with this team.

Development of the Youngsters
Everyone expected skaters such as Oshie, Perron and Berglund to take their next collective step forward and help carry this team. Unfortunately, we never really saw that and even saw Berglund take a pretty significant step backward.

Looking ahead, the team will need these three to really take their game to the next level if they hope to contend.

Erik Johnson did well in his first season back from knee surgery and should come into the 2010-11 season more prepared and lacking the rust he at times showed during the 2009-10 campaign.

Fans in the Stands
The Blues marketing team likely chalked up last season as a success based on all the sell outs and all around solid attendance, but I feel they failed miserably. Leading into the year, the marketing campaign surrounded a tagline of “You’re the last piece of the puzzle”, with the fans representing the last puzzle piece to a Stanley Cup title. They certainly didn’t set the bar too high, did they?

Sports Marketing 101 my friends – never advertise based on the idea of winning a title you haven’t won yet.

Season ticket prices have gone up by a significant margin heading into the new year, and will likely drive many season ticket holders away that saw home loss after home loss last season. Common sense says that we will see fewer season ticket holders what with the higher price and poor product, but the finals numbers are yet to be seen.

Best of the Blog

Over the course of the year, I’ve seen a lot of strange things over here at FrozenNotes, but perhaps nothing catches my eye more than the Google searches people are using to arrive at this blog. Below are a handful of my favorites:

Top Search Results 

– “Dish Network Fox Sports Midwest”
No surprise here. Dish and FSM failed to reach a deal meaning that 35 games were not televised to Dish customers. It became a guessing game which would be shown and which would not be to those who did not keep a copy of the list of blackouts.

– “Lars Eller”
Considered the best prospect in the St. Louis organization, it is really no surprise that the youngster is searched so often. This number should only rise as Eller looks to make himself a permanent fixture in the roster.

– “Derek Armstrong Girlfriend”
Um … what? Armstrong played a very limited role with the team at the NHL level, but that didn’t stop people from wanting to learn about his relationship status. To those that don’t believe Puck Bunnies exist, look no further than what people are searching.

– “Ty Conklin Mustache”
Conks looked like he belonged in adult films rather than in a hockey game last season as he sported one of the best mustaches to grace the game.

– “Carey Price Cam Janssen”
When a goalie and a fighter try to occupy the same space on the ice, it leads to something special. In this case, Janssen trying to avoid Price but ultimately decking him, causing pandemonium on the ice.

– “Inglorious Backes”
The name given to David Backes prior to the Olympic games as he pummeled multiple members of the squad from Canada.

– “The Stache of Liberty”
Users looking for the Stache of Liberty ultimately landed and saw Conklin’s impressive number … but I’ve got to ask … what the hell is a stache of liberty? Did the lady start taking hormones?

– “TJ Oshie cut his hair”
Yep – that’s when you know teen girls follow your every waking move. To be fair, Oshie’s perm look was pretty brutal.

–  “But I will blame it on”
Oh Google. You work in mysterious ways.