Almost There

NHL action returns in 2 days. Your St. Louis Blues return in 3 days. The Blues will (hopefully) be 1-0 by Friday evening. They will (hopefully) be 2-0 by … O.K., enough of that. We are almost there folks, the long wait is nearly over. As we all know by now, the Blues play two games in Sweden this weekend and have already been hard at work practicing and preparing several time zones away. With the new season comes a few other new things to keep an eye on, both on this blog and in other locations across the internet – including your chance to win Blues tickets or an autographed puck from the team’s mascot, Louie Blues.

There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get to it:

• The Blues play their final preseason game of the year today (Tuesday) at noon against Linkoping HC. Is this game necessary? Not really. I suppose it is beneficial for the team to get a game under their belt in a completely brand new environment, but other than that, bring on the games that count.

• Interested in seeing just where the Blues play this weekend? We are too. Tour the Globe Arena thanks to StlBlues.com.

• The Blues are holding two watch parties from the Scottrade Center so you can follow the Blues live. The event is free, though no word on if it will cost anything to park. This event particularly is useful for Friday for those of you with lousy providers that don’t carry Versus (cough, DirectTv, cough).

• This very site, FrozenNotes.com, will serve as the St. Louis Blues correspondent for the New York Times and their piece “Hockey Night in Blogdom”. The first piece of the season just was posted this morning and can be found here.

• Do you use Twitter? If so, you can chat all things Blues with me by following along with FrozenNotes.

• FREE STUFF! Now that I have your attention, the Blues (and their mascot, Louie Blues) are intent on giving away tickets and other items this season. If you are on Facebook, be sure to add Louie Blues as your friend. The current contest is being ran on Facebook, and is likely the easiest contest you have ever entered. Step 1: Add Louie Blues as a friend. Step 2: In your status message type “I’m a Louie Blues friend and I want to win tickets to a Blues home game!”. Make sure you type it, and don’t copy/paste, as Louie Blues name needs to link to his facebook page for your entry to be valid. You can do this once per day between Sept. 28th and Oct. 1st, and each entry improves your chances of winning when names are drawn. So what can you win? FIRST PLACE: Two tickets to a Blues home game. SECOND PLACE (Five winners): Receive one autographed puck.  Not too shabby.

• For more info and potential contests, follow Louie Blues on Twitter at LouieSTLBlues. I got to admit, he’s pretty funny.

So there you have it. Lot’s to talk about with the season right around the corner and a lot of events/activities to follow off the ice. As always, feel free to leave a comment or message me through e-mail or Twitter. The more Blues fans the merrier…or something like that.