Good morning, St. Louis

Good morning, Missouri, and good morning, Insiders. Thank you for your patience while the site was down early this morning due to maintenance. I hope you don’t mind, but some of the changes were made to the blog’s focus and constitution. Beginning at 10:00 a.m. PT, I am happy to announce that this site will become Vancouver Canucks Insider. I hope you don’t mind; you’ll hardly notice the difference.

Foolies! So we’re back in St. Louis. How many times has this team been in St. Louis over the last four seasons? So many times. Enough times that I’ve realized that I’ve sat here at this exact desk, looking out the exact window at the same Thomas F. Eagleton United States Courthouse (picture below, if you’ve forgotten what it looks like), waiting for that night’s dinner at Charlie Gitto’s. This is my eighth trip to St. Louis since I started covering the team – a number that includes a May, 2012 trip while I worked at FOX Sports West – and I am all too aware of this hotel’s peculiarities. You don’t want to stay in a room that hangs over the loading dock, because that’s where the building’s air conditioning is located, and the desk will vibrate continuously throughout the stay. You don’t want the flagpoles directly outside of your window, because the contact between the metal grommets and the poles creates a piercing and highly annoying metallic sound. I thought I was in the clear in my current room, but at 5:30 this morning I awoke to a steady, droning hum that I’d never heard before. It was more than white noise; it woke me up. Earplugs got me back to sleep, and the noise had dissipated by the time I awoke for good.

Judging from previous Good Morning St. Louis-es, I stayed in this room on:
February 11, 2013
March 27, 2013 – Same vantage, but one floor higher
April 29, 2013
May 8, 2013
January 2, 2014
January 16, 2014 – Same vantage, but one floor higher

After having researched this thoroughly, I have only stayed in this room only once before: prior to the 5-0 loss on the second day of this year. Welcome to St. Louis, where you develop a not-completely-accurate Groundhog’s Day complex.

There are three notes I’d like to pass along to you, Insiders:

1) The #YOTMB hashtag, referenced in Saturday’s Hockey Hall of Fame photo post, was unique to only one championship ring. That ring belongs to Mike Altieri, Vice President, Communications and Broadcasting and club spokesman. The photo of his engraved hashtag went slightly viral when the team received its rings, and it was assumed that #YOTMB was a team slogan, chosen by the players. That is incorrect. It is Mike’s hashtag.

2) Slava Voynov is due back in court this morning. This is another preliminary hearing in which the prosecution will share its evidence. There are no major developments expected to take place today, but remember to follow the usual suspects (LAKI, Rich Hammond, Lisa Dillman, Helene Elliott) for updates. Daily Breeze reporter Larry Altman is also someone worth following on Twitter for Voynov-related news.

3) The Kings’ Stadium Series jerseys will be revealed at 5:15 p.m. tomorrow (details here). I’ve been told that the jerseys are “close but not exact” to the rumored jerseys that have circulated. San Jose’s jerseys are here.

Have a good Monday, Insiders. There’s more to come from the Scottrade Center, where the team is scheduled to take the ice at 1:00 p.m. local time.