LITTLE ROCK — Musial on ice raises roof, funds
The NHL’s St. Louis Blues paid tribute to former St. Louis Cardinal great Stan Musial before Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Wild.
During pregame warmups, the Blues wore No. 6 jerseys honoring Musial, who died Jan. 19 at 92.
Blues defenseman Wade Redden - who wears No. 6 - scored the first goal of the game, in which St. Louis won 5-4 in overtime to improve to 5-1.
The jerseys were autographed by the Blues players and they were auctioned off during the game to raise money for Cardinals Care, the charity foundation of the Cardinals.
Musial was also honored during a pregame ceremony in which his grandson Brian Schwarze dropped the ceremonial first puck as the crowd at the Scottrade Center gave him a standing ovation.
“Just hearing the stories and the type of guy he was, it was pretty special,” Blues goalie Brian Elliott told Fox Sports Midwest. “I think this is a great sports town and they honor the greats that have played here so it was pretty cool to see everybody in that No. 6.”
Red wedding?
Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips is used to the attention, being one of the top defensive players in Major League Baseball.
At the Reds Caravan stop Sunday at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, he fielded one of the most bizarre questions he’s received with ease:
“Will you please marry my daughter,” Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman read from a submitted question.
Said Phillips, who scanned the crowd looking for the daughter: “Where she at? What up, girl? It just depends on what she brings to the table.”
“Are you done?” Brennaman said.
Phillips showed appreciation for the Reds’ fans, one of whom apparently wants to marry the three-time Gold Glove winner.
“It was crazy,” Phillips told the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News. “There were some girls crying and one person fainted on me. They didn’t fall on me. They fell on the floor.”
Blinded by the ref
Assistant coach Chris Clark of the North American Hockey League’s Wenatchee [Wash.] Wild had enough of the officiating Saturday in his team’s game against the Kenai River Brown Bears.
Dressed in a bow tie and wearing sunglasses, Clark walked onto the ice late in the third period using a hockey stick to imitate a walking stick. The crowd of 3,337 at the Town Toyota Center appreciated Clark’s antics, but the officials did not.
Clark, who walked around the rink like a blind man tapping his stick on the ice, was ejected from the game.
“I don’t know what he [the referee] could have heard from center ice with 3,500 screaming,” Clark told the Wenatchee World.
Later, Wild Coach Bliss Littler was ejected and Wenatchee lost 2-1.
“Perhaps they were blind to the repercussions of their actions,” wrote Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo! Sports.
Quote of the day
“I don’t know if anybody would have beaten him this week. He’s definitely on his game.” Nick Watney on Tiger Woods, who won the Farmers Insurance Open on Monday in San Diego
Sports, Pages 16 on 01/29/2013