Blues Players Give Back to Fans, Community on Twitter

Ever wonder where Erik Johnson and Patrik Berglund like to grab sushi? Or what David Perron thinks about the Kovalchuk contract situation? As Twitter becomes more and more popular, an increasing number of athletes are joining in on the fun, and using it to interact with fans.

There are currently 5 Blues players, 1 Blues Prospect (who has an excellent shot at making the team within two years), and even a couple Blues television and radio personalities you can connect with on Twitter. David Peron (@DP_57), hometown kid Cam Janssen (@CamJanssen55) and Brad Winchester (@bradwinchester) were among the first of the Blues players to join the Twitter revolution. Perron seems to enjoy connecting with fans the most, as he can often be found responding to questions from fans and even giving away the occasional signed stick or puck through a  trivia contest (more on that later). Blues Radio Personality Chris Kerber (@chriskerber) and Television Color Analyst Darren Pang (@panger40) are also active on Twitter from time to time, most often sharing opinions on hockey news and occasionally taking stabs at players and reporters.

The most recent players to join in on the fun are Erik Johnson (@erikjohnson6), Patrik Berglund (@pberglund21) and prospect Ian Cole (@ICole28). While Cole hasn’t really had time to do a lot of tweeting with summer school in session, Erik and Patrik appear to be having a good time joking around with each other (Swenglish?) and updating followers on their dinner plans. There is also the occasional photo thrown in (Patrik Berglund learning twitter in the locker room and Cam Janssen throwing out the first pitch at the Busch Stadium).

Giving Back

While it’s fun to read about the sushi in Clayton and who won a FIFA 10 Xbox soccer match, some of these players are also having fun with contests and most recently, arranging a contest to give money to charity. David Perron started by giving away autographed sticks and pucks when asking followers to answer trivia questions. Erik wanted to increase his follower number quickly, so he offered up two tickets to the Blues home opener to the first person to answer a trivia question right once he reached 3,000 followers (which he did in less than 48 hours!). Not to be outdone by his teammates, Cam is offering up a pair of tickets to ANY home game to his 6,000^th follower (he’s catching up fast). In addition to giving back to the fans, Perron, EJ and Berglund have teamed up to give $5,000 each to a charity of their choice (which they are taking suggestions for) once David gets to 20,000 followers, EJ reaches 15,000 and Patrik has 10,000 followers. So Blues fans, here’s your challenge, let’s get Perron, EJ and Berglund a collective 45,000 followers so that a local charity can be helped.

Update: Erik Johnson tweeted today that once he gets to 15,000 followers not only will he donate $5,000 to charity, but Easton Hockey will match the donation!! He’s almost half way there, let’s get him the rest of the way!

Looking for the latest Blues news? Here is a list of people to follow on Twitter:

Blues Blogs:
@BlueNoteZone
@StLouisGameTime
@HockeyChats

Reporters:
@jprutherford (Jeremy Rutherford) – Blues writer for St. Louis Post-Dispatch
@andystickland (Andy Strickland) – 590 The Fan Radio Personality and NHL writer
@lkorac10 (Louie (Lou) Korac) – sports writer for the Alton Telegraph and Jersey County Star
@NormSanders (Norm Sanders) – Blues writer for Belleville News-Democrat

Blues Organization:
@NHL – Official NHL feed
@St_Louis_Blues – Official Blues feed
@LouieSTLBlues – the mascot Louie
@chriskerber – Blues Radio Announcer
@panger40 – Blues TV Color Analyst
@Jkellyhockey – Blues TV Play-by-Play Broadcaster
@DP_57 – David Peron
@bradwinchester – Brad Winchester
@CamJanssen55 – Cam Janssen
@Erikjohnson6 – Erik Johnson
@pberglund21 – Patrik Berglund
@ICole28 – Ian Cole
@Perioa_Rivermen – Offical Peoria Riverman feed
@ScottradeCenter – Official Scottrade Center feed

Did I miss anyone? If you have a suggestion to add to this list leave a comment.

You can follow me on Twitter at @StephyPhillips. Feel free to send me a tweet letting me know how I’m doing and with suggestions on upcoming blogs.