By Marcus Pettersson
Hello, my name is Marcus, I'll be your live blogger tonight, please buckle up.
Before we get things started, I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm as short as Paul Kariya, constantly have one of those Michael Peca 5 o'clock stubbles going on, have been called "cute" and "ugly" in the same sentence, likes the word "clementine" and drinks my vodka straight.
Oh, I almost forgot. I live in Sweden. That's right. In fact, I'm there here right now, 4500 miles (give or take a couple) away in a town called Borås. An hour 'til the games starts, it's 1:30 a.m. over here, and if I listen carefully I can hear my girlfriend's snoring from the bedroom. We had some glasses of wine tonight, which was stupid since red wine always makes me sleepy. But don't worry -- I've bunked up with lots of speed coffee and a tranq-gun just in case the girlfriend wakes up from me yelling obscenities at the TV.
Why have some wine drinker in Sweden do a live blog, you ask? As far as I know, it's never been done before, so why the hell not? Game Time is all about getting drunk breaking new ground.
But enough about me, on to the main event, the hated Colorado Avalanche visiting the St Louis Blues at the DrinkScotch Center.
Last season the Blues was 3-1 against the Avs. However, it's a new season and they're up against a much improved Colorado squad this time around. With new additions Scott Hannan and Ryan Smyth together with always dangerous Milan Hejduk and Joe Sakic plus the definite emergance of Paul Stastny (3 games, 8 points), the Avs sure look strong.
The word from Denver is that Jose Theodore will get the start tonight, which could mean that Colorado will have to focus on defense more than usual. The shaky Theodore is better for the Blues than the much steadier Peter Budaj. Theodore is 0-3-0 with a 4.03 GAA in his career against St. Louis. Advice: lots of shots. You hear that, David Perron?
Here's previews from Yahoo and TSN.
Blues line-up:
Kariya-Tkachuk-Boyes
Rucinsky-Weight-Perron
Stempniak-McClement-Backes
Mayers-Ryan Johnson-Hinote
Walker-Salvador
Jackman-DuPont
Backman-Wagner
I'll post again when the game starts. Please comment below. Think I'm an idiot, a waste of space, about as stupid as it gets, a bad speller doing fine? Be sure to let me know.
OK, here we go. Legace in net again tonight. Manny looked steady the other night against Nashville. If he can keep from giving up too many rebounds and gets help from the D, he'll be fine.
Think David Perron is nervous? In case you didn't know, tonights his first NHL game. Like evvar... Somehow he doesn't strike me as a nervous person. If anything, he seems to be the kind of guy that only gets inspired by a roaring crowd of almost 20.000 people.
John Kelly's wearing a gold tie. Over here, that means you're rooting for the other team... so to speak.
20:00 -- Question: why don't they play Los Bastardos by Primus when the other team enters the ice? Anyhoo, big crowd tonight! Let's hope those loud St Louisian cheers scare the crap out of Theodore.
19:00 -- Damn! Those Avs sure look dangerous straight from the get go. Blues has to keep the Stastny-line on a close leach.
18:46 -- He does it again! Boyes on the rebound! 1-0. This could be fun... Kariya and Tkachuck with the assists.
16:08 -- Helvete! (Hell!) That was an own goal. It's just sad. 1-1 and Legace looks like something just bit him in the ass. Stastny gets the goal, his fifth of the year.
14:33 -- Salvador almost with a chance to shoot. When was the last time he scored a goal?
"Hey Marcus, how did you become a Blues fan?" - Brad Lee. Brett Hull forced me by scoring a hat-trick in the first NHL game I ever saw.
12:00 -- Dupont with a shot. Damn does Kariya has some skills. He always feeds his mates with nice passes.
9:50 -- Nice shift by Perron. Hustling and playing with energy. Love the future of this team. Perron, Oshie, EJ, Berglund, Junland, Polak... damn, our young guys makes me excited. And no -- not excited that way. Perv.
8:34 -- Stempniak gets soooo close with a backhander! Another reason for excitement: Dutchie Stempniak.
5:57 -- As I thought, this game's a tight one, with both teams playing it close. Oh, by the way -- Avs jerseys have always been amongst the ugliest in the league.
4:35 --How old is Joe Sakic? 38? Really? He looks like 25-26... GLOVE SAVE by Legace. Steady, little Manny. Steady.
3:17 -- Wow. Mayers checks and blocks a shot. In the same shift. He has 2 goals already, you know. No, really. It's true.
1:07 -- Kariya with a slapper! Remember that shot in the Stanley Cup Finals when he scored against Brodeur? I do.
0:01 -- Hinote out for roughing. Is that final face-off really necessery (spelling?)? Yes, it was.
So that's it for the first. Whadda ya think? Blues outshooting the Avs 9-7. Perron got 4:27 minutes worth of NHL hockey in that period.
A lot of things to keep track on. Writing, watching the game, reading comments, keeping an eye in the clock, sipping on a newly opened Czech-beer... Sorry if I haven't been able to respond much to the comments. Well, Second period will start soon enough. New post. Follow me.