It's a big day for St Louis sports, as all 3 teams are in action today. Last night was a great win for the Blues, against a good team (consecutive appearances in conference finals is nothing to sneeze at). Tonight the Blues travel down the coast to Anaheim for a match against the Ducks. These back-to-back games don't allow a lot of time for deep thinking, but that's OK; that's not always needed. Keep it simple: Goal Support: Do it Again. Clutch Saves: Do it Again.
Also, the gathering at Cousin Hugo's was a blast last night. Good times, y'all... Let's Do it Again Soon!
The Enemy: The Ducks didn't add too many players during the off-season. But, when you feature a top line of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Bobby Ryan, there's not much to worry about. This line, and especially Perry's Hart trophy campaign, carried the team to the playoffs last year. You can safely bet that they'll be the center of attention for the Blues D all night long. Not to be ignored is the Finnish Flash, Teemu Selanne. He's known to score once in a while, too. At the opposite extreme is young star Cam Fowler on D. Cam is 19 years old; Teemu has been in the league for 19 years. And of course, you also have to remember Jonas Hiller, he of the badass goalie mask. Hiller was in net for the shut-out of the Sharks on Friday, and I'd expect him to be back tonight. Notably absent is second-line center Jason Blake, who suffered a deep cut when his arm was stepped on by a skate blade. He's due for surgery for a severed tendon, and will be on the shelf for a while.
Further Reading:
Puck Daddy Anaheim Ducks Season Preview
Final Verse: The game starts at 7 PM St Louis time, and the GDT should be along shortly beforehand. The broadcast outlets are FSMW for TV, and the radio broadcast will depend on how you're listening: over the air, you'll want to tune in to "Fresh" 102.5 FM KEZK (9 out of 10 orthodontists agree!). Over the web, I'm told that KMOX will still be streaming the Blues game. Whichever way you work it, get your commentin' fingers ready - it's gonna be a long day. Until the puck drops, this is your pre-game warmup.
Thanks again for everyone that came out last night to our viewing party.
Here's one of the craziest goal sequences you'll ever see, featuring Bobby Ryan
Bobby Ryan scores with Koivu's stick 12/12/10 (via NHLVideo)
LGB!
-CrossCheckRaise