Rise and shine campers! In order to fit as many games as possible into the Hockey Weekend Across America event, the Blues are starting at 11:30 AM today. There is more info at Spectr17's fanshot HERE (including a link to the NBC website's stream) and also at the informative Puck The Media website. This is the first Blues appearance on network TV in a long, long time. Appropriate, then, that it is with a longtime rival like Chicago. Both teams are coming off of Saturday afternoon games and traveling, so we're all on equal terms there. I imagine they'll be arriving at the rink at about the same time, and greeting each other over morning coffees.
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl / Junior Wells
The Enemy: The Blues have only played 2 games against the Hawks this season so far, so we're going to see a lot of them in the upcoming weeks. They've just bounced back from a 9-game losing streak (all but one on the road) by beating the Rangers Thursday 4-2 and the Jackets 6-1 yesterday. That bad run has caused them to fall to 6th in the Western Conference, 10 points behind St Louis and within reach of the teams still fighting for a playoff spot. Both goaltenders have struggled; nominal starter Corey Crawford (the CBJ winner) is sitting on a 2.97 GAA, and backup Ray Emery has a 2.82 GAA. Both have a save percentage of .900. The scoring leaders are who you'd guess: Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, and Patrick Kane.
Further Reading:
Blues vs Blackhawks coverage
Final Verse: Puck drops at 11:30 AM St Louis time. The TV broadcast is on NBC today, or you can still listen on the mighty KMOX 1120 AM for the radio call. Until then, this is your pregame warmup. Pour yourself another cup of coffee, pop an aspirin or two for your Mardi Gras hangover, and get ready for more Bloozocky. If you need help waking up, maybe this video will help. Norwegians are weird.
NO(R)WAY ! (via totallyRandomHD)
LGB!
-CrossCheckRaise