The Final Countdown

No, we aren’t talking about the amazing techno song by Europe – unfortunately. Instead, we are talking about the regular seasons which kicks off for the St. Louis Blues in 11 days.

The NHL officially begins on October 7th as they once again will feature a few games taking place out of the country, but the main focus in St. Louis will be on the St. Louis Blues as the Philadelphia Flyers come in on October 9th.

There haven’t been many updates here lately, so let’s get caught up real fast.

Bishop Excelling
Following another impressive performance this preseason, goaltender Ben Bishop is starting to look like the highly touted netminder we have been told he was. In his most recent start, Bishop stopped 29-of-29 shots against Colorado, earning the Blues another preseason win.

For those of you that are worried about depending heavily on Jaroslav Halak in net, the knowledge that Bishop is waiting just behind Conklin should ease some fears. Halak hasn’t gotten off to the ideal start, but then again it is preseason and we should only really care about games that matter.

Season Ticket Promotion (1/2 price)
The Blues are confident they will make the playoffs – so confident that they will put their money where their mouth is. As you may have seen on TV or one the team’s site, they are offering a special promotion to a limited selection of season ticket seats. Their offer: Pay half of the price now and the other half when the Blues clinch a playoff spot. What if they don’t make the playoffs? Simple. You don’t pay the additional half.

While we love the confidence of the promotion, it may place fans in an awkward spot between cheering for their team yet not wanting to splash out several hundred dollars based on their success.

Predictions
Every blog has them and we are no different.

The Blues will make the playoffs, though it will likely come down to the wire. We are picturing a 7th or 8th seed.

Patrik Berglund will have a much, much better season in 2010-11 than he did last season. Sure, this might be an easy one as 2009-10 was dreadful, but we are calling for a significant rise as Berglund becomes a valuable asset.

Brad Boyes finds his scoring touch but doesn’t score more than 35 goals. Even without him hitting above 35+, a boost in offense would be an enormous help.