Steen Steers St.Louis To Victory

“And he dumps it in!” One of the most common phrases used in a game of ice hockey, it simply seems to be the American equivalent of “And he boots it forward!” The puck is simply hit up the rink towards the opposing team’s goal, yet deliberately not aimed towards it. The idea is to gain territory, pick up the puck after some hopefully fortuitous ricochets, and start a pre-trained attacking manoeuvre from further up the rink. Well, I think that is the case, otherwise, they just appear to be doing no more than hit and hope.

I have to admit, ice hockey always struck me as an exciting game, full of fancy footwork, great passing plays and huge hits emulating in fights for all to witness. Yet, after settling down to watch Edmonton v St. Louis my initial excitement slowly drained away. The only aspect that kept me mildly interested was the American commentary, firing facts at you from all angles, faster than another Tiger Wood’s mistress can sell her story to the press. Apparently, for instance, the commentators had never seen so much snow on the ice at Edmonton...

So, at the end of the first period we have seen one powerpoint play, two period shutouts and an unheard of amount of overexcitement over a relatively boring match. But then, all changed. The Oilers scored, the puck going out to the right winger, who switched the puck to a wide open Dustin Penner on the left, making it easy for him to place the puck into the goal for his 22nd of the year. Only a minute later the Blues score back after Brewer lets rip, firing the miniscule puck into the top-right hand corner. And before I knew what was happening two players had dropped their sticks and were attempting to square-up to each other, only to be prevented by the match umpires and their lack of ability to box.

Then with only a minute to go of the second period, the Blues goaltender tripped one of the Oiler’s offensive players, the referee put his hand up for a penalty, he then changed his mind, much to the bemusement of the commentators. But from the trip the Blues went straight up the ice, picked up a rebound off the goaltender and missed an open net from 2 yards, you can only imagine the commentators reaction at this point.
So we go into the 3rd period with the scores still level at 1-1. But only 2 minutes into the 3rd period and Steen fires into the short side, over the sliding defensive player into the net to put the Blues 2-1 up with a classy wrist shot. The rest of the period passes without much incident, leaving the Blues to leave Edmonton 2-1 winners.

The game certainly took off in the 2rd period but the commentary really made it exciting throughout. Ice Hockey is definitely worthy a watch, and my anticipation to watch the national sides in the forthcoming winter-Olympics is now ripe. Unfortunately, this may come with English commentary. Either way remember guys, “Blues Hockey is brought to you by Bud Light, just the right taste, it’s not too heavy, it’s not too light, the difference is drinkability”