It appears that once again the St. Louis Blues will be snubbed out of any outdoor games despite the success of the franchise over the last couple seasons and the history behind the team.  Many hockey fans forget that the Blues were established in 1967 as part of the NHL’s original expansion.  While the Blues are the only expansion team from ’67 yet to win a Stanley Cup, they did reach the finals in each of their first three seasons.  Perhaps the drought of not reaching the Cup Finals for the last 41 years has the NHL looking to other teams, but what are all of the reasons that the Blues should not get an outdoor game, from the perspective of the NHL and its fans:

• The Blues have spent the last 44 years trying to raise the cup and never have
• The Blues lack a true superstar forward
• The St. Louis market is not nearly as large as other hockey markets, especially those included in the upcoming Stadium Series
• The Blues are a very young team that has yet to prove themselves
• The weather in St. Louis is unpredictable

For fans of the St. Louis Blues though, there is a very different perception.  In 2009, the NHL held their annual Winter Classic in the windy city at the famous Wrigley Field.  When Blues fans heard the news that the Hawks would be hosting, many fans hoped that it would not be long before the classic was held at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.  So why do the Blues deserve to host an outdoor game at Busch?

• The Blues have a strong fanbase that deserves attention
• Young and rising players keep St. Louis Blues games exciting
• Players like Alex Pietrangelo and Vladimir Tarasenko are bringing the Blues more attention
• The Blues are close to a team that could compete for the cup.  The NHL should want to highlight rising teams
• Busch Stadium is part of the St. Louis culture.  The Blues often highlight the Cardinals and vice versa.  It is a strong community.
• If the weather in Los Angeles is not a fear, St. Louis should be much easier

Looking on StubHub, fans can find tickets for tonight’s matchup against the Los Angeles Kings for under $20, but is this just a sign that fans in St. Louis are uninterested?  After looking more closely, it doesn’t look like St. Louis is the problem at all.

Tickets for the Blues-Kings series, in particular Game 3 (the first taking place in L.A.) are available for as little as $12 this morning.  The city that won a Stanley Cup just a season ago is now selling their tickets off for less than the fans in St. Louis who are not nearly as optimistic as they were last season.

The problem doesn’t stop there though either.  The Anaheim Ducks finished with one of the best records in the regular season, but $20 will get you into a game during this series as well to see them faceoff against the Detroit Red Wings.

What about the Chicago Blackhawks?  Surely the fans that love their team more than God this season would be dying to catch some live playoff action, right?  Nope.  Again, for under $20 you could catch the Hawks taking on the Minnesota Wild.

So the question begs to be answered, did the lockout kill the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs?

Before the start of the season, the talk of winning the cup in a shortened season seemed to come with an asterisk  but once play actually began we all forgot about the little star that could come with a championship this year.  Fans who said they would protest the league upon its return did not.  Fans poured into NHL arenas around the league boosting the NHL back to the status that it had last season.  Records were being broken, stars were shining, and even Alex Ovechkin decided to join in on the fun.

While fans eagerly watched the season quickly unfold, there were ups and downs, but it all leads to the most exciting playoffs in professional sports, the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  Could your team have the chance to make the epic run and raise the cup at the end of the season?  Well, for many teams, it seems like their fans just don’t care.

Not every team in the league is having issues selling tickets.  Markets like New York, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Montreal, and other major hockey cities are seeing tickets sell out and prices rise, but who wouldn’t expect that to happen.  Playoff hockey is supposed to be the time of year where even fair weather fans come out to support their local team.  We saw the Phoenix Coyotes sell out their arena to the aging community in Glendale last season after making it to the part of the season that actually matters.  So where are the fans in these other hockey markets?

Hockey is not new to Los Angeles or Anaheim or especially Detroit, Chicago, or St. Louis, but fans seem to be much more complacent this year.  Was the excitement taken away somehow, did the league remove a certain flair by shortened the season?

Perhaps fans in Chicago and Anaheim are planning on a long playoff run and are saving their money for later, but then why did they even bother purchasing tickets for this round in the first place.  Season ticket holders are losing a TON of money on these seats and the teams that hoped to recoup some of their losses from cancelled games can’t appeal to fans when you can buy a ticket second hand for a fraction of the price.

Hopefully as the playoffs progress, fans will once again show their die-hard spirit, but for now it looks like the lockout may have taken a lot away from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Tune in to watch the St. Louis Blues face off against the Kings tonight in St. Louis, or decide not to order a pizza and pick up tickets for less then the food would have been and see it live.

LET’S GO BLUES!

-Alex Hodschayan