St. Louis Blues Winter Olympic Players: Grading Performances so Far
In the world of hockey opinion blogs it’s never too early to grade your players, right? Now that every team has played their first game we can give you the down-low on all nine St. Louis Blues playing in the Olympic tournament. I wish I could say these are objective reviews, but that wouldn’t be as much fun! We’re focusing on bringing you updates on goals, assists, points, and goaltender performance from the first game to the last, and while you are probably recording them and watching them well after the fact, unless you want to be up at 2AM or even 6:30AM (ugh!) you may miss some of the action.
If you’ve seen the scoreboard, you know that some of the games were laughers while others were nail-biters. The St. Louis Blues representatives all played in their respective teams’ first games, with varying degrees of success. Here’s my take:
The Captain of the St. Louis Blues made his presence felt throughout the game, playing his usual hard-nosed style, making and taking the big hits, and grinding away in the dirty areas of the ice. He scored the 3rd of Team USA’s SIX unanswered 2nd period goals en route to a 7-1 shellacking of the Slovakians.
Player Grade: A
Shatty also was his true-Blue self Thursday, playing stifling defense and jumping into the offensive action with two shots on goal and an assist on the night.
Player Grade: A
There isn’t anything modest about the way T.J. Oshie plays hockey, and it was evident on the ice Thursday where Osh notched two assists and was a +2 in Team USA’s big win.
Player Grade: A
Bergie’s goal on two shots Wednesday in Sweden’s 4-2 victory over the Czech Republic showed Blues fans that the big forward can still play hungry, and use his size to an advantage in tough places on the ice.
Player Grade: A
Steener showed his speed and was +2 in Wednesday’s win, contributing an assist and three shots on goal. On a team with a LOT of offensive firepower, Steen may not score as often as he does for the Blues while in Sochi, but I doubt he’ll miss the net too many times given chances like this one.
Player Grade: A
Vladi battled Thursday as the Slovenians tried to make it interesting against the home team, but was held scoreless on one shot.
Player Grade: C
Petro played a lot Thursday as Norway gave Team Canada all they could handle. Canada won the day 3-1, and Petro looked like the same guy we see patrolling the blueline at Scottrade Center. He got involved, putting four shots on goal, but didn’t register a point and nearly cost his team with a turnover in the 2nd period. His goalie bailed him out and it wont show up on many stat sheets, but I like to pick on the newly minted millionaire, and it’s reflected in his grade. He needs to take better care of the puck in his own zone.
Player Grade: C
Jay-Bouw was fairly solid on defense versus Norway, using his long stride to move the puck up-ice but was held scoreless on two shots. Bouwmeester avoided making the same kinds of mistakes his partner, Petro, did though, so I’ve graded him a bit higher for his stout play in his own zone.
Player Grade: B
Poor Jaro had a rough day at the office Thursday against a powerhouse Team USA. Halak allowed 5 goals on 25 shots before being pulled not quite halfway through the 2nd period. His performance brings up many questions, but one of them is not what his grade should be.
Player Grade: F
Let’s keep in mind that this is after one game, and these are ALL Olympians out there toughing it out against the best players in the world. Do I think we’ve seen the last of Halak on Sochi ice? No. Do I think he’s likely to play Saturday as Slovakia takes on upstart Slovenia? No. But Jaro, and all our St. Louis Blues Olympians are there because they deserve to be, and the semester is far from over folks. Be sure to follow BleedinBlue on Twitter and Like us on Facebook to stay abreast of all the Olympic hockey action.
GO BLUES! LONG LIVE THE NOTE!