It's been a running joke amongst Blues fans for most of this season that the team's been outstanding, but that it's been under the radar 95% of the time. National media hasn't talked about them much until it became unavoidable, and the NHL didn't even bother mentioning the Blues' Central Division clench on NHL.com's main page.
That's why it's been so much fun to see pundits picking the Blues as the victor of their first round matchup against the San Jose Sharks. Yahoo! Sports' Puck Daddy, which is probably the most widely read hockey blog out there, has their perfunctory first round/playoff predictions up, and the Blues are chosen to make it past the Sharks seven out of nine times. Editor in Chief Greg Wyshynski even makes them his top Western Conference team, losing to the Penguins in the Finals.
While I'd not be happy with that scenario, I'd still cope with it -- the only thing that'd make me happy personally would be a Cup, but you can squeeze pride from a turnip (or Kent Huskins' head).
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