ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Blues, in conjunction with FOX Sports Midwest, announced Friday the club’s 2011-12 television schedule. This season, FOX Sports Midwest will televise 73 Blues games while the National Hockey League’s national television partner VERSUS will broadcast eight games and NBC will air one game, marking the first time in franchise history that all 82 games will be televised.

In addition, FOX Sports Midwest along with VERSUS and NBC will produce each Blues telecast in high definition (HD).

“We are pleased that our great fans will have the opportunity to view every Blues games this season,” said Blues CEO Mike McCarthy. “Our exciting game is at its best in high definition, and now with our great partners locally in FSM and our National partner NBC, 2011-12 should be an excellent year for our fans and for our team.”

“Blues TV rating on FOX Sports Midwest reached an all-time high last season, and we expect another great season of Blues hockey this year with every game on TV and in HD,” said FOX Sports Midwest General Manager and Senior Vice President Jack Donovan.

FOX Sports Midwest, entering its 16th season as the Blues’ flagship television partner, will air 73 games and will begin with the season opener on Saturday, October 8 when the Blues host division rival Nashville Predators at Scottrade Center. Coverage of every game on FOX Sports Midwest begins and ends with Blues Live, the network’s in-depth pregame and postgame show. On opening night the Blues Live pregame show will start one hour before opening face-off and feature coverage of the outdoor fan rally.

John Kelly returns to the broadcast booth for his seventh consecutive season with the Blues while entering his 22nd season calling play-by-play action in the NHL. Kelly will be alongside current national NHL analyst, Darren Pang, for all games being televised on Fox Sports Midwest. This season represents Pang’s third as the Blues’ television color analyst and 19th as an NHL commentator. Blues Hall-of-Famer Bernie Federko returns in his role as an ice-level analyst between the benches for home games and co-host of FOX Sports Midwest’s Blues Live pre-game and post-game shows. Jim Hayes will serve as an in-game reporter and contributor to Blues Live while Pat Parris will host Blues Live. Former Blue Tony Twist will serve as analyst on some Blues Live postgame shows.