101 ESPN to air Thunderbirds playoff series, spotlighting Ott’s turnaround

Springfield’s playoff run has grown into something bigger than a local AHL story. 101 ESPN, the Blues’ flagship station, will carry the Thunderbirds’ full best-of-five series against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton beginning Tuesday, putting Steve Ott’s club in front of one of hockey’s most watched markets and underscoring how closely St. Louis is tracking the pipeline.

The Atlantic Division Finals will open with Games 1 and 2 in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, shift to Springfield for Games 3 and 4, and return to Pennsylvania for a potential Game 5. Ryan Smith, Springfield’s play-by-play voice since 2016, will be on the call throughout the series on 101.1 FM KXOS in the St. Louis region.

The radio attention tracks directly to the way Ott has reshaped the Thunderbirds. Named Springfield’s fifth head coach on Jan. 19, Ott took over after the Blues moved Steve Konowalchuk aside and immediately changed the arc of a team that had finished the regular season 32-32-6-2. Ott arrived with deep organizational roots, having joined the Blues in 2013-14 as a player, played 122 games in the organization, worked as an assistant coach since 2017 and been elevated to associate coach in June 2024.

Springfield turned that ordinary regular season into a dangerous postseason. The Thunderbirds clinched a Calder Cup Playoff berth on April 15 with a 7-1 win over Lehigh Valley, then stunned Providence in four games in the first round. Dillon Dube ended that series with an overtime goal on May 7, a 1-0 win that sent Springfield into the division final and helped produce what the AHL described as the largest upset by point differential in Calder Cup Playoff history. Providence had finished 38 points ahead of Springfield in the standings.

That kind of run has made the Thunderbirds relevant far beyond western Massachusetts. For the Blues, the games are a live check on how quickly a development system can turn into NHL help, and for fans in Missouri, it is a chance to watch Ott’s influence in real time as Springfield tries to keep a surprising playoff climb alive.

The matchup also carries some history. Springfield and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton are meeting in the Calder Cup Playoffs for the second time, after the Thunderbirds swept the Penguins in the 2022 Atlantic Division Semifinals. That series was remembered in Springfield for Joel Hofer’s goalie goal in Game 2, one of the rarest plays in the sport and a reminder of how often this franchise’s playoff moments have broken into the national conversation.