Mizzou devotes halftime show to Blues' championship

COLUMBIA, Mo - Oh when the Zou, goes marchin' in...
On Saturday, the Missouri Tigers' football team kicked off SEC conference play against the South Carolina Gamecocks, and Marching Mizzou devoted its halftime performance to honoring the Blues' Stanley Cup championship.

Amy Knopps, the Associate Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands at Mizzou, led the eight-minute halftime show to songs like W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" and, of course, "Gloria."
Along with the help of Joshua Boyer, a graduate teaching assistant for the band, the team was able to coordinate marching formations that displayed hockey sticks, STL logos and the Gateway Arch during the performance.
The idea to honor the Blues came to Knopps after the clock hit zero during Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

"I knew right when they won, we would do a show," Knopps said. "This is something the entire state of Missouri could celebrate and it's something we (thought) would keep the fans in their seats during halftime."
Colton Parayko and Robert Thomas were at Memorial Stadium for Saturday's game as well, banging Big Mo before the opening kick off.
In addition to the St. Louis-themed formations, Marching Mizzou paired up with On2 Percussions for specialized blue and gold drum slips and covers to help commemorate the special event.
"Our drums are usually black and gold," Knopps said. "But we wanted to make this as Blues-themed as we could for this special celebration."
To close out the show, the band played "We Are the Champions," and band members formed a Stanley Cup trophy complete with a Championship banner below the Cup.