No Longer Singing the Blues?
October 11, 1967 and May 10, 1970 – two dates indelibly etched in my mind as a lifelong St. Louis Blues fan.
The first date represents the beginning of my love/anguish affair with the hockey team from the river city that has failed to produce a single Championship in the 18,851 days (and counting) since they began play. As a sports-crazed 7-year-old, I was at that inaugural game at the old Arena – a barn-like, fire hazard of a building built during the Depression of 1929 that routinely vibrated with the loudest noise I have ever witnessed at a sporting event in the Lou. Perhaps fittingly for this franchise, its first game ended in a 2-2 tie against the then Minnesota North Stars – the predecessor of the Dallas Stars.
The second date represents the last time the Blues were in the Stanley Cup Final – a game against the far more talented Boston Bruins- the one with Phil Esposito and Derek Sanderson and oh yeah, a guy named Bobby Orr. It was the last game of that series that produced the most memorable hockey photo in Beantown, if not hockey history, with the acrobatic Orr flying through the air at 90 degrees parallel to the ice scoring the game winning goal in Overtime, having just been tripped by the tough, slow- skating French Canadian, Noel Picard. Well, at least the Blues will be remembered for something.
At the time who could have imagined that this would be the Blues last foray into the promised land for 49 years? After all, the Blues had made it to the Stanley Cup Final each of their first three years – greatly aided by an NHL expansion system that doubled the number of teams from six to twelve in a single year and mercifully allowed the new teams to play among themselves first before getting whooped by the big boys. Blues fans were blessed to emerge each of those first three years as the “Champion of the Bad Teams,” only to then be thumped each time in the Final – by the powerhouse Montreal Canadians in 1968 and 1969 and then the Bruins in 1970. That’s right – – the Blues were (and still are) 0-12 in Stanley Cup Final games.
Eventually, as a result of draft picks, trades and the retirement of the game’s biggest stars. the expansion teams caught up with the “Original Six” of Montreal, Toronto, New York, Boston, Detroit and Chicago. And, one by one, each of the six expansion teams managed to secure the coveted Cup.
The Philadelphia Flyers (those “Broad Street Bullies”) became the first to do so in both 1974 and 1975. The Pittsburgh Penguins followed suit in 1992 and 1993, and then acquired the game’s biggest star, Sidney Crosby, and won three more times- in 2009, 2016 and 2017. The Minnesota North Stars, who became the Dallas Stars, finally accomplished the dream in 1999, 31 years after they began operations. To add insult to injury, the Series winning goal in Triple Overtime in Game 6 was scored by none other than Brett Hull, a former Blue for a decade and likely the franchise’s greatest player ever. Even Los Angeles, not exactly a hockey haven, got a chance to experience the wondrous joy of winning the Stanley Cup in both 2012 and 2014. The only other 1967 expansion team, the long-forgotten California Golden Seals, briefly became the Cleveland Barons and, as financial woes mounted, merged with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978 – so at least some legacy of that team won the Cup as well.
Since that time, numerous clubs have been added to the NHL and many have drunk from the Cup – the New York Islanders, Edmonton Oilers, New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche have had an embarrassment of riches, each winning multiple Cups in their short existence by comparison. Even traditional non-hockey cities like Tampa Bay, Carolina and Anaheim have had the privilege of hoisting the game’s greatest trophy. And last year the Washington Capitals finally broke their much publicized “long awaited” drought – a mere 43 years.
It’s not as if the Blues haven’t had great players, coaches or teams over the past five decades. Some of the greatest names to ever don a hockey sweater have worn the Note at some point in their careers- Wayne Gretsky, Brett Hull, Jacques Plante, Doug Harvey, Chris Pronger, Al MacInnis, Scott Stevens, Brendan Shanahan, Rod Brind’Amour, Joe Mullen, Paul Kariya, Grant Fuhr, Martin Brodeur and others. But they either joined the Note near the end of the illustrious careers or before they catapulted to full greatness. All of these players managed to win at least one, and more often several, Stanley Cups – just not with the Blues. Indeed, 39 players who had never won a Cup before joining the Blues, earned one after leaving- most recently T.J. Oshie and Lars Eller last year.
And, incredibly, the three winningest coaches in the entire history of the NHL, Scotty Bowman, Joel Quennville and Al Arbour, ALL started their coaching careers with the Blues. All went on to win multiple Stanley Cups – again, just not with the Blues. The coach with the fourth most wins of all time, Ken Hitchcock, won his lone Stanley Cup with those same dreaded Dallas Stars. Hoping to capture his magic dust, the Blues hired “Hitch” to do the same thing in St. Louis. But he came up with a goose egg large enough to match his waistline.
Further, over the course of the last 51 years, the Blues have had some outstanding teams- in several years they finished first in their division and were considered among the best teams in the League and in 1999-2000 they won the President’s Trophy for the best record in all of hockey- only to lose in the very first round of the playoffs. In 51 seasons they have only missed the playoffs 9 times. Indeed, from the 1979-1980 season through the 2003-2004 season they made the playoffs every single year- a streak of 25 straight years representing the third longest in NHL history. But of the last 39 playoff runs, they have never even gotten a sniff at Lord Stanley’s Cup – they have never made it back to the Final and have only gotten to the 3rd round three times. They either choke, run into a hot team, lose a top player to injury, get robbed by the always unpredictable and inconsistent NHL refs, or are incredibly unlucky. Or perhaps they are, as Cubs and Red Sox fans used to say, cursed.
If any city deserves a Cup it is St. Louis. Not only is it the oldest franchise never to win one, but it is responsible for the development of a lot of the talent in the league. As Exhibit A, 4 of the first 15 players drafted in the 2016 draft were from the Lou, more than any other city in the World! And the same number taken from the entire country of hockey-obsessed Canada that year! At last check, 14 players from the Lou played in the NHL at some point this year.
Before the start of this 2018-2019 season, the Blues made several positive off-season moves, giving the loyal and long-suffering fan base some reason for optimism that perhaps “this could be the year.” But the Blues started off the year abysmally. Indeed, by January 1, they had the honor of having the worst record in the entire league. They fired the coach and thought about completely dismantling the team. On January 14, 2019 they were a 300-1 long shot to win the Stanley Cup. I know this because I bought a ticket (yes, legally- from a Biloxi, Mississippi casino) that says that very thing.
To be clear, I had absolutely no illusions that the Blues would win the Cup this year- it would likely take having the best record in the league from that point forward AND numerous teams in front of them tanking just to make the playoffs. And yet I couldn’t resist the irony: Wouldn’t it be something if of all the great Blues’ teams that I had watched intensely for over a half a century it would be THIS team – a last place team with a 26-year old 5th string rookie goalie at the helm- that actually won the thing. It was an impossible dream and pure insanity! I opened my wallet and saw that I had a $10 and $20 bill and debated. I reached for the $20.
The miracle slowly began to take form- the Blues won a franchise best 11 straight games- not against patsies but against some of the best teams in the League. And the teams in front of them – i.e. essentially most of them, began to lose a lot of games. The Blues somehow not only made the playoffs but missed out on winning their division on the last day by only one point.
Still, their first-round opponent was Winnipeg- a team that had dominated them during the year (indeed they opened the season against Winnipeg and got spanked 5-1). Moreover, the Blues would have to win at least one, if not more, games in Winnipeg, one of the toughest places in sports for a visiting team- a place where the all-white clad fans are so devoted to their squad on skates that thousands who can’t get inside to watch the game wait outside in the cold and rain to cheer on the boys. Indeed, Winnipeg had only lost 12 of 41 games at home this year. And yet, somehow, the Blues won not just one but both of the first two games there.
And then, in classic Blues form designed to impose the maximum frustration, the Note swiftly dropped the next two games at home in unceremonious fashion. Yet, despite being outplayed, the Blues managed to eke out a win in Winnipeg in Game 5 in miracle fashion. Trailing 2-0 in the third period they scored three goals, the last with only 15 seconds left by my favorite player, Jaden Schwartz, who hadn’t scored a goal in weeks. The Blues went on to finally win a game at home to take the Series with Schwartz scoring a hat trick. In short, a guy who couldn’t seem to score all year if his life depended on it, suddenly had scored the team’s last and only four goals in the span of 3 periods and 15 seconds. This team seemed special. This team felt different. This was a team of destiny.
But there were still three more long and excruciating rounds to win in order to reach hockey nirvana and the next opponent who stood in their way was none other than the Dallas Stars, the first team they had ever played in their history. The Blues had struggled over the past two years against the Stars, having dropped 6 of the last 7 games. To add to the drama and irony, the Stars’ most important player – their 6-foot 7 giant of a goalie, Ben Bishop – grew up in St. Louis, attended high school here and spent much of his youth (when not playing hockey) attending Blues games and rooting for the home squad. And the Stars’ coach, Jim Montgomery, was drafted by the Blues, wore the Note, married a local girl and had a baby born in the Lou- a naturalized Blues citizen. A lot of cosmic energy floating around.
The Blues took game 1 at home and seemed to be on a roll. But as a team that has had trouble pushing the pedal when ahead, they proceeded to drop Game 2. In Dallas, the Blues recaptured their road magic and took Game 3 but then proceeded to drop Game 4 despite having an early lead. And then, in critical game 5 at home the Blues laid an egg and lost, returning to Dallas for what many thought would be the end of the season (about 75% of teams that lose Game 5 in a 2-2 series go on to lose the Series). But this Blues team was undeterred and shocked Dallas, sending the game back to the Lou for the always excruciatingly exciting, yet CPR-risking 7th game. And this game was one for the cardiologists!
Despite playing their hearts out and thoroughly dominating the game, out-shooting the Stars 47-17 through three periods, the Blues could only break through one time against the former St. Louisan, and the score stood at 1-1 after 60 minutes. The tension in the building was palpable as they headed to Overtime and then a second Overtime, with the season and the hopes of 52 years in the balance. What unlikely bounce or other fluky goal was about to befell the team aptly named the Blues this time?
But surprisingly, and in Hollywood-like fashion, Pat Maroon, the team’s resident St. Louisan , rammed in a rebound from 19 year-old Robert Thomas, one of the few guys who did not appear thoroughly exhausted, to beat his friend and fellow St. Louisan Bishop! Simply incredible!
And yet, after all of this hockey excitement and angst, we were still only halfway there – 8 wins in search of 16, a seemingly impossible task. And the next team in their path, the San Jose Sharks, were perhaps the most talented and experienced team in the Western Conference who had secured two miracle like (some might say referee -aided) Series wins of their own. To add to the drama and irony, San Jose was the team that had eliminated the Blues in 2000, when they had the best record in the League, and again three years ago, the last time the Blues made it to the Conference Final. The Sharks also had home-ice advantage and promptly showed why they were the favorite, easily dispensing the Blues in Game 1 by a score of 6-3.
But the Blues bounced back and won Game 2, heading to the Lou for a critical game 3. The Blues played a great game and were leading late when Sharks’ superstar, Logan Coutre, scored with only one minute and one second on the clock. Are you bleepin kidding me?
Well, there’s still overtime right? The Blues came out smokin. But then there was what I and many expected to be the final nail in the emotional coffin of long-suffering Blues’ fans- the Bartman moment of Blues hockey- the Sharks scored a “goal” to win the game after an illegal hand pass that everyone in the stadium and everyone on TV saw, but not one of the four officials on the ice- some of the most experienced refs and linesman in hockey. And in a world of high technology and routine review of critical game-defining calls in all sports this one was somehow not reviewable. What genius GMs argued for that rule? Obviously folks whose goal it was to see just how much punishment a Blues fan could take before jumping off a cliff.
And yet somehow the Blues did not fold- they hung on (barely) for a 2-1 win the next game. And then, as if given a fresh dose of oxygen and the blessing of a new heart, they suffocated the Sharks the next two games winning handily by a combined score of 10-1! I think I just wet my shorts (or perhaps that was my Schwartz)!.
So alas and unbelievably it’s off to the STANLEY CUP FINAL- 49 years in the making! And, naturally, they will play the Boston Bruins, the team they played and lost to in four straight, culminating on May 10, 1970 with the famous Bobby Orr flying goal. This version of the Bruins is star-studded, looks almost unbeatable, has had a lot of time to rest for the Series and has home ice advantage. But at least there’s no Bobby Orr this time!
And instead of the slow footed scrapper Noel Picard on defense we have the all-world 6 foot 6 Colton Parayko, along with the amazing “rookie” “nervous” goaltender Jordan Binnington, the ultimate 200-foot player, Ryan O’Reilly, the scrappy Jaden Schwartz and tough-minded Brayden Schenn, the highly underrated Oscar Sundqvist and Ivan Barbashev, the experienced David Perron, the crafty Tyler Bozak, the sharpshooter Vladi Tarasenko, the aged but reborn Jay Bouwmeester and Alexander Steen, the highly talented though sometimes perplexing Captain, Alex Pietrangelo, the big boy defensemen Edmundson and Bortuzzo, the speedy and elusive Thomas, the emerging star Sammy Blais, and of course the local Big Rig, Pat Maroon. I only hope that our most skilled defenseman Vinny Dunn, can make it back for the Finals after taking a puck to the choppers- gotta love hockey.
So maybe we can pull this thing out after all? We certainly owe the Bruins one after 1970. Besides, it’s the least the Sports Gods can do after allowing the Boston Red Sox to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series to end their own drought of 86 years!
Winning the Stanley Cup is truly the most difficult accomplishment in team sports given the grueling nature of the game, the length of the schedule and playoffs, and the parity of the League. And this may be the only remaining chance in my lifetime.
Either way, when they bury me, I will go to the grave with the childhood memory of that song that the fans sang loudly in unison as the team skated on to the ice at the old barn. Even 50 years later, the thought of it, and the great Bobby Plager, makes me well up inside and the hair on the back of my neck stand up: “When the Blues go marching in. When the Blues go marching in. Oh, I want to be in that number when the Blues go marching in.”
LET’S GO BLUES!
