This should have happened when they won the President’s Trophy in 2000.
Tonight, June 12, 2019, this was not supposed to happen. The St. Louis Blues have won their first Stanley Cup Championship in their 51-year history as a franchise.
Ever since 2008 the fanbase has been calling for ownership to fire General Manager Doug Armstrong over some horrific roster move. Whether it was signing Ryan Miller, Paul Kariya, or Jason Arnott it was wasted contracts. Tonight Armstrong hoisted the greatest trophy in all of sports.
Eric Johnson, Chris Pronger, T.J. Oshie, David Backes and Ben Bishop were all draft picks that found more success after leaving St. Louis.
Brett Hull, Glenn Hall, Bernie Federko, Bob and Barclay Plager, Brian Sutter, and broadcaster Dan Kelly were all legends who never got the chance to hoist the Stanley Cup while wearing a Bluenote.
Chris Kerber, Kelly Chase, John Kelly, Darren Pang, and Joey Vitale never got the chance to call a Stanley Cup Finals game until last week.
Their current arena had four different names since being built in 1994 (Kiel Center, Savvis Center, Scottrade Center, and it's current name Enterprise Center). Next year they host the NHL All Star festivities as defending champions.
The Blues fire Mike Yeo a third of the way through a season with so much promise that turned into more of an unexpected rebuild. Trading three key players from a season ago to the Buffalo Sabres for Ryan O’Reilly seemed to benefit the Sabres more than the Blues.
Local star Pat Maroon took a massive pay-cut to sign with his hometown team for only one year. Tyler Bozak got overpaid after the Toronto Maple Leafs did not renew his contract.
The Blues were dead last in the NHL standings on January 3. They rattled off a franchise-record 11-game winning streak that vaulted them back into playoff contention. The Blues ended the regular season a single point out of winning the Central Division.
The Blues and Winnipeg Jets were the first two teams in NHL Stanley Cup Playoff history to have the road team win the first five games of a best-of-seven series in the first round. The Blues would win the last two to advance on.
In a playoff where each division winner were bounced out of their opening-round series for the first time in the history of the Big Four leagues, a second-round matchup against the rival Dallas Stars was on the horizon. Maroon scored in double-overtime of Game Seven to propel the Blues to the Western Conference Finals.
The last time the Blues reached the WCF in 2016 they fell in six games to the San Jose Sharks. There was a hand pass goal in overtime that never should have counted in Game Three. The Blues outscored the Sharks over the last three games 12-2 to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1970.
There was something in the pit of my stomach as a Blues fan since 1985 that wanted no part of the Boston Bruins in the Finals. They had their chance to win on the Enterprise Center home ice in Game Six on Sunday. The Blues proceeded to mess the bed in a 5-1 loss.
“Game Seven” are the two greatest words in playoff sports. Game Seven on the road is usually a nightmare. However the Blues won more games on the road than any team in the playoffs. Three times in the postseason they let in five goals in a loss. The Blues won each of the next games after those losses. The Blues had two players suspended for questionable hits on Bruin players in this series. However Boston’s Torey Krug got off scot-free racing six miles to obliterate Robert Thomas into concussion protocol in Game One.
I have owned some variant of a Blues home jersey since the Gretzky-era “Slash” jerseys in 1996. I (blasphemously) have my name on their alternate jersey from earlier this decade in place of Federko’s #24. The colors of this blog are modeled after the St. Louis Blues. My Twitter handle represents my initials (JC), the Blue Note logo of the franchise, and my lucky number (24). Anything in my apartment is either black, wood, or royal blue. I bought a royal blue Ford Fiesta just before Thanksgiving last year. “When the Blues Go Marching In” is the ringtone on my phone. I wear two bracelets on my wrist (one paracord, one made of hockey skate laces), and both are adorned in navy, royal blue and yellow.
This night means more to me as a fan of nearly 35 years than when the Cleveland Cavaliers brought my hometown the NBA Championship three years ago, the first in my lifetime. I was far too young to remember vividly the New York Islanders dynasty of the early 1980’s. The St. Louis Rams Super Bowl certainly was special. The St. Louis Cardinals have a pair of World Series Championships since I became a fan 10-15 years ago. The Cleveland Browns have never made the Super Bowl. The Indians have gone to extra innings in Game Seven of the World Series twice since 1997.
However none of that matters for the team I follow more intensely than any other in sport, who is currently drinking champagne out of the lightest 35 pounds of silver in the history of mankind.
It is about time for me to put on the Blues’ rallying cry since February, Laura Brannigan’s 1982 smash hit “Gloria.” While my grandfather loved a lot of music from his era, “Gloria” was his all-time favorite song. He never watched a minute of a hockey game in his life, but tonight I think he wanted to get his grandson a championship memory he would never forget.
I don't particularly care if this entry runs long and isn't proof-read. This is the night I have waited 34 years for.
This is for Laila Anderson. This is for Ari Dougan who did not get to see it. This is for Charles Glenn retiring after 19 years of singing the National Anthem before every Blues' home game at Enterprise Center. This is for Barclay Plager, Doug Wickenheiser and Bob Gassoff. This is for owner Tom Stillman. This is for public address announcer Tom Calhoun. This is for team president Chris Zimmerman. This is for Chris Hrabe, Bernie Miklasz, Kevin Wheeler, Jeremy Rutherford, Jamie Rivers, Andy Strickland, Erica Weston, Scott Warman, Jim Hayes, Alex Ferrario, Michelle Smallman and everyone involved at 101 ESPN Radio, Fox Sports Midwest, and KMOX radio in St. Louis for the amazing job they do on gameday.
This is for St. Louis. This is for me. This is for Blues Nation.
Let’s Go Blues!
-JC24