‘LET’S GO, BLUES!’
ST. LOUIS — It rained on the Blues’ parade, but nobody seemed to mind.
Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets of downtown St. Louis and braved the rain Saturday to cheer on the Stanley Cup champions, who concluded the festivities with a packed rally beneath the Gateway Arch that began just as the sun popped out.
The Blues ended one of sports’ longest championship droughts Wednesday night by beating the Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final — the first title for a franchise that joined the NHL 52 years ago.
The long-awaited championship stirred strong emotions in St. Louis, a city still smarting from the departure of the NFL’s Rams in 2016. The loss of the football team seemed to strengthen the fans’ bonds to the Blues and to the Cardinals, their beloved baseball team.
“I’m so happy for the city and the fans here,” coach Craig Berube said. “They deserve it. But more than anything I’m so happy for our players, because of how hard they’ve played, the character and leadership coming through, winning that cup.”
Ryan Korte, a 56-yearold letter carrier from the St. Louis suburb of Belleville, Ill., said he wasn’t sure he would get to see the Blues win the cup.
“I was starting to wonder,” Korte said as he waved a towel while standing on a ledge, straining to see the parade. “A lot of disappointments. They’ve had some good teams and they always let us down.” Not this time.
“This is bigger than the World Series,” Korte said.
That may sound strange in St. Louis, which has long been considered a baseball haven thanks to the Cardinals’ 11 World Series titles. It sure looked like a hockey town Saturday, though, as fans shouted “Let’s go, Blues!” and danced to “Gloria,” the 1982 Laura Branigan hit that became the Blues’ unofficial victory song.
Forward Ryan O’Reilly, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of this year’s playoffs, carried the Stanley Cup to fans lining Market Street to let them touch it.
“The Blues have an amazing fan base,” said Michael DeHeer, 52, of St. Louis. “This place is ready to explode.”