A Blue crush of emotions pours out
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 on Saturday to cheer on the Stanley Cup champs, 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 on Wednesday by beating the Boston Bruins 4-1in 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 their beloved baseball team, the Cardinals.
“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-year-old letter carrier from the St. Louis suburb of Belleville, Ill., said he wasn’t sure he’d ever 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.
St. Louis has long been considered a baseball haven. It sure looked like a hockey town on 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.”
This year’s season didn’t start out promising, as a sluggish start got coach Mike Yeo fired in November. After Berube took over as interim coach, the Blues were dead last in the NHL on Jan. 3, the middle of the season.
Days later, an unheralded rookie goaltender named Jordan Binnington was called up. He won his first game in a shutout. Soon, with Binnington taking over as the No. 1 goalie, the Blues went on a franchise-record 11-game winning streak and stayed hot.
Binnington, known for his calm demeanour, finally let loose Saturday.
“You want to see some (expletive) emotion?” the Richmond Hill native asked the rally crowd. “We’re Stanley Cup champions, baby!”