You're absolutely correct--in sports there is only one winner--and I'm not suggesting that, as a fan, you shouldn't be proud.

But in the end, the Blues failed--again.  They've been in the league 49 years and won 0 Stanley Cups.  

The Cardinals aren't very good this season, and I've already resigned myself that there's a pretty good chance they won't make the playoffs.  But I can remember 1982, 2006 and 2011 when they did win.  I can even remember 1985, 1987, 2004 and 2013 when they won the NL pennant.  That won't make this season any less disappointing, but it's a lot easier to be a fan of "one of the other 29" when you've also experienced what it's like to be "the one."

This year the Black Hawks were one of the 29, but I'm guessing it's a lot easier to take when you've won 3 of the last 6 years as opposed to 0 for 49.

It was only the Checkerdome for the few years that Ralston Purina owned the team.  Otherwise, it was just "the Arena."  That place was awesomely terrible in probably many of the same ways Cubs fans revere Wrigley.  It was the mecca for rabid Blues fans.  I've heard Scottrade get loud, and there were definitely times during this year's playoff run when it sounded like that place was really going, but Scottrade will never have the same atmosphere as the Arena simply because of the corporate takeover of sports.  The Arena had no luxury suites and both the lower bowl and upper bowl were filled with actual fans, not people who were there because it was fashionable.  Saturday night games against the Blackhawks or Red Wings always featured multiple fights in the crowd.

You would have absolutely loved going to a game at the Arena.

And ..... while I'm fussing... Why in the hell did the Blues pass out 3 rounds of TShirt Towels, but San Jose gave all their fans these LED bracelets that seems to respond to the noise or stereo system of the arena? That was spectacular! 

But hey, I have like 10 stupid T-Shirt towels.

I had to look that up, but no, it's incorrect. Or it is, depending on what you want to do with Minnesota.

The expansion teams were Minnesota, Philadelphia, Oakland, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and the Los Angeles Kings.

Oakland eventually merged into the Minnesota team, and they retained the Minnesota North Stars identity. 

Pittsburgh beat Minnesota in the 1991 Cup finals.

Thanks for a wonderful memory.

The 90-91 Blues finished the season with 105 points (a lot in the pre-overtime days of 3 point games) and were led by the duo of Brett Hull (86 goals) and Adam Oates (90 assists).

The North Stars finished the season 27-39-14.  Yes, you read that correctly, they finished 12 games below .500 but made the playoffs at a time when the NHL had only 21 teams, 16 of which made the playoffs.

The North Stars stunned the President Trophy winning Blackhawks in the first round of the playoffs giving the Blues what appeared to be a clear path to the playoffs.  There was just one problem--at the trade deadline the Blues had inexplicable traded Geoff Courtnall, Cliff Ronning, Sergio Momesso and Robert Dirk for Dan Quinn and Garth Butcher because then-coach Brian Sutter felt the team was lacking in toughness.  No one in the league was tougher than Garth Butcher--especially if you needed a defenseman who would inevitably trip over the blueline, slash the forward skating past and then draw a stupid penalty.  Quinn was a pretty good player--provided you were playing golf.  Unfortunately, he sucked at hockey.

After trading all of their forward scoring depth, the Blues fell 4-2 to Minnesota.  The Butcher trade remains one of the worst in Blues history.


I just looked it up, and now I'm convinced the Vancouver GM had naked pictures of Blues GM Ron Caron getting f*cked in the ass by Brian Sutter.  Here's the trade:

Geoff Courtnall (age 28)      27 G, 30 A, +19
Cliff Ronning (age 24)         14 G, 18 A  +2 (only 48 games)
Sergio Momesso (age 24)   10 G, 18 A  +12
Robert Dirk (age 24)             1 G, 3 A    +2

for 

Dan Quinn (age 25)            18 G, 31 A  - 28
Garth Butcher (age 27)        6 G, 12 A   - 18 (257 PM)

On what planet does that trade make sense?  

Last edited by forsberg_us (5/27/2016 3:10 pm)

"the Blues fell 4-2 to Minnesota."

Minnesota ended up losing to the Penguins that year, after the Penguins rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Bruins in the Eastern Conference finals. Mario Lemeiux almost single-handedly knocked out the Bruins in that series. I think he had about a dozen points in the last four games.
Yet another season the Bruins managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

alz wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

"the Blues fell 4-2 to Minnesota."

Minnesota ended up losing to the Penguins that year, after the Penguins rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Bruins in the Eastern Conference finals. Mario Lemeiux almost single-handedly knocked out the Bruins in that series. I think he had about a dozen points in the last four games.
Yet another season the Bruins managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

There was a reason they called him Super Mario. He wasn't Gretzky, but when you look up the best hockey players ever, you'll see Lemiuex is typically sitting at #2 or #3.
 

Bobby Orr is the best hockey player ever. He did things on a sheet of ice no one did before or has done since.

Except for Babe Ruth hitting more home runs than entire teams in the '20s, no one has been as statistically aberrant as Orr. His plus-124 in 1970-71 is still a record, and he's got four of the top 13 plus/minus seasons in the history of the sport. He's still second in career plus/minus behind Larry Robinson, even though Orr played the equivalent of about eight seasons and Robinson played approximately 152. He's the only player to win the Hart, Norris, Conn Smythe and Ross trophies in the same season. And no one will ever do it again. He led the NHL in points twice as a defenseman. There's no direct corollary in another major North American sport, but imagine Sergio Ramos leading La Liga in goals.
And as impressive as his stats are, you had to see him play to appreciate him. He wasn't Paul Coffey chucking up a negative plus/minus on a team that won the Stanley Cup. He played defense. The Bruins' penalty kill was him ragging the puck for two minutes. 
I understand the longevity argument, but to anyone who saw him play, he was the best. Ever.

Last edited by artie_fufkin (6/08/2016 1:43 pm)

artie_fufkin wrote:

Except for Babe Ruth hitting more home runs than entire teams in the '20s, no one has been as statistically aberrant as Orr. His plus-124 in 1970-71 is still a record, and he's got four of the top 13 plus/minus seasons in the history of the sport. He's still second in career plus/minus behind Larry Robinson, even though Orr played the equivalent of about eight seasons and Robinson played approximately 152. He's the only player to win the Hart, Norris, Conn Smythe and Ross trophies in the same season. And no one will ever do it again. He led the NHL in points twice as a defenseman. There's no direct corollary in another major North American sport, but imagine Sergio Ramos leading La Liga in goals.
And as impressive as his stats are, you had to see him play to appreciate him. He wasn't Paul Coffey chucking up a negative plus/minus on a team that won the Stanley Cup. He played defense. The Bruins' penalty kill was him ragging the puck for two minutes. 
I understand the longevity argument, but to anyone who saw him play, he was the best. Ever.

I totally appreciate anyone voting for Orr, or Lemieux, but Gretzky's resume is just too insane for him to be #2 to me.

200 point seasons - 4 (rest of the NHL - 0)
39 games to 50 goals
34 games to 100 points
Every goal and assist record worth mentioning. Consequently every point record worth mentioning.

For as prolific of a scorer as he was, the scary thing is really what's in the assist column. Nobody has ever scored more goals than Gretzky, and for every goal he scored, he has 2.2 assists or something like that.

I don't particularly like Gretzky, but he was so damned amazing at "seeing" the game. He'd be the first to admit he didn't have the wheels, moves. He'd never score the Rick Nash goal, or the Ovechkin pass to himself off the boards, fall down and throw the puck on net while sliding into the corner boards (with the puck behind him no less).
He knew exactly where that puck would be at all times, and where it was going to be 5 seconds later, and he was there, and you were going to be getting scored on, whether he did it or whether he fed someone else. He was a savant with it.