Remembering the Night the Blues Won the Stanley Cup

June 12, 2019, is a day St. Louis Blues fans will remember forever. After 52 seasons, the Blues finally did what had seemed impossible. On that night, a 4-1 victory over the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Final gave the organization its first-ever Stanley Cup. Blues’ fans of all ages celebrated. It finally happened.

Everyone has a story about Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. Some went to the watch party at Enterprise Center or Busch Stadium. Some gathered at their friends’ house to watch the big game. Some simply stayed home, either by themselves or with their families, to watch. Everyone has a story. Today, in celebration of the seventh anniversary of the Blues winning the Stanley Cup, I will tell mine.

Humbled in Game 6

My story starts the same as most Blues fans do: being humbled. The Blues seemed destined to win the Stanley Cup on home ice in Game 6 on Sunday, June 9. They had ended the last three series on home ice. The team was seemingly in the Bruins’ heads following the famous Tyler Bozak trip in Game 5. The stars were aligned for the Blues to raise Lord Stanley in front of their home crowd.

How did I spend the day of Game 6? Preparing for the celebration, of course. As my family and I drove up to St. Louis for the game, we talked about who would win the Conn Smythe Trophy and who would receive the Stanley Cup first from Alex Pietrangelo. At one point, my mom even started playing “Gloria” on her phone. We were convinced the Blues were winning the Stanley Cup that night, as did many others, I can only imagine.

Well, the city of St. Louis was humbled that night. The Bruins opened up Game 6 late, winning 5-1. As soon as Brandon Carlo’s shot from just inside the blue line squeaked past Jordan Binnington early in the third period, I realized this night was not going to go the way I had thought.

As the final horn sounded and we got up to leave, the first thought that came to my mind was, “I am not worried.” It was not arrogance. It was not a denial. It was awareness of how this Blues team conducted itself. Following a loss in that season’s playoffs, the Blues were 7-2. They only lost back-to-back games twice. Furthermore, they were 9-3 on the road in the postseason. I was fully aware the Bruins had what it took to win the series, but I knew the Blues did as well.

Morning of June 12

I write this today as someone who just completed his sixth year of teaching. I have had the privilege of teaching middle school history classes for the last six years. The morning of June 12, 2019, I was not yet a teacher, but I was inching closer.

I volunteered at my hometown’s summer school that June, helping a family friend and one of my former teachers in her freshman-level health class. I was hoping to gain additional classroom experience as I approached student teaching, and, given that I would be teaching mainly freshmen, I wanted the opportunity to get to know some of them before the school year started.

Health topics were the furthest thing from anyone’s mind that morning. Everyone was talking about Game 7. Excitement and nervousness were the emotions of the day. At one point, I looked at my mentor teacher and said, “Tomorrow, we are all going to be very happy or very disappointed. It will be one or the other.”

I Trust Chief

I finished summer school around noon that day. I was on my own for lunch. My parents were headed out of town for lunch to celebrate their anniversary. They normally would have gone out to dinner, but they were not about to miss Game 7. Game 7 would end up being my reminder of my parents’ anniversary, something I joke about to my mom to this day.

I listened to 101 ESPN on my way back home when they announced the Blues’ lineup for Game 7. Robert Thomas, who had returned from an injury in Game 6, would not play. I do not think this reason was given specifically, but Thomas did not look like himself in Game 6. He was clearly not 100%. The Blues were playing the biggest game in franchise history. Thomas had been a key part of the run to that point, but he was not the team’s best option for Game 7. I understood that decision by head coach Craig Berube.

The next lineup change surprised me. Berube was making a change on defense, inserting Joel Edmundson and taking out Robert Bortuzzo. Edmundson did not have the best season in 2018-19, and it carried over into the postseason. He had his moments, of course, but I felt more comfortable with Bortuzzo in the lineup. Bortuzzo, if nothing else, would provide an additional physical presence in the lineup.

However, I knew Berube, nicknamed “Chief,” had taken the Blues from last place in the league in January to Game 7 of the Final. He earned the trust of the organization and fans. I trusted Chief.

The First Period

The hours leading up to Game 7 were the same. Listening to radio shows, watching TV coverage, etc. When the game finally started, part of me felt relief because if nothing else, we would at least have a winner in a few hours. The anticipation was over. It was game time.

The Bruins came ready to play. Thankfully, so did Binnington.

The Bruins peppered Binnington with shots in the first period. Yet, the rookie goaltender was holding his ground. He still did not look nervous. He made several big saves, including one on Brad Marchand, in which Binnington had to quickly move back to his right after initially moving left on a rebound attempt.

Binnington was locked in, but I was nervous. If the Bruins found a way to get one in, the momentum would fully be on their side. I did not want to overreact to one goal in the first period, but I was worried.

Then, the Blues got the first goal of the game. The Blues, finally getting some offensive-zone time, cycled the puck around and back to the point, where Jay Bouwmeester let a shot go. A well-timed tip by Ryan O’Reilly got the puck past Tuukka Rask for the 1-0 lead. An underrated player on that goal was forward Sammy Blais, who moved the puck well in that sequence, leading to the goal, including passing it to the point in the first place. He did not end up with an assist, but his fingerprints were all over that goal.

O’Reilly’s goal had me feeling much better, but Pietrangelo’s with 7.9 seconds left in the period really made me feel even better. How poetic that the goal came as a result of a mistake by Marchand, leaving the ice for a line change, thinking the Blues were changing as well. Instead, Pietrangelo was wide open in front of the net to take the pass from Jaden Schwartz. Just as Carlo’s goal had let the air out of the building in Game 6, I could tell Pietrangelo’s had done the same in Game 7.

The Bruins had outshot the Blues in the first period, 12-4, but the Blues were leading, 2-0.

The Second Period

The Bruins outshot the Blues, 11-6, in the second period. However, the Blues played a much more balanced game. They did not give up any dangerous scoring chances, but did create one themselves that nearly went in.

When the period ended, the Blues were 20 minutes away from the Stanley Cup. All they needed to do was play one more solid period.

The Third Period

Binnington made another big save midway through the third period, sprawling to get his right pad on a rebound attempt by Joakim Nordstrom. Binnington was locked in. The 2-0 lead felt like it was enough. Yet, I knew it would take one Boston goal to flip the momentum. One goal that would change how we would feel watching the rest of the game.

That goal did come, but not from the Bruins. Shortly after Binnington’s save, Schwartz picked up the puck and dumped it into the corner to Rask’s right. Vladimir Tarasenko picked up the puck and threw it right in front, where Brayden Schenn one-timed it past Rask for a 3-0 lead. At that moment, I, along with Blues fans all over, had the same thought: “We are actually going to do this.”

If any Blues fan was still unsure, Zach Sanford provided another goal at 15:22. Sanford, who entered the lineup in Game 3 when Oskar Sundqvist was suspended, stepped up in a big way. In the five games he played in the Final, Sanford recorded four points: one goal and three assists. It was fitting that he scored in the last game. Was it a needed goal? No, but it was nice seeing yet another one go in, silencing an already quiet Boston crowd.

Matt Grzelcyk broke up Binnington’s shutout bid with 2:10 left, but that was all the Bruins would muster against Binnington. As the seconds ticked off, the Blues bench started jumping up and down. It was real. It was happening.

The clock hit 0:00. The Blues had won the Stanley Cup.

Celebration

I am not the type of fan who typically goes crazy and makes a lot of noise. As the celebration began, I simply stood in my parents’ living room, watching it unfold with them. My phone began to buzz with text messages from my friends and family members, who, despite not being hockey fans themselves, had watched the game.

The three of us did not say too much during the Stanley Cup presentation. We did laugh when Gary Bettman talked about the “Stanley Cup coming back to St. Louis,” indirectly implying it wasn’t their first championship, even though it was.

The image of Pietrangelo raising the Stanley Cup is ingrained in my head. The TV camera angle captured the moment perfectly. Bouwmeester receiving the Cup first from Pietrangelo was so fitting. Bouwmeester, the defenseman acquired back in 2013 and not always a favorite among fans, was a Stanley Cup champion, and his lockdown defense played a huge role. Considering his career would end the following season, following a scary cardiac episode, the image of Bouwmeester with the Cup hits home much more.

I did eventually go to bed that night, but who could sleep? I did eventually fall asleep. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my glasses off and rolled over, smushing them in my sleep. The next morning at summer school, the students and staff agreed that smashed glasses were a small price to pay for the Stanley Cup.

Happy “We Went Blues” Day

Every Blues fan has a story of the night the Blues won the Stanley Cup. I hope that in reading mine, you also thought of yours. Your feelings heading into the game. Your thoughts on the brutal Boston attack in the first period. How did you feel watching Marchand crying on the bench after the game?

Our stories may be different, but they end the same way. It is a story we will always celebrate. On June 12, 2019, for the first time in their history, the Blues became Stanley Cup champions.