Blues Win the Stanley Cup
It’s been a long season but we made it. Game 7 between the Blues and Bruins ended last night with St. Louis coming out on top and claiming their first ever Stanley Cup championship.
Let’s start with last summer. We just watched Ovechkin and the Capitals claim their first ever Stanley Cup. Guggi and myself were preparing to start What the Puck in the fall. As all hockey fans do, we asked each other, “who wins the cup this year?” Guggi picked the Predators. Not a bad choice. They had a decent team this past year and won the Central Division again (yeah, sick banner). I picked the Bruins. A game 7 loss in the Cup Final. I was one game away from being a psychic, but I’m okay with this. I was not mentally prepared to see another Boston championship. Luckily, we didn’t have to. St. Louis has freed the hockey/sports world from more Boston tyranny; but how come Guggi and I didn’t pick St. Louis to win it all? Well for starters, they didn’t make the playoffs in 2018. They weren’t on many people’s radars. Rightfully so. They weren’t necessarily a bad team, they were just painfully average.
So what happened? What changed between late September 2018 to today? It was a collection of good fortune for the players and the front office, but two key things stood out to me that made this amazing run possible: 1. Jordan Binnington and 2. Craig Berube.
Binnington’s play has been talked about since he stepped in to the starting role for St. Louis. As a last place team, there wasn’t much pressure for him. He was a call-up who had no real expectations. He took his opportunity and ran with it. He started in 30 regular season games and put up a record of 24-5-1. That is a remarkable start to a career. He then went on to win 16 more games in the postseason, and we all know what that magic number means. Binnington stabilized a net that was in disarray for many years. The Blues have had “cup contending” teams for a long time, but they have been missing that rock between the pipes. In the last decade they’ve tried with Ryan Miller, Martin Brodeur, and Jake Allen. None of those guys ever really panned out the way they expected. Miller and Brodeur were rentals, but Allen was supposed to be there guy. He was not. I don’t want to take away from the guy, he’s a fine professional, but he was never able to elevate his game when it mattered most. Binnington is that guy, and I’m very excited to see where his career goes from here.
Craig Berube had a similar situation as Binnington in a sense that he walked into a shitty situation with not much expectation. He took over for Mike Yeo in November. No real expectations, other than finish the season with a respectable record. Playoffs would be nice. It took a little over a month, but he finally gained control of the locker room. His voice resonated with his players and they bought into what he was selling: hard-nosed hockey with solid defensive play. The Blues became hard to play against. They were big and tough, and Berube used his assets to their strengths. He deserves all the praise he’s getting now, because he is a large part of this championship and if he isn’t the coach of St. Louis going into next season, its only because another team pays him at least 10 million more.
The Blues are Stanley Cup Champions. So, play Gloria all summer St. Louis. It must feel good after 52 long years.
Written By Andrew Silvers
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