The Many (Ugly) Faces of St. Louis Blues Hockey
“Now the last I wanted was to get into a fight
in Jackson Mississippi on a Saturday night
especially when there was three of them and only one of me.” – Charlie Daniels
(From the song UneOasy Rider – many of you will know it as The Do Drop Inn)
By Rich Lindbloom
I’m not sure two games with those hated rivals, the St Louis Blues, is just what the doctor ordered as we head into the playoffs. Let’s just say there’s always a possibility of a full blown donnybrook breaking out when these two bitter rivals meet. Sometimes it’s on the ice, sometimes it’s in the stands.
My friend Bobby went to a Blues vs. Hawks game a few months after the 1984 NLCS game, where Leon Durham miss played a sharply hit ground ball. In ABC announcer Don Drysdale’s words, “Ground ball hit to Durham…RIGHT THROUGH HIS LEGS…we’re tied at three.” Bobby was attending the game with a friend and their two dates, politely applauding the righteous Blackhawks efforts that evening. Some knucklehead Blues fan kept repeating Drysdale’s words, in a obvious attempt to stir things up.
Now Bobby was born in Georgia, so he was well acquainted with “Big hair, Camel smoking, beer guzzling, gap toothed, tattooed, green teeth, red neck trailer trash.” You might get away with the incessant mocking if Bobby was a north side yuppie, but Bobby not only has Georgian blood in him, he hailed from the South side of Chicago. And as Leroy Brown noted, “It’s the baddest part of town.” Finally, Bobby had enough…
He got up and turned to the corpulent Blues fan, (i.e, – fat slob), and said “Hey buddy, the baseball season ended three months ago, put a lid on it.” And the fight started..
Well not quite then, First, the Blues fan of course came up with the classic high school taunt, “Who’s gonna make me?” Bobby ignored him and started watching the game again. Moments later, he was pelted in the head with a empty beer cup. (I do have to give the Blues fan credit for finishing the beer before tossing it; Blues fans may not be bright, but they are not stupid.) Realizing he was not dealing with a UN peace keeper, he ignored the behemoth’s foreplay. Moments later he got pelted with another empty beer cup.
Of course the Blues fan and his three friends were having a time of it. Beside the physical abuse, there was a great deal of verbal abuse being tossed their way When Bobby got pelted for the third time, he finally ignored Jesus’s advice to turn the other cheek. He got up and said, “You do that one more time I’m going to come up there and kick your ass.” This is a classic example of what is known as pouring gasoline on a fire. The fan with the blue note on his chest took about two seconds to get to the row right above Bobby’s. After listening to him trash talk his mother, his manhood and the Hawks, Bobby had enough.
He gave his friend a glance that said, “Are you ready?” His friend gave him an affirmative nod, and all hell broke loose moments later. Now Bobby claims the guy was three times his size, kind of like the biblical character Ishmael – one donkey of a man. The element of surprise can never be underestimated though, and Bobby quickly spun around and landed an upper cut right below the jawbone. He dropped the dropped the Blues fan, much like David did to Goliath, knocking him out cold!
Now there’s an old saying, “If you hang out with fools, you’ll become foolish.” The three friends of the Blues fan who was visiting with the cuckoo bird at that moment, sprang into action to defend the dubious honor of their fallen comrade. The first one to arrive at the scene, after they climbed over two rows to get Bobby, was grabbed by Bobby’s friend and literally thrown two rows further down for his efforts. Bobby said all hell broke loose in the next few minutes before the Andy Frains arrived. The next thing he knew, Bobby and his friend were handcuffed and bent over a concession booth in the foyer.
Now this is important, so pay attention; I actually like the passion of St. Louis Blues fans and the intensity of Hawk/Blues games. Trust me I will never turn down a ticket to watch these two teams tussle. I have to note that a number of Blues fans came out into the foyer and told the policemen that Bobby and his friend did not start the brouhaha. (They sure did finish it though!) The policemen let them go, but with about 4 minutes left in the game wisely advised them to get the hell out of Dodge. Stick tap to the Blues fans who stood up for the truth that day.
Well, it’s been two games since my last “hard hitting” analysis of Blackhawk hockey. Since that time, the Hawks tidily dispatched a somewhat surprisingly effective Vancouver Canuck team, and the front runners for the Connor McDavid derby, the Buffalo Sabres. I actually surprised my daughter and her Australian boyfriend who came into town on Thursday. Apparently she’s given up on Jonathan Toews! I told her I was taking them downtown to eat that evening, to Tuscany on Taylor. On the train ride from New York, she asked me if her friend Allysa could join us. I had to think fast, (always a challenge for me), as we only had three tickets to the game and told her no, Tuscany was packed and the managed to squeeze us in the back corner at a table that only sat three. (Yes, that is the best I could come up with!) That aroused her suspicion a little, she’s not a blonde, but she noted, “It’s probably because the Hawks are playing tonight.”
If you have followed any of my mental meanderings over the last 8 years or so, you’ll know that Taylor is a puckhead. She was the one who convinced me to get season tickets after the dynamic duo’s rookie season. Unfortunately, the last few games Taylor has been to, the Hawks have struggled to get more than a goal. Her brother Greg is always quick to point out how much more successful the Hawks are when he goes with me! (With the score tied 1-1 after two periods, it appeared Taylor’s luck had not changed any.) At any rate, after we ate I said, “Hey, let’s watch the game at Park Tavern. You should have seen the look on her face when we bypassed the Tavern’s doors and got on the little bus that shuttles fans to the game. “Are we going to the game!!!” I’m a shoe in for dad of the year.
It was a great game to watch, with both Eddie Lack and Cor-dawg stifling many grade-A scoring chances. Our third line, Desjardins/Freddy/Teuvo, once again dominated while on the ice. Although (possibly in a fit of jealousy) Taylor’s boyfriend called Teuvo ugly, he continues to turn eyes on the ice. He is starting to do more and more of those Kane like things – those things that border on black magic. He notched his fourth goal of the season after some assiduous efforts by the entire line.
We had a nightcap at the Park Tavern before heading home. While watching the replays of the game, both Taylor and I noted that even though T-dawg did not get an assist on the Kruger’s scintillating tally, while back checking with a Hossarian like intensity, he definitely helped cause the turn over that set Marcus free.
While on the subject of pudge face, Marcus Kruger was voted #2 star. Actually, Teuvo was # 3 star – when you’re fourth line produces two of the three stars of the game, generally, things are going to go well. Sam Fels in a wrap of the Vancouver game did an excellent job extolling Marcus’s contributions to the Blackhawks success. In Sam-wise’s sagacious words:
“You know I want to get to Teuvo, but let’s pause on that a second. On the front page of today’s Indian I remarked that two years ago how we loved how Frolik and Kruger made the Hawks fourth line a real force. Last year, we watched as the 4th line didn’t miss too much of a beat when it was Ben Smith and Kruger. Just a few weeks ago, it was Nordstrom and Kruger that we watched intently, or Shaw and Kruger. Now it’s Teuvo and Kruger. Anyone sense a pattern?”
Kruger’s line routinely draws one of the other team’s top lines due to their harassing style. With Teuvo on this line, it’s become a giant slayer. When Kruger got hit by Tyler Strachan in the Sabre’s game, anyone who follows Blackhawk hockey started getting sick to their stomach. Not flashy, certainly not posting huge point totals, Kruger’s line is indispensable to the Hawks continued success. I would have gladly substituted a loss, or two or three, to get a healthy Freddy back. When I saw him on a shift in a third period, seriously, the outcome of the game was insignificant. How many fourth line players can you say that about? It was like the Easter bunny came early.
And I know that I will be labelled a meat ball, but Desjardins answering the bell gave me a warm fuzzy. Strachan may have bested him, but Andrew nailed him a couple of times. Afterwards he put the fear of God into the hooligan while sitting in the sin bin. I’m pretty sure Andrew kept repeating, “I’m gonna get you sucka!” For a moment, I thought we might see some old time hockey when the guys in the penalty box went after each other. (Some of you may not realize it, but in the Original Six days, all that separated the players was a guard. There were no glass partitions between the combatants.
The Sabre game itself had all the earmarks of a trap game. With two minutes to go, my hopes to secure at least a point out of the contest were evaporating. The Hawks managed to tie the contest when a sixth attacker was put on the ice. (Guess what, Teuvo was out there – think coach Q is getting more comfortable with # 86?) Tazer banged home a rebound off a Keith blast and then buried a sa-weet drop pass from Brandon Saad after a nice keep in by Big Hoss. That game was certainly a case of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
One last Bobby story before I start getting mentally prepared for tonight’s Blues bloodbath. I was taking to Bobby at a Christmas party at the end of December. He said he had been on business all week in Michigan. “I was able to get about six different hockey games on the TV in my hotel room, but couldn’t get the Blues game on. With his well-known hatred for the Blues, it puzzled me why he would want to watch the Blues game. When I asked him why he said, “Because I love to watch them lose!”
The Blues have somewhat cleaned up their act, apparently finally realizing that the winners of the fights do not get you any points in the standings. They still have plenty of nozzles in Ott, Reaves, Jackman and Backes. Fortunately, they need to win this game tonight, so the shenanigans may be kept to a minimum. I’m not so sure about what will transpire in the stands.
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Rich Lindbloom
