The unforgettable St Louis Blues post-season championship “run” is brought back to us as we take a peek at how some of the Blues celebrated their day with Stanley. There were lots of family moments, local celebrations, as well as some very touching moments for special people in their lives.
…Brayden Schenn got his day with the Cup in Saskatoon on Friday and took it right to the place where his father has worked for 28 years as a firefighter. Schenn was seen wearing a firefighter helmet during the Blues’ parade with the Cup back in June. “You always think if I win the Cup, you put the thoughts in your head of what I would do with it,” Schenn told the team’s website. “My dad is a firefighter, so this was important to me. I’m trying to do my best sharing it with a lot of people today.” He also took it Royal University Hospital where he met with sick children, including 16-year-old John Bossaer.
…The Cup then headed a few hours south, where Tyler Bozak & Jaden Schwartz shared their day with the Cup with the city of Regina on Saturday. The duo planted a Blues flag on the Saskatchewan Legislative Building. They then headed to where people where melons on their heads: Mosaic Stadium. There, they paraded the trophy in front of thousands of Saskatchewan Roughriders fans who had assembled for the Canadian Football League’s game against the Calgary Stampeders. There wasn’t much to cheer for during the football game for fans — the Roughriders lost 37-10 — but Bozak and Schwartz, along with Schenn, got the crowd into a frenzy.
…on July 14, Stanley returned “home’ so to speak. It was the day for STL born & bred, Patrick Maroon. A 9am start at his house with plenty of photos with his family including parents, & grandparents began the day. His son Anthony enjoyed a bowl of Toasted Crunch directly out of Stanley. Then it was off to All-American Sports Mall in S.County, where Maron invited around 200 people who he credits for helping him develop his hockey skills. Lunch was @ one of the Lou’s best restaurants, Charlie Gitto’s. Maroon served one of StL’s most famous dishes @ Gitto’s–Toasted ravioli from the Stanley Cup. A 1 hour trip took the Maroon’s to a lake to enjoy the evening with plenty of family and friends on the lake. Adam Sanders joined in the celebration, arriving all the way from Nashville, to enjoy the moment with Maroon’s family.
…Earlier in the week, the Cup was a province over in Alberta. Craig Berube, fresh off a three-year extension as bench boss with the Blues, took the Cup back to his hometown of Calahoo, Alta. It’s not a big place — the thriving metropolis boasts a population of just 85 — but they were all out to congratulate Berube. “We all grew up here,” Berube told the team’s website. “My dad and brothers lived on this farm or just down the road. We were grain farmers, cattle farmers, we had it all here, that’s how we grew up. His mother, meanwhile, was just as thrilled. “I never dreamt it. Unreal,” said Ramona Berube, Craig’s mother. “I never thought of something like this (happening). It’s just great for everybody who was down at the arena to see it. You can see how much it means to everybody.”
…Colton Parayko, meanwhile, got his day with the Cup in St. Alberta, a city northwest of Edmonton. Parayko’s day also included an emotional moment as he, along with his grandfather and family, toasted his grandma, who died last November after a battle with cancer. According to Parayko, a deal was made between grandmother and grandson that if the latter made the NHL one day, the former would take a shot of peach schnapps at her home in St. Albert any time he scored. With her passing, the family honored the tradition on Wednesday.
…David Perron on July 30th, was welcomed home by a raucous crowd at the hockey rink.. Stanley went on a ride (buckled in) through Quebec; enjoyed breakfast with his family and used Stanley as a cereal bowl for their “Lucky Charms” cereal then washed it down with chocolate mike sucked through a straw from Stanley’s chocolate milk container. A game of street hockey was enjoyed by the neighbors and Stanley was hoisted by the winning team of the day! Stanley was taken to Perron’s favorite restaurant and then enjoyed eating poutine out of the Cup for dinner.
…For Ryan O’Reilly it was 3 towns, 2 parades, hundreds of photos with Stanley. O’Reilly arrived in Seaforth and went directly to the Fire Hall @ 8:00am. It was there that O’Reilly shared an emotional moment with his 99 year old Grandmother. A parade as O’Reilly rode on the “lead” firetruck…it went straight down Main Street to the Seaforth Arena. After 2 hours and millions…OK…maybe not that many…of photos, the party continued its celebration in another town. This time it was Goderich another parade ran through the town. The YMCA was the host of the photo session as well as the place that O’Reilly received gifts from the community (stuffed bear with a #90 jersey, knit hat, Blues themed birdhouse). By 4pm O’Reilly was in Bayfield for a private party for his family & friends hosted at his parents home. Perhaps the most exciting part for Stanley was arriving at the party via helicopter!
…Alex Pietrangelo was the 1st Blue to take Stanley golfing this year. Pietrangelo from King City (about 30 miles away from Toronto) spent his morning with close friends & family AND STANLEY on the golf course. He returned home to his triplets (Evelyn, Oliver & Theodore) who just turned 1 year old. When the threesome woke up from their nap, Stanley was there sitting on the countertop. After the required thousands of pics were fulfilled, off they went to Grandma/Grandpa’s house. There Stanley was used as serving bowl for a large portion of nonna’s pasta for the main meal.
…Vince Dunn ,who enjoyed an impromptu hometown parade as he walked with STANLEY in his grasp, then marched Stanley to a public appearance @ the Lindsay Rec Complex. It was there that Dunn learned of Lawny Woodcock. Woodcock was a patient in the local hospital who was diagnosed 4 months ago with colon cancer and the doctors have indicated that he’ll be there until 2020.. He is an extremely avid hockey fan. “Big (hockey fan),” he told stlouisblues.com. “I would watch hockey from the time I get up in the morning until I go to bed, seven days a week if I could.” Because most of the Blues are Canadian-born, Lawney adopted the Blues as his team after the Maple Leafs season ended. Dunn took the cup to Woodcock’s room and shared the excitement with him “Just pretty emotional,” Lawny said, tears welling up in his eyes. “Thank you very much, Vince. It means a lot.”
…As Jordan Binnington approached his hometown, a new sign was recently installed. “City of Richmond Hill, Population 208,000, Home of Stanley Cup Champion Jordan Binnington” Binnington walked up to the sign, turns around and says, “That’s me, Baby”. Btw…Richmond Hill is also the home of Curtis Joseph (former Blues GK) and Connor McDavid (current NHL player).1st stop was his grandmother’s house. Her house is almost on the 7th green of the local golf course—maybe 100 yards. The golfers seem puzzled as they see a large crowd gathered at her house for pictures galore. Binnington then visits his Grandpa on the other side of the family who lives by himself. His Grandfather walks out to greet him in a Blues Tee, and a Blues Stanley Cup Champions hat. He’s abandon his long-time team, the Maple Leafs. Next on the visit list is Kevin….probably the biggest Binnington fan in the area. His b-day card for Binnington had been held back by his Mom so that he could give it to him personally on this day! At his Mom’s house, the required photo of Mom had to include her 2 dogs ! Around 4:45 Binnington shows his gratitude to the Toronto Police force who had to accompany him around town all day. He visited the police station with STANLEY and let the men in Blue share in the celebration with him. A parade in his honor and was awarded the Key to the City.
….Obviously, That’s not all of the Blues but you get the flavor of their “special” days with Stanley…. Each Blue had their own very special day with their families, city/town and friends. It’s a great tradition of the NHL. Looking around the rest of the sports world, others were on tours also…
….The Cards took a tour through the basement level teams of the MLB. They were able to sweep out W’s from the basement. The Pirates & Royals were just the tour that the Cardinals needed.
….The pre-season tour through the NCAA-F camps surprised me a bit. I really feel like Mizzou will…and should…win at least 8 or 9 games. That should put them into the top 25. The Mizzou Tiger was nowhere to be found in the SI pre-season, Top 25 poll…time will tell. Have I been bitten by the hype?
…The tour continues @ Oakville High School @ the softball and baseball fields. The Father/Son combo of Rich Sturm SR & JR has covered the Oakville tour together in an incredible manner. Rich Sr coached the Oakville Varsity Baseball from 1983-1999 compiling an impressive 270-111 record. This year, Rich Jr begins his 26th year as a coach and teacher. His glossy lifetime record is 261-158 in baseball and 367-97 in softball. So… combined this Father/Son combo are closing in on 900 victories (@ 898) on the baseball/softball fields @ Oakville. If we want to throw the wins of Rich Sr as head Varsity Basketball Coach (96 wins), we’re closing in on 1000 wins for a Father/Son combo at the same school! WOW! Congratulations to both Sr & Jr for their impressive mark that they’ve left @ Oakville HS.
…The tour through the pre-game batting practice as taken a turn. Surprisingly to me, the Cardinals had 2 Batting Coaches this season. Never heard of that! In modern day baseball, it seems EACH player already has their own batting coach. Anyway…the Cards fired the asst batting coach, Mark Budaska. Budaska had been the Memphis (Cards AAA team) since 2008 so had worked with many of the players there. It would seem to me that he was surprised…probably upset….when the Cards brought in Jeff Albert as the #1 batting coach over him. But last week suddenly…..Budaska was fired…gone the same day. The mgmt. indicated that they wanted ‘the same message” from the hitting coach. Common sense moment here….have you EVER heard 2 different people describe or say anything in exactly the same way? I’m going to speculate that one of our “boys”…probably experienced and highly paid… complained to someone that Budaska was telling him something a bit “different” then Albert. Just like that…he’s fired! Just doesn’t sound like that’s the entire story…. maybe…. during the off season we’ll really learn the complete story. One thing for sure…this isn’t the type of matter that a team wants to occur in August of a pennant race.
….Along the same lines…of Cards batting…many fans were clamoring for Starting pitcher at the trade deadline. Maybe they should back up for a sec, the batting woes of the Cards are dreadful. As a team, in the NL (15 teams) St Louis is 13th in runs, 12th in OBP, 13th in slug %, 13th in OPS. Maybe NEITHER of the batting coaches should have been retained  Meanwhile, the Phillies bring back former manage Charlie Manual (70 years old) to take over their batting coach duties last week, also!?!
….As the NCAA-F experts tour thru college campuses with their pre-season rankings of teams and individuals, one former StL area HS player is receiving a great deal of notice. Jr AJ Espensa (Iowa) has already banked two outstanding seasons as a DE. The tenacious 6-6, 280 DE from Edwardsville is viewed by many as the best rushing DE in college Football. He may apply for the NFL draft this year.
…Soccer fans….and hopefully, SPORTS fans….received great news as the MLS has indicated that St Louis would be the next expansion team. I don’t know why the other attempts of pro soccer at the top level of American soccer failed here in St Louis but…..let’s hope that this time St Louis will succeed. It seems as if a wonderful ownership team is in place so….it’s a long road until the 1st game ..let’s hope that the momentum continues to grow each month.
Thanks for taking YOUR tour through this blog!! Responses are always invited….either through email-rjryansr@charter.net, directly on facebook or directly on prepcasts site. Hope to hear from many of you.