Blues’ red letter day

The St Louis Blues are Stanley Cup champions for the first time in history. That’s ever, for those keeping track. The series was a roller-coaster for both sides. The Blues got off to a great start in Game 1, up 2–0 early in the second period. I couldn’t believe it. Maybe we could do it. But then, my dreams were crushed one goal at a time, as the Bruins scored four unanswered to win 4–2. In Game 2, the Blues came back from down 1–0 and 2–1 to take the game to overtime, where we won it early to even the series and get our first Stanley Cup Finals win in our history (we were swept three years in a row the first three years of our existence). The Bruins made the first game in St Louis a doozie, scoring seven goals in a general domination that was never close. We got the first goal in Game 4, although ended up tied at 1–1 and 2–2 before finally winning 4–2. Game 5 was just great. We won 5–0 in Boston and brought things back to St Louis with a chance to win the first cup in our history in front of the home crowd. Game 6 was as bad as Game 5 was good. We lost 5–1. At home. With a chance to win the Stanley Cup. And knowing that if we lost, we’d have to go to Boston to win Game 7. But it turned out that we were born to win on the road. We ended up winning three out of four on the road (and losing two of three at home). I was on pins and needles the entire game. Jordan Binnington, our rookie goaltender who started the season as the fourth stringer, played out of his mind. And the Blues struck first, second, third, and fourth. We won 4–1 and brought the cup home to St Louis for the first time. Ever. It was a storybook close to a season, considering the Blues were in LAST PLACE in early January, with the season well on. And our head coach was still technically “interim.”

I’ve always enjoyed hockey, but my true love for the sport has only blossomed in the last 10–12 years, ever since my Chicago roommates and I watched the finals series in 2008 and 2009. Both of those series were close match-ups between hockey royalty in the Red Wings and Penguins, and included the Penguins’ young star, Sidney Crosby. Every year since then, June has been a highlight, a chance to invest in the beautiful sport that I generally failed to show sufficient love during the regular season. At this point in 2019, it’s safe to say that it’s my favorite sport to watch. I think it’s the best sport to watch, objectively speaking. Let me tell you why.

First: these guys are animals. At least two men played with broken jaws during the Stanley Cup Finals. One, Zdeno Chara, the captain of the Bruins, played with two plates, wires, and screws in his jaw for three games. While I’m glad he ended up on the wrong side of history this time, I have to admire his toughness. What’s remarkable is that what he did isn’t that remarkable for hockey standards. Have you noticed that most players are missing teeth? They’re not European (well, most aren’t). Those teeth were knocked out. With pucks, or sticks, or by sliding head-first into the boards. Clint Malarchuk, playing in 1989, had his throat slit and would have bled to death on the ice had a trainer not reached his hand into his neck to stop the bleeding jugular.

Next: while players are tough as nails, they are also gentlemen. They say that rugby is a hooligans’ game played by gentlemen (contrasted to soccer as a gentleman’s game played by hooligans). Hockey is similar. You have to be nuts to skate against some of the specimen in the NHL. But those same wildlings are your brothers, whose hands you’ll shake at the end of the contest. Few other sports have such a contrast between the hate during the action and the love between games.

Hockey is a game of inches, and one that requires remarkable hand-eye coordination. Chara can hit a slapshot 108 miles an hour. Players regularly bat fast-moving pucks out of the air with their curved sticks, or somehow get their sticks to redirect pucks as they caroom towards the net. To score on a goalie in his element takes either a perfectly placed shot (given how little daylight goalies allow against the small nets), fantastic stickwork, dexterous passing, or some combination of the above. The Blues this year had a team that could pass. It was a privilege to watch those men move the puck up the ice, receive pucks while skating backwards or sideways, and get in the right place at the right time to make something happen.

For all the skills required to control, pass, and shoot the puck, consider one other small detail: the ice. These guys are doing everything while balanced on two blades of metal on a massive sheet of ice. Most people in the world can’t even stand up in ice skates, much less skate around at full speed in hockey pads while other people are trying to put your lights out. Sure: growing up skating makes it like second nature to these guys. But still: few other sports require such skill level to simply step onto the field of play (water and other ice/snow sports are honorable mentions, but the three other main U.S. sports — baseball, basketball, and football — have no such requirement).

All position players have to play both offense and defense. Some sports (football, cough cough, basketball, cough cough) don’t really require players to play both ways. Football at the professional level has complete specialization on this front. Basketball technically has defense, but not really. Baseball shares hockey’s distinction as a sport requiring skill “on both sides of the ball,” but with the designated hitter on the books, it’s much less pure than hockey here.

Every player on the roster matters, and all-stars, while fun to watch, rarely take over games. Position players (everyone but goalies) only play for 45–60 seconds at a time before being rotated out for a new crew. Teams will have four lines rotating through. So if you have a really weak line, you put your team at grave risk in match-ups against strong lines. All players matter. Hockey does have stars: everyone knows Wayne Gretzky was a transcendent player, and Sidney Crosby has a way of changing the game on his own. But generally, stars can’t dominate games the way a quarterback can, or the way a LeBron James or Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan can. That, in addition to the toughness and athleticism required, makes this a true team sport. (Hot goaltenders are a some-time exception to this. But any goaltender can get hot. Binnington played well overall in the series, and helped us win. But he also gave up a ton of goals in a couple blown games.)

The game is insanely fast: multi-tasking is not possible. If you look away for a couple minutes, you might miss a goal. And if you miss a goal, you may miss the only goal in the game. Hockey is similar to soccer in that it’s generally low-scoring. If you score three goals, you’ll probably win. You can win with just one goal too. So every goal matters. But soccer can be slow. The ball might not be within the goal box of either side for minutes on end. You can probably time a beer run or bathroom break if you are careful. That’s not possible in hockey. The puck is almost always at one end of the ice or the other, with one team pressing and just a move or two from a goal. Basketball is a rally sport. Hockey sort of is. Sometimes. You can go on “runs” in hockey. But the momentum in hockey can change faster than in any other sport. In baseball, momentum happens, but since you only bat every half-inning, the game is slow. In hockey, you’re always a few seconds away from scoring, or being scored on. And yet you might well go two periods with no goals. That’s exciting. Very exciting.

While hockey is slowly succumbing to the might dollar, it still seems to have much less advertising that football, baseball, or basketball, since (see point above) the game moves so fast and there are so few commercial breaks. In football, the clock stops after every down. How boring is that? Most of the time you’re “watching football,” you’re actually watching commercials. Or waiting for the next play. Baseball is even worse on this account. The ball is almost never in play. (Although this is part of the charm of baseball. There is a lot of build-up.) Hockey really only should have two sets of commercials: those after the first period, and those after the second period. Other than that, the play should be more or less continuous. Time-outs are rare in hockey. Let’s get this show on the road!

Doc Emrick. With Vin Scully retired (much to my chagrin), Mike “Doc” Emrick is the best announcer in sports. I don’t think there’s even a doubt. The guy used 153 unique verbs to describe the movement of the puck — in ONE GAME. You have to listen to understand. SCOOAAARRRRRE!!!!!!