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St. Louis Blues Legend Al Arbour Subject Of Tributes

By Kate Cimini |

Former St. Louis Blues defenseman and coach Al Arbour passed away after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease and dementia, Bleedin’ Blue reported earlier today.

But since the news broke, stations and media outlets everywhere have been paying tribute to him in wonderful fashion. From videos to old anecdotes, articles that are more than 40 years old and ones that were written today, St. Louis, and the hockey world as a whole, remembers Al Arbour.

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Here’s one that SI dragged out of its vault on Arbour, written during his 1972 season with the St. Louis Blues. It’s highly complementary towards the (excellent, excellent) coach, and tells the story of how Arbour pulled the Blues out of the muck, and into the sunlight.

Long, hard, organized workouts helped in the technical areas, but the job of instilling spirit into his players was a very painful experience for Arbour. So painful, in fact, that he needed 10 stitches to close a wound in his head. The Blues were playing the Flyers at Philadelphia, and in the second period Referee John Ashley made a few calls that Arbour and his players thought were one-sided. At the end of the period, with his team trailing 2–0 (this coming after a 9–1 loss to New York the previous night), Arbour stepped onto the ice and began to follow Ashley toward the referee’s exit. When Ashley noticed Arbour, he immediately gave him a two-minute penalty.“Keep following him,” Bob Plager told his coach. “You’ve already got the two minutes, and he won’t give you any more.”As Arbour pursued Ashley off the ice, a Philadelphia fan emptied a beer cup over the coach’s head. Plager and several other Blues charged toward the exit to help defend their coach. Instant riot. Arbour had his head gashed open, there were charges of police brutality, and later Arbour and some of his players spent part of the night in jail. “I was in the doctor’s room getting stitched up,” Arbour says, “and I heard all these shouts coming from the next room. The Blues’ room. My guys were snarling. I was afraid they were going to knock down the door.”As Bob Plager says, “When Al chased after Ashley, it was the first time all year someone had stood up for us. It brought us together. Now we were ready to stand up for ourselves and be counted. It really was what I’d call the making of a hockey team.” [Sports Illustrated]

This one maybe spends more time on Arbour’s career in New York but includes a video of the moment that Arbour’s team upset the 1992-1993 Pittsburgh Penguins in the Wales Conference Finals. Amazing. [CBS]

The St. Louis club, of course, couldn’t let this moment pass without an appropriate post on social media. [Twitter]

St. Louis Game Time sends their condolences. [SB Nation]

Al was drafted as a defenseman, yes, but also as a team captain. Arbour was acquired for St. Louis in an expansion draft, and became the first captain the Blues ever had. And due to some foolish decisions by ownership, we let him go to New York.

“I remember when they had a ceremony for Al in New York,” Claire Arbour, Al’s wife, said a few years ago. “(Bowman) was there and (former Blues broadcaster) Dan Kelly came over to emcee it. I still remember Dan Kelly saying, ‘I come from St. Louis, where we had Scotty Bowman and Al Arbour, and we fired them both. How smart are we?’ That line really rang true.” [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Arbour is survived by his wife and two children, who we ask that you keep in your thoughts.

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