St. Louis Blues: Kudos to the Blues Fans

When credit is due, credit should be given. So, St. Louis Blues fans should get a huge pat on the back for their opening game against the Blackhawks. If nobody is giving you one and you were there, give yourself a pat on the back

The St. Louis Blues have some of the best fans in the country as do any of the teams in the city of St. Louis. They don’t often get a lot of credit though.

Some of that is media driven. The Blues play in, by NHL standards, a mid-sized market or a small market by some other standards. When you’re not in the glamour cities like New York or Chicago or Los Angeles, the team and its fans get overlooked.

Some of the lack of credit is self inflicted. In recent history, many Blues fans have earned the reputation of not showing up, selling their tickets to opposing fans (or at the very least putting them on the open market) or caring more about early regular season baseball than end of season or playoff hockey.

Now this article is not to create a division between groups. St. Louis has and always will be a baseball town. However, the levels that some people take that is often disheartening to hockey people. For someone to pick a midweek baseball game against a nobody opponent over a playoff game or a crucial late season contest doesn’t make sense to puck lovers.

However, over the course of time that’s what many in the city picked. The Cardinals do nothing but ally themselves with their crosstown brethren, but the fans often choose the red over the blue.

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That sentiment has also held true in recent times in terms of the colors that were inside the Scottrade Center. Whether people have purposely done it or not, Blues’ tickets have ended up in the hands of Blackhawks fans in numbers too high for anyone to be ok with.

While there are huge exaggerations about the split – some saying it has been as high as 55-45 – the bottom line is that there should not be that many opposing fans in your home building. The Blackhawks would turn games in St. Louis into defacto home games because there was so much red in the building whether it was 25%, 30% or whatever.

The fans have not done themselves proud in those situations. I’ve heard all sorts of stories for excuses. Many blame the ticket sites for buying them up and then selling them off. Others say it’s actual fans who can pay for a significant portion, if not all, of their season tickets by selling them to Chicago fans.

Those of us that don’t agree with that idea can argue against it until the cows come home. However, in the end, it’s a moot point. The tickets are gone and Blackhawks fans have raided the building.

Apr 18, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues fans waive rally towels during the game between the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild during the first period in game two of the first round of the the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scottrade Center. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /

That’s become more of the problem from the fans point of view rather than the playing of the actual team. Sure, playing one of the best teams in recent history, perhaps even a dynasty, is worrying. But not knowing if you’ll be surrounded by the enemy fans or your own causes anxiety and takes away from the enjoyment of going to a game.

Then came game one of the 2016 Western Conference Quarterfinals. Blues vs. Blackhawks. Nothing could be bigger unless the teams were playing in the conference finals and the Blues fans showed up.

It seems like an easy thing to assume, but there were a lot more Chicago fans in the building two seasons ago. Not on this night. The Blues fans soaked up all the tickets they could and gave their team a true home ice advantage.

On a night when the Blues didn’t have their offense clicking, the fans kept the faith. They erupted with every hit, they rallied behind the team with every block, chanted “Moose” with every save and charged up the building with every penalty kill.

There was always the worry that there would be a lot of red in the stands. The Cardinals had a home game and sometimes it takes awhile for the opening day festivities to wear off. But the fans showed up in blue and did themselves proud.

Next: Enough of the Late NHL Games

It’s difficult to label any group. Fans are such an eclectic grouping from different backgrounds with different points of view and different levels of loving certain teams. But for at least the opening game of the opening round, the city was on one page and that was the Blues’ page.

All they have to do now is exactly what the Blues have to do – keep it up. Keep showing up and keep drowning out the few Chicago fans that do sneak in. The fans helped in game one and will likely be needed for what promises to be a long series with more overtimes.

Keep it up Blues fans and kudos for stepping up to the plate.

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