Every kid that grows up loving sports dreams of playing for their favorite team. So very few experience that and even fewer hit big milestones with those teams.
The St. Louis Blues seem to have had a plethora of guys hitting career milestones this season. Put aside the overall team success not meshing with that idea, but it is interesting to see the double-zeros keep on coming.
The most recent milestone was Pat Maroon getting his 200th career point. The St. Louis kid was able to do it with a Blues sweater on and the Note on his chest. How cool is that?
While Maroon has not quite lived up to the expectations I and many fans had for him, he has still proven to be a valuable asset and I am happy for him as a local. How could you not be?
Growing up, I dreamed of playing for all my favorite sports teams, the Blues most of all. The only things holding me back were talent and money – I could have asked my parents to pay and they would have, but I didn’t want them to take out a loan to afford goalie pads, which felt like the case, but I digress.
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Needless to say, I never got to put on that sweater. Maroon has and now he is enjoying the success on the ice to match the enjoyment of being closer to his son.
Maroon hit 200 points by scoring a goal in a shootout loss in Buffalo. He then got to celebrate in front of the home fans by scoring a goal in a 7-2 win against his former team, Edmonton. The only way it could have been more perfect would be to score the actual 200th point in St. Louis.
Regardless, we should all feel good about this milestone. You could argue that guys hit 200 points all the time, if they have played long enough, but to do it with the team you grew up with is incredible.
Maroon, himself, would say this year has been a lot tougher than anyone anticipated. He currently has 23 points, which is almost 20 points behind what he has achieved the last few seasons and still six behind his career low.
As this season has progressed, he has provided so much more for the Blues. Maroon has evolved into more of a fighter lately and has become more of leader too. I am not talking about a captain leader, but just the guy that will go out there and put himself on the line and chirp and do it all for someone else’s benefit.
Who knows if the team will or should re-sign Maroon in the summer. We can discuss that at a later time.
For now, I just enjoy the moment, as we all should. To hit a career milestone while playing for the team you grew up with is something movies are written about, even if the actual milestone is seen as pedestrian by some.