St. Louis Blues Fans Have Felt Bruins Pain, But Don’t Care Anymore

If anyone knows what Boston Bruins fans are going through right now, it is St. Louis Blues fans. At this moment in time, none of us care though.

Hey, Boston Bruins fans. St. Louis Blues fans know your pain better than anyone.

We have been there. We have been wronged by the officials countless times over the course of our franchise history.

Potentially better than any fan base in the country, we know what you are going through this very moment. Unfortunately, we could also not care less at this very moment. Sorry, but we can’t.

As mentioned, Blues fans have been here countless times before, many of them in recent memory. The entire movement behind disliking NBC’s coverage of the NHL likely started in St. Louis because of their bias toward the Chicago Blackhawks.

Having to play Chicago so many times in the playoffs and hear about their greatness night after night, even if they were outplayed was sickening. Having the officials miss blatant calls by the Blackhawks was maddening.

The Bruins very own David Backes knows what our pain is. Backes knows all about the feeling of league bias and missed calls affecting playoff series here in St. Louis.

He was checked violently to the boards while Duncan Keith mockingly said “wakey, wakey Backes.” There was a penalty and suspension on that play, but NBC did not replay it a thousand times and say what an awful, egregious play it was on Chicago’s part.

By now, even Bruins fans have to have heard about the handpass. The Blues were playing against a team that, while supremely talented, had no reason even being in the conference finals because they got there based on official’s calls. Having the refs miss something that is so obvious to everyone and have the opponent directly win from that is something Blues fans are a bit familiar with.

So, don’t sit there and whine about the league having some sort of bias towards St. Louis. Nothing could be further from the truth.

What does the NHL have to gain from a mid-market team winning the Stanley Cup? The Blues have plenty of feel-good stories, but the NHL plays to market size. They would be far better served if Boston won, from a perceived financial standpoint.

Let us also not act like this was the only missed call. Almost the exact same non-call happened earlier in that contest, but Blues fans were not exploding about it the way the non-call on Tyler Bozak has affected the New England area.

The reasoning that the Blues scored is no excuse either. Brad Marchand came very close to stuffing in his attempt right after this illegal play that was not called.

We have also heard enough about this incorrect narrative coming from Boston that Craig Berube whined and the NHL bowed to his wishes. Go back and look at what he said.

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He said the Blues were the least penalized team in the playoffs coming into the final and suddenly they picked up 14 penalties in three games and he did not get why. There was no veiled attempt to get calls in the future. He did not say anything like Pete DeBoer who flat out said he expected the officials to call what they missed the previous game when St. Louis took on the Sharks.

While Backes did whine about the change in officiating, he even admitted that the way Game 4 went was more like how playoffs have been called in the past. Just because the Bruins, and Sharks for that matter, got used to having multiple power plays per game does not mean you have a right to those power plays.

The narrative that those comments changed the series is true in a matter of fact way too. The Bruins want to act like things have changed so much, but in the two games following Berube’s comments, the Blues have still picked up six penalties compared to the Bruins four.

Forgotten by one replay, shown dozens of times by NBC, is the fact Boston did have three power plays and came up empty. All the Bruins’ top scorers are pointless at even strength and failed on those key power plays, but the game was handed to the Blues apparently.

Most coaches are seeking makeup calls when they whine. Four penalties called against Boston is hardly any big change in the series.

Bruins fans, through no fault of their own, don’t really have any context for Berube either. They heard one postgame soundbite and think this is Phil Jackson going off on NBA refs after every game.

Berube did not make one peep about officials other than to say he might have disagreed with something and that was only when asked by the media. His goaltender was trucked in Game 1 against Winnipeg and they said that’s hockey.

Dallas was guilty of so many crosschecks and spears, you would think they were training to be Little John in the next film adaptation of Robin Hood. Still, there were no comments.

The handpass was the worst non-call of them all against the Blues this season, and still there were many other calls that were terribly wrong that did not go St. Louis’ way against the Sharks. Berube instructed his team, and followed suit in his own press conference, to say nothing about it. Suck it up and move on was the mantra of the Blues and they did just that.

So, we know what this is like. But our coach was not the one dropping censored F-bombs in his press conference, though nobody would have blamed him.

Our coach was not the one saying the officiating has been a black-eye for the NHL this season, though most Blues fans would certainly agree.

No offense, but maybe this is justice. Though the Blues had one player suspended and might have a second one, people around the league are not blind to the nonsense the Bruins have pulled.

But hey, we know how this feels. If the roles were reversed, you better bet your behind that Blues fans would be making just as much noise.

So, the reason we don’t care is because we can’t anymore – not when we are this close to getting what you Bruins fans already have.

We have gone through the tantrums by our general manager. Heck, after the hanpass game, Doug Armstrong was apparently downstairs pounding on the locker room door of the refs. You have to hand it to Cam Neely for having a hell of an arm though.

Blues fans have gone through everything Bruins fans are feeling right now, except 100 times over the course of our lifetimes. Take what you black and gold guys and gals are feeling and just imagine that same thing happening multiple times each year and then you know where we are coming from.

Any Blues fan, in the calm state of mind and removed from the heat of the situation, will likely admit that a trip would be called against Bozak 99 times out of 100 – maybe 999 times out of 1000.

Having been on the wrong side of those plays countless times, nobody wearing the note is going to say it does not feel good to be on the beneficial side of that kind of thing for once in our history.

Complain all you want. We get it. It just is not going to bother us.

We have gone through too much as a city, just from a sports aspect. The Rams were ripped from us while the memory of being robbed of a Super Bowl by Boston’s very own Patriots (who legitimately cheated) was fresh. The Blues have come achingly close only to have it taken away or ruined from within.

So, no, we are not going to apologize or feel bad for this. This series is not even over and most Blues fans are afraid to even ponder the idea of one more W, but we are going to feel good about being up 3-2 in the series.

Our city and our fans have never been this close and we are not about to let a blown call, something that affects all 30 teams over the course of a season, bring us down for one minute.