St. Louis Blues: Teams Are Copying Blues’ Cutest Secret Strategies
By Jason Martin
Teams from around the league are trying to emulate the St. Louis Blues best kept, and cutest secret, which means St. Louis needs to turn to damage control.
The St. Louis Blues introduced the world’s best good boy during the 2018-19 regular season, and with his support, the Blues were able to capture their first-ever Stanley Cup championship.
The cutest Labrador Retriever propelled an entire country to rally behind the Blues, and despite Brayden Schenn‘s best efforts, he was unable to get Barclay called for holding the stick on his infamous trip around the ice.
It’s not surprising that almost half the league has adopted dogs themselves. Barclay exploded onto the season after his debut on December 13. The Blues were at the bottom of the table and in desperate need of something to rally behind.
Penalty: Barclay
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) December 13, 2018
Two minutes for holding the stick #stlblues pic.twitter.com/DIwKLS72Av
The fad caught on during media day of the Stanley Cup Finals when the league sent a dog around the press room to conduct player interviews. Even if it was with different backup goalies, the NHL made strides in the right direction in promoting how happy dogs can make people.
Now, teams from around the league are getting on the same page as St. Louis by adopting their very own dogs, most recently, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Lightning, like the Blues, are training their new yellow lab named Bolt to serve as a team ambassador and will be groomed to be a service dog to help those in need.
St. Louis may not have been the first major sports team to adopt a pet as a team mascot, and if the St. Louis Cardinals could have adopted the rally squirrel, I’m sure they would have tried.
What the Blues have done, however, is use Barclay to help those who need it. It’s one of many examples of professional teams getting involved in the community.
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Seeing a variety of other teams use cute animals to do some good is very refreshing, and although people may not be giving Barclay his due credit for being the best good boy in the league, anytime a team uses a puppy for good, it’s a good day.