St. Louis Blues: Faith Had All-Star Role In Plenty Of Players

With the St. Louis Blues hosting the All-Star Game, it was a good opportunity for some ex-players to share their stories. Those stories sometimes revolve around things larger than the game.

The St. Louis Blues organization was busy preparing for the All-Star festivities throughout the week and definitely on the day of the game. However, one event that was an ancillary connection, was one of profound impact for those that took part.

Hockey Ministries International put on a breakfast with All-Stars event at the Hilton in downtown St. Louis. It was a fun event filled with personal stories about the game and faith.

I was fortunate enough to attend this event with my brother and nephews. What was unexpected was how many athletes are a part of this organization.

The funny part was many of the speakers talked about this fact. There was an unintentional running theme talking about how pro hockey and Christianity seemed at opposite ends of the spectrum.

They don’t seem total opposites, but it is not something you associate with one another regularly. In football, you see guys more open with their faith, especially after winning big games. In basketball, guys will point to the heavens after hitting big buckets. For baseball, you see guys that have the cross necklaces.

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It is not as though the idea of a hockey player being a person of faith is odd, it just is not something you really think about. However, when you see all the former NHL names associated with HMI, it shows you that hockey is not the only religion in their lives.

These were not unknown names of fourth line players either. Plenty of guys were Stanley Cup champions and names of note during their days.

The people that I had the good fortune of listening to during this event were former Arizona Coyotes captain Shane Doan, former Blues captain David Backes, current NBC lead announcer Mike Emerick and former Florida Panthers goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck. At first I wondered about the order of speakers since Backes was familiar to St. Louis and Emerick was the more well known person for speaking.

There was good reason for the lineup. Each speaker had more to say.

Doan was the perfect person to start the morning off. Having little exposure to him since he played out west, I was not aware how eloquent a speaker he was.

He rattled off his stories with such ease and fluidity. It is impossible for me to recount them all, but the overall message was a story about when he was young and in a bible study where a little girl answered the teacher’s question of what animal has a fuzzy tail and lives in a tree with “well it sounds a lot like a squirrel, but is the answer Jesus?” It was a lot funnier in person.

For Doan, that funny story stuck with him. It became more profound for him as he realized that the girl was right that the answer was always Jesus for people of that faith.

The next speaker was Backes. What was so interesting about hearing the Blues former captain speak was the coincidental nature of what had just happened to him.

Backes apparently knew he would be attending this breakfast long ago and had a speech prepared. However, having gone through the personal pain of getting put on waivers and basically being told your NHL career was at or near an end, it gave him a chance to refocus.

You could see the pain on his face. He knew his problems were first world problems, but having to leave St. Louis, then see that team take his dream of a Stanley Cup away and then have injuries take him to the brink of his career had an impact on him. His faith had seen him through.

Backes told the story of how he went to a strip club with teammates prior to his first NHL game. He recounted how hockey and faith could not have been any further apart.

Then, it was a chance meeting with St. Louis Cardinals reliever Kyle McClellan that circled him back. He was invited to a bible group and saw how many big name St. Louis athletes were all willing to accept their faith and accept the responsibility of sharing that with others, like James Laurenitis and McClellan and several others from the Cardinals and Rams.

Doc Emerick spoke in more of an interview fashion, sharing stories of the Olympics and recounting how games no longer stand out for him much, but seeing the reactions of fans such as those in St. Louis are the memories that will always stick with him. His moments of faith are much quieter, but no less profound for him.

He carries verses with his lineup cards. He has a personal notebook he keeps in his suit pocket filled with names.

Some are names he has prayed for in the past and have been healed, whether physically or spiritually. Others are names he continues to pray for.

If no other reason, the notebook serves as a reminder to think of others. That had a large impact on myself as someone who tries their best to be helpful to others but often fails to remember people at times when life gets too hectic.

The last speaker was Vanbiesbrouck. I still remember vividly his goaltending duel with Patrick Roy when the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 1996. Though I wanted Roy to win, I could not help but marvel at the Beezer’s saves to keep his team in that game and, potentially, that series.

His speech was slightly more somber than the rest. He wanted the crowd to be a little more introspective following that breakfast. The interesting thing he said that stuck with me was something a former team chaplain had told him.

Jesus does not ask for you to rank him somewhere in your life, but just to let him in. As someone who is a believer but shuns organized religion, that hit for me.

None of this is to push religion or faith upon you. If you are agnostic or of another religion, that makes you no less of a person and we can still unite as human beings and hockey fans.

However, regardless of your faith or background or leanings, if you ever get a chance to go to one of HMI’s events, I strongly suggest it. If nothing else, just feeling the positivity from these people is affirming in a time when there seems so much wrong with society.

All the focus will be on the Blues hosting the All-Star Game and it should be. It is a neat event, that sometimes only comes once in a generation to certain cities. Sometimes there are things associated with those events that go overlooked and can still be big. This breakfast was one.