5 reasons the Blues finally broke through to the Stanley Cup finals

Your St. Louis Blues are four wins away from their first Stanley Cup, four wins away from that parade, four wins away from a curse cured.

Like the Sharks and the Stars and the Jets, it failed.

These Blues changed coaches, changed goalies, and, in front of a sold-out Enterprise Center crowd on a stormy Tuesday night, changed perceptions of an organization that had been blocked from the Stanley Cup finals since 1970.

Hey buddy, they’re still here. And there, crying in the hallway near the dressing room, was Kelly Chase, the man who first read that Blues rallying cry. And there was little Laila, the Blues’ superhero, interviewing Alexander Steen. And there was Bobby Plager in his playoff beard, celebrating for two.

A crowd of 18,684 assembled beneath a scary sky, and that's not counting the mass at Ballpark Village. The hockey gods stirred over our downtown. Tornado sirens sounded. So? Those who could not be here watched from their basements — if their reception didn't cut out. The storm calmed. The sirens stopped. Not long after the Blues scored the first goal of the game, the rain ceased.

Blues legends Chris Pronger, Brett Hull and a long list of teary-eyed, well-oiled alums tried to make sense of a 5-1 Blues win. Current Cardinals Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina and Kolten Wong cheered like Average Joes. Old friends Chris Long and David Freese popped up on the big screen, stirring roars. It was a movie in real life, and it just now reached the best part.

“We’re not done, boys,” Blues coach Craig Berube told his men.

“There’s still one more opponent to beat,” Vladimir Tarasenko said.

Boston beckons.

Yup. I remember that as well. I've been a fan, and watching them since the 70's. Every year I've been disappointed, and this year I was expecting the same disappointment.

In fact, my standard for success had sunk to the point of "if we make it to the playoffs at all, it's been a good year."

To have come this far is beyond anything I had expected.

It would be good to see St. Louis win this year. They weren't among my favorites, but all the teams I was pulling for ended up losing early on.

I've often speculated that the Blues must have been one of the worst-managed teams for a franchise that had the resources to get a lot of talent. You could make a Hall of Fame roster of former St. Louis Blues who played on some really good teams -- Brett Hull, Adam Oates, Al MacInnis, Chris Pronger, Grant Fuhr, Scott Stevens, Brendan Shanahan, Rod Brind'Amour, Pierre Turgeon, Curtis Joseph, etc. And yet they always seemed to be missing one or two key playoff ingredients and would quietly lose in the first or second round after being one of the top teams in the regular season. In this sense they were almost like the Philadelphia Flyers of the Western Conference.

This is our year.

I'm rooting for your team. One of my best pals is from beantown, and since the Pats and Sox both won championships this past season, he is insufferable.

If the bruins win, I can never visit him again {I'm from the Burgh, so we know how to win and lose with class and dignity, but Boston uggghhhhh}.

GO BLUES!

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