Let's Go Blues

Thought it would be fun to post why we love hockey, the blues and share some of our hockey lives. Feel free to post about your most memorable hockey moments or when and why you got into hockey or the blues.



I have to say I always was a hockey fan, born and raised in a house of hockey fans. My parents were born in Niagara Falls, Ont. Canada they grew up watching and playing hockey, had friends that made it to the minors and NHL like Frank Pietrangelo my parents went to school with him....related to a blue I do believe so lol. On my Dads side of the family his uncle played hockey Don O'Donoghue, played in the NHL for the California Seals and the WHL for the Blazers. My Dad was Quebec Nordiques fan and my Mom was Habs fan, needless to say that made for some fun household fun. I grew up a Toronto fan and Nordiques fan, guys like Sakic, Sundin, Clark, and Gilmore hung up on the walls of my room along with my favorite goalies Roy, Hasek, Cujo, ect.

My dad joined the US military before I was born became a US citizen and a soldier. Which led us to Colorado around the time the Nordiques moved to Denver. I was a full blown Avalanche fan watching my former Nordiques and a favorite goalie of mine win the cup and blow up the west for a few years. I moved to California for a bit then home to Missouri( I was born in Missouri just didnt stick around very long for me to remember). I always watched the blues as with other teams, I think I really became a fan in 2001 watching the blues play my team at the time the avs, Now I know the Avs beat the blues and they won the cup, but I got hooked on the blues a really started watching games and havn't quit since and I am proud to say I am a blues fan. Still love the Leafs(lol I know) and I am a fan of Boston as well. But I only have one love in the west and its blues all the way and my moms Brother-in-laws nephew Mike Glumac played for the Blues 05-06 so I got family ties lol.

Sorry if that was alot to read lol,
Aaron O'Donoghue(APOD)

Here is Don O'Donoghue

I wish I can say I had some cool family ties to the NHL but I don't. Oh well I still love the Blues.

I've said it before here but I'll say it again because I love thinking back about growing to love this game and team.

I became a fan watching games at the old barn when I was a little kid. Some of my fondest memories are going to games and walking through the tunnel hallways, looking up at the rafters and seeing the clouds of cigarette smoke, and being amazed at the crazy people celebrating a win on top of vans in the parking lot while waiting to leave. Good times My uncle had 4 seats, about center ice, 7 rows from the glass, and I usually got to go to one game a month during the season. I can remember always searching the calendar on the kitchen wall for the next Blues game written down.

I grew up in the 90's when the Mighty Ducks movies were popular, hockey video games were popular, roller hockey was popular and I just fell in love with it. Part of the reason I liked it was because no one else in my rinky dink town liked it (or seemed to), so it seemed cool. But as time wore on, more and more people picked up the game and I thought that was awesome. But being a kid of the 90's, those were the years of Hull and Oates that transitioned into Al Mac, Prongs, Courtnall, Pavol, and my favorite--Pierre Turgeon. I've always been a supporter of my local teams, so the Blues were an easy fit living in Southern Illinois.

What really got me hooked were three things. The first game my Dad took me to was to see Gretzky, Luc and the Kings play Brett and Co. at the Old Barn right before it closed. He took me down to ice level for shoot around, got to see Gretzky up close, then we made the long, long hike to the very top row to our seats. I was hooked and I'm so thankful my Dad took me to see #99 and the Old Barn while they were still in commission.

As corny as it might be, I love playing hockey video games growing up and it's how I learned about offsides, icing and the two line pass. Dad and I would play for hours and I got to learn the players names for all the teams (shamed to say I really enjoyed playing as Sergei Federov on NHL '96 on Super Nintendo) and that led me to watching hockey on ESPN and ESPN2.

And crazy as it is, the lockout in '04-'05 made me realize how much I really loved the game. Baseball was my sport growing up, but in the early 00's, I started watching more and more Blues games. I remember taping Game 7 of the 2004 Stanley Cup final on my VCR, because I knew it would be the last hockey I'd see for awhile. After the lockout ended, I started going to games more with friends and getting cheap tickets because the Blues were so bad. And from there, I was hooked. Attending a live hockey game is like no other. And that's that...now I'm obsessed and watch as many of the 82 games, plus playoffs, that I can. It's a disease that I'm glad I acquired.

dmiles2186 wrote: (shamed to say I really enjoyed playing as Sergei Federov on NHL '96 on Super Nintendo)

The real same there is playing NHL '96 on the SNES...so much better on the Genesis

I had a classmate who played hockey in grade school, whom turned me on to hockey. It also was the same season the Blues traded for Gretzky.