Boston has been the city of sports championships in the 21st century. This is a bit strange for many of us who remember how some Boston-area teams seemed like hopeless cases for many years, particularly in the latter decades of the 20th century and, in the case of the Boston Bruins, through the first decade of the 21st century, until they finally won another Stanley Cup in 2011.
Meanwhile, St. Louis tends to underachieve in sports, other than the local baseball team, the Cardinals. That is the one team from St. Louis that has stood up well and made a positive name for itself over the course of it's history. But in the NFL, the St. Louis Cardinals were bad for a long time before they left for the desert out in Arizona. They got another NFL franchise, the Rams, and they did manage to win the Super Bowl while in St. Louis. But they are already long gone, as once again an NFC franchise relocated from St. Louis to a sunnier destination out west.
If there is one city that seemed to always get the better of the St. Louis franchises, it would have to be Boston. It was the Bruins who swept the Blues in their last of three straight Stanley Cup appearances in the last 60's into 1970. The heavily favored St. Louis Rams were stunned by the underdog New England Patriots, which launched the dynasty up at Foxboro. And it was against the St. Louis Cardinals that the Boston Bruins finally ended their 86-year drought and won the World Series, the first of four that the franchise has won in the 21st century.
So, it could be argued that St. Louis represented some kind of underachievement in certain respects, especially outside of baseball. And their teams kept losing to Boston-area teams in the championship level.
Until this year. Until yesterday, specifically.
The St. Louis Blues managed to win their first ever Stanley Cup championship last night by convincingly defeating the Bruins on the road for the decisive Game 7 in Boston, 4-1. They had started off a little shakily, but then outplayed the bruins for the rest of the game, taking a 2-0 lead into the final period, and then managing two goals fairly late in the period to put the championship on ice. Boston managed to get a goal with just over two minutes left to play to avoid being shutout, but they never were able to rally and make a serious run to win this game, and ultimately, the championship.
This victory was the culmination of a remarkable, even historic level single-season turnaround. Earlier in the season, the St. Louis Blues were alone in last place in the NHL, unable to get anything going in December, and looking very much like their season was on the verge of being unofficially over.
But the Blues turned the thing around, beginning to win more consistently, then qualifying for the playoffs. And one by one, they eliminated each opponent, surprising many with an appearance in the Cup Finals.
And now, they managed a huge win - the biggest in franchise history - and got to finally hoist the Cup, for the first time in franchise history!
What a win! Congratulations to the St. Louis Blues!
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