Blues–Blackhawks rivalry
Encyclopedia
Chicago Blackhawks–St. Louis Blues | |
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History | |
1st Meeting | November 12, 1967 |
1st Result | Chicago, 5–2 |
Location | Chicago Stadium Chicago Stadium The Chicago Stadium was an indoor sports arena and theater in Chicago. It opened in 1929, and closed in 1994.-History:The Stadium hosted the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL from 1929–1994 and the Chicago Bulls of the NBA from 1967–1994.... |
Last Meeting | November 8, 2011 |
Last Result | St. Louis, 3–0 |
Location | Scottrade Center Scottrade Center Scottrade Center is a 19,150 seat arena located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, opened in 1994. It is the home of the St... |
Next Meeting | December 3, 2011 |
Location | Scottrade Center |
Number of Meetings | 326 |
Regular Season Meetings | 276 |
All-Time Series | Chicago, 159–125–42 |
Regular Season Series | Chicago, 131–103–42 |
Longest CHI Win Streak | |
Longest STL Win Streak | |
Post Season History | |
Post Season Meetings | 50 (10 series) |
Post Season Series | Chicago, 28–22 (7–3) |
1973 Quarterfinals | Chicago, 4–1 |
1980 Preliminary Round 1979-80 NHL season The 1979–80 NHL season was the 63rd season of the National Hockey League. This season saw the addition of four teams from the disbanded World Hockey Association as expansion franchises. The Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, New England Whalers , and Quebec Nordiques joined the NHL, bringing the total... |
Chicago, 3–0 |
1982 Norris Division Finals | Chicago, 4–2 |
1983 Norris Division Semifinals 1982-83 NHL season -NHL awards:-All-Star teams:Source: NHL.-Scoring leaders:Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = PointsSource: NHL.-Leading goaltenders:... |
Chicago, 3–1 |
1988 Norris Division Semifinals 1988 Stanley Cup playoffs The 1988 Stanley Cup playoffs, the championship of the National Hockey League , began with sixteen teams on April 6, 1988. It concluded on May 26, with the Edmonton Oilers defeating the Boston Bruins to win the Stanley Cup.-Series:... |
St. Louis, 4–1 |
1989 Norris Division Finals 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs The 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs, the championship of the National Hockey League began on April 5, after the conclusion of the 1988–89 NHL season... |
Chicago, 4–1 |
1990 Norris Division Finals 1990 Stanley Cup playoffs The 1990 Stanley Cup Playoffs for the National Hockey League championship began on April 5, 1990, following the 1989–90 regular season. The sixteen teams that qualified, from the top four teams of the four divisions, played best-of-seven series with re-seeding after the division finals... |
Chicago, 4–3 |
1992 Norris Division Semifinals 1992 Stanley Cup playoffs The 1992 Stanley Cup playoffs, the championship of the National Hockey League began on April 18, after the conclusion of the 1991–92 NHL season... |
Chicago, 4–2 |
1993 Norris Division Semifinals 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs The 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs, the championship of the National Hockey League , began at the conclusion of the 1992–93 NHL season on April 18, and ended with the Stanley Cup win on June 9.... |
St. Louis, 4–0 |
2002 Western Conference Quarterfinals 2002 Stanley Cup Playoffs The 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs, the championships of the National Hockey League, was played from April until June. The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Carolina Hurricanes four games to one to clinch the 10th championship in their history. It was the Hurricanes first ever appearance in the... |
St. Louis, 4–1 |
The Blues—Blackhawks rivalry features two teams in the Central Division of the National Hockey League
Central Division (NHL)
The NHL's Central Division was formed in 1993 as part of the Western Conference in a league realignment, the predecessor of which was the Norris Division.The Central Division consists of the Western Conference's easternmost teams.-Current lineup:...
, the Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...
and the St. Louis Blues
St. Louis Blues
The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team is named after the famous W. C. Handy song "St. Louis Blues", and plays in the 19,150-seat Scottrade...
. Since , the two teams have been in the same division together. It is the most intense rivalry in terms of penalty minutes and fighting. It was not uncommon to go to a Chicago vs. St. Louis game and see a brawl break out.
Background
The Blackhawks are an Original SixOriginal Six
The Original Six is a term for the group of six teams that composed the National Hockey League for the 25 seasons between the 1942–43 season and the 1967 NHL Expansion. These six teams are the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and the...
team, while the Blues entered play in the 1967 expansion
1967 NHL expansion
The National Hockey League undertook a major expansion for the 1967–68 season, adding six new franchises to double the size of the league. This marked the first change in the composition of the league since 1942, when the Brooklyn Americans folded. Thus, the expansion ended the era of the Original...
. The long-standing bitter rivalry between sports fans from Chicago
Sports in Chicago
Chicago is the home of many professional sports teams and one of four U.S. cities to have teams from the five major American professional team sports ....
and St. Louis, which are separated by 300 miles, as seen in the rivalry between the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
, has led to the Blackhawks and Blues to have an intense hatred for each other. The two teams have been in the same division since 1970 (Western 1970–74, Smythe 1974–81, Norris 1981–93, Central 1993–present).
The matchups reached their zenith in the early '90s, when both teams had well-known stars such as Denis Savard
Denis Savard
Denis Joseph Savard is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League from 1980 to 1997, and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000...
, Chris Chelios
Chris Chelios
Christos Kostas Tselios is a retired American professional ice hockey defenseman. He is currently the Executive Advisor to Ken Holland, the general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, a role that Steve Yzerman held before leaving to become general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning.Chelios played...
and Ed Belfour
Ed Belfour
Edward John Belfour is a former Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender.Belfour was born in Carman, Manitoba and grew up playing hockey. He played junior hockey for the Winkler Flyers before going to the University of North Dakota where he helped the school win the NCAA championship in the...
for the Hawks and Brett Hull
Brett Hull
Brett Andrew Hull is a former Canadian-American NHL player and the former Executive Vice President of the Dallas Stars. He is the son of Bobby Hull and nephew of Dennis Hull, both former NHL players. Hull is also known as "The Golden Brett," which is a play off of his father's nickname, "The...
, Adam Oates
Adam Oates
Adam Oates is a retired professional ice hockey and lacrosse player and is currently an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils.-Playing career:Oates' break came when Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute offered him a scholarship...
and Curtis Joseph
Curtis Joseph
Curtis Shayne Joseph is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. He last played for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League....
for the Blues and played in old arenas (St. Louis Arena
St. Louis Arena
The St. Louis Arena was an indoor arena located in St. Louis, Missouri, that stood from 1929 to 1999...
and Chicago Stadium
Chicago Stadium
The Chicago Stadium was an indoor sports arena and theater in Chicago. It opened in 1929, and closed in 1994.-History:The Stadium hosted the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL from 1929–1994 and the Chicago Bulls of the NBA from 1967–1994....
) that were regarded as two of the loudest in the league.
Notable moments
One notable moment in the rivalry was the 1993 Norris Division Semifinal: Chicago had won the division handily but were swept by the Blues, winning the series on an overtime goal. Belfour, who said he had been interfered with on the goal by Hull, went on to cause thousands of dollars' worth of damage to the visitors' dressing room at the Arena, breaking a coffeemaker, hot tub and television among other objects. To this day Belfour refuses to appear in regular-season games in St. LouisSt. Louis Arena
The St. Louis Arena was an indoor arena located in St. Louis, Missouri, that stood from 1929 to 1999...
: the only exception coming in 1999 when he replaced Roman Turek
Roman Turek
Roman Turek is a retired Czech professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues, and Calgary Flames in a 9-year National Hockey League career...
for the Dallas Stars
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team was founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The...
in the third period of a 4–4 game, and only after Turek had allowed four unanswered goals. When he was spotted skating onto the ice, the Savvis Center
Scottrade Center
Scottrade Center is a 19,150 seat arena located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, opened in 1994. It is the home of the St...
crowd greeted him with the "Bellll-foooour" chant, first popularized in the '93 series. Ironically, Hull and "The Eagle" were Dallas teammates in 1998–99, and both critical in the Stars' narrow Cup win that summer, which came at the expense of the Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...
and Belfour's former teammate Dominik Hasek
Dominik Hašek
Dominik Hašek is a Czech ice hockey goaltender who is currently with HC Spartak Moscow of the KHL.In his 16-season National Hockey League career, he played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, and the Ottawa Senators. During his years in Buffalo, he became one of the...
.
The Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues were also fierce rivals in the Norris Division along with the Minnesota North Stars, a three-way rivalry that was among the most heated, if not the most heated, in the NHL. In fact, it can be argued that all five members of the classic Norris Division (Chicago, St. Louis, Minnesota, Detroit, and Toronto) were mortal enemies.
St. Patrick's Day Massacre
Perhaps the defining moment of the rivalry came in a brawl during a Blackhawks 6-4 win over the Blues in a game on March 17, 1991. This game became known as the "St. Patrick's Day Massacre" for the massive amount of fighting and penalties handed out to both teams. In the game, the two teams, who were fighting for the Presidents' TrophyPresidents' Trophy
The Presidents' Trophy is an award presented by the National Hockey League to the team that finishes with the most points in the league during the regular season. If two teams tie for the most points, then the trophy goes to the team with the most wins. The winning team is also awarded C$350,000...
got into a brawl after Glen Featherstone
Glen Featherstone
Glen Featherstone is a retired Canadian ice hockey defenceman.Featherstone was drafted 73rd overall by the St. Louis Blues in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft and made his NHL debut playing for the Blues in 1988. He also played for the Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Hartford Whalers and the Calgary...
shoved Jeremy Roenick
Jeremy Roenick
Jeremy Shaffer "J.R." Roenick is a former American professional ice hockey player who played the majority of his career in the National Hockey League . He played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings, and San Jose Sharks over the course of his 18 NHL...
after his hard hit on Harold Snepsts
Harold Snepsts
Harold John Snepsts is a retired professional ice hockey player who spent 17 seasons in the National Hockey League...
. Keith Brown shoved Featherstone, beginning a brawl. Twelve players, six on each team, were ejected. After reviewing the tapes, the NHL suspended Blues defenseman Scott Stevens
Scott Stevens
Ronald Scott Stevens is a retired professional ice hockey defenceman. Stevens played 22 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Washington Capitals, St. Louis Blues, and the New Jersey Devils...
for two games, and Hawks Mike Peluso
Mike David Peluso
Michael David Peluso, is an American former professional ice hockey player. Peluso was known primarily as an enforcer throughout his National Hockey League career. Peluso played in the NHL from 1990 until 1998...
and Blues Kelly Chase
Kelly Chase
Kelly Wayne Chase is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and current radio sportscaster.-Playing career:...
each for 10 games and fined both teams $10,000 each.