Blackhawks–Blues rivalry

The Blackhawks–Blues rivalry features two teams in the Central Division of the NHL, the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues. Since 1970, the two teams have been in the same division together.^[1] It is the most intense rivalry in terms of penalty minutes and fighting,^[1] and at the height of the rivalry during the Norris Division days, it was common to go to a Chicago vs. St. Louis game and see a brawl break out.^[1]

Since the move of the Detroit Red Wings to the Eastern Conference, this rivalry is considered the top divisional rivalry for both teams.

Background

The Blackhawks are an Original Six team, while the Blues entered play in the 1967 expansion. The long-standing bitter rivalry between sports fans from Chicago and St. Louis, which are separated by 300 miles, as seen in the Cardinals–Cubs rivalry in Major League Baseball, 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). They also qualified for the playoffs together between every season between 1980 and 1997.

The matchups reached their zenith in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when both teams had well-known stars such as Denis Savard, Chris Chelios and Ed Belfour for the Hawks and Brett Hull, Adam Oates and Curtis Joseph for the Blues and played in old arenas (St. Louis Arena and Chicago Stadium) that were regarded as two of the loudest in the league.

Notable moments

One notable moment in the rivalry was the 1991 season. Both teams not only battled out for the Norris Division, but for the top seed in the Campbell Conference, and the President's Trophy. It came down to the wire on the last day of the season when the Blackhawks took all 3 crowns over a win against the Detroit Red Wings just by a point, Even though the Blues won their last game. St. Louis sat in the 2nd overall spot in the entire NHL with 105 points, while Chicago got 106 points. And both teams were expected to meet in the Norris Division Final. But, the Minnesota North Stars pulled the upset over the Blackhawks in the Semifinal. In fact, the North Stars also pulled the upset over the Blues in the Final. Making it the 2nd and 3rd largest upsets respectively in NHL history.

Perhaps the defining moment in that same season came in a brawl during a Blackhawks 6-4 win over the Blues in a game on March 17, 1991.^[1][2] This game became known as the "St. Patrick's Day Massacre" for the massive amount of fighting and penalties handed out to both teams.^[2][3] In the game, the two teams, who were fighting for the Presidents' Trophy got into a brawl after Glen Featherstone shoved Jeremy Roenick after his hard hit on Harold Snepsts. Keith Brown shoved Featherstone, beginning a brawl.^[3] Twelve players, six on each team, were ejected.^[2][3] After reviewing the tapes, the NHL suspended Blues defenseman Scott Stevens for two games, and Hawks Mike Peluso and Blues Kelly Chase each for 10 games and fined both teams $10,000 each.^[4]

Another example 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. Louis: the only exception coming in 1999 when he replaced Roman Turek for the Dallas Stars 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 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 and Belfour's former teammate Dominik Hašek.

The Blackhawks and 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. The Chicago/Minnesota/St. Louis rivalry resumed in 2013 when the Minnesota Wild were moved into the Central Division with the Blackhawks and Blues.

Recent developments

The Blues and Blackhawks did meet in the 2002 Western Conference Quarterfinals. The Blues won that series 4 games to 1.^[5][6] With the rise of the Hawks and Blues back into prominence in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the rivalry has begun to heat up again, and likely will continue to do so with the NHL's decision to return to division playoffs. In the past few years since the 2004 lockout, the Blackhawks and Blues both qualified for the playoffs three times: in the 2008–09 season, the 2011–12 season, and the 2012–13 season.

See also

• Cardinals–Cubs rivalry - equivalent in Major League Baseball

References