At 6:30 p.m., the Blues skate onto the ice for pregame warmups. In 30 minutes, the pressure of picking up two points in the Central Division playoff race will be intense. Cameras will catch every move they make and social media will dissect each mistake.
The fans who took off work early to give their children a better chance of a spot on the glass, and the kids who spent hours coloring their posterboard signs to try to catch the players’ attention, aren’t thinking about that pressure, though.
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They just want a puck, or even a stick, from one of their favorites wearing the Blue Note.
This scene is nothing new. Fans have been coming to games for decades hoping to leave with a piece of memorabilia. But this season, there has been a massive uptick in the number of kids on the glass in warmups, and at a time when youngsters are mostly connected to the world through their phones, it’s refreshing to see them using one of the oldest forms of communication to make their request.
“Yeah, it does seem like there’re a lot more signs,” Blues defenseman Torey Krug said. “I’ve seen some people hold up their phones to try to get a message across, but they’re just too small and you can’t see them from far away.”
If you haven’t been to Enterprise Center lately, you probably haven’t seen some of the creativity put into these pleas, either. Gone are the days when “Let’s Go Blues” was scribbled onto a sign. Now you’re more likely to see “Trade you M&Ms for a puck!” or “rock-paper-scissors for a stick!”
“They have fun with it,” Blues center Ryan O’Reilly said. “I think St. Louis is a good family building, where if you go to places like Toronto, it’s more corporate. It’s nice to see the kids at the game, and that they’re involved.”
Before last week’s game against the visiting Boston Bruins, The Athletic visited with several of the sign-bearing families to find out more about the phenomenon. What we learned is that, like a Blues player scoring a goal, there is a lot of work that goes into being in the right position at the right time.
David Knott typically leaves work at 5 p.m., but last Tuesday, he took off at 3:30 p.m., so he could pick up his wife, Lynn, son, Michael, and daughter, Audrey, and get to the game early. It was their third game this season, and the first two trips yielded no personal souvenirs.
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This time, 10-year-old Michael brought a sign that read: “O’Reilly, thanks for the pics. How about a puck?” The photos were of Michael and O’Reilly when he met the captain on a couple of prior occasions, and they taped them to the posterboard.
“We thought this was something that would grab O’Reilly’s attention because, I think, the players gravitate to personal things,” David said. “We thought we’d print the pictures out, thank him, and see if he’ll give us a puck.”
Michael wrote the message himself.
“I was the one that did all the letters, but my mom colored them in,” he said.
They were in a good spot, on the far side of the ice from the Blues’ bench, halfway between the blue line and the net.
“Hopefully!” David said. “We scouted them out. We think we know where to be.”
“Fingers crossed,” Lynn said.
A few seats down was some competition: the Miyasaki family, with dad, Gavin, and sons Mason and Cole. They are from California but stopped in St. Louis on their way to Chicago for a hockey tournament.
“We made a little vacation out of it, so we could see Mason’s favorite team, the Blues,” Gavin said.
The 11-year-old’s favorite player is Vladimir Tarasenko, so he made a sign that read: “Trade you M&Ms for a stick or a puck please.” He added a picture of Tarasenko from a Fathead sticker and drew a big 91 in blue marker.
A week earlier, the family attended an Anaheim-Dallas game in California, and Cole made a sign for Stars defenseman John Klingberg, who is from Sweden, that read: “Trade you Swedish Fish for a stick or puck.”
It worked — Cole got a stick from Klingberg — so “I just copied my brother,” Mason said.
Many fans, in fact, get their ideas from others on social media. Perhaps the most popular one these days is to ask players to play Rock, Paper, Scissors, and if the fan wins, they get a puck. If it works, they post it, and others follow suit.
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“They’re all about the signs,” Gavin said.
Matt Hohman’s daughters, Grace, 11, and Kate, 8, are also about the signs, too.
“Whenever I was a kid, I don’t really remember many signs, and I don’t remember people getting here this early for the games,” Matt, 38, said. “Grace turned into a fan in 2019 with the Cup run and Kate jumped on board, too. The idea of having something from a player to take home, I think, is probably what drives them.”
Grace made one for Brayden Schenn and Kate another for O’Reilly, both asking for a puck.
How thrilling would it be if Schenn tossed her a puck?
“I’d be happy!” Grace said.
On the other side of the rink, Stan Richardson watched his sons, Brody, 9, and Kasen, 7, press their signs up against the glass.
“Brody is a goalie, so he’s trying to get a stick from (Jordan) Binnington,” he said. “I told him, ‘You need to make a sign, and maybe he’ll see it.'”
Stan went to Walmart to buy the posterboard and was somewhat surprised to find out that they still make it.
“Well, they used to make all kinds of colors,” he said. “Now it’s just white.”
After Dad picked the boys up from school, they got started on their signs.
Brody wrote on his that, like Binnington, he wears No. 50 and “we both make saves.”
Stan looked around and couldn’t believe the number of kids doing the same thing.
“I didn’t realize that it was getting that big here,” he said. “It makes it a lot more entertaining.”
What do the kids think the chances are that Binnington and Schenn, who is Kasen’s favorite player, will see the posters?
“I think they will,” Brody said confidently.
Annie Talley was celebrating her 36th birthday at the Blues-Bruins game.
“This is the first time I’ve ever walked down here, and I only did it because it’s my birthday,” she said.
Annie went to Hobby Lobby and bought some glitter stickers for her sign.
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“I knew what I wanted it to say because I love Colton Parayko,” she said. “So it says, ‘Parayko, it’s my birthday! Can I get a puck?'”
Talley, though, wasn’t sure about her chances, standing taller than most of those around her.
“I don’t know,” she said. “There’s a lot of kids and they’re so cute!”
One of those cuties was Carolyn Lammert’s 4-year-old son, Lucas. He was sitting on Mom’s shoulders and telling anybody within earshot, “Look at my beard and my mustache!”
“Oh yeah,” Carolyn said. “He likes his beard.”
The family drew it on his silky smooth cheeks so that he could look like O’Reilly.
His sign read, “My playoff beard is ready! All I need is a stick.”
There was a sea of blue in the stands, but Carolyn believed she’d be able to get the players’ attention because, “I’ve got the cuteness.”
The Blues came onto the ice for warmups, and the screaming began: O’Reilly! Parayko! Schenn!
The players can’t really respond, because they need to take a few shots, do a little stretching and go through their line rushes.
“Typically, you have a couple of guys on every team that have to be stone-faced, really focused, and other guys that like to look up in the crowd,” Krug said. “I like to enjoy it and read a few of them.”
Krug said that O’Reilly likes to stop and interact with the fans, too. He knows because, “I always run into him skating around,” Krug joked.
O’Reilly was 14 years old when he saw his first NHL game in person and was blown away watching his idols play.
“It’s such a special thing, coming to a game,” O’Reilly said. “We take it for granted — we’ve all played a ton of games — but it could be the first time someone gets to see us play. And the parents, all the time that goes into it, the hard work to afford tickets, it’s amazing. So yeah, the odd sign I see, I try to give a stick here and there when you can. One little flip of the puck to someone can go a long way with the excitement around it.”
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On this particular night, O’Reilly did make a kid’s night.
Remember 10-year-old Michael Knott, whose dad, David, took off work early to get his family a good spot?
“Looks like the personalized sign paid off! Michael got a puck from O’Reilly, of course!” David said.
O’Reilly didn’t see little Lucas Lammert, the bearded 4-year-old, in the crowd but laughed when he saw a picture of the youngster.
“That’s hilarious! That’s awesome! I love that one!” O’Reilly said.
And remember Talley, who was celebrating her birthday and hoping Parayko would see her sign?
“I noticed that specific sign,” Parayko said. “I guess that one just caught my eye.”
The Blues defenseman skated over to the glass by Talley and grabbed a puck.
“I thought he was going to give it to the other little kids,” she said. “But he looked right at me.”
Parayko flipped it over the glass, and here’s what happened …
“Good snag!” Parayko said, after watching that video. “That makes it enjoyable. It puts a smile on her face, and maybe you’ve got a new fan or a fan for life.”
Oh, Parayko has a fan for life.
“He’s a good defenseman, but he’s also really cute,” Talley said. “This was totally worth it! I’m going to put the puck in our Blues basement!”
Not all of the fans who made a sign for this game were as lucky as Knott and Talley, but the players do their best and hope the fans have a fun experience.
“There’s a lot of different stories and a lot of different meanings behind people’s favorite players,” Schenn said. “To be honest, you kind of feel bad at times. There’s lots of kids asking for sticks or pucks, or whatever, and you obviously can’t accommodate every single one of them.
“But for us, if we can help them feel good about themselves leaving the game, that’s what the game is all about. Obviously, it’s about wins and losses … but bigger picture, it’s about making people happy, and we have the ability to do that. Lots of guys in that locker room are more than willing to do it.”
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Just don’t forget, it helps if you have a sign.
“Yeah,” Krug said, “I don’t know if the old-school pen and paper and posterboard is going away anytime soon.”
(Top photo: Rick Ulreich / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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