The St. Louis Blues' Stanley Cup win last season was a big one for the franchise. It was the team's first championship since entering the NHL in the 1967 expansion and marked a huge feat for a team that was once on the brink of financial collapse in the late 1970s, extending into the 1980s. We're now finding out that the Championship season in 2018-19 is having a major impact on youth hockey in the area.
According to the Executive Director of USA Hockey, Pat Kelleher, registration for eight-and-under boys and girls hockey has increased 30 percent in Missouri since the Blues won the Stanley Cup nine months ago. That is a huge increase that can be directly attributed to the team's success. There aren't a lot of hockey players that claim Missouri as their state of birth. The most successful at the NHL level would be Pat LaFontaine, who recorded 1013 points in 865 games. There's also, of course, Pat Maroon, who managed to win a Stanley Cup last season with his hometown team before moving on to Tampa Bay. Outside of this, there are a handful who have made a mark in the NHL, including Brady Tkachuk, who was born in St. Louis when his father played for the team. Perhaps this increase in enrollment in youth hockey can change that.
Missouri doesn't seem like a place one would consider to be a hockey hotbed but, despite the Blues past financial troubles, (that are long in the rear-view mirror at this point), attendance has been excellent, with consistent sell-outs at the team's arena dating back long before last season's Cup win. The increase in youth hockey players and the team's continued success will ensure more Missouri-born NHL stats in the future.
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