The 1969-70 Bruins squad wasn't only talented, it was tough and nasty. Wayne Cashman (pictured fighting St. Louis defenseman Noel Picard, #4) was one of Boston's most feared wingers. It was Cashman who crashed the corners to dig out pucks for Phil Esposito, and it was Cashman who dropped the gloves to pound anyone foolish enough to start trouble with a Bruins player. Cashman could also find the net, proving it with a pair of goals in Game 3 of the Finals.
20 Years In The Arena
April 5, 1967:
Sidney Salomon Jr. and Sid Salomon Ill are granted an NHL franchise and within five minutes, nickname the team the Blues.
November 11, 1967:
The Blues play their first NHL game and battle the Minnesota North Stars to a 2-2 tie in front of 11,331 at the Arena. Larry Keenan had the distinction of scoring the first goal in the team's history scoring against Gary Bauman at 3:22 of the third period.
November 29, 1967:
The Blues acquired a tough competitor named Barclay Plager and a potential superstar in Red Berenson from the New York Rangers in exchange for Ron Attwell and Ron Stewart.
April 18, 1968:
The Blues eliminate the Western Division champion Philadelphia Flyers in a stunning upset in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
May 3, 1968:
The Blues continued their upset ways with an exciting seven-game victory over Minnesota to gain a berth in the Stanley Cup finals. Four of the seven games against the North Stars went into overtime including the seventh and deciding game which was won by Ron Schock, scoring at the 22:50 mark of sudden death overtime.
May, 1968:
Glenn Hall is named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner (Most Valuable Player in the playoffs) despite the Blues losing in the Finals against Montreal in four games. Two of the four games went into sudden death overtime, thanks largely to the splendid play of Hall.
Orr Scores Cup Winner in Overtime
In the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals, it was clear that the Blues would have to stop Bobby Orr (#4) if they had a hope of beating the Bruins. In that pursuit, St. Louis coach Scotty Bowman assigned Jimmy Roberts (#6) to shadow Orr. Roberts, an outstanding defensive forward, held Orr to four assists through the first three games. But in Game 4, Orr netted his ninth playoff goal, in sudden-death, to foil St. Louis and win the Cup for Boston.
June 13, 1968:
All-Time great Jacques Plante comes out of retirement to play for the Blues and helped form one of the greatest, if not THE greatest goaltending duo of all-time with he and Glenn Hall.
August 4, 1968:
A young broadcaster named Dan Kelly is officially hired to broadcast the play-by-play of all Blues' games.
November 7, 1968:
Red Berenson etched his name among the elite in league history by tying an NHL record with six goals against the Flyers in Philadelphia in an 8-0 Blues' victory.
March 2, 1968:
The Blues record their first sellout at the Arena before a crowd of 15,351 (capacity 14,200) as the Blues tied the Chicago Black-hawks 3-3.
March 29, 1969:
The Blues close out the regular season with a 3-1 victory at Los Angeles as the Blues win the Western Division with a 37-25-14 record.
May 4, 1969:
After breezing through the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs without a single loss, the Blues are eliminated in the Finals for the second straight year by Montreal.
May, 1969:
Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall win the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltenders with a combined 2.07 goals against average.
April, 1970:
The Blues win their second consecutive Western Division title with a 37-27-12 record and gain a pair of six-game Stanley Cup playoff series wins over Minnesota and Pittsburgh only to be thwarted in the Stanley Cup Finals, this time by the powerful Boston Bruins. Despite the Finals loss, the Blues were looked upon as the most successful expansion team in sports history.
May, 1970:
Phil Goyette wins the Lady Byng Trophy as the league's Most Gentlemanly Player and thanks to his team-leading 78 points.
February 6, 1971:
The Blues trade center Red Berenson and Tim Ecclestone to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for another high scoring center, Garry Unger and Wayne Connelly. This trade gave the Blues their first true superstar and he would continue that popularity throughout the 70's with the Blues.
April 15, 1972:
Despite their 28-39-11 record and third place finish in the Western Division, the Blues upset Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs, thanks to Kevin O'Shea's sudden death goal at 10:07 of the seventh and deciding game in Minnesota.
March 31, 1973:
Garry Unger becomes the first player in Blues' history to record 40 or more goals in a season when he tallied a pair against Pittsburgh in a 7-2 Blues' win, giving him 41 for the year. Ironically, this was the largest crowd in Blues' history when they drew 20,009.
January 29, 1974:
Garry Unger wins the Most Valuable Player Award in the All-Star game when he scored one goal and added one assist in the classic held in Chicago.
June, 1976:
The Blues enter the annual Amateur Draft with high hopes and hit pay dirt, snatching Bernie Federko in the first round, Brian Sutter in the second round and Mike Liut in the fourth round. All three became an integral part of the Blues' organization.
November 9, 1976:
Garry Unger breaks New York Rangers' Andy Hebenton's Iron-Man record of consecutive games played when he played in his 631st game against Montreal.
April 3, 1977:
Barclay Plager plays in his final game in a Blues' uniform on the final day of the regular season in a 7-3 loss in Buffalo ending a 10 year playing career with the Blues. This also marks the first season played with the Blues for two rookies by the names of Bernie Federko and Brian Sutter.
July 27, 1977:
Ralston Purina purchases the club and the Arena from the Salomon family.
March 7, 1979:
Bernie Federko becomes the first Blues player to score 90 points in one season when he assists on a second period goal by Brian Sutter against the NY Islanders. This also marks the first of eight seasons that Federko will lead the team in scoring.
December 10, 1979:
Red Berenson becomes the twelfth coach of the team and transforms the Blues into the most improved team in the NHL during the 1979-80 season.
February 28, 1981:
In a 7-4 victory over the Washington Capitals the Blues record their 89th point of the season the most ever by a Blues team.
February, 1981:
Mike Liut puts on a spectacular performance in the NHL's All-Star game in Los Angeles and for his efforts, is the second Blues player in history to win the game's Most Valuable Player award.
March 1, 1981:
Larry Patey sets a team record when he scores his eighth shorthanded goal of the season in Chicago.
March 12, 1981:
Wayne Babych becomes the only player in Blues' history to score fifty or more goals in a season when he scores at 14:15 of the third period in a 4-3 loss in Montreal.
March 28, 1981:
Bernie Federko becomes the first player in Blues' history to record 100 or more points after netting a pair of goals and three assist in a 7-4 victory over Buffalo.
April 5, 1981:
The Blues end their most successful regular season in club history by not only winning the Smythe Division championship but also finished second in the NHL's overall standings with their best record in history at 45-18-17. The Blues also netted a team record of 10 players who notched 20 or more goals in a season.
April 14, 1981:
Mike Crombeen ends the most exciting game in Blues' history by scoring at 25:16 of sudden death overtime in the fifth and deciding game of the opening round of the playoffs.
February 2, 1982:
The Blues set a new team record by scoring 10 goals against the Winnipeg Jets 10-6 Blues triumph.
February 28, 1982:
Blake Dunlop's team-record 19-game point scoring streak comes to a halt when he failed to record a point in the Blues' 5-2 loss to Winnipeg.
March 9 1982:
The Blues retire Barclay Plager's familiar number 8 and the late Bob Gassoff's number 3 in dedication ceremonies prior to the Blues'' game against the NY Islanders.
January 27, 1983:
Bernie Federko nets his 500th career point in the NHL in a 3-3 tie in Minnesota and went on to become the Blues' all-time scoring leader the next season, surpassing Garry Unger's mark of 575.
July 27, 1983:
RaIston Purina sells the team to California businessman Harry Ornest and Ornest keeps the club in St. Louis, putting together a very successful franchise in the ensuing years.
August, 1983:
The Blues hire Ronald Caron as their General Manager, who in turn, hired a very enthusiastic coach in Jacques Demers.
November 26, 1983:
The Blues win their 500th game in the National Hockey League with an impressive 8-6 victory over the eventual Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers.
April 7, 1984:
Mark Reeds ends the longest game in Blues' history by netting a goal at the 37:07 of sudden death overtime in Detroit giving the Blues a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five playoff series.
April 8, 1984:
Jorgen Pettersson and the Blues eliminated the Red Wings as Pettersson not only records the hat-trick and scores all three Blues goals, but his third came at 2:42 of overtime thrusting the Blues into the Division Finals against Minnesota which they lost in overtime of the seventh and deciding game against Minnesota.
January 18, 1985:
The Blues took over first place in the Norris Division, a lead they would never relinquish, as they scored a team-record tying six goals in the first period of a 6-2 victory in Winnipeg against the Jets.
February 16, 1985:
Joe Mullen excites the St. Louis crowd by beating Minnesota goaltender Rollie Melanson on a Penalty Shot which helped the Blues beat the North Stars 6-4.
April 6, 1985:
The Blues complete a dramatic comeback after erasing a 3-0 second period deficit by scoring four unanswered goals to defeat the North Stars in Minnesota, thus clinching their fifth division championship by claiming the Norris Division crown. The victory also tied a team record of 16 road wins, originally set in 1968-69 and equaled in 1980-81.
November 26, 1985:
Bernie Federko recorded his 500th assist in a 5-1 win over Toronto.
January 31, 1986:
Bernie Federko surpassed Brian Sutter (who was injured) on the Blues' All-Time Games Played list with his 687th contest in a Blues' uniform. He also reached the 800-point plateau in the contest in which the Blues won 6-4.
April 15, 1986:
Doug Gilmour sets a new team record with five assists and almost single-handedly eliminated Minnesota in the fifth and deciding game of the Norris Division Semi-Finals as Greg Paslawski recorded the hat-trick for the Blues.
April 26, 1986:
Mark Reeds becomes the first player in Blues history to net his second career playoff overtime goal as he scores at 7:11 of sudden death, giving the Blues a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Norris Division Finals against Toronto.
April 30, 1986:
The Blues eliminate the Maple Leafs in the seventh game of the series with a 2-1 win as Kevin LaVaIIee broke a 1-1 tie midway through the third period. The victory advanced the Blues into the Conference Finals (Stanley Cup Semi-Finals) for the first time since 1972.
May 12, 1986:
THE MONDAY NIGHT MIRACLE... Doug Wickenheiser ended the most, dramatic comeback in Blues' history with a goal at 7:30 of sudden death overtime, forcing a seventh and deciding game against Calgary in the Conference finals. The goal came after an unbelievable comeback in which the Blues scored four times in the final 10 minutes of the game to tie the game at five and send it into overtime. Greg Paslawski set the stage with a goal at the 16-minute mark to bring the Blues to within one goal and then he tied it with just 1:08 remaining with the Blues facing elimination. Although the Flames eliminated the Blues in Game Seven 2-1, it turned the Arena totally upside down, to a level it has never been and may never be matched.
