Home : A Few More Chances 1987-88/1993-94 :The Heavy Wait
Are You Tough Enough?Will Blues Have Enough Menace For The Norris?The unofficial theme song of the Blues' training camp comes from that rousing rock 'n' roll ditty: Are you tough enough? That could be more than a musical question this season in the always-ornery Norris Division of the National Hockey League. The arms race - or more precisely, the knuckles race - escalated this summer when the Detroit Red Wings signed free agent Troy Crowder. Some regard him as hockey's No. 1 heavyweight contender. Hockey bouts at Detroit's aptly named Joe Louis Arena already feature the sport's undisputed heavyweight champion, Bob Probert. Their presence could strike fear into the hearts of relatively domesticated teams, such as the Blues.
With Scott Stevens awarded to the New Jersey Devils in an arbitration case, the Blues' muscle has atrophied. For now, the task of defending the team honor probably will fall on the punching skills of four players: veteran pugilist Darin Kimble, young ruffian Kelly Chase, veteran agitator Garth Butcher and newcomer Brendan Shanahan, whose signing as a free agent resulted In the loss of Stevens. Let the record show that the Blues are crooning that they are, in fact, tough enough. "The answer is yes," general manager Ron Caron said. "I trust in the referees." Caron said that with almost a straight face. "I'm not worried," he said. Any preseason worries were eased somewhat Saturday at The Arena, when the Blues went toe-to-toe with the ornery Chicago Blackhawks and held their own. Chase, in particular, was busy, getting 12 penalty minutes. He got two five-minute major penalties for fights that he won, plus a minor for roughing. But as Butcher said beforehand, "Toughness isn't always fighting." "If everyone sticks together, we're tough enough," Chase said. But there are complications, especially with the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Kimble. He is skating with a football facemask attached to his helmet to protect a recently broken jaw. Kimble has played regularly in exhibition games, but he has yet to "go," as the tough guys refer to a fight. Although Kimble is willing enough, he often was unable to place higher than second in bouts last season. "You'd always like to win all your fights," he said. "But over an 80-game schedule, you could fight in five games in a row. Then in the sixth game, all of a sudden you're facing Probert. And maybe it looks like you're not doing as good as you thought." The main thing is not whether you win or lose, but whether you show up to stand up for less militant teammates.
Another chink in the Blues' armor is the retirement of veteran ruffian Harold Snepsts. "I don't think you need the big guys as long as you're mentally tough," said Snepsts, now coach of the Blues' farm team in Peoria, Ill. "I think Brian Sutter has prepared these guys mentally. It showed in the first exhibition game In Detroit this year, and it showed in the playoffs last year with Detroit." Snepsts, who rarely threw a punch in his later years, stressed that you don't have to poke somebody on the nose to turn his head. He noted that the Blues, especially Butcher, kept banging Probert In the playoffs until the guy began taking unwise penalties. "Butch is something else," Snepsts said. "When we were in Vancouver that one year, he threw the whole Calgary playoffs out of whack. He was yapping at their whole bench, and he drove (coach] Terry Crisp nuts. They were running out of their positions, trying to get Garth."
Butcher, 28, is at an age when his family prefers to see recognizable features on his face after a game. For strategic as well as cosmetic reasons, he is more agitator than fighter. "If it's a fighting role for me, possibly," Butcher said. "By the same token, I've got to be on the ice as much as possible, too." Playing tough is more important while game is in progress than when the fights proceed. "You can do as much physical and mental damage just by hitting them with body checks as by fighting them," Butcher said. But when opposing goons begin goofing around, someone like Kimble and Chase must step up and take center stage. Chase is a 5-11, 195-pound bristler from Porcupine Plain, Saskatchewan. He turns 24 on Oct. 25, if he stays intact that long. His hands were battered after he sparred with the Blackhawks on Saturday.
Guts, not fists, are the key. "Look at Adam Oates going to the corner to get the puck, or Brett Hull going to the net," Chase said. "You have to be tough to do that. Hey, Hull's tough. He never has a problem standing in front of the net. He had 86 goals, and he paid the price for a lot of those." Chase smiled and said, "It's easy to fight, if you have that in you. It's easy to find a fight. Heck, some of these guys here, as big as they are, if they wanted to fight every night, I probably wouldn't have a job." But they don't. And he does. And he and his peers will continue to hold them, as long as they are tough enough. Dave ChristianOn February 22, 1980, the USA Hockey Team defeated the USSR National Team by a score of 4-3 in the semifinal round in what many consider to be the greatest moment in the history of American Sports. They went on to defeat Finland to earn the Gold Medal and overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.
How do you top what happened in February 1980? It's not easy. A defensemen on the '80 U.S. Olympic team, the 20-year-old led the Olympic team with eight assists. Dave played in the NHL for 16 seasons as a forward. The 1991-1992 season was spent with the Blues.
He entered the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame as a part of its 28th annual induction ceremony on Dec. 3, 2001. His Dad Billy and his uncle, Roger, (Christian Brothers) who had been key members of the 1960 Olympic team, the first U.S. squad to win the gold medal, were inducted in 1984 and 1989, respectively. In 1998, he was named general manager and coach for a junior team in Fargo, N.D. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Despite being "a middleweight," in the words of Vancouver Canucks personnel director Brian Burke, Chase amassed 406 penalty minutes In 61 games for Peoria. And he didn't do it with 203 tripping penalties. "We had a lot of skilled players in Peoria," Chase said. "That was some firepower. Teams couldn't skate with us, so some of then tried to take liberties with us. "Like Milwaukee. I've never seen half of the guys, until Peoria enforcer Tony Twist got traded. Then I never saw a team with more guts."
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