Turnout in lousy conditions shows St. Louis fans are deserving of a Stanley Cup parade

ST. LOUIS -- Brett Hull celebrated like he was on the ice when Vladimir Tarasenko scored to go-ahead goal to help the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in the Winter Classic at Busch Stadium on Monday.

Hull, a former Blues player, watched the game from a luxury box, along with his dad, Bobby, Wayne Gretzky and other local sports legends, including former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jim Edmonds. Nearly two minutes later, Tarasenko scored his second goal of the game, and again, Hull threw his arms up along with the 46,556 in attendance.

St. Louis has great fans. It's a hockey town. It's missing only one thing -- the Stanley Cup.

In the Blues' 50-year history, they've reached the finals only three times and lost in 1967-68, 1968-69 and 1969-70.

Fast forward to 2016-17. As currently constituted, the Blues have built a team that has the potential to win a Stanley Cup. If they ever do win a championship, this city and its fan base would show the rest of the hockey world just how die-hard they are about their team and sport. That passion was on display Monday with a full house.

Gretzky, the greatest hockey player of all time, won the Stanley Cup four times. He played only 18 regular-season games and 13 playoff games for the Blues during the 1995-96 season. He understands how passionate these fans are and what it would be like if the Blues win a championship.

"This city should be really proud of what they did over the last few days," Gretzky said. "They took hockey to another level. The enthusiasm and excitement was really special. They raised money for people who are less fortunate. The game got branded in a nicer and better light, and the home team won.

"But, there's nothing like lifting the Stanley Cup, so if [the Blues] can ever lift the Stanley Cup here, like anywhere else, it's so unique and so special, you can't even compare it to anything else in professional hockey. People ask me all the time, 'What's your favorite thing about hockey? What's your favorite memory?' And I always say the same thing: the first time I got to lift the Stanley Cup"

Martin Brodeur won three Stanley Cups with the New Jersey Devils. He played only seven games for the Blues in 2014-15, and now he's the team's assistant general manager. After watching the team and the fans celebrate an important victory over the rival Blackhawks, he hopes this city gets to celebrate a Stanley Cup title soon.

"The one thing for us, the big rivalry with Chicago, to have a big spectacle like that and see 95 percent were Blues fans," Brodeur said. "We were kind of a little shocked, because we thought it would be half and half because it's Chicago. It's like the New York Rangers compared to the Devils. But [winning a Cup] is the goal. One of the alumni said to me, 'In St. Louis, we don't have oceans. We don't have mountains. We've got sports teams.' That really sums it up, and that's what you saw today. You just hope that we're going to have a chance eventually to get to that point. We're working on it. We'd love to do that for these people, because they support us rain or shine. You usually say that for baseball, and now we can say it for hockey too."

The Cardinals have won 11 World Series. Edmonds was a member of the 2006 championship club, and he's a big hockey fan. Some of his closest friends are former Blues players. He understands firsthand how this city celebrated a World Series, but a Stanley Cup would be over the top.

"Oh, fans would go nuts," Edmonds said. "It's a great town, it really is. They talk about it so much, about just how much of a sports town this is, and the Blues are long overdue. They've had some really good teams but just haven't gotten all the way through the playoffs. The Cardinals get so much [attention] for being so good for so long, [and] the Blues deserve to get it. They get so much publicity from being in this city, and we've had a lot of great players over the years, it would just be really nice to see them win and for the die-hard hockey fans to really get to celebrate."

The Cardinals' clubhouse served as the Blues' locker room for the Winter Classic. There was a genuine sense of excitement by the hockey players to play this game, and after the victory, St. Louis defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk marveled at the win and the fans.

"We know this was going to be the scene today," Shattenkirk said. "We have the privilege of playing in front of these fans every night at home, and you knew based on the ticket sales -- they went within minutes -- and now it's a matter of everyone else around the country, around the world, knowing that we have some really good fans here. We have a really good hockey city, and you can see it from the youth that's coming up. We're privileged to play in a town like this, be on a winning hockey team and be able to have these types of fans."

Maybe one day soon, the iconic image of Blues defenseman Noel Picard tripping the Bruins' Bobby Orr on the Stanley Cup-winning goal in 1970 won't hurt so much when St. Louis can finally hoist one.