The Sweetest Save

Feeling Blue

"Tuure, put that camera away for one minute!" Inka Raskinen scolded her son as they made their way to baggage claim. "You don't need to take pictures of everything in the airport."

"Sorry, Mom," Tuure apologized, letting the camera hang on its strap, which was around his neck. "I suppose I should save some space for the big game tomorrow."

"Of course you should!" Esa agreed with his son. "Attending a National Hockey League game is a big deal, especially when you don't live close to the United States and Canada. Tomorrow is going to be a day that you won't want to forget for the rest of your life."

The Raskinen family was visiting the United States of America for the first time since both Tuure and Juuse were born. They had originally planned to go in August, but the trip had been rescheduled to mid-October after an unexpected death in the extended family had forced them to go back to Savonlinna.

Tuure was aware that the National Hockey League began in early October, and he had never been to a game before. He knew that this trip was his chance. He went on his computer and looked up the schedule of the NHL team in the city he was preparing to visit.

He was lucky, because the team had a home game against the Calgary Flames on October 19. As soon as he asked his parents if they could go to the game, they approved.

Tuure Raskinen was about to go to his very first St. Louis Blues game.

He could barely wait for the game to begin in just over a day, but he also couldn't wait to go to the hotel and go to sleep. Thanks to Central United States time being eight hours behind Savonlinna time and seven hours behind Dubrovnik time, Tuure was exhausted. After all, it was two in the morning where he lived.

"What are we going to do about dinner?" Inka asked her husband when she noticed their sons yawning and rubbing their eyes.

"I will go pick something up, and we will eat it once we all wake up," Esa decided.

"Good idea, Dad," Tuure said as he grabbed his bag from the conveyor belt. His brother nodded in agreement.

When they got to the hotel at 8:00, everyone in the family took a two-hour nap. Tuure had a dream during his nap. In this dream, he was at a Blues game, but it wasn't just any Blues game. It was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

The score was 7-4 in favor of the Blues, and less than a minute remained. Everyone in the crowd rose to their feet as the clock hit zero. From somewhere in the arena, the goal horn blared.

Tuure cheered loudly, waving his rally towel.

The Blues had won the Stanley Cup.

Tuure squinted at the rival team's jerseys, trying to figure out who St. Louis had defeated. He knew he was waking up, and he needed to see what team it was before he opened his eyes.

Tuure awoke just as he caught a glimpse of the logo on an opposing player's jersey.

A leaf.

Tuure was confused about this dream even as he walked with his family towards Kiel Center the following evening. Why had he dreamt about the Blues defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs? The only thing he knew about that team was that Anja hated them. Therefore, he hated them too, which he assumed was the reason why he dreamt about them losing the Stanley Cup to the team he was about to see.

"I already like Chris Pronger," nine-year-old Juuse Raskinen waved his blue rally towel in the air as the family walked towards the merchandise store. "I'm going to buy his jersey in there."

"Roman Turek is a goalie like me, and he's one of the best!" Tuure told his little brother. "I think he's playing tonight, so I'm going to buy his jersey."

When the boys emerged from the team store, they looked like they'd been Blues fans since the days of their births. They wore blue everything, from their shoes to their jerseys to Tuure's glasses. They both had little blue notes painted on their cheeks, and they had rally towels from an old Liiga game that happened to be the perfect shade of blue.

"Let's go Blues!" Tuure breathed as his family found their seats. They were just in time to see Pavol Demitra take the face-off against Steve Begin.

The game was underway.

Although there were no goals in the first ten or so minutes of the game, it was still intense. There were hits and mini-fights happening all over the place. At just over 10 minutes into the game, though, Calgary received a penalty that they were not able to kill off.

Lubos Bartecko. Tuure had never heard that name before, but now it was a name he'd never forget for the rest of his life.

At 11:56 elapsed time of the first period, the scoreboard read 1-0 Blues.

It was still 1-0 when the first period ended, but Tuure still couldn't get that one goal out of his head. He replayed the sound of the Blues goal horn in his mind as he pulled his new Nokia phone out of his pocket to text Anja.

TO ANJA
HI LUV! HOW ARE U? I M AT STL GAME. 1-0 BLUES!!

Tuure knew she probably wouldn't respond. It was around 7:45 PM in Missouri, which meant 2:45 in the morning was the time in Dubrovnik. He sent one more text to her as he calculated this in his head.

TO ANJA
TXT ME WHEN U WAKE UP. LOVE, T.

The second period of the game began as the family returned to their seats, Tuure's little brother Juuse munching on a hot dog he had purchased at a concession stand.

"Let's do this, Blues," Tuure said, staring at the Calgary Flames players as they were booed onto the ice.

The Blues did do what Tuure wanted. Just over one minute in, Scott Young tipped the puck past Grant Fuhr, making the score two to zero in favor of the Blues.

Their lead was cut in half by Valeri Bure five minutes later, and this made Tuure and Juuse very unhappy. They screamed and yelled at the Flames until their parents told them to sit down.

Thankfully, the rest of the second period went as smoothly as it could for the St. Louis team. Thanks to Pierre Turgeon, Craig Conroy, and Michal Handzus, Tuure was very confident that the Blues would leave their home arena with a win. After all, it was only the second period, and the score was 5-1. The Calgary Flames were giving the Blues a lot of breathing room.

The Blues were able to meet Tuure's expectations, with Pierre Turgeon and Pavol Demitra scoring the final two goals of the game. When the end-of-period horn sounded for the third period, the Blues has decimated and extinguished the Flames, 7-1.

The Calgary goaltender has been replaced after letting in six goals. Although Tuure was not surprised, he was shocked. It was his first NHL game, and he'd witnessed a goalie being pulled.

He had witnessed a lot of things for the first time, and it had a lasting effect. A permanent effect.

In fact, Tuure Raskinen now considered himself an official Blues fan. He would always remember the anniversary of this special event as Tuesday, October 12, 1999.

For the rest of his life, no matter what NHL team he'd play for in the future, Tuure Raskinen would always cheer on his St. Louis Blues.