St.
Louis Post-Dispatch - October 6, 1989
St.
Louis Post-Dispatch - October 6, 1989
t
was a baptism of fire on ice. Five Blues rookies made their National
Hockey League debuts on Thursday night at Chicago Stadium, arguably
the most intimidating building in the league. The organ is loud. The
fans are crazy. And the Chicago Blackhawks take no prisoners.
It was a new experience for rookies Keith Osborne, Tony Twist, Randy Skarda and Pat Jablonski. Rookie Rod Brind'Amour, the youngest of the rookies at age 19, was the old hand among the new players. He played two games at the Stadium in the Norris Division playoffs last spring.
They handled it with aplomb, showing maturity beyond their years in the Blues' 8-3 victory. Brind'Amour had a goal and an assist on what proved to be the winning goal. Osborne assisted on a big goal in the third period. Twist beat up Wayne Van Dorp in a fight, and Skarda played a solid game at defense. Jablonski was in uniform but wasn't needed thanks to the usual stellar performance by veteran Greg Millen.
''We have a lot of young guys and they all played well,'' said captain Rick Meagher, the Blues' senior member at age 35. ''It's intimidating to come into this building.'' If the youngsters were intimidated, they didn't show it. ''We talked about it before the game, yesterday and this morning,'' coach Brian Sutter said. ''You can use the crowd to your advantage. That just shows what type of character we have.''
The youngsters didn't let the characters in the crowd of 18,006 get to them. ''It was a new experience, that's for sure,'' said Skarda, just several months removed from the University of Minnesota. ''If you're going to start anywhere, it might as well be here. The main thing is not to be intimidated. You've got places like this in college, but they only seat 7,000. ''I used the crowd to get myself pumped up. I tried not to think about it, just relax and play my game.'' He did, according to Sutter. ''He played a heck of game.''
Brind'Amour made the splashiest debut, scoring the Blues' seventh goal and assisting on Paul MacLean's eventual game-winner at 8 minutes 5 seconds of the second period. ''No big deal,'' he said. ''I missed a few others; that's what bugs me. Those are the ones you want to bury.'' Brind'Amour, the perfectionist. He said he was a bit nervous, but not much. Linemates Adam Oates and PMacLean helped him out. ''Playing with guys like I am, they really settle me down,'' Brind'Amour said.