ST.
LOUIS – The tears and emotions started running early for Pat Maroon, and only
the ‘Hometown Hero’ knew why before anyone else.
The
36-year-old and Oakville, Mo. native was set to play against the St.
Louis Blues for the final time this season with the hated Chicago
Blackhawks. The Blues are in a playoff race, and the Blackhawks are
just playing out the string.
But
was it just the final game against the Blues this season? Well, take
a look. It was more than that.
Maroon
spoke to former Blues and current Blackhawks color analyst Darren
Pang during pregame of the Blues’ 4-1 win at Enterprise Center on
Saturday and confirmed that this, his 14th
NHL season, will be his last.
More
than 840 regular-season games (125 goals, 195 assists), 163 playoff games (23 goals, 30 assists), a three-time – and three straight –
Stanley Cup champion, including the first with the Blues in 2018-19,
a career that began with the St. Louis Amateur Blues U18 midget squad
in 2004-05 and playing for Jon Cooper with the St. Louis Bandits of
the North American Hockey League in 2006-07 before being a
sixth-round pick by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2007 NHL Draft,
Maroon, who signed a one-year, $1.3 million contract with the
Blackhawks last summer, said this is it.
His career began with the Anaheim Ducks with stops with the Edmonton Oilers, New Jersey Devils, Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Minnesota Wild, Boston Bruins and Blackhawks.
“It’s
been in the back of my head all year,” said Maroon, who ended the game in style with his 96th career fight in the third period with Blues defenseman Tyler Tucker.
“I’ve given everything I have, and I want to go out on my own
terms. I don’t want to be scratching and clawing for a contract,
and them telling you you’re out. I wanted to leave on my own terms
and when I was ready. I’m excited for my new chapter in life. Just
going to finish hard. You guys know I play between the whistles and
as hard as I can. Every time I get over the boards, it’s like my
last shift ever. I’m going to continue to do that.
“My
wife [Francesca]
doesn’t
want me to hang them up. She wants me to keep playing. It’s just
the choice I had. I have no regrets in this game. I’ve given it
everything. I’ve done everything. I achieved everything I could.
St. Louis kid, growing up here, I was 352 games in the minors, and
840 games in the NHL right now. Who would’ve thought that? I’m
just happy I got to win in my hometown, and go on to win two more.
I’ve achieved everything I thought (I could). I probably
overachieved sometimes. I was against all odds, and I beat the odds.
I was always a person, I was self-motivated. I wanted to do it all on
my own because (everyone) had doubt in me. Everyone doubted me, and I
wanted to put that doubt in everyone else’s face.”
Word
spread quickly that Maroon made his announcement on the Blackhawks
broadcast. The Blues went into immediate production and threw
together a video tribute showing the famous double-overtime goal
against the Dallas Stars in the second round and a standing and loud
ovation from a crowd appreciative of one of their own who helped
bring the title to the Gateway City for the first time.
“I
was shocked what the Blues did for me tonight,” Maroon said. “They
didn’t have to do that. Obviously, I’ve been talking about it
with my wife and my family. I’ve done everything I could in this
league. I have no regrets. Just having a conversation with ‘Panger’,
it kind of blew up. First, I wanted to thank the St. Louis Blues
organization for really making this night really special for me and
my family.
“Thank
God they told me before the period started, so I was ready for it.
The Blues didn’t have to do anything tonight. I was just playing a
hockey game. Obviously, people got wind of it right away after I
talked to ‘Panger’, and they really made it a special night for
me. I can’t thank the Blues organization for doing that for me and
my family tonight. Everyone was here tonight, so that made it really
special.”
In
front of his wife, parents and other family members on
hand, Maroon took a stroll onto the ice, acknowledged the crowd and
then again at game’s end when he was announced as the First Star of
the game, taking a look around to soak it all in.
“A
lot,” he said. “I looked a lot, especially during the national
anthem and especially on the bench, TV timeouts. This city means a
lot to me. The fanbase means a lot. The organization means a lot to
me. Some of those guys that I won with mean a lot to me. I can’t
thank them enough for helping me make tonight successful.”
That
included Blues captain Brayden Schenn, a teammate and forever friend.
“He’s
an incredible human, an incredible guy,” Schenn said. “A guy that
really came in here and really helped embrace the locker room and
become a huge piece on and off the ice of what this team is all
about. Rightfully so, the crowd did him right, a guy that’s just
grinded for everything that he’s got in his whole career. He’s a
guy that plays hard minutes, he’s fought tough guys throughout his
whole career playing at 36, 37 doing it the way he does. It’s
definitely hat’s off to him.
“I
don’t love seeing him in that jersey, I’m not going to lie, but
being his last game here in St. Louis, obviously very emotional,
talked to him after. When you win with guys, you care about guys
quite a bit. Nice to see him and get a good salute tonight by the
crowd and nice tribute by the Blues PR team.”
Maroon
broke the heart of Blues coach Jim Montgomery, who was the coach of
the Stars on that Game 7 on May 7, 2019 day in St. Louis but also had
Maroon last season as coach of the Boston Bruins.
“I
had the good fortune of coaching Pat Maroon in Boston last year and
in the playoffs,” he said. “He is an exemplary and great teammate
and he’s an incredibly intelligent hockey mind and player. He’s
very underrated about how well he understands the game. He’s one of
the best players at making plays off walls and breakouts at leading
to 2-on-1s, and everybody knows how he sacrifices for the team. And
on the bench, he made a huge impact for us in Boston because he
brings energy, he lifts people up, he coaches people that he’s
playing with. Sorry to see him retire, but what a career. A
champion.”
That
champion almost never materialized in St. Louis when the Blues nearly
placed Maroon on waivers in what was amounting to an underachieving
season that obviously quickly turned around, and Maroon became one of
those galvanizing voices in a locker room that came together at the
right time and stood above all else in June.
“I
think he just does it with kind of understanding people,
understanding the ebbs and flows of a season, and a guy that really
knows has the way with words helping people along the way,” Schenn
said of Maroon. “That team was just so tight, he’s just obviously
another piece to everyone that being so close and he was definitely a
ring leader with lots of laughs when you combine him with [Ryan]
O’Reilly and [Tyler] Bozak, [Jaden] Schwartz, [Robert] Bortuzzo,
the list goes on and on, right? A special person and obviously a
friend for life.
“Without
that (Game 7 goal), just a legendary goal, legendary celebration by
the hometown kid. It’s obviously one of those memories you look
back on, as that team, as life goes on, you have a lot of beers over,
talk about memories and stuff like that with how everything went.”
Maroon’s
playoff career is over. Depending on how many of the Blackhawks’
final 12 games he plays, will be it. So that last lap around
Enterprise Center was one to store in the memory bank.
“It
sucks. When I’m done here, I’m going to be a Blues fan,” Maroon
said.
“I’ll be coming to games, just like all the other alumni. It’s
going to be fun coming back here and watching the Blues play. St.
Louis kid get the opportunity to end on a high note, get the
opportunity to actually play in St. Louis to end the year. It’s
pretty remarkable. I couldn’t write a better script on how all this
transpired today. I’m really happy, like I said, with the St. Louis
Blues. I’m happy where I’m at. I’m content. Whatever happens in
the next chapter, I’m just going to have to go do it again.”
