Hard Work and Character Keep the Blues in the Pink

It didn’t take Mark Hunter long to size up the St. Louis Blues, the National Hockey League team that traded for him last summer.

“I think we’ve got a pretty hard-working club that plays hard every night,” said the right wing, who was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens, no slouches themselves.

“We seem to have a lot of character on our club.”

This is the same club no one wanted nearly three years ago. No one, except California businessman Harry Ornest.

Although he was advised against it, Ornest purchased a debt-ridden franchise that nearly went to Saskatchewan and kept it in St. Louis, where the Blues have played since they entered the NHL in the 1967-68 season.

Despite all the turmoil, the Blues keep chugging along. They’re atop the Norris Division, where they finished last season, and that’s better than anyone expected.

Hunter credits one person.

“I’d have to say it stems from Jacques,” he said, meaning Jacques Demers, the team’s fiery coach. “He’s given me confidence. He’s given confidence to our team.”

Heaven knows the Blues needed it, but it wasn’t always that way. In its infancy, St. Louis was the toast of NHL expansion franchises.

Under Coach Scotty Bowman, the team advanced to the Stanley Cup finals in each of its first three years but lost all three times. For six straight seasons its average attendance exceeded the Arena’s 17,666 hockey seating capacity.

But within 10 years the good times faded.

By 1983, Ralston Purina Corp., which said it lost $20 million in operating the club since 1977, wanted out of the hockey business.

The pet food company, in effect, handed the franchise back to the NHL: it disbanded its front office, refused to participate in the NHL draft, refunded season ticket holders, and released General Manager Emile Francis and virtually everyone else.

When the NHL blocked Ralston’s agreement in principle to sell the team to a group of Saskatoon businessmen, Ralston sued the league.

The NHL countersued Ralston, alleging it breached the league’s charter by trying to sell the team without the mandatory two-year notice.

The league, however, did assume control of the team -- its assets and player contracts -- until Ornest made a $12 million deal for it.

Demers, meanwhile, says St. Louis’ lingering need is greater muscle up front.

“Defense is good. We need some offense,” he said. “There are some games that we’ve played (where) we feel comfortable and all of the sudden everything crumbles.

“But that’s the process of learning with our young kids and working with them. We’ve got to be patient,” he said.

In addition to Hunter, St. Louis newcomers include left wing Ron Flockhart, center Rick Meagher and defensemen Bruce Bell, Lee Norwood and Ric Nattress.

Veterans providing team leadership include center Bernie Federko, right wing Joe Mullen, left wing Brian Sutter, defenseman Rob Ramage and goalie Rick Wamsley.

Center Doug Gilmour and right wing Greg Paslawski are young Blues players on the rise. Doug Wickenheiser, a forward injured last March in an off-ice accident, is due back possibly in late February.

A 5-4-3 early divisional record may indicate St. Louis will be challenged to capture a sixth division championship. Last year, the Blues outdistanced Chicago by compiling a 20-8-4 mark against Norris Division foes.