Thursday May 8, 2014 was a devastating for the St. Louis family, as that was the day France St. Louis, Martin St. Louis’ mother, unexpectedly passed away due to a heart attack. St. Louis had arrived in Pittsburgh with the Rangers for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals shortly before hearing the news of his mother’s passing. He then returned to New York to meet with his family, and then flew to Montreal to be with his father. He returned to Pittsburgh to play in Friday’s game, presumably after much discussion and reflection with his family and the team.
I’m sure like many people, I heard of the passing of Martin St. Louis’ mother on twitter. My first thoughts were of sorrow and sympathy for him during this extremely difficult time. I fortunately have yet to experience the loss of a parent, and can’t even begin to imagine what he is going through right now. My second thought was that it was a shame that this was coming during the playoffs, particularly while the Rangers were down three games to one and facing elimination the following day. You’ll never catch me making the argument that any sports game is more important that the birth or death of a family member, family always comes first; it is just a game after all.
Whether it was out of sense of duty to his team trying desperately to rally against the Penguins who were looking to finish them off to move on to the next run, or a coping mechanism, it suddenly became more than just a game where a team was desperately fighting for their playoff lives, to the Rangers it became let’s do this for Marty. Going into Friday’s game, the Rangers were coming off not only a home loss, but a loss in which they played completely uninspired sloppy hockey and were facing elimination.
The Rangers scored five goals in Friday’s game, including two power play goals. No, you’re eyes aren’t playing tricks on you, the Rangers actually scored on the power play, not just once, but twice, and one of those goals was courtesy of Chris Kreider who returned to the Rangers during Game Four. The sudden improvement of the Rangers power play, along with the continued sharp goaltending by Henrik Lundqvist, return of Kreider from injury, and the entire team finally stepping up and playing like it’s the playoffs have kept the Rangers in this series.
The Rangers have to keep playing hard focused hockey, and not get distracted by any silliness the Penguins throw their way, things like Sidney Crosby sticking his stick where it doesn’t belong on Dominic Moore to avoid any bad penalties and keep capitalizing on the power play. Playing with emotion as the Rangers have been in the last two games, can mean the difference between winning and losing, but they have to be careful not to let their emotions get the best of them.
After Friday’s game, Martin St. Louis was quoted as saying, “It was a tough couple of days, but I know deep down my mother wanted me to play this game, and she’d be proud of me for coming here to help as much as I can. I am glad we were able to get this win. I know (my father) is proud, and my mother is proud of me right now.” He also said, “It’s always been like that for me. Once you get on the ice, I’m not going to say I forgot my whole situation, she was with me the whole way, but this is probably the most comfortable place that you can be as a hockey player.”
Makes perfect sense to me; he’s been playing hockey at some level for decade. In times of grief we all gravitate to the places where we are most comfortable. Now I don’t personally know Martin St. Louis or his family, but as a mother myself, I’m sure his mother is looking down on him and is very proud of him. After the decisive Game Five win in Pittsburgh, the Rangers and Penguins returned to Madison Square Garden for Game Six. Sunday was Mother’s Day and I’m a little jealous of the present St. Louis and the rest of the Rangers had for their mothers, a Game Six win to force a Game Seven in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.Martin St. Louis even scored the first goal. (I got two scented candles, a painting made in art class, handmade chore coupons and a handmade letter from my son about why and how much he loves me. To be fair, my son is not quite seven.)
The entire team has rallied around St. Louis in his time of grief, and it’s really shown in the past two games. (Games I’ve sadly been unable to watch live myself due to prior commitments. I really need to do a better job of scheduling my personal life around hockey, especially during playoffs.) After Game Five, Kreider said, “we didn’t play this game for ourselves, we played it for Marty and the St. Louis family. The Rangers have a tradition of passing a hat from player to player after a win. St. Louis was awarded the “Broadway Hat” after game Five and thus it was his duty to pass on the hat to the player he deemed most deserving after Game Six.
This is the video of his post-game locker room speech passing on that hat (Get out your tissues, it may suddenly get very dusty)
Suddenly the Rangers have gone from being down 3-1 in this series to decisive back-to-back wins to even the series. Everyone’s emotions will be running high for Game Seven Tuesday as the Rangers look to keep their momentum going to win game seven and move on to the Eastern Conference Finals.
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