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00:09Hey, welcome to Hockey Fanatics. It's me, Dave Foley, and this week we are in St. Louis, Missouri, birthplace of
00:16the Blues and home of the St. Louis Blues, and of course, home to the famous giant bendy thing.
00:22And we're very excited because we're going to be meeting a lot of great St. Louis Blues fans, hanging out
00:27with Chris Kerber, who does the play-by-play for the radio coverage of the Blues.
00:30We're also going to be meeting with Barrett Jackman, former St. Louis Blues defenseman, and really just exploring the city
00:37and having a great time. So please, stick around.
00:45The St. Louis Blues came roaring out of the gate in the 1967 expansion, which took the league from six
00:51teams to 12. The first three seasons, they went to the Stanley Cup Final each year. By 2019, they went
00:58all the way and won the Stanley Cup.
01:03While some fans collect memories, other fans collect everything. On day one of my trip to St. Louis, I'm going
01:11to check out Rick and Maureen Giesler's phenomenal St. Louis Blues collection.
01:19Rick, how are you?
01:20Giesler, how are you?
01:21Nice to meet you.
01:22Nice to meet you, too. Welcome to St. Louis. Welcome to our home.
01:24Thank you so much. Thanks for inviting us into your home. Hi, who's this lady?
01:28This is my lovely wife, Maureen.
01:29Oh, good. I won't call security.
01:30Hi, Maureen. Nice to meet you, too. I love your sweater.
01:33Thank you. Thank you.
01:34Well, we're looking forward to seeing your St. Louis Blues stuff.
01:37We have a pretty nice collection. We're excited to show it to you.
01:39Yeah, it's a great city.
01:40Hope this isn't the beginning of some Stephen King novel.
01:44Oh, good. You really do have stuff.
01:53So that is a team-signed photo of all the players and coaches on the ice after we won the
01:59Cup.
01:59It must be very exciting when your team wins the Stanley Cup.
02:02Oh, my gosh.
02:03My team did it when I was four.
02:05Toronto Maple Leafs.
02:06Okay. All right.
02:07Yeah.
02:07This is a limited edition, number 30 of 50, Jordan Bennington-inscribed helmet.
02:12But this is Robert Thomas' game-used and signed helmet from the Stanley Cup Finals.
02:17That's very cool.
02:18This is one of my favorite pictures up here.
02:20It's Ryan O'Reilly and Pat Maroon holding the Stanley Cup on the plane.
02:24And it's signed by both of them, too.
02:26I love that picture.
02:27That is a picture of pure joy.
02:29Yeah.
02:29It is.
02:29I try to get autographs on everything that I have.
02:33That's Pedro Angelo raising the cup there.
02:35Here's a parade on Market Street, Colton Pareko.
02:38These are Stanley Cup champs pucks signed by blues alumni.
02:42These are all Hall of Famers and old-time blues.
02:45Jordan Bennington-signed pucks down there.
02:47But these are what an amazing collection of pucks.
02:49Over here, we have a street pole banner.
02:51And I had that signed by 26 of the players.
02:54And were you fined for stealing it?
02:57No, I bought it.
02:58Trust me.
02:59Oh, okay.
02:59All right.
02:59You didn't climb the lamppost.
03:02This is a 24-inch replica Stanley Cup.
03:05It is signed by as many players as I could possibly get.
03:08So we love that.
03:09And then this is one of my pride and joys.
03:11Dwayne Gretzky signed jersey.
03:13Not familiar with that guy.
03:16As soon as we got that, our kids started calling dibs on any item we had.
03:20Wait a minute.
03:20When you say what they get, are you talking about when they start carving up the assignment?
03:24Yes, exactly.
03:26Exactly.
03:26You know, children are so much like vultures.
03:29So loving and thoughtful, isn't it?
03:31Yeah.
03:33Help yourself to a cookie.
03:34Really?
03:35Absolutely.
03:35There's blue notes.
03:37There's a Stanley Cup.
03:37There's hockey sticks.
03:39I'll take this one because this is the closest I'm ever going to get to it.
03:41Well, you're hoping for a cup, so take the cup.
03:44You're right.
03:45It's a good luck charm.
03:46All right.
03:48Oh, that's really good.
03:50Thank you so much.
03:50You're welcome.
03:51Whoever wore this was violating some equipment.
03:53Yeah.
03:54This actually is a football helmet.
03:56Yeah, I can tell that.
03:57Especially.
03:58It's got the blue note on the one side and the Hockey Hall of Fame emblem on the other
04:03side.
04:04It's signed by 12 Hall of Famers.
04:06So Gretzky, Paul Correa, Adam Oates, Pronger, McGinnis, Grant Fuhr, Hall.
04:12She bought the helmet for me.
04:13It was a surprise.
04:14Wow.
04:14That's how wonderful of a wife she is.
04:16That's pretty amazing.
04:17I think all of this memorabilia is fabulous, but I think that the loving marriage that you
04:22guys have, even if Bobby Orr hasn't signed it, is pretty impressive.
04:33That is a beautiful slot hockey set up.
04:36Dave, I think you need to practice.
04:38I'm ready.
04:44Stole the puck.
04:45Stole the puck.
04:46Come on, Maureen.
04:47Oh.
04:47Oh.
04:48I don't know.
04:48Now you're in for it.
04:50Bring it on.
04:51Take it out.
04:52Back up.
04:52Oh.
04:58Well, we're not playing anymore.
05:00You've ruined it.
05:02Don't be a sore loser, Dave.
05:03Don't be a sore loser.
05:04I can't help it.
05:05I'm very bitter.
05:13As you may be able to tell from this crosswalk, we're in the Italian district of St. Louis,
05:17about to stop in at Mama's on the Hill to meet Barrett Jackman, who is a former St.
05:23Louis Blues defenseman.
05:24And we're going to try something called a toasted ravioli.
05:28So let's get in there.
05:35Sounds nice to meet you.
05:36I mean, I'm going to talk about your hockey career first before we talk about ravioli,
05:40if that's all right with you.
05:42Yeah.
05:42If that's cool with you.
05:43Whatever you want.
05:43Yeah.
05:43Food and hockey go together.
05:45Yeah, because, I mean, you came here, I mean, you had an amazing rookie year.
05:49So I played the entire year in Worcester, the American League, and then I got called
05:53up for the last game of the year, and then one game in playoffs, and then Chris Pronger
05:58got hurt in the playoff series, and then the next year there was a vacancy on the blue
06:03line, and I took it.
06:04What was it like adjusting to St. Louis and the NHL?
06:07It's a lot of work, but coming to St. Louis, having a great group of guys, you know, Keith
06:11Kachuk, Al McGinnis, Chris Pronger, you know, Kelly Chase, you know, Doug Wade.
06:16There were so many great guys that were kind of like a big group of, you know, big brothers,
06:21and it made hockey a lot easier knowing that you had a lot of guys in your corner.
06:26You developed a strong affection for this town.
06:28You actually came back on a one-day contract?
06:31Yeah.
06:31So that you could retire as a St. Louis Blues?
06:34Yeah.
06:34They allowed me to sign a one-day contract so I could officially retire as a Blue, and
06:38that meant the world to me.
06:39I had my family there.
06:40It's great that you felt that way about the town.
06:42Great they felt that way about you.
06:44Yeah, I basically grew up here.
06:45Because you came, you said you were 16 when you moved?
06:47I left home at 16, and then was drafted by the Blues when I was 18, and then was here
06:52full-time.
06:53It's the longest I've ever lived in one place.
06:54Oh, all right.
06:57Thank you so much.
06:58You're welcome.
06:59Oh, my goodness.
07:00Appreciate it.
07:00Toasted ravioli, which I guess is a St. Louis thing?
07:04It is, yeah.
07:05It's one of those things when you come to St. Louis, it's probably one of the first things
07:07you try.
07:08Dig into a little St. Louis tradition.
07:14Mmm.
07:15That's really good.
07:17It is.
07:18I heard the rumors that ravioli maybe fell in a deep-fryer.
07:24Now we can make these guests turn off the cameras and we can just eat ravioli.
07:35Coming up to the Park Avenue coffee shop, I'm going to try some gooey butter cake, which
07:40I believe is a St. Louis invention.
07:42And I'm also going to meet Chris Kerber, who is the radio play-by-play announcer for the
07:47St. Louis Blues.
07:48Let's go in.
08:00All right, here we go.
08:05Oh, my God.
08:06It's buttery.
08:07It's buttery.
08:08There's a little resemblance to the beloved butter tart from home.
08:12But now you can understand why I still couldn't tell you whether it's a pastry or a dessert.
08:18Let's just call it a way of life.
08:19Right.
08:20So when you think back on your 25 years now, coming out of college, did you have this voice?
08:26Yes.
08:26This mellifluous resonant, this voice that sounds like it's coming from the bottom of
08:30a deep barrel?
08:31I did have the voice, but I also had the face.
08:33So I realized my career was going to be in radio.
08:36Have you seen TV guys?
08:38Some of them.
08:39Some of them.
08:40I'm not sure about this in high depth.
08:43I don't know.
08:43We've had great broadcasters in this town.
08:46You couldn't become a fan of a team in St. Louis without truly becoming a fan of whoever
08:51was calling the game.
08:52And so it became quite a passion.
08:54And don't you think the TV play-by-play guys got it easy?
08:57Because doing the radio, you have to get so much more information in there and the speed
09:02of hockey to be able to do that and still be able to capture the whole ice and
09:06paint the picture of the atmosphere of the arena and how the fans are reacting.
09:09It's a remarkable skill.
09:11I actually think that hockey on TV, from a broadcasting standpoint, needs to be called
09:17a little more like the radio.
09:18It's hard to see the...
09:19Like, we could watch on TV, you could know your whole team, and you still may not see
09:23who's in the corner.
09:24The general thought of TV broadcasting is, you know, you let the picture tell it.
09:27But I think hockey still has to have more of a traditional radio call on TV.
09:33I love the romance of sports on the radio.
09:35Yeah.
09:35Sometimes when I'm doing a game, rather than kind of go to a stat, I'd rather just describe
09:39two people sitting there with a beer in the front row.
09:42Or sometimes you just, you know, shut up and just hear the crowd.
09:44I think that's true.
09:45Yeah.
09:46It makes the listener feel a little more part of it.
09:47Well, you know, it's like painting a word picture.
09:50That's right.
09:50You know, and it's the theater of the mind.
09:53And nobody else knows when you make a mistake because it's on the radio.
09:55Yeah.
09:55Or if you're wearing any clothes.
09:57Yeah.
09:59It's been so much fun.
10:00This has been great.
10:02And thank you so much.
10:02Hope you enjoy some blues hockey.
10:04I'm excited about seeing the game.
10:05Yeah.
10:06I'm very excited.
10:11It's day two in St. Louis, and I'm starting the day by exploring how the blues give back
10:16by speaking with Randy Gersh and a member of the blues organization who's always happy to
10:21see you.
10:21Hi, everybody.
10:22I'm here with Randy Gersh.
10:23This isn't Randy.
10:24This is Randy.
10:26This is Barkley.
10:27And I guess first question is tell me a little bit about your role here with the St. Louis
10:31Blues.
10:32Yeah.
10:32So I am fortunate enough to work in the community with the St. Louis Blues as vice president
10:36of community development and Blues for Kids.
10:38Blues for Kids is our foundation, our charitable arm of the St. Louis Blues.
10:42And our main job is to just get out in the community, grow the game of hockey, and give
10:46back to the fans that give so much to us.
10:48Yeah.
10:48Well, that's great.
10:49I mean, and how extensive is like youth hockey in St. Louis?
10:52We have a very strong alumni group that really get youth hockey going in here.
10:56In fact, there were five first-round draft picks, kids from St. Louis, including Matthew
11:01Kachuk.
11:01And that's all thanks to our alumni.
11:02And it just continues to grow, especially when we won the cup in 2019.
11:06It's more than doubled.
11:07Yeah, that was pretty exciting.
11:09Yeah, definitely the Kachuks are, I mean, we all got to see the Kachuk brothers in the
11:13Four Nations recently.
11:14That was exciting.
11:15It was exciting.
11:20And I see you're wearing the Girls Hockey Development Program.
11:23And how big is Girls Hockey?
11:24Girls Hockey is flourishing.
11:26You know, we actually just hosted PWHL game here over the weekend.
11:30But that is one that has really grown.
11:32And, you know, we're really working to make this a market where Girls Hockey come to play.
11:37Yeah, and the PWHL is really, it's really good hockey.
11:41Yeah.
11:41To watch.
11:42It's like really fun hockey.
11:43I can tell you they were just here this weekend, and it was definitely a physical game.
11:47It's really exciting to see that growing.
11:48But also, I have to ask you about Barkley.
11:50Come here, Barkley.
11:52Come here.
11:52Mark's been here since the 2018-19 season.
11:55He's an ambassador dog here with the Blues, and he works with us in the community, going
11:59to schools, practices.
12:01He's famous, so.
12:02Oh, my God.
12:02Does he have a Stanley Cup ring?
12:04He has a Stanley Cup collar.
12:06Oh, cool.
12:07Yeah, and we have this beautiful enclosure, I guess, Barkley's place, where kids can come
12:10and meet him.
12:11Every game, pregame and first intermission, Bark's out here.
12:14Yeah.
12:14Visiting with fans.
12:16Yeah.
12:16They can request private time if they need it as a calming presence.
12:19So, I'm distracted by the dog.
12:23Everybody is.
12:24It's good.
12:24So, for you, what do you feel like is the most fulfilling part of the job that you do
12:27here?
12:28Our players, they really love to give back to the community in different ways, whether
12:32it's raising money for local charities or getting out and visiting kids in hospitals
12:36and maybe forget about what they're going through in that moment and just having the interaction
12:41with the players.
12:42I think it's something that the Blues organization should be very proud of.
12:45Yeah.
12:46Well, I want to thank you so much for your time.
12:48Yeah, thank you for having us.
12:49I mean, I'm sorry I didn't cuddle you more.
12:51No, it's all right.
12:52I hope you aren't a fan.
12:52No, definitely not a fan.
12:53All right.
12:54Okay.
12:54Mark cuts them off.
13:03For the game tonight, I'm going to meet with St. Louis Blues superfan, Towel Man, to hear
13:08how he became a part of the city's hockey tradition.
13:12How have you been doing this?
13:13This is my 35th year.
13:1435th year of being Towel Man.
13:18Being Towel.
13:18It just turned and turned.
13:19That's not your legal name, right?
13:20No, Terry Cloth is my legal name.
13:22Terry Cloth.
13:23Yeah.
13:24Oh, good.
13:26Yeah, I mean, it started out for fun, and I'm as surprised that I'm still doing this
13:32and having this much fun doing it.
13:34What was your evolution, though, as a fan?
13:36You didn't immediately become...
13:37Oh, no, no.
13:37It took three years for it to kind of catch.
13:39But when I got the four, five, and six goals, and you've seen the entire arena counting,
13:44and it's like, that's pretty cool.
13:45Yeah, you've experienced power.
13:47Yeah.
13:48The power of charisma.
13:50Our attention, one of the two.
13:53Well, you don't get attention without charisma, Ron.
13:55We told the section that I was in, we're going to try and start this tradition here,
13:59and the third year when I hit full season tickets, it finally built its way around the rig,
14:04and then it just kind of started to snowball.
14:08Do you want to get on this Ferris wheel, and we can take a look at your beautiful city?
14:11Let's do it.
14:12All right, let's do that.
14:13Yeah, let's go.
14:24It's a great view of the city up here.
14:25It's nice.
14:26Yeah.
14:27It is nice.
14:27Now, you're fully established.
14:29You're like a major celebrity in St. Louis.
14:33Yeah.
14:33Oh, yeah.
14:34Yeah.
14:34I tell everybody, all those years of watching Sesame Street finally paid off.
14:38That's good, yeah.
14:39I guess it's a profession you kind of create as you go.
14:43You built it from the ground up, yeah, as you clearly did.
14:45One goal at a time.
14:46You took one time.
14:47Yeah.
14:47There was a point where you felt like it really took off, that the crowd was really into it.
14:51The moving into the new rink, yes.
14:53They had a jumbotron.
14:55Yeah.
14:55And with the entire crowd and everybody seeing it, it made it much easier because everybody
15:00can see it all at once.
15:00Can see it up there, yeah.
15:01Yeah, there's a real power to that screen.
15:03Oh, yeah.
15:04Yeah.
15:07Oh, and here we are.
15:08There you go.
15:09There you go.
15:09There you go.
15:11Thanks a lot, Ram, for coming out here and going on a romantic bear's wheel ride with me.
15:16Hey, I'd roll with you anytime.
15:19You do clock, you do, oh, you do, all right, counterclockwise.
15:22All right.
15:23Excellent.
15:25Very good.
15:32He's leapt through time and explored the final frontier.
15:35Scott Bakula's heart is pure St. Louis Blues.
15:39Before the big game tonight, we're going to eat some vegan food, talk hockey, the Stanley
15:43Cup, and what it means to be a lifelong St. Louis Blues fan.
15:47Well, hi, Scott.
15:48Well, hi, Dave.
15:49How are you?
15:49I'm very well.
15:50Scott Bakula, everyone.
15:51Well, thanks for joining us here today in your hometown.
15:55My hometown.
16:02Now, this is a favorite restaurant of yours?
16:04It is.
16:04It is.
16:05Oh, thank you.
16:07If you don't like anything, don't say anything.
16:10No, no.
16:11I'm Canadian.
16:12If I don't like something, I'll just apologize.
16:13Cheers.
16:14Hockey drink.
16:15Yes.
16:16Well, the modern hockey players, they'll drink this stuff.
16:19That's right.
16:19This is pretty good.
16:20Yeah, this is good.
16:21Awesome.
16:22My goodness.
16:23That's one with Sides Island.
16:24That's me.
16:25And no one, it's him.
16:26Yay.
16:26Thank you so much.
16:27It looks great.
16:28This looks messy.
16:29It is messy.
16:30Yep.
16:33As a celebrity, you got the perk of getting to hang out with the pro hockey players.
16:38Yeah, mostly in L.A.
16:39I played with a couple of guys that were in the celebrity games, Steve Duchesne and Brennan Shanahan.
16:44Yeah.
16:45Who were playing for the Blues at the time.
16:46So that was a big deal for me.
16:48Yeah.
16:48And then Robitaille and Gretzky.
16:50And then I got to know Brett Hull really well.
16:51Oh, yeah.
16:52So, yeah.
16:52Yeah.
16:53I'm very partial to a bunch of those guys learning about their lives, what they go through,
16:57being traded from team to team, town to town with their families and their kids, all in search of the
17:01cup.
17:03And I've been around the cup a couple times.
17:05Yeah, you got to spend some time with the cup.
17:07What did you do with the cup?
17:09Well, somewhere the Red Wings won it around 2002, I think.
17:12So I got to hold the cup in L.A. with Robitaille.
17:16He had a big party and everybody came for part of his time with the cup.
17:19How long did they get a week?
17:20I thought it was just 24 hours.
17:22I think you get a full day to do whatever you want with the cup.
17:25That's the craziest thing, too.
17:27Yeah.
17:27Nobody else gets to do that.
17:29Yeah.
17:29And every player.
17:30Yeah.
17:30Every player on the team.
17:31And then, Luke, he was on the lot at Paramount.
17:34I texted him.
17:35I said, don't you want to be the first guy to take the Stanley Cup to space?
17:40And he came around and then everybody, we stopped shooting and the crew lost their minds and he came on
17:46the bridge with a cup.
17:47Did the cup sit in the captain's chair?
17:49Yes.
17:49Oh, good.
17:50Oh, yeah.
17:50He sat in the captain's chair with the cup.
17:52I sat with the cup.
17:53It was so much fun.
17:552019, did you come back for that run?
17:57So we saw the third and fourth games.
17:59It was amazing.
18:00I can only imagine.
18:01I mean, I think the atmosphere tonight is going to be pretty great.
18:04We're going for the 10-game winning streak.
18:06And they're working themselves into the playoffs right now.
18:09Which I am not going to be part of and I'm losing tonight.
18:12Yeah.
18:12But that's pretty rare, a nine-game winning streak.
18:14And hockey's really a new one.
18:16Very rare.
18:16And this time of year, too.
18:17Yeah.
18:18But the year they won the cup, they were in last place in January.
18:21And Jordan Bennington.
18:22But he, of course, after the Four Nations Cup.
18:25He's been on fire.
18:26He's a hero back home now.
18:28He should be.
18:28Yeah.
18:28His performance in that Canada-U.S. game was phenomenal.
18:32Yeah.
18:32He stood on his head.
18:33He's hot now.
18:34And I think that the Four Nations things really lit a fire for him and everybody else on the team.
18:39He's a huge, huge star here in this town.
18:42Yeah.
18:42He was part of that whole run.
18:44It never would have happened without him.
18:45When they got into the playoffs in 2019, the guys from the baseball team were coming to the games.
18:51And the place would go crazy because the baseball players are watching the Blues play hockey.
18:56Yeah.
18:56And that was a big change in the whole landscape of this town.
18:59And, you know, we waited 50-something years.
19:03Walk in the park.
19:05You're talking to a Leaf fan.
19:06Well, yeah.
19:08It's a long time.
19:09But, well, I guess, do you want to get a cookie before we leave?
19:11You've got to have a cookie.
19:12And then we'll head to watch a hockey game.
19:14Okay.
19:15They'll wait for us, I'm sure.
19:16Oh, yeah.
19:16That's the kind of arrangement I have with the team.
19:18It's good to be Scott Bakula in St. Louis.
19:28It's game time in St. Louis.
19:31Scott Bakula and I are going to meet a lifelong Blues superfan, Alison Giesler,
19:37who brings her family's legacy of fandom to the game tonight.
19:46Before we get to the game, I want to introduce you to Allie Giesler,
19:49who's going to be joining us tonight in the stands.
19:52Nice to meet you.
19:52Nice to meet you, too, Allie.
19:53Well, you're a lifelong fan.
19:55Yes, yes.
19:55Thanks to your parents, who are just insane St. Louis Blues fans.
19:59We went, visited their home.
20:01They have a beautiful collection.
20:02So, how are your folks?
20:04Oh, they're doing great.
20:04They're actually, they're here tonight for the game, which is exciting.
20:07Well, you were obviously around for the cup run.
20:10Yeah.
20:11Did you get to go to any games?
20:12My sister and I went to the double overtime Dallas game, seven.
20:16Oh, my gosh.
20:17Yes, yes, yes, yes.
20:19That was a good one.
20:19That was a good one.
20:20Yeah.
20:21My heart rate was through the roof.
20:22Your dad must have been crazy.
20:24Yeah, I FaceTimed him in the final, you know, the final countdown.
20:28He was crying, I was crying.
20:31It was so special.
20:32It was pretty great.
20:32It really was.
20:33All right.
20:34I, I, I don't know which way to go.
20:38Follow me.
20:39Follow Dave.
20:45Yeah.
20:47Hey, oh, Dave.
20:49Cheers.
20:50Hey, boys.
20:53Let's go, boys.
20:55Hello, baby.
20:57Son Chris, he's a big boy.
20:59Go get him.
21:01How are you?
21:04Super cool.
21:14Super cool.
21:18Fowler.
21:18Fowler.
21:19Wait in front.
21:20Score.
21:21Fire road.
21:23Wow.
21:26What?
21:26What a shot.
21:27And what a hit by Fire Lord.
21:29Thomas.
21:30Fowler.
21:31Here itβ.
21:32That's over.
21:34Get that chosen.
21:35The blocker's going to be in.
21:37It's in the hole.
21:39Wow.
21:39unbelievable scott Allie uh
21:47I gotta say that was a pr
21:49into my trip to St. Louis
21:52overtime win, uh, after a
21:55three periods of hockey.
21:58a little while, but yeah,
22:00yeah. And I gotta thank t
22:03for coming back to your h
22:06really appreciate it. So
22:09having me. Thanks to
22:10all the people in St. Louis
22:11the hospitality we've had
22:13we've been here. This has
22:14been a great trip and a great
22:16game to end it all off. For
22:18Hockey Fanatics, we'll see
22:19you next time.
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