Scottrade Center - St. Louis Blues

​The St. Louis Blues are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team is named after the famous W. C. Handy song "St. Louis Blues", and plays in the 19,150-seat Scottrade Center in downtown St. Louis.

The Blues were one of the six teams added to the NHL in the 1967 expansion, along with the Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and California Seals.

St. Louis was the last of the expansion teams to officially gain entry into the league, chosen over Baltimore at the insistence of the Chicago Blackhawks. At the time, the Blackhawks were (and still are) owned by the influential Wirtz family of Chicago, which also owned the then-decrepit St. Louis Arena. The Wirtzes sought to unload the Arena, which had not been well-maintained since the 1940s, and thus pressed the NHL to give St. Louis (which had never even submitted a formal expansion bid) a franchise over Baltimore. The team's first owners were insurance tycoon Sid Salomon Jr., his son, Sid Salomon III, and Robert L. Wolfson, who were granted the franchise in 1966. Sid Salomon III convinced his initially wary father to make a bid for the team. Salomon then spent several million dollars on massive renovations for the 38-year-old Arena, which increased the number of seats from 12,000 to 15,000.

The Blues were originally coached by Lynn Patrick who, after a quick resignation, was replaced by Scotty Bowman. Although the league's rules effectively kept star players with the Original Six teams, the Blues managed to stand out in the inferior Western Division. Capitalizing on a playoff format that required an expansion team to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Blues reached the final round each of their first three seasons, though they were swept first by the Montreal Canadiens in 1968 and 1969 and then by the Boston Bruins in 1970.

The Blues play in the 19,150  capacity Scottrade Center, where they have played since 1994. Previously the team played in the St. Louis Arena, where the old St. Louis Eagles played, and which the original owners had to buy as a condition of the 1967 NHL expansion.

The Blues have a tradition of playing an organ rendition of W. C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" at the start of every period and "When the Saints Go Marching In" after a goal and at the end of the period. The Budweiser Theme "Here Comes The King" is still played during games on the organ also. A foghorn was added during the 1992-93 season at the St. Louis Arena and was carried over to The Kiel Center (currently known as Scottrade Center) in 1994.

A late developing Blues tradition was the 5 goal tacos. Before the 2004–05 NHL lockout, the Blues advertised tacos for 35 cents at any local Taco Bell the day following a game in which the Blues scored five or more goals. Games in which the Blues had scored 4 goals were often accompanied by the "We Want Tacos!" chant in anticipation of a fifth goal (and thus 35 cent tacos the following day). Additionally, a series of five lighted boards along the upper deck of the Scottrade Center kept track of the number of goals. Following the lockout, the promotion was discontinued. The tradition was resurrected in a similar promotion during the 2007–2008 season. However, rather than 35 cent tacos, fans had to present their game tickets to receive 1 free taco from Scottrade Center the day following a Blues 5-goal game. In the 2008–09 season, it was announced that after a 5 goal game, fans in attendance would receive coupons for a free 12oz Blizzard at area St. Louis Dairy Queen restaurants.These coupons were attached to a limited edition player trading card which featured Blues stars, past and present. The promotion continued in 2009-10, but with a new restaurant sponsor (McDonald's) and therefore a new signature product (the Big Mac).

After spending the first half of the 2008–09 season at or near the bottom of the Western Conference, the Blues began to turn things around behind the solid goaltending of Chris Mason. After an astounding second half run, the Blues made the playoffs on April 10, 2009 by defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1. On April 12, the Blues clinched the 6th seed in the Western conference with a 1-0 win against Colorado.

For the first time in five years, the Blues were in the playoffs. They faced the #3 seeded Vancouver Canucks in the 1st round. Despite the team's tremendous run to end the season, the Blues would ultimately lose the series in a quick 4-game sweep.

The Blues relieved coach Andy Murray of his duties on January 2, 2010 after a below expectation record (17-17-6, 40 points), sitting in 12th place in the Conference. Especially galling were the frequent blown leads after two periods, and with the worst Home record (6-13-3) in the entire NHL. Named as interim head coach is Davis Payne, who becomes the 23rd head coach in the Blues' history. Payne was the head coach of the Blues main farm team, the Peoria (IL) Rivermen of the American Hockey League.