Spirit of St. Louis
Essay by review • September 2, 2010 • Essay • 789 Words (4 Pages) • 2,206 Views
The Spirit of St. Louis
"I don't think about it...There was no blinding light, no angels coming to take me
home."-Chris Pronger
Chris Pronger is one of the premier hockey players in the world. With his 6'6",
220 lbs. frame, Chris Pronger dominates other teams while on the ice and has become one
of those special players who can control a game. The defenseman out of Dryden, Ontario
has come around full circle since arriving in the NHL as the second overall draft pick in
the 1995 draft. After having to deal with troubles early in his career, which consisted of
drinking and partying, Pronger has gotten his act together to lead his team, the St. Louis
Blues to great success. Chris' size, speed, and knowledge of the game helps him
determine, understand, and acknowledge what other teams are doing, and enables him to
shut opposing players down. Chris Pronger's career so far is an incredible story, which
makes all sports fans who have followed it respect and admire him.
In the early postseason of the 1998 season, the St. Louis Blues found themselves
leading the Detroit Red Wings one game to nothing in the best of seven series. Also, the
Blues surprisingly had that lead on the road, with the first two games of the series in
Detroit, one of the hardest atmospheres to play in.
At the 3:52 mark of the second period, on Mother's Day, a blistering slapshot
from Detroit winger Dmitri Mironov came tearing through the zone and caught the entire
Blues defense by surprise. Every defenseman except Pronger. Chris Pronger, who is the
youngest captain in St. Louis Blues history, was finally starting to settle down and learn
the system Blues head coach Joel Quenneville was teaching. Pronger was finally starting
to live up to his ability to be able to control the game. He was also finally getting the hang
of being a 25 year old captain in the NHL.
The shot was aimed high, and Pronger got in the way of it and blocked it.
Unfortunately, the puck hit him in a very odd place, right under the chest protecting
padding of his shoulder pads, and caught him right in the chest, causing his heart to stop
beating for approximately fifteen to twenty seconds. Seeing this tower of a man fall to the
ice, and not being able to breathe, scared the rest of the Blues team, and messed with their
minds and emotions, just enough for the Red Wings of Detroit to escape the game with a
victory, hence tying up the series 1-1 heading for game three in St. Louis, Missouri.
It turns out that Chris Pronger suffered a brief episode of cardiac arrhythmia, a
weak, slow and irregular heartbeat. When struck with the puck, it has been quoted that it
didn't really hurt him. Chris Pronger said that all he wanted to do was get back to the
bench and catch his breathe. The next thing anybody watching the game saw was Pronger
taking
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