Colton Parayko is living the dream as Stanley Cup champion.
Basking in the euphoria of the St. Louis Blues going from worst to first, the St. Albert star spoke from the heart following Wednesday’s Game 7 Stanley Cup clincher against the Boston Bruins on their home turf at TD Garden.
“It’s so fun. I’m so happy right now for this group, “ Parayko told Scott Oake of Sportsnet. “They’re winners and they bring it every night. It’s definitely a team effort. I’m so happy that we’re here right now. We’ve been through a lot this season. We just perservered and we just continued to battle and nothing seemed to phase us. We’d get beat by a bad call maybe or we’d get beat bad and we just needed to bring it back the next game.
“Yeah, it’s special.”
Parayko, 25, reiterated those sentiments in the 12th and final entry of the defenceman’s playoff blog for NHL.com detailing the journey of the Blues, ending the longest wait in NHL history — 51 seasons — for a team to win its first Stanley Cup.
The Blues were last in the NHL standings on Jan. 2 with 34 points (15-18-4) before the startling turnaround to finish the regular season tied with the fourth-most points in the Western Conference at 99 (45-28-9), en route to the team’s first Stanley Cup final since 1970 and the fourth in franchise history.
The storybook season coincided with the Blues adopting Gloria, the 1982 platinum-certified 1982 single by Laura Branigan, as the team’s victory song.
"This is a dream come true. It’s unbelievable,” Parayko wrote.
"It's been crazy. All season, just to battle, just turn the page and climb back in the standings, make a push for first in the Central Division at the end of the season.
“During the playoffs nothing seemed to faze us. We just continued on from where we left off, and if we lost a game we would bounce back. We had a few of those in the playoffs, where things went the wrong way against our team, but we responded every single game.
“I give credit to every team we played. Six games, seven games, six games, seven games. It was such a battle for us. There was so much great competition, and what makes this so much better with this team is that it's been tough for us, it's been a hard road and some very tough games. Obviously, Boston is a special team. They have a lot of unreal players. That's why it went seven. That's why it was so tough.”
There was no stopping the Blues, even the Game 6 loss in St. Louis didn’t slow down the team of destiny
Goals by Ryan O’Reilly, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the playoff MVP, and captain Alex Pietrangelo, the dagger with 7.9 seconds left in the first period to make it 2-0 despite being outshot 12-4. Jordan Binnington, the rookie netminder, finished with a game-high 32 saves.
“I had a feeling we were going to win when we got the third one there in the third, and then the fourth one,” Parayko wrote. “After that, honestly, from my perspective, I tried to keep it in between the lines until the last 30 seconds or whatever when I was finished, and I knew I wasn't going to play anymore. After I came to the bench and the clock was ticking down I couldn't believe it and started celebrating with the guys on the bench. I don't even remember jumping over the bench when it was over.”
Parayko also shared the love with the Blues superfan, Laila Anderson during the on-ice championship celebration. Anderson, 11, has hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a severe systemic inflammatory syndrome, and in January underwent chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.
Parayko befriended Anderson throughout the ordeal, brought her into the Blues family and shared her inspirational story. On the Stanley Cup final media day, Parayko revealed that he wears a wristband she made for him.
Anderson attended Game 7 as the guest of the Blues after doctors cleared her to travel to Boston and she wore a denim jacket with Laila and No. 55, Parayko's jersey number, on the back.
The most poignant moment was Anderson hoisting and kissing the Stanley Cup with her favourite player.
“She is such a warrior,” Parayko told Oake. “I’d go visit her at the hospital and she’s happy. She might be having the worst day of the week or just things that she might be putting into her body and she’s happy every single time I see her and it just goes to show that there is so much more to life than hockey.
“I can’t even put into words what I’ve learned from her and what I think about her because she really is special and she’s taught me so much about life.”
Parayko finished the playoffs with two goals and 10 assists in 26 games as the fifth-highest scoring defenceman, and was plus-six.
“I just wanted to do my part and all I wanted to do was my best and give us the best chance to win,” Parayko told Oake.
In Game 7, Parayko, was paired with Jay Bouwmeester in the starting lineup and played 27:37 minutes during 43 shifts. His delay of game infraction in the first period was the only penalty of the contest.
In his fourth NHL season, Parayko scored a career-high 10 goals while finishing with 28 points and was plus-20 in 80 games.
Parayko’s regular-season career stats are 29 goals, 131 points and 89 penalty minutes in 322 games.
The six-foot-six Parayko was the third-round (86th overall) pick of the Blues in the 2012 NHL entry draft and after his third season with the University of Alaska-Fairbanks made his NHL debut Oct. 8, 2015, against the Edmonton Oilers.
The 2016 All-Rookie team selection was the eighth-place finisher in Calder Trophy voting for the NHL’s rookie of the year as the second-highest vote getter among defencemen.
The Stanley Cup is the latest accomplishment for the bantam AAA Sabre, midget 15 Flyer and midget AA Crusader in the St. Albert Raiders Hockey Club.
Parayko competed in the 2017 and 2018 IIHF World Championships with Team Canada — he was a tournament all-star two years ago with three goals and four assists in seven games as Canada lost the gold-medal game 2-1 in a shootout to Sweden in Cologne, Germany — as well as the 2016 World Cup of Hockey with the North America U23 team and the 2011 World Junior A Challenge with Canada West while playing for the Fort McMurray Oil Barons in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
Next on Parayko’s to-do list is to bring the Stanley Cup to St. Albert. The last time Lord Stanley’s Mug visited the city was August of 2013 when St. Albert defenceman Ryan Stanton was among the Black Aces throughout the playoff run by the championship-winning Chicago Blackhawks. The public celebration was held at Meadowview Diamonds, as Stanton’s slowpitch team, the Brew Jays, played the Thirsty Beavers. A private event was also held at Sturgeon Valley Golf & Country Club.
The Stanley Cup will also make a stop in Calahoo, where Blues head coach Craig Berube hails from.
Berube replaced Mike Yeo, who was fired by the Blues on Nov. 19, and with the former NHLer at the controls, the team went 38-19-6 to clinch third place in the Central Division.
Berube also coached the Philadelphia Flyers from 2013 to 2015, going 75-58-28 before he was relived of his duties on April 15, 2017.
Berube played in 1,054 regular-season games with five NHL teams between 1986 and 2003 and amassed 3,149 penalty minutes for seventh on the all-time list.
