Utica Ties to St Louis Blues' First Ever Stanley Cup

The St. Louis Blues won their first NHL Stanley Cup this week, defeating Boston's Bruins in a seven-game-series. There are two players on St. Louis' title team with some tie to Utica Comets hockey.

Goaltender Jordan Binnington started all 26 of the Blues' playoff games this postseason - posting a 2.46 goals against average, with a save percentage of 91%.

Utica Comets fans may remember that Utica faced and defeated Binnington back in the 2015 AHL Playoffs when native of Ontario, Canada was a member of the Chicago Wolves (Utica ousted Chicago in the first round that year, 3-games to 2). In fact, the Comets gave a bit of a stick-tap to Binnington on social media this week after he raised Lord Stanley's Cup.

Also, when Utica hosted its second AHL All-Star Classic - in January of 2018 - Binnington was on hand as a representative of the Wolves playing for the AHL Atlantic Division team.

And, this year's NHL Conn Smythe Trophy winner (aka the Playoff MVP) is Ryan O'Reilly, the younger brother of former Utica Comet Cal O'Reilly. Cal still ranks second all-time on Utica's franchise list of total assists (89), he's fifth all time in total points (106) and holds the team record for most assists in one season (51).

Cal O'Reilly, now 32, is still active in the AHL and played this past season with the Iowa Wild.