If you are a Blues fan, you will always remember the day when St. Louis won the Stanley Cup, June 12. On this day, a 52 year streak had finally been put to rest and our glorious city got what we had been longing for. From the massive playoff watch parties to the record-breaking crowd at the parade, we all had our own ways of celebrating the victory. 

As a result, two students got to have an experience like no other. Juniors Maliek Merrifield and Anna Decker had the opportunity to meet Stanley in person at private events. 

Merrifield and his family have known retired Blues Hall of Fame player and media broadcaster, Bernie Federko, for many years. Because of this strong relationship Merrifield was able to go to Federko’s house and meet Stanley. 

“He (Federko) invited us to his Stanley Cup party. It was a lot of his old friends, there were a lot of hockey Hall of Famers and they had a lot of food trucks and a lot of games,” Merrifield said. 

Later that evening when the cup arrived, the moment everyone had been waiting for that night finally came true. 

“Federko’s son brought it in and everyone got to record the cup, everyone got to touch it and take pictures with it. It was a pretty awesome time,” Merrifield said. 

Decker also had a very similar experience to Merrifield’s. 

“My aunt knows the wife of one of the keepers of the cup and so she texted me and my brother and she asked us if we wanted to go take a picture with the Stanley Cup and well of course I do,” Decker said. 

Furthermore, some things surprised Decker about seeing the cup in real life to seeing it on T.V. 

“It looked way cooler in person and bigger than it did on the screen,” Decker said. 

Decker knew that this was going to be a once in a lifetime experience that most people couldn’t say they have done. 

“It was surreal because you get to see a piece of history from our sports team and how we won it was so cool and we finally did it,” Decker said. 

Even though the partying has come to an end and the cup has made its way around the streets of our city, there really is no better place for it to be. The cup is ours and the long wait for it has been well worth it. 

Welcome to Saint Louis Stanley, enjoy your stay.