Take a look in the St. Louis Blues' record books, and the name Bernie Federko is impossible to miss. A skilled, unselfish playmaker, Federko made those around him better; while his journey did lead him to the Hall of Fame, he is regarded by many as one of the most overlooked talents in hockey. In this volume, Federko reflects on his life on and off the ice. From his childhood in Foam Lake, Saskatchewan, to years in St. Louis playing with teammates like Brian Sutter and Mike Liut, and his recent years in the Blues' broadcasting booth, this is a refreshing chronicle of a legendary career. Bernie Federko played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League, 13 of them as a member of the St. Louis Blues. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002 and currently appears as a color commentator for Blues broadcasts on Fox Sports Midwest. Jeremy Rutherford is the Blues' hockey beat writer for The Athletic St. Louis. A lifelong St. Louisan who attended the University of Missouri—St. Louis, he previously covered the Blues for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch . He is the author of 100 Things Blues Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. Bernie Federko: My Blues Note By Bernie Federko, Jeremy Rutherford Triumph Books LLC Copyright © 2018 Bernie Federko and Jeremy Rutherford All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-62937-370-6 Contents Introduction, 1. A Prairie Tale, 2. Habs Fan at Heart, 3. On Shaky Ground, 4. Bernie & Bernadette, 5. Breaking Bobby Clarkeâ&8364;(tm)s Record, 6. Becoming a Blue, 7. First NHL Game, 8. Will You Marry Me?, 9. Bonding with Brian, 10. All-Star Experience, 11. Playoff Disappointment, 12. Harry the Cheapskate, 13. Monday Night Miracle, 14. Plager, Kelly Pass Away, 15. The End Is Near, 16. Joining the Red Wings, 17. Post-Playing Career, 18. Vipers Roll into Town, 19. Call from the Hall, 20. Forever Grateful, Nickname Key, Photo Gallery, CHAPTER 1 A Prairie Tale I didn't want to be a figure skater. Mom wanted me in the class, and Mom, she was in control. She had to be. She had four boys. I don't know how old I was, probably four or five, and I don't remember an awful lot. I know it was 10 to 12 weeks of lessons, and at the end they had what was called a "carnival." It was like a recital, where you went through a routine skating to the music. We had skits with costumes, and all the girls were dressed in white cartons of milk. I was dressed in brown like chocolate milk. Why? Because I was the only boy in the class. It was extra ice time, I guess, and when I look back on it, it was probably a good thing for me. The kid that plays for the Carolina Hurricanes now, Jeff Skinner, he was a figure skater, and he's an unbelievable skater. But if you wanted to be a hockey player like I did, you didn't want to be a figure skater. Back then, you were the wrong gender if you were a figure skater. I wanted to play on an organized hockey team, but that idea went up in smoke when the Foam Lake Skating Arena burned to the ground. The rink was directly across the street from our house, so I vividly remember the flames that night. My brothers, they remember hosing down the side of our house to keep it from getting too hot. Everybody in the entire neighborhood was afraid, Mom and Dad included, thinking we were all going to lose our houses. The rink was so close we would actually put on our equipment at the house and skate across the street. The roads were all gravel, and they didn't plow them, so it would get icy. It didn't matter if your skates were dull or not in those days. Who had a skate sharpener anyway? I was a little kid, but I do remember how the fire crushed us all, because this was our organized hockey. This was the place in town where everybody hung out in the wintertime and now all of a sudden it was gone. In our neck of the woods, the closest rink was at least 15 miles away. Where were we going to play hockey now? The debris from the Foam Lake Skating Arena was cleaned up and the ground was left vacant for several years before some housing was eventually built on the property. But before the homes went up, we played baseball in the lot. That was our summer activity. When you're from a small town, you learn that if you don't make up games to pass the time, your life will be extremely boring. There was only one channel on TV, so most of the time there was nothing to watch, especially during the day. Video games weren't invented yet, but even if they were, Mom would have kicked us out of the house anyway. The alternative was always sports. We played kick the can, hide and seek, and we'd even invent games that only we could figure out. We left the house in the morning, came home for a quick lunch, and were back out doing something else until suppertime. And the funny thing? We never got bored. That was our life in Foam Lake. The twins, who are three years older than me, were by far the best athletes in town, from the time they started school all the way