ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Pronger said before the 1999 season, when he would eventually be named MVP, the St. Louis Blues front office challenged him to prove his talents.
It was that kind of “prove you wrong just because” mentality that didn’t make Pronger a lot of friends on – and off – the ice. But after 18 seasons, five all-star appearances and a Stanley Cup Championship, it seems to have paid off.
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“Maybe it was to my detriment with my teammates or not, I mean it just, I needed to play the game a certain way,” Pronger says. “That’s just how I played. I always get asked, ‘How did you play as a kid?’ And just like this. This is exactly how I played as a kid and all the way up.”
But that must have been semi-easy for him when arriving in St. Louis, due to the instant hate Blues fans sent to Pronger. He was traded before the 1995 season to St. Louis from the Hartford Whalers, for superstar and hometown favorite – Brendan Shanahan.
For much of the 1995-96 season, Pronger was booed at the Kiel Center and viewed, in his words, as a villain. He said he heard from a lot of spiteful locals how they had named their son, Brendan, after the former St. Louis forward.
You can hear more of the conversation Pronger had with KMOX’s Mike Claiborne during the intermission report of Tuesday night’s Blues vs Nashville Predators game at 7 p.m. Listen on AM 1120 or Sports Radio 98.1 HD3.
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