Rivalry Week: When the Blues made Eddie Belfour lose it

The Blues/Blackhawks rivalry in the 1990s could be vicious, and when the Blackhawks were ahead in the standings, it just gave the Blues some ammo to turn their performance up to 11. The Blackhawks finished the 1992-1993 season at the top of the Campbell Conference with 106 points, a full 21 points more than the Blues. When the two teams met in the playoffs, it should’ve been a piece of cake for the Blackhawks.

It was not.

The Blues went up three games to none on the heavily favored Blackhawks. Game four, in St. Louis, quickly turned into the Blackhawks’ last stand, and they played like it. After being shut out in their previous two losses, the Hawks matched the Blues hit for hit. The Hawks’ two unanswered second period goals were countered by a couple from the Blues before Jeremy Roenick scored with less than three minutes left to force overtime. It started to look like maybe there could be a game five in Chicago.

Craig Janney decided the game at 10:43 of the second period after the Blackhawks were unable to control the puck in their own end; Belfour made the situation worse by being unable to skate back to his crease in time after leaving it to play the puck. While out of the net, Brett Hull made contact with Belfour, holding him up - and causing Belfour to scream “INTERFERENCE!” at ref Rob Shick.

The Blues had pulled off the most improbable sweep of their history to that point, and Ed Belfour lost his ever loving shit:

The win by itself was rewarding enough, but watching one of the most temperamental goalies in hockey history - which says a lot - absolutely go crazy was just icing on the cake. His post-game quote was one for the ages:

“Referees are nothing but a joke. I can’t talk right now, but that’s what I feel. I’m too upset. I’ll lose it.”

Too late.