from Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk wasn’t saying it in a bulletin-board-sort-of-way. In fact, his post-practice comments the day before the Blues meet Chicago in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs Wednesday were rooted in the fact that he would like his team to one day climb up on the Hawks’ perch.

“I think we really relish the opportunity to play Chicago,” Shattenkirk said. “For us, it’s our biggest rival, everyone knows that. We kind of feel like it’s our time to break through here. In a way, it’s almost like the Cardinals and the Cubs. We feel a bit like the Cubs here.”

The “Cubs of hockey” comparison isn’t new. It’s been tossed around for years, and not so warmly accepted in St. Louis, and by that we mean you better take cover if you say it. But let’s take off the kid gloves and look at the facts.

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