Playing for your hometown team is never the easiest thing in the world. Just ask David Freese.
Oakville's Patrick Maroon became the latest hometown kid to play for a St. Louis team when he signed with the Blues this past offseason.
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In the first half of the season, nothing seemed to be going right for the eight year NHL veteran in his return to St. Louis.
In the first three months of the season, Maroon had just three goals, eight assists and a horrendous +\- of -14.
When you watched the games, you felt for Maroon. Here's a guy who came home to play for his childhood team, and it just wasn't going like we had all hoped.
Then the calendar changed to 2019 and Maroon and the Blues both started a renaissance.
By now, you know the Blues' 2019 comeback story.
Worst team in hockey on January 3, Jordan Binnington arrives, Blues win 11 straight and make playoffs, etc. etc.
Maroon's season mirrored that of his team.
From January through April, Maroon tallied seven goals and ten assists and had a +\- of +11.
Since Maroon has been teamed up with Tyler Bozak and rookie Robert Thomas on the same line, the trio has flourished.
So far in the playoffs, Maroon, Bozak and Thomas have combined for ten points in nine games. The biggest point came on a go-ahead goal from Maroon with 1:38 left in game three against the Stars in Dallas on Monday night. (Bozak had an assist on that goal and also scored earlier in the game on an assist from Thomas)
There's nothing St. Louisans love more than a hometown kid performing on the big stage.
Whether it's Jayson Tatum on the Celtics, Kennedy Holmes on The Voice, Karlie Kloss literally everywhere, Luke Voit on the Yankees or Pat Maroon on the Blues, we love to see St. Louis natives living out the dreams we all had at one time or another.
Can you even imagine the reaction Maroon would receive if he gets the chance to lift the Stanley Cup over his head rolling down Market Street in a championship parade?
If he keeps playing the way he has in the second half of the season, that scene will start to seem like more and more of a reality.