Sunday night wasn’t just a tough night for Jordan Binnington and the St. Louis Blues.
People are also giving The St. Louis Dispatch grief for “jinxing” the Blues. Apparently, in the electronic version of the newspaper, an ad was accidentally included that prematurely celebrated a Stanley Cup victory. Yeah.
The advertisement was for Enterprise, and included a letter from Blues chairman and governor Tom Stillman thanking fans. Pretty standard stuff ... as long as the championship victory, you know, happens. ESPN’s Randy Scott shared screen grabs of the advertisement, which was originally pointed out by protected Twitter user Rob Heaton:
(That cupholder bit from the Martin Brodeur commercial apparently has some legs ...)
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch apologized for the mishap on Twitter, and seemed to lean into it with some humor by calling it a “sneak peek.”
In preparation for the outcome of the Stanley Cup Final, some of our readers got a sneak peak at what our advertisers are hoping to say to the Blues, the fans and St. Louis. We apologize for the sneak peak and hope to share their messages with everyone very soon!
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch (@stltoday) June 9, 2019
Unfortunately for the Blues and the newspaper, the Bruins won Game 6 by a score of 5-1 on Sunday. Earlier on when the mistake was first noted by people like Heaton, the reactions were mainly filed away and grumbled upon by the more superstitious among the Blues fans. After St. Louis, lost though ... well, you know the drill if you’ve been on the Internet during the past few years: the anger ramped up, and in some cases got a little weird. Yes, the tired hashtag "#FakeNews” showed up more than once.
Luckily, most of the reactions amounted to good-spirited ribbing, though:
Hey @STLToday, need a beer?
— Buffalo Wild Wings (@BWWings) June 10, 2019
It’s only a matter of time before Wendy’s weighs in, too, right?
Of course, the people at the Post-Dispatch didn’t make Brandon Carlo’s shot take that funny bounce. They didn’t inspire Tuukka Rask to play an outstanding game.
And, honestly, it’s surprising this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often. Mistakes happen, and wires can get crossed, particularly when you’re putting out multiple versions of a newspaper or other publication.
Either way, they’re likely really hoping the Blues win Game 7 at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday (NBC; stream here).
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.