THUNDER BAY - Most young local hockey players dream of winning the Stanley Cup, but realizing that dream is a different story.
It rarely happens.
The love of the game is passed down through generations, and while most have Lord Stanley’s dreams fizzle out at some point, holding out hope for their children becomes generational ritual for diehard hockey families, including Oscar Bortuzzo, whose son Robert accomplished the feat this season with the St. Louis Blues.
“It’s something I (dreamed) about when I played. For it to come true as a father, I mean, it’s hard to describe,” the elder Bortuzzo, a retired Holy Family School teacher, said.
Last Wednesday the hockey world watched as the St. Louis Blues defeated the Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. It was the Blues’ first Cup, ending a 52-year championship drought.
Robert Bortuzzo was cheered on by thousands of local hockey fans hoping for another chance to see another summertime Stanley Cup appearance in Thunder Bay, the fourth time in five years a player from Thunder Bay has soaked in the glory of Lord Stanley's Mug, the eighth since 2005-06.
“(It's) sort of surreal,” Oscar said, describing the feeling when his son hoisted the Cup.
Robert didn’t dress for Game 7, but played an important part in the team’s postseason success.
“What do you think is going on back home in Thunder Bay?” Scott Oake, a reporter with Sportsnet asked postgame.
“I hope they’re having a blast. I owe a million thanks to a million people back home. I just want to say thanks to my friends and family, and buddies and… we’re going to have some fun this summer,” Robert Bortuzzo said.
Rich family tradition
Oscar was born into a hockey family and it didn’t take long before he fell in love with the game. As a goaltender, he played junior hockey in Thunder Bay, and after being drafted to the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers in 1977, came back to play for the Lakehead Nor’Westers in the early 1980s.
In 1989, his wife Susan gave birth to Robert.
Like so many other Thunder Bay families, Oscar quickly became Robert’s father and coach.
“He was a team player, I played him fairly,” Oscar said. “One thing I’ll always remember is the outdoor rinks. He always loved the chance to get to an outdoor rink.”
Robert is no stranger to championships, having won a Dudley-Hewitt Cup in 2006 playing with the Fort William North Stars.
Even then, Oscar Bortuzzo was skeptical.
“A lot of people said he could be a really good player at a higher level… Which was great to hear as a parent, but I just didn’t see it.”
Despite his father’s reservations, Robert eventually was drafted by Pittsburgh in 2007 and played four seasons with the Penguins before being traded to St. Louis in 2015.
Bleeding blue
As glamorous as the title of a pro athlete seems, Robert exudes exactly the opposite.
He’s a bruiser, an agitator, a physical defenseman whose racked up seven times as many penalty minutes as points throughout his career.
In his fourth season with the Blues, a season of high expectations began with controversy.
Robert got into a fight during practice with teammate Zach Sanford in December which was videotaped, and subsequently became a talking point in the mainstream media.
Soon after it became a symbol of dysfunction for a Blues team whose miserable 5-18-4 record put them dead last in the NHL with 34 points on Jan. 2.
Things quickly turned around.
The acquisition and implementation of rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington sparked an 11-game win streak in February, and many Blues’ players attributed their success to the re-discovery of Laura Branigan's song Gloria, which became the team's rallying anthem, played in the locker room after some of their many victories.
"At one point, Robert tells me, his coach (Craig) Berube turns to him and says ‘Things are going to change.’ I swear to God. And once they started winning and expecting to win, the city really started to feel it,” Oscar said.
Bortuzzo began to play a key role, establishing a stifling defensive identity down the stretch and into the playoffs.
How's it going to go down?
The Blues were pegged as betting underdogs in all of the series leading up to the Stanley Cup final, but continued their magical run.
Despite being one of the many defensive weapons responsible for shutting down some of the NHL’s top offensive attacks in the playoffs, Bortuzzo had his moment of goal-scoring glory after shelving a backhand past Martin Jones in the conference finals against San Jose.
“I thought it was hilarious. My wife was in the washroom and I just jumped out of my chair and yelled at her, ‘Susan you’ve gotta see this!’”
MORE OF THIS!!!!! #stlblues #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/GUXIsZaNTk
— St. Louis Blues 🏆 (@StLouisBlues) May 14, 2019
It was Bortuzzo’s first career playoff goal.
“The game is changing, and especially this year, they expected more out of him offensively and I really think he stepped up,” Oscar said.
Oscar and his wife attended games in St. Louis, San Jose, and eventually Boston where they would hoist the Stanley Cup. He said forming a community with other Blues’ parents was a special experience.
“Being on the road with them you really form a connection, because they’re going through the emotion of watching their son in the playoffs, too.”
“When we realized it could really happen, things got exciting, all the parents started hugging… it was a very emotional moment,” Oscar said on watching the final game in Boston.
A long journey, which Oscar described as “a storybook ending” for the Blues and his son who climbed from the gutter to NHL royalty in a matter of months.
“As an NHLer, there’s so many who never get the chance to make it. So I really wanted that because they came so far.”
Oscar said it was nice to be back home in recovery mode after the ongoing celebration, which was capped off by a parade on Saturday.
“It was absolutely crazy. It’s really a relief just to come home and go to the gym,” he said, after the Blues’posted a video on Twitter of Oscar taking a significant swig of whiskey after Game 7.
“I didn’t think anyone would catch that!”
You don't have to drink out of the bottle anymore, dad. We've got a Cup now. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/cCFtJ4h4zC
— St. Louis Blues 🏆 (@StLouisBlues) June 13, 2019
“That’s another special moment. Robert even told me take it easy because it was an expensive bottle.”
