Schenn, Maroon Trade Jabs Leading Up To Winter Classic

CHICAGO – When it comes to being friends on and off the ice, that will always remain a solid bond for St. Louis Blues captain Brayden Schenn and Oakville native Pat Maroon.

After all, the two were teammates on St. Louis’ only Stanley Cup-winning team in 2019, something they’ll get to share for the rest of their lives.

But in present day time, they’re adversaries and when the puck drops on Tuesday at 4 p.m. between the Blues and Chicago Blackhawks in the 2025 Discover NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field, all bets are off.

At least during the competition.

At least that’s what text messages leading up to the game have indicated.

Those Carshield commercials the two make together with Ryan O'Reilly will only go so far.

Maroon is close with a number of current Blues, including Schenn, Robert Thomas, Colton Parayko, Oskar Sundqvist, and even Cam Fowler -- who will play in his 1,000th game Tuesday -- from his playing days when they were teammates with the Anaheim Ducks. But it’s Schenn and Maroon that have got the ball rolling.

“I’ve been texting with ‘Schenner’ quite a bit the last few days,” Maroon said. “It’s going to be great to play against those guys and obviously to be a part of this. It’s always great to see great friends that you played with, not even if it’s a year or four years, it’s still great to see those guys on the other side and competing against them, especially in this setting, so it’s going to be fun to play against them.

“It’s going to be fun though. It’s obviously a different locker room since 2019, so it’s a completely different feel.”

While things have changed, some things will always stay the same, including barbs that one can only imagine how rated-X it was.

“Oh yeah, of course,” Schenn said with a grin. “He’s the ‘Big Rig.’ He’s always got something to say. He’s a great human, great guy. He’s going to add to the St. Louis-Chicago rivalry for sure just by being the guy who he is.

“Winning with him, golf trips with him, and then him winning with my brother (Luke in 2020 and 2021). He’s been a guy that I keep in contact with definitely. He’s one of many. He’s such a good guy that really takes care of guys around him. He’s a heck of a team guy, and he’s one of those guys that will be looked (at) in St. Louis forever as in his words, a hometown hero.”

Well for one game at least, the ‘Hometown Hero’ will be the villain wearing the Indian Head logo of the Blues’ biggest rivals, and Maroon had a message for the 11 family and friends he will have in attendance.

“They’re all Blackhawks fans. I told my buddies and friends, ‘If you ever want to come to a game, you can’t root for the St. Louis Blues or I won’t leave you a ticket,’” Maroon said “So whoever I left the ticket for, you can’t wear anything St. Louis. That’s my rule. So you’re a Blackhawks fan.”

It should be quite the treat on the ice. One can imagine what will be said.

“No, I actually haven’t even seen him yet,” Thomas said of Maroon. “I’m sure it’ll be on full display tomorrow.

“He likes to get involved. He’s got a lot of ammo on a lot of us, so I’m sure we’ll hear about it tomorrow.”

The Blues took Maroon off their team in 2019 after winning the Cup, but Maroon will never vacate St. Louis. The avid Cardinals fan had never visited Wrigley Field … until Monday.

“Being from St. Louis, I’ve never been to Wrigley,” Maroon said. “It’s kind of shocking for me. But the setup is great. Just the history around Wrigleyville, all the greats that have played here, we have an opportunity to get to play at Wrigley against a rival team, so it’s going to be fun.”