"It is a pretty cool little circle that's happened, and my son (Jack), he's playing hockey," Jim said over the phone Friday. "Hockey's a great sport, and there's lots of great fans in St. Louis. It's just awesome to be a part of it, and it's awesome to see my godfather so excited about it."
Oefelein has enough tales to fill a book, from how fans used to dress up for games in the early days, to how the Blues rallied from down 5-2 in the third period to defeat the Calgary Flames 6-5 in overtime in Game 6 of the 1986 Campbell Conference Final in what became known as the "Monday Night Miracle."
"Hockey, to me, it's the No. 1 sport because every player plays in every game, and every player wears themselves out in the 45 seconds he's out on the ice," Oefelein said. "I've never booed at a game."
But his best tales center on family and friends more than hockey. Sometimes he wouldn't have tickets but would take his nephews anyway, standing room only. He took girlfriends to games until he took one to a Blue Note Club banquet in 1980 as a second date. They got married the next year; Susan is still his wife.
In 1993 or '94, their son, James, was about to turn 12 or 13. He was playing hockey and had his own youth hockey cards. Susan sent one to his favorite player, forward Brendan Shanahan, asking Shanahan to sign it as a birthday present. One day, they received a phone call. It was Shanahan, saying he was returning the card and including an autographed photo of himself. Shanahan asked to speak to James.
