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Blues made this amateur goalie's dream come true for one night

The most surreal experience suddenly came to fruition for one St. Louis amateur hockey player.
Courtesy of the St. Louis Blues. 

ST. LOUIS -- Tyler Stewart completed his workday when the phone rang. Suddenly, a normal day was about to turn into a night to remember.

Instead of getting ready to attend a St. Louis Blues game as a spectator with his parents Scott and Jennifer in Section 313, where Stewart and his parents are season-ticket holders, instead of cheering for the Blues, Stewart was about to become one of the Blues.

The most surreal experience suddenly came to fruition.

Stewart, who played for the St. Louis University men's club hockey team while attending school there, was summoned by the Blues to sign an amateur tryout agreement to back up starting goaltender Jake Allen against the Dallas Stars on Thursday. The Blues were trying to get Ville Husso to Scottrade Center after recalling him from San Antonio of the American Hockey League.

Husso was recalled after the team announced that backup Carter Hutton, who sustained a lower-body injury during the morning skate, would not be available to back Allen up. So Husso, who was having lunch on an off-day for the Rampage, got a call at 1 p.m. to get on a flight to St. Louis. After his plane landed at 6:59 p.m. (CT) following a 20-minute delay, the race was on for the Blues to get him to the arena as soon as possible.

In the meantime, Stewart, who has filled in and skated with the Blues in the past during the 2012-13 lockout, during prospects camps, and during informal skates prior to the opening of training camp, was waking up his wife Alex, a nurse at St. Louis University Hospital, to tell her the news after working for his father's vending company, Cardinal Vending, Inc.

"My wife was asleep," Stewart said. "... I woke her up and I was like, 'Listen, I'm sorry I woke you up, but I'm going down to do warmups tonight.' She's like, 'Are you serious?' I'm like, 'yeah,' and she's like, 'OK, well I'm getting up,' and I'm like, 'OK, let's go!' It's crazy. It's awesome.

"I was up like at 5 a.m. like I normally do, going through the day and then all of the sudden, I get home and the call came. I was completely caught off-guard by it. It's just nuts to describe it. Dream-come-true obviously to be able to do the warm-ups and everything. I thought maybe there was an off-chance I sit on the bench or something like that but awesome to do the warm-ups and everything."

Stewart, who is on call for both teams at each Blues home game, said he initially thought it was the Stars who needed help with Ben Bishop not making the trip to St. Louis because of a sore back. But when Dallas recalled St. Louisan Mike McKenna from Texas of the AHL earlier in the day, Stewart said the connections didn't match up.

"I thought something serious happened and I thought it had to do with Dallas because I heard Bishop got hurt," Stewart said. "And then I saw McKenna and I was like, 'OK, what could have happened?' There was nothing on Hutton and all of the sudden, it looks like here we go. It was really fun."

Stewart was in on all pregame activities, including Blues coach Mike Yeo's pregame speech and interaction with players.

"It's crazy how loose they are," Stewart said. "You would think they might be a little tight. But they were just joking around. You wouldn't think they were even playing a hockey game. A cool environment, nothing like I've ever experienced before obviously.

"I sat next to [Vladimir] Tarasenko. He was awesome. He and [Vladimir] Sobotka were asking me how to spell sissors because they were confused on the spelling. They were calling it like Caesar, like Caesar salad, and they were asking me, and I was like, 'No, it's sissor.' It was pretty funny. They just talked to me like I was one of the guys."

Stewart, who's earning his master's degree in marketing from Maryville University in suburban St. Louis County, took part in the pregame skate and took shots but didn't want to be in the way of any of the players involved. He just wanted to soak up the experience.

"Honestly, it was weird because I've seen it a thousand times," Stewart said of the Scottrade Center ice. "I'm a season ticket holder, I've been to like a million games. But it was like, 'Wow, I'm doing it just like they would.' It was surreal.

"I told my wife and my mom it would be awesome to do the whole game, but it is what it is. This was an awesome experience anyway."

Stewart was on call in the back room while the game was being played and could have played if there was an injury to Allen. But Husso arrived and was on the bench with 5:09 remaining in the first period.

"[Stewart] was sharp," Yeo said. "That's pretty exciting for him, that's pretty cool. He came into the coaches office. I know the guys were revving him up coming onto the ice. It's a pretty good thrill for him and fun when someone can come in and be part of what you have going on. You're coming in, you're part of the team. It's good."

Allen said he didn't get much interaction with Stewart but felt it was good for him to be a part of the mix.

"I didn't really get the chance to speak to Tyler," Allen said. "He didn't get here until late, right before warmups, so I just said a quick hello and all I knew Ville was here after the first period.

"... It's one of those situations where you've seen before in the league where there's been times when both goalies are hurt and I think the league's done a good job with that safety net now. It's pretty cool to see guys get chances like that."

Stewart, who wore jersey No. 98, was ready in case something happened to Allen, but was simply glad to be a part of the team, albeit for a short span.

"Honestly, like the competitor that I am, even though I'm not like an NHL quality goalie, it's like, 'I would love to do it,' but I don't want him to get hurt obviously," Stewart said. "It would be like so cool to be able to play. People were like, 'Oh, would you be nervous?' I was like, 'It is what it is.' Just like coming out here [Thursday], 'It is what it is if it happens.' I've skated with them before and it's fun. It's awesome. We'll see what happens next time."

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