MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- It started as a care package that turned viral.
It started with a tweet on April 24 when Gruden, a former NFL head coach of the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he won a Super Bowl in 2002, received a care package from the Blues.
In it, he thanked St. Louis Blues coach Jim Montgomery and goalie Jordan Binnington, who sent a signed jersey:
That was the day of Game 3 between the Blues and Winnipeg Jets, with the Blues trailing the best-of-7 Western Conference First Round series 2-0.
The 61-year-old let it be known this wasn't just some one-off ploy to get attention by wishing the Blues luck:
The fandom and love spread throughout the city and region, that the UFL's St. Louis BattleHawks got in on the act with a care package of their own:
The Blues got in on things and invited Gruden to be at the pregame hype and get the team fired up prior to Game 6:
Gruden's caption 'Be The Freakin Nightmare' also caught on, and then the Blues went out and tied the series 3-3 with a convincing 5-2 win in Game 6.
The coach got the chance to meet Binnington and Montgomery prior to the game:
Montgomery said he had never met Gruden before but was happy to pick his brain.
"No, I was a big fan because of the HBO Hard Knocks that I've seen him be on," Montgomery said. "Just his championship team in Tampa Bay, how he interacts with his players. I think it's honest and the communication is up front, whether it's good or bad and it's something I just appreciated and learned from.
"I did get to talk to him. Asked him some questions. I didn't get to talk to him 1-on-1 enough because there's things we can learn from from other sports. Game management, clock management is another level than we have. We have one time out, they've got all those things going on, they've got the two-minute drill, stuff you can learn from. I didn't get to ask those questions, but he had some great Al Davis stories that I really cherished."
It turned out to be the perfect ending to a night for the Blues' hype man, who also got the attention of the St. Louis Cardinals: