Second NHL team trying to block out Hawks fans

Blackhawks fans are paying a price for traveling so well to support their favorite NHL team.

A second club has instituted a ticket policy to limit the number of Hawks fans in its building starting this season.

The St. Louis Blues have joined the Nashville Predators in trying to shut out Hawks fans from their buildings by excluding Hawks games for single-game purchase.

When the Blues put single-game tickets on sale Saturday, there were four games on the 2013-14 schedule not available via single-game ticket purchases: Opening night Oct. 3 (Nashville), Oct. 9 (vs. the Hawks), Dec. 28 (vs. the Hawks) and April 13 (Detroit).

The Blues are one of the NHL teams this season, including Nashville, requiring fans to buy tickets to multiple games in order to acquire them for meetings against the Hawks.

In Nashville, they are calling it “keeping the red out”.

In recent years Hawks fans have been able to purchase single-game tickets for games at Bridgestone Arena and the Scottrade Center, turning the buildings into a sea of red. That was expected again this year after the Hawks won the 2013 Stanley Cup.

“Basically, we see too many red jerseys,” Blues chief operating officer Bruce Affleck told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In St. Louis, tickets to the two Hawks games are available only as part of full- and half-season tickets, or 12-game and hat-trick plans.