ST. LOUIS—Unexpectedly ceding the championship to the Boston Bruins without getting to play a single game, the St. Louis Blues announced Monday that they have been forced to forfeit the Stanley Cup after exhausting their annual travel budget. “This is our bad. The owners have been tightening their belts and we just completely blew through our travel expense allotment for 2019 with that last series against San Jose,” said Blues head coach Craig Berube, explaining that the team had spent way too much on room service, taxis, and nice meals during several road trips early in the season, which forced management to slash their budget for the remainder of the year. “We did everything we could to cut costs after we realized we were over budget, switching from staying in hotels to Airbnbs and giving everyone peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner, but it just wasn’t enough. We could probably get a few guys up to Boston for game one if they were willing to crash on someone’s couch, but it would be nowhere near enough for a full lineup. So congratulations to the Bruins for planning their expenses so well and taking home the Stanley Cup.” Berube added that because of the cost overrun, the Blues would also be forfeiting the first 20 road games of next season.

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