Benjamin Hochman | Post-Dispatch

Sports columnist

Baseball is steeped in tradition, but hockey has the best traditions.

Every playoff series ends with a handshake line. Right before a rookie’s first game, he skates out alone for warmups, followed momentarily by the rest of his new team. Upon winning the title, each player and staff member from the champions gets a day at home with the Stanley Cup. And hockey has playoff beards, stick taps and hats tossed on the ice if a fellow scores a third goal in a game.

And there’s one perhaps you don’t know about. When a young top prospect gets the call to the National Hockey League, he will sometimes move in and live with a veteran teammate.

Such was the case in St. Louis last spring and for some of the summer. Jimmy Snuggerud, 20 years old at t

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