Last Minute of Play in the United Center: Chelios' Goodbye?

The 40 something warrior leaned in, said something to the 33 year old defender making the fair haired Californian laugh as they filed away from the bench. I smiled at the TV and wanted to know what Cheli had said. Most Wings fans know he has a ridiculously wicked sense of humor.

As I watch the post game feeling a bit emotional about this last day of the regular season I thought to myself; “This one was a gimme”. Wings were too relaxed at the end of a second consecutive loss to Chicago for this game to have meant anything. Boys in Red and White saving themselves for the playoffs like any seasoned, experienced team should. Loose, happy, light.

The moment was deliciously sublime because Cheli had played the last shift of the last game in this 2009 regular season to a steady chorus of “Boos” which echoed louder even than the “Detroit Sucks” chant those classy Chicagoan fans are so famous for.

Well, after all- he had abandoned them, right? Abandoned the city that spent 9 years adoring and worshiping him as their first son, their franchise player for the ages, where he had built his storied career. Chicago’s Steve Yzerman, Mario LeMieux, Joe Sakic.


Until he left.

Not only left, but left for a team that could win a Cup.

Not only left for a team that could win a Cup, but for the historied arch rival. He left for Detroit. A team he had once said- on film, in interview- that he would never play for.

Never Play For.

Left Home for a Hated Rival. And 10 years later Blackhawk fans still “Boo” him mercilessly, intensely, relentlessly.

Funny though. It seems to me that those “boos” weren’t expressions of hate or anger. They were the sound of broken hearts. To me, those “boos” revealed just how badly Chicago hearts had been broken when their most beloved, talented, future HHOF’er, franchise player had left.

I listened to those Chicago fans and realized that they were merely revealing that their true feelings were of loss and pain. Trying to betray him, just as they considered Cheli’s defection to the cross town rival a betrayal. Even after a decade had passed, it seems it was difficult not to feel a little bit disappointed. Still seemed to be not so much a "boo" as a "how could you?"

In my book, such a circumstance only happens when the love affair never dies.

Chicago 3, Detroit 0. The end of the regular season, 2009. Chris Chelios on the final shift of the game in the United Center in his 10th season as a Detroit Red Wing. One season longer than he was a Blackhawk. The fans stayed standing in the United Center, applauding their wonderfully talented young Hawks and showing the appreciation a long suffering hockey city enjoys when their team finally returns to contender status. Wholeheartedly embracing the new order: Towes, Sharp, Khabby, and Kane.

The Wings filed out down the long dark tunnel as the young Hawks took interviews about their Cinderella season.

As he reached the end of the bench and turned toward the tunnel Chris Chelios hesitated. Ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly.

Cheli turned his head to the stands still overflowing with cheers and applause for the home team. He took the most heartbreaking glance around the rafters, dropped his head and trudged into the darkness.

It wasn’t much more than fleeting, but it was one of the most emotional, poignant glances I have ever seen from Cheli. It brought a small gasp to my throat and a tear to my eye.

All I could think was: “He’s taking one last look around. He’s saying Goodbye.”

In that one look, it seemed that Chris Chelios was looking around the United Center for the last time. Knowing this was always where he left his heart.

It’s entirely possible that I am over romanticizing something that had no meaning at all, but to me, it felt like I was watching Chris Chelios play his last game in an arena he called home for 9 seasons.

Chris Chelios at 47 years old, the oldest player in the NHL has noticeably slowed this year. His contributions as a leader and sharing his experience as one of the all- time best defensemen in the league being more important to the Stanley Cup Champs than ice time. Hey, it’s Cheli, he’s a legend, and we take care of our own in Detroit.

When Cheli came to the D we welcomed him with open arms. It’s how we do. Never mind the years of intense rivalry and the fact he swore he’d never play for us. Mr. Ilitch has established a pattern with his franchise, and in each year the Red Wings sign a seasoned or wildly talented NHL warrior. Often a guy who has never won the Cup, but one whose name every hockey fan would agree should be on the Cup. Guys with incredible talent that perhaps aren’t being utilized to their best advantage get a once in a lifetime invitation to play in Detroit. Guys like Dallas Drake, Slava Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Brendan Shannahan.

Now Cheli had won a cup with Montreal in 85, but had not had success with Chicago. He was a great defenseman in a franchise that had no supporting cast and he was hungry. We dangled a silver prize and the fish bit.

He spent the next 11 years endearing himself to Detroiters and we love him as our own. We even love his chili- just ask anyone. We think of him as our own. I remember being broken hearted last summer reading a quote that said he loved the City of Chicago. Chris Chelios is a Detroit Red Wing in our hearts and minds, just as we’ve embraced players like Marian Hossa, Larry Murphy, Brad Stuart.

Raised a Californian, Cheli spends his summers in Malibu where he is a beloved member of the Malibu Mob- a lose affiliation of Hollywood heavy hitters. Glamourous friends that include Laird Hamilton, Kid Rock, John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson and John McGinley. He and his family spend the off-season on sun soaked beaches in the lap of American Luxury near the place Cheli grew up.

And yet in that once glance, I knew that neither Detroit nor Malibu were his home. A glance that forced me to admit Chris Chelios will always first and foremost be a Chicago Blackhawk. Deep down he will always be a Chicago Blackhawk. His heart had never left Chicago. It’s where his soul rests and his heart is worn.

While it makes me sad that he might not love my hometown as much as I do, seeing him gaze around the United Center was a glimpse into the heart and soul of a true warrior and legendary hockey player whom I adore for his talent, heart and humor. One last look.

Maybe (and even hopefully) I am wrong about this. Perhaps he was just looking around wistfully remembering what it felt like to see that arena once more alive with the excitement, hope and electricity that his presence used to invoke for Chicago Blackhawk fans.

But in that last minute of play, on April 12, 2009 in the Chicago Blackhawk’s United Center, it appears to me that Christos Kostas Tselios quietly, lovingly said “Goodbye”.

Copyright 2009. All Rights Reserved. No use or reproduction without the express written permission of the author.