Chelios: The Iceman
When my homepage (detnews.com) opened up in my browser, I laughed when I saw the big screaming red headline “Iceman” and a picture of Chris Chelios underneath.
The Detroit News has a “nice” piece on Chelios including many quotes and interesting facts in regards to his age. For example,
Chelios, who signed a one-year deal worth $850,000 last summer, played his first NHL game (March 8, 1984) two weeks before his youngest current teammate, Finnish center Valtteri Filppula, was born. He won his first Stanley Cup when his current defense partner, 24-year-old Brett Lebda, was in diapers.
“I had posters of him in my room growing up,” said Lebda, a Chicago native who found himself skating alongside his boyhood idol as a rookie last winter. “So coming in here and being paired with him on defense in my first game, it was kind of surreal, you know? It’s something I’ll never forget.”
I love that head coach Mike Babcock is younger than Cheli…
And in the Wings’ last victory, a 2-1 nailbiter over the Dallas Stars a week ago, there was no hesitation from Babcock about which defensemen to put on the ice in the final minute of the game.
Over the boards came Nick Lidstrom, the team captain, and Chelios.
“The thing I know about Cheli is, when the game’s on the line, he knows where to be, he knows what to do and he’s gonna make the right decision 99 percent of the time,” said Babcock, who is 15 months younger than Chelios.
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