Mini BTJ: No. 24
When I first started BTJ, I had a feature called Behind the Jersey where I basically did a mini biography of a member of the Detroit Red Wings. At this point in time, I don’t have enough free time to write an in depth biography. So I have decided to create what I’ll call the Mini BTJ. Basically, the Mini BTJ is a collection of links to articles about a specific player. I will also comment on these articles.
Today, I’ll be linking to the many many articles about Chris Chelios. These articles are in no specific order and I believe all of them have been published within the last month.
What’s Cheli’s real Greek name? Christos Kostas Tselios.
Due to Chelios’ work ethic, he has been healthy for most of his career and has made it to the postseason in all but one of his 23 seasons in the NHL. He did suffer an ACL injury, but worked hard to get back as quickly as possible.
Detroit assistant general manager Jim Nill credits Chelios’ work ethic for his longevity and recalls when the defenseman suffered a significant knee injury several years ago that could have signaled the beginning of the end.
“The team was on the road, and the arena was dark,” Nill says. “I came in and heard something, and it was Chelios skating down the ice. It wasn’t long after his surgery. He wasn’t allowed to turn, so he’d lift himself on the boards to turn around.
“He was by himself. No one there to see it. That’s why he’s still playing. He is the first one to the rink and the last to leave.”
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Chelios is such a passionate competitor that even his leisure activities involve sports. A couple of years ago he took bobsled runs with the idea of putting together a Greek team for the Olympics. He is a diehard Chicago Bears fan and is a fixture around the Detroit sports scene, often seen attending games with close friend Kid Rock.
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Chelios says he has promised Howe his record is safe because he won’t play beyond 51, but he’s not ruling out anything else. Holland has said he wants to re-sign Chelios for next season.
“If he stays away from a major injury,” Holland says, “he could play until he’s 50.”
Cheli’s fitness can probably be attributed to what teammate’s call the “Desert Ride.”
Darren McCarty calls it the most disgusting thing he’s ever seen a teammate do.
Tony Amonte and Chris Osgood agreed.
“It’s called The Desert Ride,” explained McCarty of a workout regimen that goes a long way towards explaining Chris Chelios’ longevity.
“It’s gross. It’s sick. No one else ever did it with him — you’d have to be a fool. He’s not right so it doesn’t matter. He’s a freak of nature — literally.”
The source of McCarty’s repugnance is a torturous training technique employed by the 45-year-old defenceman for 23 seasons.
It involves a stationary bike, two jugs of water, a sauna and a work ethic unmatched in today’s game. Assembling the ingredients in the hot box several mornings a week, the Red Wings defenceman will “get the blood flowing” with a ride that could last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour.
McCarty added that he had a hard time sitting in there for five minutes with the high temperatures, but Chelios could easily bike 20 minutes in it. That’s hard core if you ask me.
One of the things I love about Cheli is his quick wit and that he is willing to laugh at jokes made about his age.
“There is absolutely nobody like Cheli in terms of his conditioning and competitiveness,” ventured Wilson, in his usual deadpan manner, “and he’s played that way since the beginning of his career, when I was in high school, watching him.”
Wilson, of course, is 52 and knew he’d gotten off a good one when Chelios, the Detroit Red Wings’ defenceman, bumped into him in the corridor the next day. Hunched over, walking as if he had a cane in his hand, mimicking a doddering old man, Chelios said to Wilson: “Yeah, right, you remember watching me in high school.”
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The father of his current defence partner, Kyle Quincey, is 48 — only three years older than Chelios himself.
“Obviously, I’m just a sponge when I’m around him,” Quincey said. “I’m absorbing everything I can. Cheli, he’s really good at downplaying things and making me confident and composed out there.
“He’s only three years younger than my dad, but I don’t really think of it in those terms. If you knew Cheli, he’s really young minded.”
Chelios did not take your “typical” path to becoming an NHL star as Bruce MacLeod describes in this article. I wrote more about his journey to the NHL in a BTJ feature I wrote three years ago.
“I feel that I was supposed to be a hockey player,” said Chelios. “I’m not from the traditional hockey background. I’m a Greek kid from Chicago. But for some reason, I wound up here and I think it was fate.”
In his early 20s, Chelios became a hockey legend in Montreal, a city that has never been fond of English-speaking Canadians, let alone Americans who play Montreal’s native sport. Montreal nevertheless loved the Greek kid from Chicago.
Chelios went home to play for the Blackhawks and became one of the most hated foes of the Detroit Red Wings but in 1999, Chelios became a Red Wing.
Should Chris Chelios return to the Detroit locker room next season, however, he will have played in parts of nine seasons wearing the winged wheel. That will match his nine Chicago seasons and top the seven he spent with the Canadiens.
As he has aged, Chelios has adapted the type of workouts he uses to stay in shape, but still keep it easy on his body. He has a son, who recently won a state championship with Cranbrook and hopes to one day play in the NHL like his father.
Chelios used to run a lot, but not any more.
“I mountain bike quite a bit,” he said. “It’s a lot easier on the legs.
“Anybody will tell you, you get older and impact is not good on your knees. I figured just to switch it up I’d try some different training - a lot of water sports and mountain biking.”
Bikes in saunas, mountain biking - he has younger teammates who can’t keep up with him. So, his ability to hang around this long is no mystery.
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Chelios has a 17-year-old who plays hockey.
“He’s a goal-scoring phenomenon,” Chelios boasts.
Would he try to carry on and wait and see if his son gets a big-league shot?
“Oh, I’d love to,” said Chelios. “It’s a long ways off though.
“He’s just coming out of high school. I hope he makes it but right now we’re shooting for college.”
He was key to the Wings’ success in the series against the Sharks, especially after they lost Mathieu Schneider to injury.
For a team that just might be in over its head against these big, bad Sharks, Chelios is the perfect lifeguard. Don’t think the Wings can win this series? Well, don’t tell that to Chelios, the self-described “angry Greek man.”
“That’s the thing about Cheli — he’s so competitive,” said Dan Cleary, arguably the Wings’ biggest playoff revelation this spring. “He’s the most competitive person I’ve ever met. And that rubs off — it’s contagious. He wants it, you know? That’s why he’s a leader, that’s why he has won before, and that’s why he’s still playing at 45.”
It’s why he may yet be playing at 50, as silly as that sounds.
“I betcha he plays three, four more years,” coach Mike Babcock said.
“Why wouldn’t he?” joked Gordie Howe, who played until he was 52.
Said Draper: “Yeah, we saw the movie ‘300′ and Cheli’s new nickname is ‘Sparta’ now. His mom’s from there, so I guess there’s got to be something in the bloodlines.”
Chelios doesn’t score much anymore, but he still plays an important role on the team.
Predictably, his young colleagues were all delighted for the old fella. Kirk Maltby was unable to control a laugh when asked about the dead-eye marksmanship — reminiscent of the Chelios of a decade ago — that saw the super-vet meander deep into enemy territory, take a drop pass from Johan Franzen and deftly pick a corner.
“Chelly, he’s had some opportunities,” Maltby smiled, “and he kind of gets down on himself when he misses a good chance. It was really good to see him be able to put that one in.”
The Virginia Tech shootings that took place last month hit close to home to Chelios who had two employees who were murdered on January 2nd in his restaurant in downtown Detroit.
As the Red Wings prepared for Tuesday night’s playoff game against the Calgary Flames, Chris Chelios made a point of watching television updates on the shooting at Virginia Tech University. Did he know any of the 33 victims? He didn’t think so. Was he struck by the horror of the incident? Most assuredly.
“It’s been a rough year for a lot of people,” Chelios said. “You can’t live in fear but you know . . .”
He knows.
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“We went on a road trip (soon after the Soroka-Barnard slayings) and we missed Chris’s presence, his ability to calm things down,” forward Dan Cleary said. “He’s such a caring person. He’s got this hard shell on the outside but he’s a real teddy bear inside. When he came back, we just tried to be there for him.”
Chelios prides himself on being able to separate the outside world from his job as a hard-hitting, in-your-face competitor, the kind who has antagonized more people than a blaring loudspeaker at 2 a.m. It’s been that ability that has allowed him to play at an age when most hockey players are former hockey players trying to perfect their golf game.
Chelios is the second oldest player to ever participate in the NHL playoffs at 45 years old (Gordie Howe is number one at 52 years), but he certainly doesn’t play like he’s 45 years old.
Chelios’ role has diminished since the Wings traded for him in March 1999, but his outstanding conditioning has made him, even as he’s entered his mid-40s, a reliable source when needed. He is always on the ice when the Wings are killing off a two-man disadvantage, and with fellow defenseman Niklas Kronwall out through May because of a fractured sacrum, the Wings know Chelios can help pick up the slack.
“When he goes out there, you know exactly what you’re going to get from him — he loves chasing the puck down, he loves pressuring guys, and playing in those situations, when he is outnumbered, those are the kind of situations he thrives on,” Draper said.
Chelios said fatigue never had been a factor, something his durability backed up. There’s little doubt the Wings will re-sign him this summer, meaning he could further cement his playoff legend.
He is the oldest defenseman to ever play in the Stanley Cup playoffs. One of the benefits of playing at his age? His sons can actually enjoy his Stanley Cup wins and have gone on road trips with the team.
At a time when the NHL is being taken over by a widespread youth movement and many young players have played beyond their years, “Old Man” Chelios hasn’t lost a step and is as steady on the blue line as he’s ever been. A big reason for that is he’s blessed with the right genetics. But an equally important aspect of his staying power is how much Chelios takes care of himself between games and away from the rink.
“I think it’s just a little bit of everything,†he says. “There’s been a lot of guys over the past 10, 12 years that trained just as hard. I think I’ve been very fortunate that I met my trainer 14 years ago, T.R. Goodman, who basically was the first to do my type of training, I guess you want to call it circuit training. I changed my training. I’ve had to train because I can’t do the impact training that I used to. I’ve been very fortunate to bounce back from the injuries that I’ve had.
“But like I said, when you last 23 years, that’s just a little bit of everything and I think I look at other guys, the tragedies that they have been through and the injuries they have sustained, I’ve been very fortunate and I’ve remained healthy,†Chelios said. “And I’ve just been able to fit in with the trainer in the last couple of years and not been able to uproot and move my family, which probably would been about the end of my career a few years ago if I had not been able to play with Detroit. The team has had a lot of success, and I think that’s what’s kept me around the longest for the most part I think.â€
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“If you look back, probably the biggest highlight has to be on the ice when we won the 2002 Cup with my two boys who were 15 and 14, or 14 and 13 at the time, to share that with two sons who love hockey as much as I do,†Chelios said. “That was definitely the highlight of my career. You know, not making it any more important than the Cup that I won in Montreal, but I celebrated that alone, and to do it with my two boys and my family, it was something special. If you look at the guys and going through what I’ve gone through, it’s a special thing to do as a parent.â€
Due to his longevity in the sport and his training in California, Chelios has become friends with many within the Hollywood circles.
Actors John Cusack and John C. McGinley were among the Hollywood group that greeted friend Chris Chelios in San Jose after Game 4. Chelios spends his summers in Malibu, Calif., and has, over his 20-plus NHL seasons, accumulated an impressive list of famous friends.
“I’ve seen him being around them and he just treats them like they’re one of the guys and not some movie stars,” Kirk Maltby said. “I’m sure he curses at them just as much as he does at us. It’s nice, for the most part, the ones I’ve met, they’ve all been nice guys and they’re just excited because they’re hockey fans. It’s fun. It’s definitely nice when you get to meet someone that you go pay 10 bucks to see at a movie theater.”
Maltby’s highlight was a locker room visit a few years back from Chelios’ fellow Chicago athlete, a fellow by the name of Michael Jordan. “Michael Jordan is about as big as you’re going to get, movie star or athlete,” Maltby said. “It’s a nice benefit you get from playing with Chris.”
GM Ken Holland wants to re-sign Chelios for another year due to his physical fitness and strong mental will and toughness.
“Cheli is as mentally tough as any athlete in our sport,” Holland said. “If we had to play him 30 minutes, he’d play 30 minutes. You’re talking about one of the most strong-willed, mentally tough athletes I’ve ever been around. ”
Said Chelios: “I haven’t done it all year, so it takes a couple of games to get in 25-30 minute shape. But, I’m going to start to feel better as the series go on.”
Chelios is renowned for his rigorous summer workouts in Southern California under noted trainer T.R. Goodman, where the 45-year-old is apparently putting men half his age to shame.
“I go to L.A. and bump into T.R. Goodman and he tells me how they bring in 24-, 25-year-old guys and Chelios works them under the table, he buries them in workouts,” Holland said. “So Cheli’s got a lot of hockey left in him. If he stays healthy — we crack jokes about him playing until he’s 50 — but I wouldn’t be surprised seeing him playing in the National Hockey League when he’s 50 years of age.”
Holland said he wants to sign Chelios to another one-year deal. Chelios has always maintained he’ll continue to play as long as he’s wanted.
It seems that for the past couple of seasons, the Wings have intended to reduce Cheli’s minutes on the ice. Yet every year, a defenseman goes down and Cheli is there to step up and play consistently solid hockey.
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May 10th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
[…] Christy, as usual, has some excellent content up over at Behind the Jersey. She made a bet with Mike Chen and won, so her prize was that she got to write this article over at his blog. She was 10 when the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup following the 1996-97 season. Thanks for making me feel old Christy! She has a mini Behind the Jersey article on Chris Chelios that is a great read and she also follows up on a topic she has done a great job covering: the Red Wings’ competition for attention in a very crowded [and successful] Detroit sports landscape. […]