Chelios Fights Father Time for Last Shot

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- You park your car, walk in the side door of the Hoffman Estates Community Center in suburban Chicago, and the first thing you see is some gray-haired, slightly hunched guy standing under a sign that says, "Senior Center. 50+ club."

Chris Chelios is not aging well.

What? Oh, wait, that wasn't Chelios. Chelios was around the corner, a mere 47 years old, still 26 months from 50+ eligibility, not playing checkers, but instead playing in a hockey scrimmage with the Chicago Wolves minor league hockey team.

That's Chelios' team now. Yes, a surefire Hall of Fame defenseman, mostly with the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks, is riding the bus from town to town with a bunch of NHL hopefuls.

He was finished in Detroit after last season.

He wants back in to the NHL.

He'll be 48 in January.

"I love playing the game," he said. "This seemed like a perfect fit for me. It's been a real long time since I've played 20, 25 minutes a game. It's been great."

How do you feel about seeing an all-time great doing this? Maybe it's a little sad watching a former star risking his legacy by staying too long and going back to square one. Or maybe you can respect that he wants to get every last drop from a career he has worked so hard for, and has loved.

For now, I'm going with the second one. He's doing it because he can, and because this is the life he knows. In nine games, Chelios has multiple assists four times and has one goal. The Phoenix Coyotes have shown interest, and others surely will when the playoffs get closer, injuries pile up and teams realize he's an in-shape, experienced defenseman who can help kill penalties.

Still, last time I saw him was at the Final Four in Detroit, where he was sitting at a table in his own bar, chatting with Michael Jordan. Chelios is a year older than Jordan, and it wasn't fun watching Jordan play too long.

"Yeah, but I went to a game and he scored 45 points," Chelios said. "The biggest issue for me is enjoying myself. I'm not worried about my legacy.

"I'll know when to quit. I'm not going to embarrass myself."

The Wolves flew from Chicago to San Antonio on Friday, and played Friday night. After the game was an hour-long bus ride to Austin, where they played on Saturday night. Then, a 3-hour ride to Houston, sandwiches along the way, arriving at 2 in the morning for Sunday's 4 PM game.

Brett Sterling, a promising 25-year old teammate who has had a taste of the NHL, said they play cards, listen to music, watch movies, sleep on the bus.

"Yeah, he plays cards with us sometimes," Sterling said. "He pretends he doesn't know how to play."

Then, he cleans up.

A little advice to Chelios' young, green teammates: Don't play cards with a guy who has millions of dollars.

Sterling said he has been a fan of Chelios' since he was 3 years old, and I'm sure Chelios thinks it's just great hearing that kind of stuff. A song from the 1950s came over the locker room the other day, and the team started yelling, "Chelios. Is that your iPod?"

Very funny. Fourteen players on the Wolves' roster, including Sterling, weren't born when Chelios started in the NHL.

Now, he shares a hotel room on the road, unless an odd number of players go. Then he gets his own.

Chelios has played in the Olympics. He has won the Stanley Cup. He has earned millions.

He is living with his mom and dad, and his son, in Chicago while his wife and two daughters are back in Detroit.

You should have seen Chelios in practice Tuesday. The entire team was packed onto half of the ice at the same time, playing a game, having fun. The head coach was in Buffalo because he was about to become a grandpa.

He's eight years older than Chelios.

But too many kids were packed onto too small a spot, and everyone was laughing and high-fiving and hugging. At one point, they all tackled each other, wrestling around. Chelios, with a little gray mixed into his 5 o'clock shadow, just watched that part.

"They're keeping me young," he said. "It's fun to be around kids just breaking in."

Chelios is one of the faster guys on this team, according to Sterling, and among the best in shape. He has signed a 25-game contract in a league where players make mid five-figure salaries.

"You grow up on the South Side of Chicago like I did," he said, "and you don't have ego."

Guys tend to love these old-athlete stories. It makes us feel that if we put in the work, we could still find the old glory, whatever level that was.

Let me say this: I am apparently a hideous monster. Bent to the left, hobbling. People stare with horror or pity. This morning, my wife held onto my shoulders while my kid pushed my hips to the left, to break them free. Success.

"You grow up on the South Side of Chicago like I did and you don't have ego."
-- Chris Chelios The problem? Well, two, really:

1) I played tennis three weeks ago, and was the wind. The wind! On the drive home, I turned into a pretzel.

2) I am not much younger than Chelios.

"Ah, you just don't play every day," he said, brushing it off. Someone forgot to tell Chelios that bodies don't work the same after a certain point. In Andre Agassi's new book, he talks about dealing with his back in his mid-30s, when he was playing every day. He said it was like playing tennis with a steering-wheel locking device on.

Playing tennis with the Club.

Chelios said he tries to eat right and stay in shape. After practice Tuesday, he worked out, as usual, and then sat in the sauna.

For some reason, playing too long doesn't have the same meaning in hockey as in other sports. A baseball player hangs on too long, and it's sort of pathetic somehow. In hockey, it just seems that these guys are cherished for the fight, for the commitment.

But it's hard to know what more Chelios would hope to get from the game, other than the knowledge that he didn't leave anything behind. But from here, he puts off his personal life a little longer.

He says he still calls to check on the families of the former manager and chef of his restaurant, who were stabbed to death a few years ago. "They'll never be the same," he said.

He has one son playing for Michigan State and another playing for another pro team in Chicago. He felt it would be unfair to try to uproot his daughters in Detroit, especially the older one, who is a junior in high school. So he continues a life on the road.

Who knows how he'll take retirement, when that finally happens. But he said he isn't going to play professionally with either of his sons. By the time they reach the NHL, if they get there, he'll surely be in the 50+ club.

They'll call him kid there.

Email me at gregcouch09@aol.com