Chris Chelios is a Chicago Blackhawks legend. Seems oxymoronic but he’s a Detroit Red Wings icon too. Given all that he accomplished in Madison, Chris Chelios is pretty beloved by Wisconsin Badgers nation too.
Jake Chelios is striving to follow in his father’s footsteps. To use yet another Ernest Hemingway pun, the son also rises; as Jake Chelios has signed with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, an affiliate of the St Louis Blues.
Chelios the Younger began his professional career on March 22 with the Toledo Walleye (ECHL). Prior to turning pro, the Bloomfield Hills, Mich., native played for four
years at Michigan State University. Chelios’ numbers with the Spartans read like this: posted 17 goals, 37 assists and 195 penalty minutes in 154 games. With the Walleye, the 23-year-old defenseman scored one goal with one assist.
When Jake Chelios appears in his first game for the Wolves, he’ll become part of the first father-and-son tandem to play for the franchise in its 20-year history. He’ll report to practice again on Tuesday, and we’ll go from there.
“If we can get him in, we’ll get him in. We’re not going to disrupt healthy guys,” Wolves Coach John Anderson said.
“It was awesome being back in the city I grew up in, seeing all the people I used to know,” Jake Chelios said after the game.
From the Chicago Tribune:
Chris Chelios played with the Wolves in 2009-10 to wrap up a 27-year professional playing career that included nine seasons with the Blackhawks. That same season, Jake played for the Chicago Steel of the USHL.
“We lived with my grandparents as kind of roommates,” Jake Chelios said. “It was a cool setup.”
Chris Chelios is obviously Jake Chelios’ hockey role model; that goes without saying. However, Jake Chelios looks up to a few other NHL players.
“I grew up watching so many great ones, especially in Chicago, Amonte, Suter. And then in Detroit too they had a great core of guys, Yzerman, one of the best leaders ever to come through hockey,” he said.
“He’s a great role model to have, to see somebody work that hard and have such a great, long career,” Jake Chelios said of his Dad.
Today, Chris Chelios works with both the Detroit Red Wings and with player development for the Grand Rapids Griffins.
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Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on national talk radio. Banks is a former contributor to NBC Chicago and the Washington Times, who’s been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)