When you cover the Chicago Blackhawks, you encounter one distinctive, but vastly underreported ritual that takes place inside the Blackhawks’ locker room. On that carpeted floor is a beautiful, large Indian head logo; and if any one steps on it, a curse or pox shall come upon them!!!!! One day, I did my best to avoid stepping on it while also trying to navigate a media throng, and since I have the gracefulness of Clark W. Griswold to begin with, I nearly fell on my face. A locker room usher observed, didn’t care at all about my almost falling, and simply said: “You almost stepped on it there.” I once saw a camera man step on it, prompting a couple reporters to shout “DEATH.”
I know this is BEYOND STUPID! Justin Bieber made this mistake and now he’s paying for it. I hate the Biebs, but I have to side with him on this one.
The Chicago Blackhawks do a lot of condescending things to people, but this is ONE OF THE MOST CONDESCENDING!
At the 2009 Hawks Convention at Chicago’s Hilton towers, this tradition was discussed at the breakout session entitled “Inside the Locker Room.”
“We play for that Indian head, we work for that Indian head. And Savvy put it best: you commit to the Indian- maybe I shouldn’t say that, he got in trouble for that. That’s what we do every day trainers, Troy {Murray, Hawks television commentator} up in the booth, I’m sure you’ve heard Troy get pretty passionate up there.
I know I have, but you stay off it, it’s just respect that goes with anything. 
As far as superstition, everyone has their little things…But as far as big things, know to stay off the Indian head and you’ll be alright,” said Blackhawks Equipment Manager Troy Parchman. He was joined by Blackhawks players Ben Eager, Aaron Johnson, and Niklas Hjarmmson in a session moderated by Murray. Also a part of the panel was Equipment assistant Clinton Reif.
“This year, in the playoffs especially, when things got crowded in there they had to do something a little bit special because everyone who was around the team on a regular basis knows that you don’t step on that Indian,” Reif said.
And that something special included putting up tensa-barriers on the floor surrounding the logo when the Hawks advanced further along in the playoffs, and more media showed up in each round of the postseason. Just typing about stepping on it reminds me of “Ghostbusters,” when they were told just “crossing the streams,” will make something catastrophic occur.
“The players take that very seriously. When a reporter would be in there, they would get it pretty good if someone walked across it. I wouldn’t say it was a lack of respect by those people, they just didn’t know. A lot of other teams in the league have that in their carpet, and I can’t tell of one that feels free to walk across it. I’m pretty sure that everyone does the same thing: you just stay off the logo,” Parchman reiterated.