CHICAGO -- For 45 minutes Tuesday afternoon, fans at the NHL PreGame Outdoor Fan Festival outside Wrigley Field were treated to Wayne Gretzky, Denis Savard and Darren Pang telling stories from their playing days.
But they also talked about the impact the Winter Classic can have on the teams playing in it during their Q&A session at the Discover ‘Puck Drop’ Experience inside the Fan Festival before the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues took the ice for the Discover NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field.
Pang, now a television broadcaster with the Blackhawks, talked about the impact winning the 2017 NHL Winter Classic had on the Blues at that time. They beat the Blackhawks 4-1 at Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals.
“The Blues just could not get over the hump,” Pang said. “The ‘Hawks had won three Stanley Cups in almost a six-year span. Dominant team. Great players. The Blues were climbing. They were good, and maybe they could have won two or three Cups but they ran into two juggernauts, Los Angeles and Chicago. So, advance forward to the Winter Classic of ’17. Big stage. Big moment. And bang, they beat the Blackhawks. And they went on a great run after that. And the next year they went to the conference final. And then the next year they won the Stanley Cup. I think there’s a correlation to winning a game like this.”
Similarly, the Blackhawks played in the 2009 Winter Classic here at Wrigley Field. They lost to the Detroit Red Wings that day, 6-4, but that season they went to the Western Conference Final, and the next season they won the Stanley Cup. They did it again in 2013 and again in 2015.
Savard, a Hockey Hall of Famer who spent most of his career in Chicago, said he thinks the Blackhawks, last in the NHL, can use the Winter Classic as a way to both brighten their season and their future.
“Today, for us, is a big game,” Savard said. “This is a year where we need to improve and the first 35 games is not the way we think we want to be, but 12 of our next 18 are at home, and I think this game today can be the springboard for us. Folks, we’re a few years away, we don’t have the team we had obviously in 2010, 2012, ’13, ’14, ’15, but we’re on the right track. I we’re better than what we’ve shown.”
The majority of the Q&A, though, was filled with storytelling.
Gretzky, Pang and Savard began by talking about their experiences playing outdoors. Gretzky told the story of when he was with the Los Angeles Kings when they played the New York Rangers in a preseason game in a parking lot at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Sept. 27, 1991.
“They put this tarp over the ice so that the sun wouldn’t melt the ice, and somebody went out at about 4:30 and they weren’t thinking, they took the tarp down and the tarp was about 220 degrees and it melted the ice,” Gretzky said. “So there was no ice. I think it was Dan Craig (outdoor rink expert) who came in and he put the ice back together in about two and a half hours. We were supposed to start at 7:30 but we started at 8:30 and it was 90 degrees.”
Pang brought up the legendary backyard rink Gretzky’s father, Walter, would build for him.
Savard mentioned how he grew up across the street from three outdoor rinks and how the kids who got there first got the nets.
Pang said he thinks all the outdoor hockey Gretzky and Savard played made them the stickhandlers they were in their Hall of Fame careers.
“Well, it teaches creativity, imagination,” Gretzky said.
The roundtable continued with the three of them talking about moments in their careers together, including this doozy of a tidbit from Pang and Gretzky.
“I was telling people that ‘Gretz’ scored three goals on me in my career, and ‘Gretz’ always has this great comeback,” Pang said. “Go ahead, ‘Gretz.’”
Said Gretzky, “I only played you once.”
They talked about the old barns they played in, like St. Louis Arena, where Gretzky said he once found a mouse in his glove. He didn’t like it there, but he loved it at Chicago Stadium.
“People don’t know this, but one of the rule changes in the National Hockey League is because of the Blackhawks,” Gretzky said. “Mr. Wirtz (former Blackhawks owner), he would love the fans to get loud and the louder they get, we would just be waiting downstairs, waiting for the Hawks to come out. Sometimes it was 10 minutes, but Mr. Wirtz was selling more beer. He was smart about it. They actually had to bring in a rule that you have to be out or you get a penalty. I remember standing there waiting, waiting and for a good solid six minutes all I could hear is ‘Gretzky sucks.’ I used to turn to Mark Messier and say, ‘Hey, don’t they know I have feelings.’”
Favorite buildings to play in was also a topic discussed, with Gretzky naming Maple Leaf Gardens because it was home for him, Savard going with Chicago Stadium and Pang saying Montreal Forum, and telling the story of how he threw up before his first game there.
This went on for another 30 minutes of Gretzky, Savard and Pang regaling the large gathering of fans with stories and opinions.
Favorite rivalries. The bond shared between all current and former NHL players. The impact the Stanley Cup has on them every time they see it or are around it. The game and the players of today, how willing they are to try creative things.
“Somebody asked me, ‘Did you ever do the ‘Michigan,’” Gretzky said. “I said, ‘No, I would have lost my throat.’ But it’s different now. Now people, the fans, they identify with it. That’s the new generation. Kids are different today. Hey, it’s exciting. Good for them. They can do it. We couldn’t do it in our day.”
They finished by talking about advice they have for younger players today. Gretzky and Savard mentioned the need to embrace the game and everything it offers.
“Do everything you possibly can for your teammates and for your team,” Pang said. “I think that’s how hockey is great, because we have so many guys who do those things.”
