Remembering The Roar.

Just like Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, the old Chicago Stadium held so many mystiques for me. So much in fact that I was able to persuade three of my friends to rent a car and then drive fifteen hours to the Windy City back in March of ‘94.

The 1993-94 National Hockey League season was known as the 'Remember the Roar' season in Chicago. It would be the last to be played at the old Stadium. Like the Gardens in Toronto, the Stadium had outlived its usefulness and needed to be replaced. Although hockey could still be played in the original six’s old barns, hockey was now big business. Corporate boxes and suites would now be the norm going forward. If teams could not tap into this revenue source, they were sure to be left behind in the standings and would have no hope of ever winning the Stanley Cup.

At least that is what the owners would have us believe.

The four of us left Mississauga on the Friday morning and drove straight to the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Once we arrived I would attempt to buy tickets for the sold out Leafs and Red Wings game that night. Tickets would be my responsibility for both the Friday night game in Detroit and the Sunday afternoon game in Chicago. 

Detroit is a real hockey town and the Joe Louis Arena is always sold out for games against the division rival team from Toronto. Busloads of Red Wing fans made the trek to Toronto and vice versa whenever the two teams played. I really thought it would be next to impossible getting us four tickets together. But, like usual when it came to buying hockey tickets on the street, lady luck was once again on my side. I purchased four tickets together about ten rows from the ice for $60.00 each which was not much more than the $45.00 face value.

What a great game we watched. The Leafs won 6-5 on an overtime goal from Wendel Clark. One observation I made during my first visit to The Joe was that I have never seen so many beautiful women at a hockey game before like that night in Detroit. And it wasn't women with their husbands or boyfriends either, but beautiful women sitting with other beautiful women.

Detroit, what a 'Hockeytown'.

After the game we headed back over to Windsor to a popular 'peeler' bar and stayed overnight before beginning our journey to Chicago early Saturday morning. We arrived in Chicago mid-afternoon; the long drive had been the most non-scenic, most boring trip that I had ever driven in my life. It was all any of us could do to keep our eyes open and I'm sure all four of us caught a bit of white line fever. There was literally nothing to see until we arrived at the south side of Chicago and its towering, crime ridden housing projects. I will never forget seeing all those massive high-rise apartment buildings all so close together with so many burned out and boarded up windows from the highway. 

It truly was a ghetto. Seriously, the housing projects in Chicago made the Lawrence Heights project where I grew up in Toronto look like Park Avenue. There was absolutely no comparison. 

Later that afternoon the four of us while playing pool in a local bar learned that comedian John Candy had passed away. The news of Candy’s death stunned us all and we were all saddened by his early demise. The four of us had all grown up laughing at his antics on Second City Television. Was there ever a funnier movie than Planes, Trains and Automobiles? 

I think not.

On Saturday night the four of us tried to get into the newly opened Michael Jordan’s restaurant, but we left after we were told it would be a two hour wait. Jordan is a God in Chicago and his restaurant is always packed. Instead we settled on the Chicago Hooters eatery, which was an experience in itself. After eating platters of wings we cruised around downtown Chicago in our rental car before we headed back to our hotel. The Red Roof Inn was close to the O’ Hare Airport and it was much cheaper than staying in the inner city. 

On Sunday morning the four of us headed over to Wrigley Field to check out another historic and iconic sports temple. We walked around the outside of the park where we saw the old scoreboard and the Engine #78 fire hall just over the left field fence. Wrigley Field looks nothing like a major league baseball park from the street level. Since it was the month of March we were unable to look inside except for peeks through the chain link fence. We all agreed that we would return one summer for an afternoon Cubs game. We just never decided what summer we would go.

As we got closer to the Stadium, it was quite obvious we were in a pretty bad part of town. We drove west on Madison Street where we passed numerous run down and abandoned properties. All had been converted into short term parking by some very shady looking dudes holding 'Park Here' signs. We had been previously warned to park at the Compound if we wanted our car to be there with all its parts after the game. The Compound once we arrived turned out to be a huge fenced and security patrolled parking lot just beside the Stadium.

The parking lots around Maple Leaf Gardens were so much safer.

The Stadium which opened back in 1929 looked exactly like all the old pics I had seen with its vintage fire escapes on the building's east and west walls. The yellowish brick colour was almost identical to the colour of bricks used in the building of Maple Leaf Gardens back in 1931. The Stadium was now dwarfed by the massive new United Center which was nearing completion just across the street. The United Center would be the home for both the Bulls and Blackhawks that upcoming fall.

We had literally driven fifteen hours over the course of two days to see a game that we had no tickets for. I knew that tickets would be very scarce for the sold out game. It was not just because the season was soon ending and the next few games would be the last home games ever played at the historic Stadium. The Los Angeles Kings and Wayne Gretzky were in town that afternoon and the demand for tickets would always exceed availability whenever and wherever Gretzky played.

Once again I hit the street and for about three quarters of an hour, I couldn't even sniff a ticket for sale. The game was to start at 1:30 pm and twenty minutes before puck drop I still had no tickets. However, once again lady luck would show up and I got us four tickets together. Just like the game in Detroit we paid $60.00 each for tickets that originally had cost $45.00.

Our seats were very close to the old historic organ that the Stadium was famous for. When I walked through the front doors, it felt more as if I was entering a movie theater rather than a stadium. By the time we got to our seats and sat down the warmups were just ending and the organ began playing very loudly. Wayne Messmer the anthem singer who had become a Chicago celebrity got the crowd roaring with his unforgettable rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Messmer would be shot in the throat outside a bar a couple weeks later after a Hawks game. He survived but a recording of Messmer's anthem was used for what would be the final six games ever played at the Stadium.

The players took to the ice with the Hawks walking up the stairs from their dressing room to the ice level. It always seemed strange to me that the Blackhawk players had to walk up and down a staircase to get to and from their dressing room. All those old Hawks heroes like Hull, Mikita, Magnuson, Tony Esposito and Denis Savard would have walked up and down those stairs thousands of times during their Hall of Fame careers.

I remembered a great sign that I had seen in a magazine years ago hanging from the rafters of the Stadium. 

It was still there.

'Only Jesus saves more than Esposito'

Like my first visit to Maple Leaf Gardens, I soaked up the entire atmosphere that afternoon like a thirsty sponge. The modern score clock seemed to be the only item that had ever been replaced inside the Stadium. I had taken in with me a small wrench set to remove the armrest off my seat as a little memento of my visit, but I didn't have the proper wrench so I left unarmed.

Unarmed on Madison Street? I wonder how many can say that.

The four of us left right after the game, which ended in a 3-3 tie. We got back in our rental car and drove all the way home, stopping only a couple times to eat and gas up. Sadly, I have not stayed in touch with any of the other three guys who made the trip with me to the Windy City on that weekend back in ’94. 

And we never did make it back for that afternoon Cubs game.

However, I am sure like me they do remember with fondness the fun we all had during our weekend in Chicago when we remembered the roar.

*Update.- Sadly I have learned that Darin who was one of the three friends from that great weekend passed away in 2023. RIP Darin.