Denis Savard could have been excused for feeling a bit melancholy upon arriving at the United Center late Saturday afternoon.
Defeat in Game 6 of their playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche would eliminate the Blackhawks. The impact on Savard might be even more permanent. He’s 36, he almost retired after last season, and time marches on.
The Hawks will be back come September, no matter what. But what about one of the greatest Hawks ever?
“I’ve thought a little about it,” Savard said several hours before the game. “But only a little, and I’m not thinking about it now.”
Superstars are rather closed-minded when it comes to negative vibes. Savard could have mulled over the possibility that Saturday night’s game would be his final game ever in Chicago, or his final game ever, period.
Instead, he took the opening faceoff before a loud arena and did his part to make things louder. The Hawks were leading 1-0 when Savard took a crack at scoring on his former neighbor in Montreal, Patrick Roy.
The Avalanche goalie fended for himself, but so did Savard. He took the puck again behind the Colorado net, then curled around to Roy’s right. Patrick cheated toward Savard, who then passed to Gary Suter, who beat Roy to make it 2-0.
The assist was Savard’s 84th in his Hawk playoff career. Only Stan Mikita has more, and don’t forget that Savard piled up points for Tampa Bay and Montreal before his second coming to the Hawks in 1995. Savard won a Stanley Cup with his hometown Canadiens in 1993, so he knows what it’s all about.
Work and more work, and a little luck never hurts, either. When Roy wandered from his net and was unable to return to stop Tony Amonte’s short-handed drive, the Hawks jumped to a 3-0 advantage. The building jumped, too. Dollar Bill Wirtz, the team owner, relented and allowed a rare home telecast Saturday night. Still, the United Center was packed. So much for that sorry old myth about how there are only 20,000 hockey fans in Chicago. Of course, it wasn’t always that way.
Those who think hockey interest in Chicago is flat now forget how far the Hawks had fallen a couple of decades ago. The hangover from Bobby Hull’s 1972 departure was lingering, and the Bobby Orr experiment was over.
So when this little bundle of energy, rookie Denis Savard, played his first game in the Stadium–Oct. 9, 1980–the attendance was only 10,875, dreadful for an opening night. In time, though, Savard would light up that building again. He has filled a lot of seats and a lot of pockets.
Mike Keenan humiliated Savard, and it was time to go in 1990. The Hawks got Chris Chelios, the Chicago native, from the Canadiens. Now they’re together. The Hawks, who are so loaded, talk of keeping Savard in the organization next season. That means a job, off ice, to be specified later.
“I’d like to keep playing,” Savard said. “I think I can, but I don’t know what their plans are.”
Pierre Lacroix, the general manager who built the Avalanche, used to be a player agent. Savard was one of his prized clients.
“Can Denis still play?” Lacroix said. “What do you think? I wish he wouldn’t play so well.”
Denis Savard came to the United Center Saturday thinking about his next game instead of his last game.
Whatever, whenever he’s ready, so is the Hall of Fame.
