Jeremy Roenick

[piteus]

I'll raise you a Hextall.

Then again, he is a GM now so he clearly can flip that switch off.

How about Billy Smith and Patrick Roy? Somehow Corey Crawford turned out to be normal guy. But don't forget Raanta's episode in Finland post Cup.

It's not just hockey goalies. I know plenty of lax and soccer goalies who are really good people ... but a bit odd to say the least. You have to be, right? What sane human wants a hard object coming towards their head at 90mph constantly? I know lax goalies who'll raise their bare leg to block a shot in practice ... just because. It's like second nature to them. No big deal.

 

[Blue Liner]

How about Billy Smith and Patrick Roy? Somehow Corey Crawford turned out to be normal guy. But don't forget Raanta's episode in Finland post Cup.

It's not just hockey goalies. I know plenty of lax and soccer goalies who are really good people ... but a bit odd to say the least. You have to be, right? What sane human wants a hard object coming towards their head at 90mph constantly? I know lax goalies who'll raise their bare leg to block a shot in practice ... just because. It's like second nature to them. No big deal.

I always forget about Smith. He was certifiable.

And I would agree, you have to be...special...to volunteer to do that. I remember right after I first started playing I went with my dad to Gunzo's (for those who don't know, it's a long-time kinda "famous" hockey pro shop in the Chicago area that used to exclusively carry Blackhawks stuff back in the day) to look at some equipment and I came across the goalie stuff. I BEGGED and PLEADED with my dad to buy me the stuff so I could play goalie. I even had it in my head at seven years old I was going to somehow save the money on my own to buy the stuff myself.

Needless to say, that never happened, and the desire to be a goalie quickly faded. When I got old enough I realized how glad I was that I never became a goalie. My dad is a wise, wise man.

 

[Hawkaholic]

Pure curiosity, what was the issue?

He is a known ass-hat.

I was 10 years old, dressed in all my Hawks gear at an NHLPA charity game in Windsor. All the players were going around signing autographs for the fans along the glass. Belfour passed me 3 or 4 times yelling his name and looked at me, but refused to come over to sign anything for me. Bernie Nicholls saw it all happen, and came over and signed an autograph for me as I was pretty much in tears because my goalie idol wanted nothing to do with it.

Sounds silly now that I am 30, but 10 year old me was crushed.

 

[ChiHawks10]

I was 10 years old, dressed in all my Hawks gear at an NHLPA charity game in Windsor. All the players were going around signing autographs for the fans along the glass. Belfour passed me 3 or 4 times yelling his name and looked at me, but refused to come over to sign anything for me. Bernie Nicholls saw it all happen, and came over and signed an autograph for me as I was pretty much in tears because my goalie idol wanted nothing to do with it.

Sounds silly now that I am 30, but 10 year old me was crushed.

Been there! I'm sure we all have. My Roenick story sounds silly to me now, at 32. But yeah, was crushed back then at 10-12 years old!

 

[BK]

I always forget about Smith. He was certifiable.

And I would agree, you have to be...special...to volunteer to do that. I remember right after I first started playing I went with my dad to Gunzo's (for those who don't know, it's a long-time kinda "famous" hockey pro shop in the Chicago area that used to exclusively carry Blackhawks stuff back in the day) to look at some equipment and I came across the goalie stuff. I BEGGED and PLEADED with my dad to buy me the stuff so I could play goalie. I even had it in my head at seven years old I was going to somehow save the money on my own to buy the stuff myself.

Needless to say, that never happened, and the desire to be a goalie quickly faded. When I got old enough I realized how glad I was that I never became a goalie. My dad is a wise, wise man.

I was the 4-year old that was not afraid of the puck and skated really well but could not lift the puck when shooting so I was put in goal. I LOVED the gear and I still do. Needless to say my parents never said no to the gear. I remember getting my first real goalie mask, one of my favorite hockey moments.

Gear is so expensive now. Skates are double the cost of my custom Graf goal skates I wore, Crazy. Pads are $700 bucks more.

 

[BK]

I was 10 years old, dressed in all my Hawks gear at an NHLPA charity game in Windsor. All the players were going around signing autographs for the fans along the glass. Belfour passed me 3 or 4 times yelling his name and looked at me, but refused to come over to sign anything for me. Bernie Nicholls saw it all happen, and came over and signed an autograph for me as I was pretty much in tears because my goalie idol wanted nothing to do with it.

Sounds silly now that I am 30, but 10 year old me was crushed.

Not shocked at all.

The current Hawks do a really good job of catering to the public but kids are basically trained at this point when they are younger.

 

[Blue Liner]

Not shocked at all.

The current Hawks do a really good job of catering to the public but kids are basically trained at this point when they are younger.

Belfour was a Grade A ***** off the ice. Well, on the ice, too. But you like it there.

 

[BK]

Belfour was a Grade A ***** off the ice. Well, on the ice, too. But you like it there.

Yeah. It was/is a shame.

I met Roy and Brodeur when I was younger and had great experiences but I know Roy is kind of an ass as well.

 

[Blue Liner]

Guys are human and even the nice ones are going to get caught at a bad time and maybe lead to isolated bad experiences with people. It's just going to happen. But some are just *******s all the time and there's no shortage of those out there, either. All walks of life carries ******* people, nothing you can do. Just unfortunate when it affects young kids like it did you.

 

[ChiHawks10]

Guys are human and even the nice ones are going to get caught at a bad time and maybe lead to isolated bad experiences with people. It's just going to happen. But some are just *******s all the time and there's no shortage of those out there, either. All walks of life carries ******* people, nothing you can do. Just unfortunate when it affects young kids like it did you.

No truer words have been spoken.

 

[Panzerspitze]

Why were Gary Suter and Keith Carney (traded for a 2nd-rounder IIRC) allowed to leave? I thought the defense went to shambles after they were lost.

 

[BobbyJet]

If I had a team and could have either Roenick or Savard at their absolute prime I'd take Roenick.

I agree. In fact in a poll here recently I had Roenick behind only Hull and Mikita. I don't think anyone here agreed.

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

$$$$&£££££££

 

[Panic at the Back]

man, I hate that ****ing song!

Big reason I like the Hawks.

Sorry to hear he was a jerk to some of you.

I had an experience when I asked Willie Mays for an autograph at an exhibition game in New Orleans. Basically he cursed at a bunch of kids, I was probably 10 or so. Wasn't real happy.

Another friend brought his 4 year old son to a press conference for a Superdome Series between the Oakland A's and SF Giants - featuring local star, Will Clark. He asked Clark to take a picture with his on, and Clark responded - and I quote"You want my picture? Cut it out of the newspaper."

Loathed the guy after that.

 

[Callidusblackhawk]

Big reason I like the Hawks.

Sorry to hear he was a jerk to some of you.

I had an experience when I asked Willie Mays for an autograph at an exhibition game in New Orleans. Basically he cursed at a bunch of kids, I was probably 10 or so. Wasn't real happy.

Another friend brought his 4 year old son to a press conference for a Superdome Series between the Oakland A's and SF Giants - featuring local star, Will Clark. He asked Clark to take a picture with his on, and Clark responded - and I quote"You want my picture? Cut it out of the newspaper."

Loathed the guy after that.

The infomercial guy?

 

[Panic at the Back]

The infomercial guy?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Mays

 

[mikee]

Why were Gary Suter and Keith Carney (traded for a 2nd-rounder IIRC) allowed to leave? I thought the defense went to shambles after they were lost.

Suter -> Money (I know you're shocked)
Carney -> Stupidity (Had to get that elusive big C that every team in the league was chasing after, nevermind that Chad Kilger had shown no flashes with two different teams, but hey if he was good enough to be traded for Teemu Selanne he must be good, right?)

 

[mikee]

I was 10 years old, dressed in all my Hawks gear at an NHLPA charity game in Windsor. All the players were going around signing autographs for the fans along the glass. Belfour passed me 3 or 4 times yelling his name and looked at me, but refused to come over to sign anything for me. Bernie Nicholls saw it all happen, and came over and signed an autograph for me as I was pretty much in tears because my goalie idol wanted nothing to do with it.

Sounds silly now that I am 30, but 10 year old me was crushed.

I can sympathize. I was 7 and my family was vacationing in Galena as a kid when the Bears used to have their training camp in Platteville and the team came down to the golf course. The house we were in was right along a fairway so me and my brother went down to the edge and as the players came by a bunch of them stopped over and signed autos and hung out with us for a bit. We were talking with one player when it started raining. My brother and I started walking back to the house but the player said we should come over to the pavilion with him. So we get in there and a bunch of the players are there waiting out the rain. Again, most of them a super nice. I spotted Jim McMahon talking to a small group of people. I walked over, waited for him to finish his conversation, then politely asked if he could sign an autograph for me. He looked down (through his sunglasses), without a word he turned his back on me and walked away and started talking to someone else. I was devastated. I kept it together while we waited out the rain, but on the way back I told my brother what happened and burst into tears.

There were no tears shed when McMahon got traded down the road.

 

[Pailhead]

He was one of my favorite players on the Hawks for his entire run. Ever since I started playing hockey around 1989. Absolutely loved him. Then, when I was 10 years old or so, my team went to a Hawks game. Our assistant coach(and the goalie's Dad) was good friends with Chelios growing up, so we all went back to Cheli's Chili after the Hawks game. We hung around with Chelios and a couple others. Even have pictures and a plaque from that still.

I went up to Roenick for an autograph on my hat, as he also came back there after the game. He was with his wife, I believe, at the time, by the bar. He told me to get the hell out of there, that he was spending time with his wife, as he pounded a beer. While all the other players there were hanging with the kids and signing autographs. Never liked the guy(as a person) from that moment on. Was a total dick to all the kids on my team/at the restaurant that night. Didn't sign a single autograph, then left there stumbling around drunk, from what I remember. Always respected him and loved him as a player. He played a rough/physical, yet highly skilled game, similar to how I liked to play. But couldn't stand him as a person after that. He's grown on me a bit over the past 6-7 years since taking up broadcasting/analysis. Not sure if he's still a drinker or not. I thought I remember back in his days with San Jose he said he didn't drink much anymore.

That's a bummer. I would have been crushed as a kid.

I was a huge Roenick fan living in a Detroit suburb and he's the reason I'm a Hawks fan today. I met him a few times and he was as cool as can be. I usually made it to one Hawks-Wings game a year back then. One game I was standing by the glass during the pre-game skate with my Roenick jersey on. He skated by and tried to flip me a puck. He missed me by a couple seats and someone else got it. I was bummed out until he came by again and flipped another puck to me that I caught. Every time I went to a game in Detroit after that, he flipped me a puck (probably three or four times). A year or so later I was able to get him to sign it. When I handed him just a black practice puck with no logo or anything on it, he looked like he thought it was strange that I didn't have something better for him to sign. I told him that he flipped it to me at a game. He joked around and made a comment along the lines of "Oh yeah. Well, I want it back."

Another time after a game, my friends and I went down to where the away team exits the arena to get on the bus. When he came out he was obviously mobbed by everyone. I was a little off to one side of the mob, but he must have noticed the 27 on my sleeve and turned his head to see the name on the back of my jersey. As soon as he saw his name, he instantly took my pen and signed everything I had.

 

[Sir Loin]

Been there! I'm sure we all have. My Roenick story sounds silly to me now, at 32. But yeah, was crushed back then at 10-12 years old!

Nah, not silly at all. It was dicky on his part. It's human to remember a big moment in your life when someone treats you like **** and it's hard to shake. Shame on him!

 

[Kaners PPGs]

I was desperate so I thought I would listen to an interview with Roenick on The Score over the Hawks recent hot streak. Could only take it for about 5 minutes. The hyperbole and talking without saying anything made it unlistenable.

Chris Hine from the Tribune was on earlier this week and he was very good.

 

[piteus]

I was desperate so I thought I would listen to an interview with Roenick on The Score over the Hawks recent hot streak. Could only take it for about 5 minutes. The hyperbole and talking without saying anything made it unlistenable.

Chris Hine from the Tribune was on earlier this week and he was very good.

Roenick does TV like he played. His analysis is emotional, foot to pedal ... without a care in the world. It's not for everyone. However, when he talks about his NHL stories, it's hilarious.

 

[Marotte Marauder]

Ditto all the off field sentiments on Belfour, Nichols and Jimmy Mac. Ahole, A+guy, Ahole.

Met all as an adult and they were the same to us as they were to you guys when you were kids.

 

[Hawksfan2828]

Hartman/Schmaltz.

 

[Hawkaholic]

Ditto all the off field sentiments on Belfour, Nichols and Jimmy Mac. Ahole, A+guy, Ahole.

Met all as an adult and they were the same to us as they were to you guys when you were kids.

As in Bernie Nichols? Are you saying he was an *******? Because he was the only one to sign an autograph for me as a kid. Seemed like quite the guy when he came over to talk to me.