CROWNING
ACHIEVEMENT
Growing up, Chris Chelios never dreamed of the Hall of Fame career,
which included two tremendous seasons at UW,
that he'll be honored for this weekend in his return to Madison
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BY MIKE LUCAS • UWBADGERS.COM
ong before Chris Chelios knew how far
hockey would take him ― if it would lead him
anywhere at all ― he came across a unique
training exercise that would pay dividends later in
his life.
"I trained just for the sake of running, that was
my thing," said Chelios, who was born and raised in
Chicago but spent many of his formative years on
Southern California beaches.
"I had a friend and he had a motorcycle that didn't
work. We used to push it to the top of a hill and we'd
ride it down without the engine on.
"It was one of the things that I did ― without really knowing what I was doing ― for strengthening
my legs, and it was unbelievable."
Long before Chelios entertained any thoughts of a
Hall of Fame career in the National Hockey League,
he was exposed to an unusual training workout
while playing two seasons at Wisconsin.
He rode a stationary bike in a sauna between 20
and 45 minutes.
"I stuck with it," Chelios said, "and I never really
missed a day."
There have been many theories offered on Chelios' longevity and how he survived 26 epic seasons
in the NHL. Pushing a cycle up a hill? Pushing the
pedals on a cycle in a sauna? Take your pick.
Chelios has his own ideas.
"You know what? I was lucky ― you can get hurt
and it can be over," he said modestly. "I was really
lucky when I look back at all the great coaches and
great teammates that I had."
Christos Kostas Tselios (Chris Chelios), a close
friend of Robert James Ritchie (Kid Rock), can stand
on his own merits when he becomes the first UW
player inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame.
As soon as he became eligible, Chelios was a nobrainer on the ballot.
As a warm-up to the Nov. 14 induction ceremonies in Toronto, the 51-year-old Chelios will be introduced during Saturday's football game between
Purdue and Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium.
"Scott Niedermayer said it best, 'It's kind of a surreal feeling,"' said Chelios, whose 2013 Hall of Fame
class includes Niedermayer, a stylish defenseman,
and Brendan Shanahan, a 600-plus goal scorer.
"I think about how things went for me as a kid
and there's no reason in the world that I should
have ever been in the NHL and now, to get this honor, it's unreal."
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