Chris Chelios shares a funny story from his time in Montreal

Drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in 1981, Chris Chelios He enjoyed a long career in the NHL, playing 26 seasons with the Canadiens as well as the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings, hockey markets in which he became a cult figure.

From the Stanley Cup Final in 1986 to the 2006 Winter Olympics team, in his autobiography, Chris Chelios: Made in America, he tells many great stories about his career on the ice yes but also abroad, and this is precisely one of the stories. That concerns us today.

He tells this story that happened during the years he spent with Al-Kindi.

Jacques Lemaire and assistant coach Jacques Laperriere checked curfew compliance during a trip to Vancouver, by calling all our rooms. Eight of us did not respond. Among them were Jay Carbonneau and Chris “Knuckles” Neilan. I shared my room with young defender Peter Svoboda, and we also went out into the city.

Rumors were spreading that we would all be on the bench for the next game, and Peter was nervous. He said his girlfriend would have been angry with him when she found out he had been benched for violating the curfew. She wanted to know where he was.

We had deliberately avoided the coaches that morning, and then Peter and I convinced the front desk staff to smuggle us into another room. Once we confirmed our alibi, we went to see Laperriere to ask him what was going on. He told us he personally called our room number and there was no response.

We strongly insisted that we were in our room in time to check the bed. Finally I asked him which room he called and told me. “That's the problem,” I said. “That's not our room number. We showed him our room keys and he accepted our explanation. We played the next game

-Chris Chelios