Ex-Blackhawk Michel Goulet ... retired, but not quite old enough to play for the Red Wings.
Let’s pretend the Phoenix Coyotes were playing the Chicago Blackhawks in this year’s playoffs rather than the Detroit Red Wings.
Before I go further, let me explain something: There was once a time when the Phoenix Coyotes were called the Winnipeg Jets. During that time, I was a Chicago Blackhawks fan. I was born in Chicago, and raised as a Hawks fan: Goulet, Larmer, Magnusson, Esposito, Lysiak, Grimson, Smith, Chelios (hell, even Bannerman!) – those were my boys. My Hawks love continued after moving to Arizona. I was one of the few kids in school who liked hockey, and the only one who liked the Blackhawks (damn Gretzky and his trendy black-and-silver LA Kings). Losses would ruin my day, especially since I knew the inbred Canucks fan in my algebra class couldn’t wait to give me crap as if I gave up a soft goal or missed an open net.
So, you probably think I’d root against the Coyotes if they faced the Blackhawks. After all, I’ve never bonded with the Coyotes as I did with the Blackhawks (I always preferred the minor league Roadrunners).
But you’d be wrong.
I am a Phoenician, and have been since 1980. When the Coyotes arrived in the late 90s, I offered the team my loyalty.
That’s because there are certain things I understand: My home is where I am right now, and the past is the past.
If I put the Blackhawks before the Coyotes, I’d feel like a false Phoenician. It is up to me to help give Phoenix its identity. It’s up to me help make it a hometown rather than a motley dumping ground for rustbelt transplants. If I put the Hawks first, what am I doing living here? Shouldn’t I just move back to Chicago?
Phoenix has given me a lot of my own identity. It has given me opportunities, professional and personal. Chicago gave me a hockey team. Phoenix gave me a life. Which is more important? I will reward Phoenix as it deserves – by supporting the teams where I am, not where I’m from. I don’t care what team my parents supported, or who I grew up watching. I have my own team now.
I owe this city something. Giving up my childhood hockey team is the least I can do.
