So, we took a leisurely drive from the Sox game to the north suburbs to go to the final Chicago Wolves game of the season. (We had a lot of time to kill, even when stopping for dinner and shopping at Office Depot.)
Other than being the last game, it was also a special night - the retirement of Steve Maltais' number to the rafters. Malts played for the Wolves for the first 11 years of their franchise life (the only player to do so), so he's been a cornerstone of the team over the years. He was Captain 10 times. They had the old IHL Turner Cup on display (we won it twice during Steve's tenure) and the AHL Calder Cup (only won that one once, but think about this - 3 Championship Cup's in the franchise's first 8 years!) Before the game during warm-up, the Wolves players wore one-of-a kind No. 11 jerseys that were eventually be signed by Maltais and the player who wore it and were raffled-off.
The game was really good, like the players thought it actually meant something, which it didn't.
We were winning 5-0 in the 2nd, when at 16:29 there was an altercation. No, who are we kidding, we're talking fight - an all out, fists-flying-and-no-stopping-even-when-the-guy-falls-to-the-ice pummeling, all courtesy of Francis Lessard, a fight we haven't seen out of Frankie in years. The kind where Frankie get 2 minutes for Instigating, 5 minutes for Fighting, 10 minutes for Misconduct - Instigating and a Game misconduct - Third man in (56(d)) and another Game misconduct - Aggressor (56(a)). What a way to end the season.
From here, things deteriorated, where Houston got 2 goals in the second, then scores again in the third before we wake up and score one (shorthanded) and Houston comes back with another two and the Wolves barely win their final game of the season.
Quietly, and obviously when you saw the end of it, another retirement happened tonight. Long-time man-behind-the-wolf Jim Santee skated his last "Black Betty" as the mascot Skates during the Second Intermission.
(Boxscore - Gamesheet)
2005- TAX DAY
2004- 1040?
2003- No!!!! Not Again!!!
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