Working the Red Line EP.7

Funny enough I'm here writing the 7th edition of Working the Red Line and it will be the 2nd time writing about a guy from the Kelvington, Porcupine Plain area in eastern Saskatchewan. Kelly Chase recently has brought his career into the media realm through his podcast Ice Guardians, and really gives insight on not only the wild career of a tough guy in the 90s but also to highlight the career of one of the greatest scorers of all time in his co host, Brett Hull. Kelly is currently fighting his battle with acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer that affects blood and bone marrow. Kelly has taken this fight head on and has really done a powerful job spreading awareness and talking about the battle he is going through. Just a over a month ago the St Louis Blues held their Hockey fights Cancer night and brought Chase out along with former Blues captains Garth Butcher and Bernie Federko, a special night to honour those going through their own fight as well as Kelly's own battle. Here's a short video on what that night looked like.

Kelly Chase Hockey Fights Cancer

Much like any enforcer throughout the 90s, Kelly was undrafted and had to fight his way into a pro contract. Kelly played junior for the Saskatoon Blades, and following his second season he was offered a pro tryout to the Hartford Whalers. It was here where Kelly was really able to make his name known. On his way to Hartford on a flight from Toronto, Kelly had run into none other than Gordie Howe, who was also on his way to Hartford as he was working with the team, and just like any young boy meeting someone of the likes of Gordie only compared to that of a god. Kelly sparked up a conversation and it was there where Gordie told him as an undrafted player you must make them remember you. “If you score, you celebrate like it's a goal, if you hit make it a big hit, and if you fight you fight so they know who you are”. If Gordie tells you to do something, I'd only imagine the feeling that you would have to absolutely do said something. Just like that in the first period of the first scrimmage game, Chase had caught another rookie coming through the neutral zone trying to catch a pass from veteran defenseman Billy Root. Both Root and the rookie forward went after Chase, who as expected handled them in convincing fashion. The following day Chase was jumped at the start of the game by one of the opposing defencemen. Chase, who couldn't even get his own gloves off, was seeing red for the rest of the first half. Jack ‘Tex’ Evans who was the coach of Hartford saw this and kept Chase on the bench for the remainder of the first half. While the Zamboni was on the ice, the same defenseman who jumped Chase early was leaning on the net and Chase skated over, smashed his stick over the guy's head and then speared him with what was left. A massive dog pile ensued and Chase who played 1 shift in the first half was rewarded with not 1, not 2, but 3 fights in the second half of the game. As cuts loomed and Chase had realized what he had gotten himself into, he was catching a bus back to the arena from where they were staying feeling down on himself that he had made an embarrassment of himself and created a team wide hatred for him, yet a big arm comes around him, who else but Gordie Howe who said “Hey Kid, They f****** know who you are now”. Chase stayed in camp and even went into Boston to play some exhibition games, he was offered a contract but ultimately turned it down to go play another year of Junior, and while Chase signed with the Blues following his junior career, he made it back to Hartford for 3 seasons from 94-97. A truly great story that captures just the type of player Chase was. 

Chase was as tough as the come, fighting essentially everyone and racking up a season high 24 fights in 89’, and eclipsing 20 fights 3 other times. Much like Marty McSorely and Gretzky, Chase was not only the protector, but close friend of Brett Hull. The two played most of their careers together and now share an online home with their podcast Ice Guardians. Chase played 458 games across the 11 NHL seasons, most with the St Louis Blues but added 3 seasons with Hartford and a pair of games with the Leafs in 1997 before returning to the Blues the following season. Chase was one of the most respected players in the game not only by his teammates and his own community, but by the rest of the league as well. This was awarded in 1998 when he won the King Clancy award, a NHL wide award for the player who shows the best leadership and humanitarian contribution. To give some insight other players like Henrik Sedin, Shane Doan, and Ray Bourque have won the award as well. A very nice and well earned gesture to Chase who played the game with the toughest there was to offer. 

As mentioned Chase fought a lot and even hung with the best of them with guys like Bob Probert, Stu Grimson and even his own friend Tony Twist. In what was one of the best examples of how the old game was played, in a division rivalry game between the Chicago Blackhawks and St Louis Blues, Chase had (likely on purpose) ran into Blackhawks netminder Ed Belfour which ignited a fight between him and Duane Sutter. Chase in an impressive show of strength threw around Sutter and ultimately dropped him to the ice. Throughout these blogs this fight alone might be the best showing of what fights can do to a crowd. As Chase and Sutter square up the crowd erupted, even though the fight was short lived and there were no major connections, the building was instantly thrown right into the game. It's a great clip that really shows how fighting was integrated into the game and what it meant to all entities involved, give it a watch below.

Sutter vs Chase

While most of these blogs would end after a fight, it's only a right to give a fair shootout to what Kelly Chase is doing now. As mentioned Chase is currently battling acute myeloid leukemia. It's a tough type of cancer and to watch anyone go through their fight with it is truly hard on the heart, but it's only fair to respect the way Kelly Chase is fighting his fight. As you would just expect Chase never gets down on himself, explaining that he just got ‘punched in the nose’ but that he keeps getting up just as did when on the ice. Quick to say that someone else has it worse somewhere, Chase is a true inspiration who back in 2024 raised over $400 000 for cancer research. My best wishes go out to Kelly during his grueling fight through Cancer.