Chris Chelios

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Chris Chelios bigraphy, stories - American ice hockey player

Chris Chelios : biography

January 25, 1962 –

Christos Kostas Tselios, better known as Chris Chelios (born January 25, 1962) is a retired American professional ice hockey defenseman. He is currently the Executive Advisor to Ken Holland, the general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, a role that Steve Yzerman held before leaving to become general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Chelios played for the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, and Atlanta Thrashers. When he was called up from the AHL’s Chicago Wolves to play for the Thrashers during the 2009–10 NHL season, Chelios was the oldest active player in the NHL – and the second oldest of all time – had played the most games of any active player in the NHL, was the last player from the 1981 NHL Entry Draft still active (or any draft from 1986 and earlier), and had the most career penalty minutes of any active player. Chelios currently holds the record for most games played in the NHL by a defenseman and is fifth overall with 1,651, and is tied with Gordie Howe for most NHL seasons played with 26. On November 24, 2006, he played in his 1,496th NHL game, the most of any American-born player, passing the record total of Phil Housley. In the 2008–09 season, he appeared in the playoffs for an NHL record 24th time, having missed the playoffs only twice (1997–98 and 2009–10) in his entire career. Chelios is of Greek heritage. His cousin, Nikos Tselios, has also played professional hockey and is a former first round draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Personal life

Chelios grew up in Chicago, Illinois where his father, Constantine "Gus" Chelios owned a chain of Greek restaurants. The family moved to Poway, California, in 1977 when his father left his struggling business in Chicago to open a restaurant in the San Diego area. He was a Chicago Blackhawks fan during his childhood but was more focused on football, idolizing Bears linebacker Dick Butkus. Chelios attended Mira Mesa Senior High School in San Diego up until 1978.

Chelios has been married to his wife, Tracee, for twenty years. They met while students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They have four children, Dean, 21, Jake, 19, Caley, 17, and Tara, 14. Dean Chelios, a forward, scored a pair of power play goals to help his high school team, Cranbrook-Kingswood, win the division 3 Michigan state high school hockey championship in 2006. Dean formerly played for the Chicago Steel of the USHL in Bensenville, Illinois and is currently a sophomore on the Michigan State University Spartan hockey team. Jake was drafted by the Chicago Steel, 49th overall, in May 2009, and has now joined his brother at Michigan State. Caley has committed to Northwestern University.

He was very active in charitable causes during his playing days in Chicago, founding Cheli’s Children."

He is the older brother of former minor-leaguer Steve Chelios, cousin of former NHL player Nikos Tselios, whose father was one of Gus Chelios’ brothers. The family name was originally Tselios, but Gus Chelios changed his family’s spelling. His cousin, also named Chris Chelios (Little Chris), is a former minor league player and current coach of the Robert Morris University of Illinois women’s hockey team in Chicago. He is also founder of the CCH Xtreme hockey school.

In his career, Chelios has befriended many non-hockey athletes and entertainers. In 2004, Chris and surfer Laird Hamilton trained with the U.S. bobsled team and hoped to form the first Greek bobsled team at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

On Scrubs, Dr. Perry Cox, played by Chelios’ friend John C. McGinley, often wears a Red Wings jersey with Chelios’ name and number. During the fourth season of the show, which was concurrent with the 2004–05 lockout, Cox was seen on at least one occasion wearing a number 24 Motor City Mechanics jersey. Chelios is also close friends with actors John Cusack and D. B. Sweeney, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, and musician Kid Rock. In fact Chelios was sitting courtside with Kid Rock during the brawl at Auburn Hills on November 19, 2004. Chelios and Sweeney are quite close, with the two having appeared together in The Cutting Edge (1992) and Two Tickets to Paradise (2007) in addition to Chelios being the godfather to Sweeney’s son, Cade.