FORMER HAWKS LOOK TO SHARE WINNING WAYS
Flames look to Cup winners in bid to change team culture
A circle of reporters is waiting.
“Let me guess the first question,” says a grinning Flames winger Kris Versteeg, returning to a city where he won two championship rings with the Chicago Blackhawks. “About the Cubs?” A question, it turns out, won’t be necessary. Cameras roll. Recorders light up. Versteeg, it seems, was hoping for this sort of softball.
“I was always a Cubs fan,” he says, his smile growing as he prepares for a playful jab at an old pal.
“Toews was a White Sox fan. I know how he’s probably trying to play it off right now that he’s actually cheering. But yeah, I’m excited about it.”
Indeed, about an hour earlier, Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews had been professing his adoration for the Cubs, the beloved ball team playing in the World Series for the first time since 1945 and trying to end a championship drought that dates back more than a century.
Toews & Co. have delivered three titles to this sports-crazed city.
They were quizzed Monday about whether the Cubs’ quest feels a wee bit similar to 2010, when the Blackhawks snapped the NHL’s longest trophy drought by claiming the Stanley Cup for the first time since Bobby Hull and the boys triumphed way back in 1961.
“I think you get to enjoy it a little bit more,” Toews said prior to skating against the Flames at the United Center. “I think when you’re playing, I can speak for myself and the other guys in this room that have been a part of our championship teams, you don’t want to get caught up in it. I think, sometimes, it’s almost easier mentally to not watch the highlights and not watch the recaps on TV and not focus too much on what’s going on outside of what your job is.
“As a Cubs fan, you get to enjoy it. You get to be a fan, and it’s a lot of fun that way.”
The Flames have three skaters on staff who — thanks to their days with the Blackhawks — understand what it’s like to ride that wave of momentum, and to ride on a float in a Stanley Cup parade.
Versteeg and Troy Brouwer sipped from Lord Stanley’s mug in 2010.
Michael Frolik helped the Blackhawks repeat that feat in 2013.
Versteeg, after several other stops, enjoyed another championship run in 2015.
“I think all three of those guys played pretty key roles in Chicago when they were here,” Toews said of the Flames trio of former Hawks forwards. “I think those are three solid additions to that team.”
That’s what they’re counting on in Calgary — that Brouwer, Frolik and Versteeg can share that experience and winning know-how with the rest of the squad as they work to build something special at the Saddledome.
“We talked about that in our meeting (Sunday),” Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan said after Monday’s morning skate.
“We talked about what the good teams repeatedly do. And you are what you repeatedly do. You look at L.A., you look at Chicago, and we had those voices in our lockerroom. That’s the consistency that we’re trying to find.”
“Obviously, we know how it feels to win,” Frolik said.
“We always say here in the room that we need to have that belief in ourselves. I think, when you go in that other room, even if they’re down, (the Blackhawks) still believe they can win the game. I think we don’t have it here yet.
“It’s hard, when you’re losing, to build something. But we start with one win and try to build something and believe in ourselves that we can do it.”
In the Windy City, there’s a belief — a hope, anyway — that another championship celebration is coming, this one courtesy of the baseball team with the hardest of hard-luck histories.
“I’m happy for them. I’m happy for the city. It’s good to see,” Brouwer said. “I hope they can put the distractions aside and pull it out.”