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Sakic: A Class Act
by Mike Chen on 07/08/09 at 12:46 PM ET
Comments (15)
Super Joe. Burnaby Joe. Quoteless Joe.
Of all the nicknames that stuck with Joe Sakic, perhaps the friendly mockery of “Quoteless” summed up Sakic’s persona the best. He didn’t blurt out thoughts without the brain/mouth filter a la Jeremy Roenick and he certainly never grabbed the attention of Extra or the E! channel a la Sean Avery. Instead, he spoke with his on-ice performance, a mixture of top-level skill and pure class.
I think we all respect (and possibly even like) Joe Sakic. Maybe it’s because of this “Quoteless” nature; with that, there’s not that much bulletin board material so you leave it to his play on the ice. He wasn’t dirty, crass, or obnoxious, and while you’d see him sticking up for his teammates, you’d have to look hard to see any Pronger-like cheap shots in his career.
What type of impact did Sakic make? I like to think that you could tell how highly everyone thought of him by seeing how fans of his hated rivals treated him during the peak of their feud. For me, that rewinds the clock back to college, where my apartment had four hockey nuts living together up in Davis, California (definitely not hockey country). While geography kept us all supporting the Sharks, we each had our other teams, including my one roommate who loved the Red Wings and loved to hate the Avalanche.
This was the guy who had a signed photo of Darren McCarty pummeling a turtled Claude Lemieux on his wall next to his Steve Yzerman Starting Lineup figure. And this was the time when Avalanche/Red Wing games were mandatory household viewing, when we’d try to predict how many PIMs there were in each game, and when we’d debate the fighting abilities of all of the involved goaltenders.
Yes, good times indeed.
In sports, writing, music, whatever type of public forum, there’s the old notion that you don’t care what sort of response you draw as long as you get a response. Indifference is the worst thing in the world. While my buddy hated the Avs, I also knew he secretly loved them—or loved playing them, because it was always such a good time, much more so than when a random Kings/Bruins game came across ESPN2. Still, he fired off his vitriol like a good sports fan, yelling about the dirty way Adam Foote used his stick to pitchfork people, or how Peter Forsberg was a pansy diver (something he still talks about to this day), or how Patrick Roy was...well, Patrick Roy, and that generally was enough.
(Strangely enough, he always used Roy when we annually drafted our EA Sports mega-teams. At what price, victory?)
Through all of that, I can’t recall him saying anything bad about Sakic. Sure, he’d get upset when Sakic scored, but it’d often be accompanied by something like, “Stupid freakin’ Sakic” (or “Damn it, Ozzie"). It certainly was a far cry from the mountain of curse words someone like Adam Deadmarsh or especially Forsberg would earn.
With Sakic, there was always a line of respect. Even as he captained their greatest rival, you knew he did it with class, and while my friend could get upset about the result, he never got to the point of hate.
I know it’s easier to spew sports hate these days thanks to message boards, blogs, etc.—just look at the war of words between Penguins fans and Caps fans about how Crosby is this or Ovechkin is that. I wonder if we had that ten years ago, what would be said between Avs fans and Red Wings fans about their bitter rivalry? I like to think that most of the folks involved would feel that same level of respect for Sakic that my roommate did—he hated what Sakic accomplished because he was so damn good but he couldn’t find reason to hate the man himself. Sakic’s class act simply rose above that.
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Joe+Sakic,
Comments
Thank you for that Mr Chen. It was fantastic!
I can totally relate with your roommate. When I used to watch the heated, bloody battles that the Wings and Avs had in the 90’s I used to curse a blue streak about every player wearing the red. All but one that is. Stevie Y. Stevie and Joe were cut from the same cloth. No matter what was going on with the rivalry, fans from both teams gave those two guys nothing but respect. They were class acts on and off the ice and played hockey like it’s truly meant to be played.
Wayne Gretzky wanted the 2002 Canadian Olympic team built around three players. Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, and Joe Sakic. The three best players in the game at the time.
The classiest moment I have ever seen in sports;
2001. Game 7 of the finals. Joe Sakic held the Cup for all of about one second. Didn’t even raise it. It went straight to Ray Borque. Ray was going to hand it off after the hoist, kiss, and 30 seconds. Joe Sakic stopped him and told him to take his well deserved victory laps around the Pepsi Center a few times. Never before and not since have I seen such class.
His leadership, sportsmanship, perserverance, dedication, class, and high standards of play will be missed on the ice and in the locker room.
Mark my words though. He will have a job with the Avs organization within a few years. I think he will go the way of Steve Yzerman.
Posted by AvsRock from My timeshare in insanity... on 07/08/09 at 12:32 PM ET
So true. Now with Sakic gone and Stevie gone, can the NHL retire #19? I think that’s fair.
Posted by Nate A from Dark side of the moon on 07/08/09 at 12:49 PM ET
“Now with Sakic gone and Stevie gone, can the NHL retire #19? I think that’s fair.”
Posted by Nate A from the Church of Babcock on 07/08/09 at 01:49 PM ET
Another 19 that comes to mind in the same mold is Trottier. How dare Hartnell gets to wear the same number!
Posted by dip on 07/08/09 at 01:19 PM ET
Perfect summation of “No Ordinary Joe.” Well done, Mike. Everytime Sakic was on the ice, he scared the living shit outta me moreso than Roy and Forsberg. He had a sneaky way of finding the open ice and flipping that wicked wrister of his, which was so deadly because it was so accurate.
If he does retire on Thursday (which is likely), thanks, Joe, for the great memories.
Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 07/08/09 at 01:22 PM ET
Another 19 that comes to mind in the same mold is Trottier. How dare Hartnell gets to wear the same number!
Joe Thornton wears 19, also. Hartnell may be a useless excuse for a human, but at least we can be fairly positive he has a heart.
Posted by shanetx on 07/08/09 at 01:27 PM ET
I didn’t stop to think about whose blog I was posting on with the above comment, it really wasn’t intended to stir shit up on a Sharks supporter’s blog. Sorry, Mike. Out of line in a comment thread about a really good player retiring.
Posted by shanetx on 07/08/09 at 01:28 PM ET
No offense taken, Shane. While I think Joe (and Marleau) have taken too much of the blame for losing against a good team, he deserves his lumps as well. I can’t lie, I thought something along those lines for a brief second!
Posted by Mike Chen on 07/08/09 at 01:58 PM ET
Although im a Wings fan its sad to see Joe go, i really thought he had one more year in him especially with the Olympics around the corner. I’ll never forget that crazy run in the 96 playoffs where super Joe had 18 goals, still a record that will be very difficult to break. Good luck to you Joe and congrats on a fantastic career.
Posted by Aaron from MI from Huron, MI on 07/08/09 at 02:04 PM ET
So true. Now with Sakic gone and Stevie gone, can the NHL retire #19? I think that’s fair.
Believe me, I would love that. But, the numbers will be retired in their respective cities by their teams. Of course, I don’t think anyone it Det or Col would ever even think about wearing #19 again anyway, with or without an official retirement.
Not to mention, even though they were both very talented and the classiest guys to ever play the game, they didn’t impact the game like Gretzky.
I believe only an Earth shattering player that changes the entire face of the game and the way it’s played should have their number retired league wide. Gretzky did all of that. No one else has, and maybe never will.
One could find an American sports fan that isn’t to familiar with hockey and they wouldn’t know the names Sakic or Yzerman. Every sports fan on the entire North American continent, and most of Europe, knows the name Gretzky.
Posted by AvsRock from My timeshare in insanity... on 07/08/09 at 02:47 PM ET
One could find an American sports fan that isn’t to familiar with hockey and they wouldn’t know the names Sakic or Yzerman.
But… but… but… Yzerman even has a reference in a Kid Rock song!
Yeah, I got nothin’.
Posted by shanetx on 07/08/09 at 02:52 PM ET
Of course you’re right, AvsRock. Only other number I can think of being retired the way Gretzky’s was is Jackie Robinson. Still, #19 is one of those numbers that has had its share of exceptional players. What other #s come to mind? #9 of course, #5 (lidstrom and potvin)....
Back on point, I’ll miss Sakic if and when he retires. I hope it isn’t now, mostly because I think he deserves to go out better than this, but in another classy move, he appears to be avoiding the lingering old guy syndrome going around these days.
Posted by dip on 07/08/09 at 02:59 PM ET
#9 is the Great hockey number. All the stars want it. If you look though history all the top players wore it. Richard,Howe,Hull,Bucyk ect. By the late seventies because 9 was retierd or taken by a long time veteran some players started taken exentions of the #9 ,i.e. gretzky w/2 nines = 99. Other players decided to go to a nine with a one in front of it,19, i.e Trottier. When alot of them were taken some players took the next step, no not 29 that was/is worn by mostly goalies,so they went to 39 ,i.e. Doug Gilmour and Doug Weight. Trottier wore #61 (19 upside down) in the “86 All-star Game because Robinson oook 19.Some players took 19 because there idols wore it. I think Yzerman took 19 because he admired Trottier. Now 19 seems to be running out so some of players wear 91 i.e. Brad Richards.The young players coming into the NHL now seem to like wearing thier birtthday on there sweater, ,i.e. Crosby-87, Kane-88. I’m sorry about going on about the numbers. Anyway, Sakic was and still IS a class act.
Posted by Linda1st on 07/09/09 at 09:35 AM ET
Well put Mr. Chen. Always respected Sakic, and even if he wasn’t retiring, he’d still be producing at a high level despite his age. But he had a great and long career, and this is probably as good a time as any to bow out since the Avs appear to be in rebuilding mode for quite some time.
Also, your comments about your college times brought me back to mine as well. I also went to college at UC Davis (not hockey country, but the club ice & roller teams have a healthy interest), and lived in a house with 4 hockey nuts: 2 Sharks fans, 1 Ducks fan, and 1 general hockey fan from Russia. Battle of California nights were intense.
Posted by downRupLYB from San Jose on 07/09/09 at 03:01 PM ET
You know, that’s gotta be one of the best write ups I’ve read on KK. Well done sir. Brings back memories of college. Hockey fans must gravitate towards each other in college. My freshman year at college I met and became friends of 3 other hockey fans (Bruins, Devils, Avalanche and my Red Wings). It was kinda strange as we were all in Chapel Hill, not exactly the gravitational Grace Land of hockey fans. We were right next to each other in the dorms and later rented a house together.
The house was never more alive the night of a hockey game. The number of Sega Genesis controllers that got thrown and broken before and after the game were too numerous to count. And the drunken arguments I had with my often illogical Avs friend were priceless. But I never brought in Sakic. I never could find a reason to baste him. He played the game the right way. He’s going to be missed.
Posted by UMFan from Colorado on 07/09/09 at 10:10 PM ET
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As a Wings fan, the way I look(ed) at Sakic was that he was as close to being Yzerman as you could get without actually being Yzerman. The two are mirror images of each other. They were both their clubs leader and respected by everyone. The ultimate teammate and the definition of class. I know Avs fans will miss him, but so will the rest of the league.
Posted by clemshady from Greenwood, SC on 07/08/09 at 12:23 PM ET