On any other day, seeing the AHL Wolves play is a good idea

So, I had never been to a Chicago Wolves hockey game before. I'd been to the Allstate Arena hundreds of times in the past; which included visits for things like WWF wrestling back in the day, concerts like REM, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd and The Who, and I've even been to a couple of Chicago Rush games. However, until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't been to a minor league hockey game in Chicago.

It goes without saying that I've seen my share of Blackhawks games over the years, and I also was a season ticket holder for the Rockford IceHogs during their inagural season when I lived up in that area, but for some reason, I've never been compelled to see the Wolves.

I have to admit that when I finally broke down to go see the team on Sunday, Jan. 24, I was reluctant. For that matter, I was not compelled, either.

Now, my mind frame going into the day had nothing to do with the Wolves and the quality of their product. That's something we'll expound upon in a bit. But for those of you scoring at home, you may recognize my hesitancy when I point out that Sunday, Jan. 24 was championship Sunday for the NFL.

I know, I know, you're probably wondering how I could have picked such a date to see my first Wolves game. Well, I didn't. Still, I think I played the good soldier in going along to help celebrate my and Amy's friend Joe's birthday. It was Joe's fiancee Kelly's idea to go and, ultimately I enjoyed the experience, but ... IT WAS CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY!!!!

I really don't want to paint this as if there was no compelling reasons to want to go. After all, it was another chance to see Chris Chelios before he retires — that is if the 48-year old defenseman ever hangs them up. I also knew that the Wolves had gotten goaltender Kari Lehtonen on a rehab assignment from the Atlanta Thrashers — their parent club.

What I failed to realize is how well the Wolves have been playing this year. All I knew was that at one point the team GM Wendell Young had fired the coach (Don Granato) after a 1-5 start and replaced him with Don Lever. At press time, the Wolves are now 28-17-0-3 and with 59 points sit just four points out of first place in the AHL's Western Conference West Division. Also, even though I had been hoping to see Lehtonen in action, little did I realize that Wolves keeper Peter Mannino was in the midst of a 6-1 record in January with a 1.28 goals against average in that month.