Kelly Chase among first named to Saskatoon Blades Hall of Fame

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

THE GREEN ZONE: What did you think when the blades gave you a ring and said, ‘Hey, Kelly, we want to put you in the Hall of Fame?’

KELLY CHASE: “Well, it’s quite an honour. Actually, I’ve been lucky this year, I’ve been in the (St. Louis Blues True Blue award) … You know Saskatoon, the place I’ve grown to love and been a part of my upbringing and a part of my whole fabric of kind of who I became because of what I was taught there. So I’m pretty proud of it and very grateful to the people that thought I’d done enough to be there.

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Is Saskatoon where you kind of discovered that maybe you might have a career as an enforcer?

CHASE: Well, I knew if I was going to have a career, it was going to be in that realm. I just kind of took that on myself. I think I’ve always been a guy that always stood up — maybe the bully — and then I’ve always been someone that ran at the fight and not away from it. Saskatoon gave me an opportunity. (General manager Daryl Lubiniecki) found something in me and said, ‘We’re going to keep with this kid. I know the culture of where he’s from with the Clarks and so on, and I’m going to give him an opportunity.’ He did and it worked out well for both of us.

How much of an honor was it to wear number 22 for the Saskatoon Blades the same number as Wendel Clark?

CHASE: It was huge because Wendel had wore it a couple years in a row. He’s like a hero that we all looked up to, even though we were the same age. Wearing it was awesome. I mean, it probably should have been retired the year he left. Getting to wear 22 and knowing that the impact he had on the Blades, the Western League, and basically the NHL. There wasn’t all this video and stuff and I don’t think that the league expected the whirlwind they got when he got to the league. It’s pretty nice to wear his jersey and he tells me, ‘Hey, go ahead, wear my jersey from training camp on.’ So that was really quite nice of Wendel.

Is there a story from the Blades days that you haven’t told, that maybe that time has passed, where it might be a little bit easier to tell now?

CHASE: I remember when the Roughriders used have camp in Saskatoon. We were at a place called Confettis, and these guys were (messing) around, and Killer (Kevin) Kaminsky was (having) none of it. So he ended up in a in a little bit of a tussle inside and everybody went outside. We all went outside and Kevin was done throttling this big football player. He had Kevin pinned on the top of a Camaro and he was holding on with his hand squashing killer, and his chest was on Kevin’s and he couldn’t fight with him. He just wrestled him and Killer just kept going and pretty soon the police came … He was a referee in the western league. He came there, and the guy suggested pressing charges. The cop said, ‘Would you like me to go back to Rider camp and tell them that that little 165-pound guy over there beat the hell out of you? It quickly got diffused and we went in our vehicles and went home. We just had that kind of crew … It was fun to be around town as a group, because we had a lot of trouble.

You are always one to give back to Saskatoon. You always want to pay it forward. Who should be next? Do you have a player here who should be next in this new hall of fame?

CHASE:  Well, Curtis Leschyshyn should be in there before I am. Played over 1,000 games in the NHL, won the Stanley Cup. He’s from Saskatoon. That is a no brainer of no brainers to me. There are plenty of good players and guys that had longevity in their careers. Forget just the goals and the points. Dave Brown is another local that had a hell of a career that never was supposed to play. Joey Kocur has got (four) cups. It’s pretty easy when you start going down that list, and I kind of look in the mirror and go, What the hell am I going in there for? I’m ahead of those guys. So if you’re asking me, that’s a group that stands alone ahead of everybody else. There’s a lot of players came from that group of ours that gave back to the community … I feel so honoured and blessed that I’m going in because I look at all of them and I would feel nothing but pride for them if they went ahead and me.