Chicago boo birds serenade Amonte
January 8, 2003 Print it
RECAP / BOX SCORE / SCOREBOARD
CHICAGO -- Every time the puck hit his stick, Tony Amonte could hear the boos in an arena where he was once adored.
"They have passionate fans here, that's the way I look at it," Amonte said Wednesday as his new team, the Phoenix Coyotes, and his old one, the Chicago Blackhawks, played the season's first 0-0 game.
"It's always different the first time back. You're standing there at the blue line and look up at the flag. In preparing for the game, I was just trying not to be too high or too low," said Amonte, who made his return to the United Center after spending parts of nine seasons with the Blackhawks.
"I had a few jitters, but you get over it. Sure it felt a little weird going to the different bench and warming up in the different end of the ice," he added.
Amonte may have been the center of the booing, but the game hinged on the goalies.
Zac Bierk made 40 saves in his first start of the season for the Coyotes. Michael Leighton stopped 31 shots in his NHL debut for the Blackhawks.
Recalled from the minors four days ago, Bierk held off Chicago's seventh power play with two great saves early in the third, denying Theo Fleury and Steve McCarthy.
"The second and third opportunities, our guys cleared them away and let me see the puck," Bierk said. "To be honest, I wouldn't have predicted an 0-0 game tonight."
Leighton made one of his best saves with just under three minutes left, turning away a close shot by Paul Mara. He preserved the tie by twice making stops on Shane Doan in overtime.
"The last save came with about three seconds left. The guy just jammed the puck and I got my toe on it right on the goal line," Leighton said.
"That would have been a bummer if that one had gone in."
Leighton, giving top goaltender Jocelyn Thibault some rest, admitted he was nervous.
"I was jittery while I was getting dressed and Jocelyn told me to relax. He was just saying play the way you can, don't think about the NHL or anything else, just think about playing hockey."
It was the first 0-0 game ever for the Coyotes. The last time it happened in franchise history was Feb. 19, 1980, at the New York Islanders. The Blackhawks have had 34 scoreless ties, the previous one was Dec. 17, 1997, at Edmonton.
Amonte was booed in introductions and then every time he touched the puck, which is nothing new in Chicago. Former stars Chris Chelios and Jeremy Roenick are greeted with the same disdain.
"I'm in good company with Cheli. That's the way I look at it. You close a chapter in your life and you move on," Amonte said.
"I didn't think he'd get booed every single time he touched the puck," Blackhawks forward Steve Sullivan said. "That must have been nerve-wracking to come into a hostile situation at this arena."
Amonte, a two-time Blackhawks captain, had an uneasy split from the team when he could not reach agreement on a contract as he and GM Mike Smith differed on his value.
"It's unfortunate the way it worked out," Amonte said in a pregame interview. "It was a hard thing to deal with. Talking with Mr. (Vice President Bob) Pulford, it seemed like he really wanted to keep me around here and let's try to get this thing done. With Mr. Smith, it didn't seem it work out."
He ended up signing a four-year, $24 million deal with the Coyotes.
Amonte, who led the Hawks in goal scoring five times and went over 40 goals in three of those seasons, has started slowly with 11 goals in 42 games.
But he's the NHL's iron man, appearing in his 452nd consecutive game. In his 13-year career, Amonte has missed eight games.
NOTES: Blackhawks left winger Eric Daze sat out his second consecutive game with a stiff back. . . . The Coyotes were without their top two goalies, Sean Burke and Brian Boucher, both of whom injured their knees Jan. 3 in Detroit. . . . The Blackhawks had a four-minute power play starting late in the first period and continuing into the second, including a 42-second span when they had a two-man advantage. But Bierk made a couple of nifty saves, one on Fleury, to turn them away.
