Though Roenick produced plenty of points, he also welcomed plenty of attention. His big personality was evident on and off the ice.
“He loved the camera. He had license plates that were personalized. STYLES or something,” said Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Chelios, who was Roenick’s teammate in Chicago from 1990-96. “He was very outgoing, very approachable with the fans and that’s why they loved him so much. It’s not like I wasn’t approachable and stuff, but Jeremy just loved it.”
Chelios said Roenick was also part of the off-ice fun with teammates, including an ill-fated skiing excursion in Western Canada.
“On our annual trip to Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, we would spend four or five days in Banff (Alberta). (Coach) Mike Keenan told us we weren’t allowed to go skiing. So, there were 11 or 12 of us who said, ‘We aren’t listening to him.’
“Sure as heck, we ran into Mike on the slopes. Mike had his family out there and he goes, ‘What are you guys doing?’ We said, ‘What do you think we’re doing?’ The next day, Mike skated us for 45 minutes with no pucks and that was our punishment.”
Chicago will always hold a special place for Roenick because it’s where his NHL career began. Philadelphia, where Roenick played from 2001-04, held the same love because of all the hockey games he played there as a kid.
“I made a lot of friendships, I got to know the area, I know how passionate Flyers fans are about sports in general, not only just their hockey team but sports. And me being a huge sports fan and knowing Philly like I have since I was 11 years old, I was excited to play in front of the fans that cheered and rooted for the team the way I played for the team. I just felt it was a really good match.
“One of the reporters (in Philadelphia) asked me, ‘Are you nervous about the sports media here in Philly? They can be very difficult, very abusive.’ I said, ‘The media’s going to be more afraid of me than me of them.’”
Former forward Mark Recchi said Roenick “fit right in” the Flyers room.
“We had a great bunch of guys, and he just added another element to it that was fun but he also was very competitive and that’s how our whole group was,” said Recchi, who played with Roenick from 2001-04. “We enjoyed ourselves, but we played the game hard, we played the game the right way and he came in and just fit right in.”
Roenick averaged 18:16 time on ice per game with the Flyers, down from the estimated 20-plus minutes he had been playing with the Coyotes (time on ice/game became an official stat in 1997-98). Nevertheless, he was valuable.
“I knew in the heat of the game, when the game was on the line that I could play him a lot,” Hitchcock said. “He didn’t have the endurance because of all the physical beatings his body took. He didn’t have the endurance he had as a younger player, but he could sure muster it up when the game was on the line. We held him back early in games and then when the game was on the line, we put him out there all the time.”
Roenick’s ability to come through in the clutch was there again in San Jose, where he played his final two NHL seasons (2007-09). Averaging 13:45 of ice time with the Sharks in 2007-08, Roenick, at age 37, had 33 points (14 goals, 19 assists). Ten of those goals were game-winners, three shy of the career-high 13 game-winning goals he had with the Blackhawks in 1991-92, his third full season in the League.
“I remember when it first happened, I said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this,’” Wilson said. “When the game was on the line, he wanted the puck throughout his whole career, but to do it at that point? How he played right to the end when it mattered, that’s when he was at his best. So that little pearl, that stat to me was incredible.”
Roenick made an incredible impact on the game. Now he’ll get his moment at the Hall.
“He played the game so hard. I mean, he gave everything,” Wilson said. “When you play the way he played, to play with 1,360-some odd games, that’s a tribute to his heart, his toughness and his love for the game. Even when he first came in as a kid, he just played the game fearless. I’m so happy for him and his journey in life to get to celebrate this.”
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