Chris Chelios wasn’t the whiny type. He always just rolled up his sleeves, worked twice as hard as anyone else, and never complained about it.
But during the 1995-96 playoffs, not even Chelios could play through the immense pain, and honestly, who could blame him?
In the 1995-96 season, the NHL welcomed a new team to the league as the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver and became the Colorado Avalanche, and the team was packed with future Hall of Famers such as Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, and Patrick Roy.
The Avalanche faced the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals. But in the fourth game of the series, as the Avalanche had a 2-1 game lead, one of Chicago’s biggest stars was suddenly missing.
Chris Chelios was an incredible player, and his absence was a huge blow for the Blackhawks. The first report about Chelios said that he had equipment problems, but it wasn’t until later that fans discovered what had happened.
The following day, it was revealed that Chelios had a troubling groin problem. Chelios played through the pain in the first three games; before the fourth game, he had enough. Blackhawks’ doctor’s solution was to give him a shot of cortisone to ease the pain, but that made everything so much worse.
Instead of easing the pain, the doctor hit a nerve that completely numbed Chelios’ right leg and groin, making it impossible for him to play. Chelios wasn’t in the lineup for game four but tried to skate during the intermissions to see if there was any progress, but there never was.
So with numb nuts, Chelios just had to sit and watch as his Blackhawks were eliminated from the playoffs. The Colorado Avalanche went on to win the Stanley Cup, but for Chelios, the season will always be remembered as the playoff where his nuts went numb.
Source: Yahoo Sports.
