Dempster welcomes Blackhawks to Wrigley Field on road to NHL Winter Classic

CHICAGO – Playing hockey was never a serious option for former Chicago Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster.

But loving hockey? That was never a question for Dempster, a native of Gibsons, British Columbia. Dempster was on hand last week ahead of the Discover NHL Winter Classic to welcome Chicago Blackhawks players Nick Foligno and Alex Vlasic to Wrigley Field, where the Blackhawks will play the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 31.

“Hockey was never an option to play,” said Dempster, who pitched for 16 seasons in the major leagues, including parts of nine with the Cubs. “I loved hockey so much. My dad bought me a television to put in my room when I was six years old because I wanted to watch Hockey Night in Canada on Saturdays. So I had this tiny little TV that I could watch CBC. I watched Canucks games all the time.

“The Oilers were my team in the ’80s. I loved it. I would go down to the Pacific Coliseum where the Canucks played, and I would sit out in the parking lot and get autographs from players. I still have them to this day – Stan Smyl and Richard Brodeur and Gino Odjick and Pavel Bure. I love hockey. It’s such a fun game. It’s a hard game, what those guys are able to do on skates. I kind of skated like Happy Gilmore. That’s where my hockey career ended.”

Dempster pitched as a reliever and a starter for the Cubs from 2004-12, compiling a record of 67-66 with 87 saves.

After the Blackhawks won the first of their three recent Stanley Cup championships, in 2010, they brought the Stanley Cup to Wrigley Field and paraded it around the ballpark before posing for photos before a game between the Cubs and the Chicago White Sox. Dempster found himself front and center in the photograph near the pitcher’s mound. He also followed orders given by Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews.

“It was unreal,” he said. “They come on the field. The White Sox are there. We were good. The White Sox were good. The Blackhawks were great. There was, at that time, really just an amazing Chicago sports scene going on. Now they come to Wrigley with the Cup.

“A couple nights before that, I went out with the (Blackhawks) guys with the Cup and got to know a bunch of them. I was sitting there on the mound, do the (ceremonial) first pitch. Jonathan Toews says, ‘Here.’ I said, 'Here? What do you mean, here?’ He says, ‘Pick it up.’ I said, ‘Ahh, I know the rules. I’m not supposed to. I didn’t win the Cup.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, but if you don’t, 40,000 people are going to boo you. I suggest picking it up.’ When the captain tells you to raise the Cup, then let’s go.”

Dempster has been working for the Cubs since he retired from baseball after the 2013 season, when he helped the Boston Red Sox to a World Series title. He also has become a diehard Blackhawks fan.

“They converted me,” he said. “I liked them a little bit before I came to Chicago. I loved Murray Bannerman’s mask. I was a fan of that, watching Steve Larmer and Dirk Graham and Doug Wilson. I loved those teams. We never really got many Blackhawks games (in British Columbia). When I came here, I came as a fan of the Vancouver Canucks. That was a big rivalry. But those guys (the Blackhawks) flipped me. That run they put on and shared that with me, I’ll forever be a Chicago Blackhawks fan. I’ll always root for them.”