A major penalty for...? Chris Chelios recalled being jailed for "street fight" day before deal to Blackhawks.

Before heading to the penalty box as a Blackhawk, Hall-of-Fame defenseman was in a sin-bin in Madison, Wisconsin. It wasn't at at a rink.

Chris Chelios won two of his three Norris Trophies with the Blackhawks. The Hall-of-Fame defenseman also is the team's all-time penalty minutes leader with 1,495 in 664 games.

Even prior to his trade to Chicago from the Montréal Canadiens, Chelios was sitting in a sin-bin. This penalty box wasn't at a rink, though.

"The day I got traded to Chicago, I was actually in jail the night before," Chelios told reporters on Sunday just after the Blackhawks retired his No. 7 in a ceremony at the United Center. "I don't care. It was a fight, a street fight. 

"No big deal. And Pully (former Blackhawks general manager Bob Pulford) called me up and said, 'If that's the worst you've done, don't worry about it, it will be fine.'"  See Chelios in the following video.

It did turn out OK in the long run for Chelios, who went on to play nine of his 26 NHL seasons with Chicago. He became the ninth Blackhawks player to have his jersey retired.

Chelios was traded from the Canadiens to the Blackhawks on June 29, 1990 with a second-round 1991 draft pick for another eventual Hall-Of-Famer, center Denis Savard. The deal was pushed through by Mike Keenan, then Chicago's coach who had just added the GM title to replace Pulford. BTW, Pulford was still around and would resume GM duties in November 1992 after Keenan angered late team owner Bill Wirtz and was fired. 

On June 28, Chelios and former University of Wisconsin teammate Gary Suter were out on the town in Madison, Wisconsin. Madison is a college party mecca, and the boozy capital of the state with a tavern culture and loose liquor laws. Beer and cocktails, topped by Wisconsin's signature, supper-club style sweet brandy old-fashioned, flow cheap and strong.

Chelios, then 28, apparently did what lots of folks do in Madison when they drink and bathroom lines are long. He relieved himself outside a bar, according to Madison Police reports. Late Daily Herald and THN correspondent Tim Sassone documented it in a story from the THN Archives. See story.

Chelios picked a bad spot, however. Undercover drug investigators saw him, and told him to stop. Chelios didn't and got, well, p---ed off. Suter came out of the bar and allegedly took a swing at an officer, per police records and published reports from news outlets. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/07/01/NHLs-Chelios-Suter-faces-charges-in-altercation-with-police/4896646804800/

Chelios was charged with misdemeanors for disorderly conduct and resisting an officer. Suter, who went on to join the Blackhawks in a March 1994 three-way trade from the Calgary Flames via the Hartford Whalers, was charged with felony battery.

That kind of incident wasn't uncommon in Madison, but the defendants had a higher profile. The charges eventually were reduced and resolved with fines.

The incident was an extension of Chelios' two seasons with the Badgers. He said he never would have made it to the NHL without the on-ice lessons learned under assistant coach Grant Standbrook in 1981-82 and 1982-83. Standbrook served under head coaches Bob Johnson — the legendary late Badger Bob — and Jeff Sauer.

"He was a guru," Chelios said of Standbrook. "He taught me how to play defense."

Chelios went on to play with the 1984 U.S. Olympic team. He joined the Canadiens, who had drafted him in the second round, 40th overall in 1981, for 12 games at the end of the 1983-84 season. Chelios' pro career got rolling with at Montréal, where he said he got the equivalent of a hockey "Harvard degree" with the storied franchise.

While he was at Madison though, Chelios admitted, he did some crazy things.

"Off the ice was a little bit of a problem," he recalled. "I was a little bit of a wild child, I've got to be honest with you to say the least."

Now 62, Chelios orchestrated quite a bash for his jersey retirement. It culminated with private celebration for about 500 guests in the United Center atrium on Sunday. 

The former D-man's longtime friend Eddie Vetter — the frontman, guitarist, songwriter for Pearl Jam — entertained with the likes of actress and model Cindy Crawford in the house. See the following video.

"I think I'm a better party-planner than I am a hockey player," Chelios joked from the puck-shaped dais to the crowd during his formal ceremony.