Chicago Wolves

The Chicago Wolves are a professional hockey team playing in the American Hockey League. The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois and are owned by Chicago business owners Don Levin and Buddy Meyers. They are the minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Blues.

Originally a member of the International Hockey League, the Wolves joined the AHL after the IHL folded in 2001.

History
The team has never had a losing season during its history, including four league playoff championships. The Wolves won the Turner Cup twice (1998, 2000) in the IHL and the Calder Cup twice (2002, 2008). The Wolves qualified for all except four postseasons (2005–06, 2008–09, 2010–11, and 2012-13 seasons), appearing in six league championship finals (1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2008) in their 19-year history.

The team's great star was forward Steve Maltais, who until his retirement after the 2004–2005 season had played every season of the franchise and holds most of its scoring records. Other notable players include goaltender Wendell Young, ex-Pittsburgh star Rob Brown, long time Chicago Blackhawks stars Troy Murray, Chris Chelios, Al Secord, and defenseman Bob Nardella. The Wolves had their best season start in their 14-year history, during the 2007–08 season, winning 13 of the first 14 games, with an overtime loss. The Wolves finished the season with 111 points, and first in the Western Conference.

The Wolves were the AHL affiliate of the Atlanta Thrashers from 2001 to 2011. The Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg in June 2011 and added the St. John's IceCaps (formerly the Manitoba Moose) as their new AHL affiliate, leaving the Wolves and the NHL's Vancouver Canucks to find new affiliates. On June 27, 2011, the Wolves and Canucks agreed to two–year affiliation agreement.

On April 23, 2013, the Wolves and St. Louis Blues reached a 3-year affiliation agreement. The deal was struck after the Canucks decided not to renew their existing affiliation agreement and purchased the Peoria Rivermen franchise from the Blues creating the Utica Comets.

Television
The Wolves are the only AHL team with a full television package. All 76 regular-season games, plus playoffs, are broadcast on Comcast cable, WPWR-TV (channel 50), and WCIU-DT2 (26.2, U Too). As the Chicago Blackhawks' late owner Bill Wirtz had refused to allow Blackhawks home games to be televised locally, the Wolves were viewed and embraced as an alternative. After Judd Sirott served as the team's play-by-play announcer for its first 12 seasons, starting in the 2006–07 season broadcast announcers were long-time Blackhawks commentators Pat Foley and Bill Gardner; Foley ultimately returned to the Blackhawks for the 2008–09 season. Currently Jason Shaver handles play by play for the Wolves, along with Gardner still at color commentator.

Retired numbers

 * 1 Wendell Young, G, 1994–2001
 * 11 Steve Maltais, LW, 1994–2005

Team captains

 * Steve Maltais (1994–96)
 * Troy Murray (1996–97)
 * Steve Maltais (1997–2000)
 * Kevin Dahl (2000–01)
 * Steve Maltais (2001–05)
 * Derek MacKenzie (2005–06)
 * No Captain (2006–07)
 * Darren Haydar (2007–08)
 * Jamie Rivers (2008–09)
 * Jason Krog (2009–11)
 * Nolan Baumgartner (2011–12)
 * Darren Haydar (2012–13)
 * Taylor Chorney (2013–14)
 * Brent Regner (2014-15)

Honored personnel

 * Tim Breslin, LW, 1994–1999
 * Dan Snyder, C, 2001–2003
 * John Anderson, Head Coach, 1997–2008, 2013-Present
 * Kevin Cheveldayoff, GM, 1997–2009