[T]he tradition seems to have truly arrived on May 9, 1985, before Game 3 of the conference finals against Wayne Gretzky’s Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers, a juggernaut on their way to a second consecutive Stanley Cup in a run that would include five championships in seven years, had beaten the overmatched Blackhawks by scores of 11-2 and 7-3 in Games 1 and 2 in Edmonton.

The Oilers had future Hall of Famers up and down its roster — Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and Grant Fuhr among them. They entered Game 3 on a record 12-game winning streak in the playoffs.

“Coming back from Edmonton down, 0-2, we didn’t want to throw in the towel,” Messmer said. “It was like we’re going to go nuts and do everything we can to make sure this season doesn’t end.”

Former players and reporters who covered the series recalled that during the renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Edmonton, Oilers fans made enough noise that the American team noticed. Troy Murray, then a member of the Blackhawks and now a radio announcer for the team, called the commotion a “slight to the anthem.”

Coffey insisted that no malice had been intended, saying the fans “might have been inadvertently and prematurely getting into the game.”

Whether or not it was antagonistic, the series deficit, the long comeback odds and the perceived slight added to the buzz of an already notoriously raucous Chicago Stadium crowd. When the Blackhawks took the ice for Game 3, the fans were giddy.

And I'll let you read the rest of Strauss's story to find out what happened that night...