When Colin Chin was 12 years old, he left his New Haven home to play hockey in Toronto. A year later, he came home, but left again for Detroit when he was 17. And then he stayed away for seven years, playing two years in Detroit, four years at the University of Illinois-Chicago and then one year with the Pittsburgh Penguins' American Hockey League farm team in Baltimore.
But he kept coming home.
After growing disillusioned with team politics in Baltimore, Chin returned to Chicago and thought about getting a real job. Komets coach Robbie Laird never gave him the chance, pestering Chin to play in his hometown. Chin agreed to try it for one season and stayed for 10.
Before finishing his career with the Komets in 1996, Chin played the fourth-most games in team history, scored the fifth-most goals, passed the seventh-most assists and scored the fourth-most points.
He could play any style, playing his first few seasons as a checking line center, but then scoring 100 points in 1993-94. He also set the team plus-minus record with a plus-39 in 1991-92.
But the numbers were only half of his influence. From 1989 to 1996, Chin was also the team's captain, the longest term in franchise history. No one could inspire the Komets like Chin, leading countless third-period rallies in the early 1990s. Numerous former rivals would be traded to the Komets and within two months were swearing Chin was the best captain they had ever played with. He set the tone like no one else.
Chin continues to work in Fort Wayne, this time for Lincoln National Corp.
