The Oklahoma City Blazers, with family and friends, float down the Bricktown Canal during a parade celebrating their 2001 Central Hockey League championship. [PHOTO BY PAUL HELLSTERN, THE OKLAHOMAN]

Professional ice hockey returned to Oklahoma City on Nov. 4, 1992, after a 15-year hiatus. Greg Witt decided he wanted to be there.

Witt and a friend bought tickets to the reborn Blazers' inaugural game. They sat right next to the Blazer penalty box. Guy Girouard ended up in the penalty box, and Witt's pal tossed Girouard a program and asked him to sign it. Girouard not only gave an autograph, he told the pair to meet him after the game for a beer.

Four years later, Witt was in Germany. As best man at Girouard's wedding.

Such was the connection between players and fans in those salad days of the 1990s. A city hungry for downtown entertainment and a sports identity latched on to a hockey franchise that was straight out of “Slap Shot.”