CHICAGO — As the Blackhawks and the Bruins skated into overtime Wednesday night, then another and yet another, Representative Mike Quigley was watching 700 miles away in Washington as he always does when he cannot be at United Center: alone.

“I was so nervous I had the sound down,” Quigley, a three-term Democrat from Chicago and a die-hard Blackhawks fan, said this week between Appropriations Committee meetings. “I got three hours of sleep.”

Since replacing Rahm Emanuel in 2009 in a special election, Quigley has earned a reputation as the biggest hockey fan in Congress. Weeks after he was first sworn in, an item popped up in the gossip pages of a Chicago newspaper, noting that Quigley had gotten into a verbal spat with Detroit Red Wings fans during a playoff game.

“It’s hockey,” Quigley reportedly told the Detroit fans. “It’s not croquet.”

Quigley, who laces up his skates twice a week in recreational leagues, has also helped raise the sport’s profile in Washington.