FAIRBANKS — Jordan Hendry showed class Sunday afternoon along with the autographed photos of himself celebrating the Stanley Cup with his Chicago Blackhawks teammates in June.

The Blackhawks defenseman signed his name on a Detroit Red Wings jersey that belonged to a young boy. The Blackhawks and Red Wings are bitter rivals in the National Hockey League’s Central Division, but the boy was among several hundred fans who streamed through the University of Alaska Fairbanks Patty Center to meet only the second former Alaska Nanook to skate for a Stanley Cup winner.

Shawn Chambers, a Nanooks defenseman from 1985-87, won a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 1995 and the Dallas Stars in 1999.

Hendry happily signed the Red Wings jersey. He also signed Blackhawks jerseys, including a few of his No. 6 jerseys, and other items during the hour-long session that included a free skate for the public with players of the 2010-11 Nanooks.

“You never like signing the opposition’s jersey, but it’s for a kid and anything to put a smile on their face, I’ll do,” said Hendry, who skated for the Nanooks from 2003-06 and graduated from UAF in 2006 with a finance degree.

Hendry brought smiles to adults for whom he signed autographs and who purchased the autographed photos.

“It’s great for our town, and this is quite the hockey community,” Grace Gonzalez said after her 4-year-old son, Nico, got an autograph from Hendry.

The photos sold for $25 each and the proceeds went to the Alaska Nanooks Hockey Alumni Association, which supports the Nanooks program. One hundred of the 150 photos were sold Sunday.

Nanooks head coach Dallas Ferguson and Erik Drygas, a former Alaska player (1995-96) and a current board member of the hockey alumni association, approached Hendry in July about doing the signing.

“I think it’s great. I love coming back to Fairbanks,” Hendry said. “It means a lot to see all these people who support the team. It just means a lot to me to come out and give back to them and share the Stanley Cup photo with them.”

Yumi McCulloch waited to get Hendry’s autograph for her daughter, Hanako, who was skating with the Nanooks players on the Patty Center ice, and for her son, Holden, who was on a moose hunting trip. Both of her children are forwards for local youth hockey programs — 12-year-old Holden with the Northern Alaska Hockey Association Grizzlies and 14-year-old Hanako with the Alaska Icebreakers 16-under girls team.

“I think that’s amazing for the kids to have a role model that comes from where they come from, since you really don’t get that a lot from Fairbanks,” Yumi McCulloch said. “To see him come back here to meet the kids I think is a great thing for hockey in this town.”

Jack Zayon brought a camera to the Patty Center, and the coach for the Fairbanks Amateur Hockey Association’s Tier III squirts team photographed his 9-year-old son and right wing, Gabe, next to a smiling Hendry.

“It makes me proud to be able to see a young aspiring player meet someone who’s actually won the Stanley Cup,” Zayon said.

Kevin Wiklund didn’t see Hendry skate for the Nanooks, but he saw the 6-foot, 200-pounder play in his hometown of Rockford, Ill., for the Ice Hogs, Chicago’s top minor-league affiliate in the American Hockey League.

Wiklund, who wore a Blackhawks t-shirt Sunday, also watched broadcasts of the Stanley Cup series between Chicago and the Philadelphia Flyers, who included defenseman and Anchorage native Matt Carle.

“He just keeps truckin’” Wiklund, a 25-year-old freshman English major at UAF, said of Hendry. “He doesn’t really razzle dazzle but he’s always making his presence out there on the ice.”

Hendry, 26, played in 43 regular-season games and 15 postseason contests this past season for the Blackhawks, with whom he has spent his entire professional career, either as a minor leaguer or in the NHL.

He signed with Chicago in 2006, following his junior season with the Nanooks. The organization sent him to their old AHL club in Norfolk, Va., where he played 13 games in the 2005-06 season and 80 in 2006-07.

Chicago relocated its top minor-league club to Rockford for 2007-08, when Hendry played 45 games for the Ice Hogs and was promoted for the first time to Chicago, skating in 40 games.

In 2008-09, Hendry played in 53 games for Rockford and nine for Chicago.

He has 12 career points (three goals and nine assists) heading into the upcoming NHL season.

Current Nanooks right wing Ron Meyers and Hendry are both natives of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan — Meyers from Prince Albert and Hendry from Nokomis.

Since July, Hendry has been doing offseason conditioning with several of the current Nanooks. He returns Tuesday to Chicago, where he starts training camp with the Blackhawks on Sept. 18.

“He wants to get better, even though he’s made the highest level,” Meyers said while signing a young fan’s sweatshirt during the skate with the Nanooks. “He knows that he’s got to keep up his hard work and keep improving, and that’s what he does every day. We try to follow that and it’s just awesome.”

As much as he inspired the Nanooks and the fans who came to see him Sunday — particularly the young ones — Hendry was just as inspired by them.

“It’s awesome,” Hendry said. “It means a lot to me that young kids come to get my autograph or to stand in line or talk to me or shake my hand.

“I was one of those kids who did that, too. It means a lot to me that they come out here and it keeps me motivated each year.”