September 29, 2021: Changing Lines

OK, enough about the Bears for a second. Let’s change lines and talk about the Blackhawks who just jumped over the boards back into our lives. The return of the Blackhawks this year is a bit more special. Yes, fans (if vaccinated) will be back in the Madhouse, but more importantly, is the return of our Captain.

Jonathan Toews is back everybody. Yeah, the captain of the 3 time Stanley Cup winning Hawks of the 2010s; remember those days? It seems like a while ago; I’ll tell you, this COVID stuff makes everything seem like forever ago. In actuality, it wasn’t THAT long ago. Yes, for starters, most of us were alive, so there’s that. Captain Serious was the man; he still is a man. How good will he be this year? I don’t think I’m too worried about that right now; I’m just glad we’re seeing him back in an Indian Head sweater.

At times last year, during what was for a long time a mysterious illness, I feared we had seen the last of Tazer. Kind of like Hossa, who’s rare skin condition came kind of out of nowhere and lead to his retirement from hockey. Sort of like Crow, who after getting signed by the Devils, never ended up playing one game for them, due to all the concussions, vertigo, etc. Or maybe even like Seabrook, whose injuries from all that ice time over the years had piled up to a point where playing through them didn’t make sense any more. Yes, the core of those Cup teams has been shaken. One of the last remaining members was shipped away to Edmonton, in what I thought was a win-win for everybody; Keith will always be an all-time Blackhawk. Only Kane would have been left… so yeah, I’m really happy to see 19 back out there with 88; let’s see how much the dynamic duo, at the heart of it all, has left in them.

It is shaping up to be a fun year for the Blackhawks. Last year, expectations were low; I think they played up to them, even exceeded them at some points in what was a weird season all around. In 2021-2022 though, the bar has been raised back up, no? With goalie being our biggest concern heading into last year, enter Marc Andre Fleury, who delayed his retirement to play in the crease for us; hopefully this isn’t a Jason Peter type move. We made some big acquisitions, including Seth Jones, and we have a ton of young talent that will hopefully be ready to take the next step this year; looking forward to a full, healthy year from Dach. Yeah, maybe playoffs again? Sure, why not. Those old guys Kane and Toews will be surrounded by a whole different supporting cast from back in those glory days; is there one more serious Cup run left in them? Well, you know how it goes; make the playoffs, and anything can happen. I certainly think the playoffs are back in play this year for the boys, so yeah, does that mean a Cup run? A serious Cup run?

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Of course at the start of most years, I believe my team can win it all; don’t you have to believe that a little bit? But back to the main theme here, and just happy to see Jonathan Toews return. He even got a shootout goal in the first preseason game on Wednesday night in the UC; the Hawks lost the game, but still… pretty cool to see that, which is about the only highlight I saw of the game. I wasn’t tuned in for the preseason game; that’s normal. But when October 13th rolls around, and the Hawks take the ice in always tough to play in Colorado, in a later night TNT affair, I’ll be watching. Welcome back Hawks…