CHICAGO (AP) – Long before he learned to skate, Patrick Kane appeared on a hockey poster. If the Blackhawks’ rookie keeps playing the way he has, he’ll wind up on plenty more.
The top pick in the NHL draft in June is playing a prominent role for Chicago, which is putting together a season that could lead to the playoffs after it missed eight of the previous nine postseasons. Led by the curly haired 19-year-old, who looks like he’s 14, the Original Six franchise is generating a buzz and starting to reconnect with its fans.
Kane had 25 points, more than any other rookie, heading into the Blackhawks’ game against Phoenix on Friday night.
Not bad for someone who just finished high school.
Then again, maybe he was meant to play in this league even if he’s just 5-foot-10 and 163 pounds. The images on his bedroom wall back home in Buffalo, N.Y., support the theory.
There’s a poster of Pat LaFontaine, and in the background is Patrick at age 2 or 3 sitting on his father’s lap at a Sabres game. One great American player who stood 5-10 and another who is being compared to him.
There’s a picture of Patrick at 5 or 6 adding his signature to the last piece of steel that went into the new arena the Sabres were building at the time. The boy is wearing the jersey of then-Sabre Dominik Hasek. Who knew that years later he would wind up scoring against the goalie in a shootout to lift the Blackhawks over the Detroit Red Wings?
The coincidences hit with the force of a hard check.
There’s a photo of Patrick at 7 or 8 with his favorite player, Joe Sakic. And another taken around the same time shows him in a Red Wings jersey with legendary coach Scotty Bowman, who was in town with his Stanley Cup.
Patrick’s first goal came against Sakic’s Colorado team, and he now lives with Bowman’s son Stan – one of the Blackhawks’ assistant general managers – and his family.
“I have the whole basement to myself,” Kane said.
He also has much of the weight of a franchise on his shoulders, though he is getting help carrying it.
With Kane and Jonathan Toews, the Blackhawks boast the league’s two top rookie scorers and they just got a big boost with the return of All-Star right wing Martin Havlat. He scored two goals in Wednesday’s 5-1 win over Tampa Bay after missing 22 games because of a right shoulder he injured in the season opener.
The Blackhawks were 13-9-2 going into their game Friday with the Coyotes, and along with the improvement on the ice, they appear to be moving in the right direction away from it.
Chairman Rocky Wirtz has made numerous changes since the death in September of his father, William Wirtz. He shook up management, reassigning longtime vice president Bob Pulford and hiring president John McDonough away from the Chicago Cubs. He also agreed to televise some home games, something his father vehemently opposed.
The pieces seem to be falling into place.
“To be a part of that puzzle, it’s awesome,” Kane said. “To hear people say that, it obviously makes you feel good.”
Coach Denis Savard said it’s easy to forget that he’s just a rookie. He marvels at Kane’s attitude, the playful spirit he has brought to the locker room, and those advanced skills.
Havlat is likewise impressed.
“He’s not the biggest guy, but he’s got so much more skill than everybody else,” Havlat said. “He’s going to get only better. To be that small, you have to be good somewhere else to get in the league. … He’s a creative player on the ice.”
Patrick Kane Sr. started seeing that cerebral side when he brought his son to Sabres games as a toddler. Rather than watching the mascot, Patrick Jr. seemed to study the players even when he was just 3.
His father taught him to skate when he was 6, put a stick in his hands when he was 7, and Patrick hasn’t let go of it since. It quickly became clear that he had the talent and drive to match his interest.
Patrick Sr. remembers hearing other parents at house league games predicting his son would stop scoring once he started getting checked. Never mind that opposing players were already doing that when he was 8 or 9, even though it was against the rules in Buffalo until age 10.
Patrick Jr. was so far ahead of the kids his age that the man running one league offered to refund the registration fee his father had paid because Patrick was scoring too many goals and other parents were complaining.
“Is there another league?” Patrick Sr. remembers asking.
The Kanes stayed to watch a league with older kids and Patrick Sr. asked his son what he thought. Patrick Jr. decided to play against them.
He continued to excel even though he was often taking on kids two or three years older than him. And prying Kane from the ice was as difficult as defending him.
He was at the rink six or seven days a week, sometimes practicing twice a day. His father estimates there were about 300 games a year for about five teams between the ages of 11 and 13, but his son seemed to embrace the hectic schedule.
“There were days when Patrick would have to get up at 6 o’clock and go to a practice, and I would say, ‘Son, if you can’t do it, just stay in bed,”’ Donna Kane said.
Patrick’s response was always the same: No.
It was clear he was way ahead of the competition in Buffalo. And it was also becoming apparent that he needed another challenge.
Patrick had played against the Honeybaked AAA hockey club from the Detroit area at a tournament in Toronto and his team had won. After the game, the Honeybaked coach, Donnie Harkins, made his initial recruiting pitch to have Patrick Jr. join the program. The Kanes dismissed it at first, but Harkins persisted.
He invited them to tournaments in Detroit and Toronto, where they met longtime NHL player Pat Verbeek. An assistant coach with a son on the team, he all but clinched the decision for the Kanes when he said Patrick could live with his family.
Patrick went to a hockey camp in Michigan for a week and told his parents he wanted to make the move. So at 14, their only son, the oldest of four children, left home.
Donna Kane drove him to Michigan and visited for a while. Halfway back to Buffalo, she got a call from him asking her to pick him up.
“We told him if it didn’t work out, he most certainly could come home, but we didn’t want him to quit,” Donna Kane said. “We wanted him to at least try it.”
He was in a new school, didn’t know anybody, and only saw his parents on weekends. At the rink, Harkins wasn’t easy on him.
“I kind of had to battle myself, not worrying about my friends at home and my family,” Patrick Kane said.
His stock soared during his three years in Michigan and he had a choice to make: go to college or play for a major junior program. The Kanes thought it over for six to eight months before Patrick turned down scholarships from Michigan and Boston College to play for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League.
“We knew going to the OHL was a risk,” Patrick Sr. said.
The advantage was playing 60 or 70 games compared to 30 and getting a chance to play in a charged environment, where 9,000 fans cram the arenas and the players are local celebrities.
That prepared Kane for the NHL and his budding stardom.
That reality still hasn’t hit his parents. Maybe it’ll sink in when the Blackhawks visit Buffalo on Dec. 15.
“We look out here and we still think it’s like – how do you word it?” Patrick Sr. said before Wednesday’s game, his voice trailing off. He then watched his son contribute three assists.
His parents were there when their son scored his first goal, when he was named the first star of the night and Sakic the second. They witnessed the shootout goal against Hasek, who recognized Patrick Kane Sr. in the hallway afterward. Years earlier, the goalie was a customer at his Jeep dealership, and when the elder Kane asked if he would take a picture with his son, Hasek said, “Sure, no problem.”
“Then, Pat walks over and he looks and realizes, ‘Hey, that’s the kid that just scored against me,”’ Patrick Sr. said. “He thought I was going to have a 5-year-old or a 10-year-old.”
The Kanes still have a tough time believing their son is in the NHL.
When they held a party after the draft, one thought crossed Patrick Sr.’s mind: “I can’t believe I got the sixth overall pick in the NHL in my back yard.”
The No. 6 pick, Sam Gagner, was Patrick’s teammate on the London Knights who went to the Edmonton Oilers.
Of course, the No. 1 pick was there, too.
“You just take it for granted,” Patrick Sr. said. “Everybody’s saying, ‘I can’t believe Sam Gagner’s here.’ We have Patrick, who is No. 1. It’s little things that sometimes you look up and say, ‘Oh my God.”’
Add A Comment
THIS IS NOT A GAMBLING SITE – If you think you have a gambling problem click here.
Disclaimer: This site is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Individual users are responsible for the laws regarding accessing gambling information from their jurisdictions. Many countries around the world prohibit gambling, please check the laws in your location. Any use of this information that may violate any federal, state, local or international law is strictly prohibited.
Copyright: The information contained on TheSpread.com website is protected by international copyright and may not be reproduced, or redistributed in any way without expressed written consent.
About: TheSpread.com is the largest sports betting news site in the United States. We provide point spread news, odds, statistics and information to over 175 countries around the world each year. Our coverage includes all North American College and Professional Sports as well as entertainment, political and proposition wagering news.
©1999-2023 TheSpread.com