Thursday night marks the end of an era in Chicago sports. Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews won’t be resigned by the team this off-season, meaning his time for now with the organization he helped to three Stanley Cups comes to an end.
Toews has had a variety of issues health wise of late but will go down as one of the very best and most important players in Blackhawks history.
Back in the late summer of 2015 the Blackhawks were in the middle of training camp that did for a time annually at Notre Dame. It happened to line up that the Irish were hosting Georgia Tech an afternoon which meant the defending Stanley Cup champs were around for a game and Toews brought Lord Stanley on a field trip.
“Worth the hype” is how Toews described attending his first Notre Dame football game while donning a Notre Dame cap. You can check out the video here as he’s interviewed by NBC Sports sideline reporter Kathryn Tappan.
Toews happened to be carrying the most famous trophy in North American sports with him at that moment but the real Notre Dame connection to those championship Blackhawks teams was with former general manager Stan Bowman who attended college at Notre Dame.
Personally, Toews time in Chicago coming to an end makes me feel a bit old. I was a senior in college when he was a star rookie and although he’s just 33-years old, it feels like a lifetime ago when he and Patrick Kane debuted. In short order they helped turn the tide of one of the most laughable organizations in professional sports. The Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup in nearly 50 years in 2010 and did so again in 2013 and 2015.
His Blackhawks career didn’t end in the way of a ferry tale like it began, but his impact is undeniable. All the best to the captain in whatever the future brings.
Oh, and for whatever it’s worth, Notre Dame beat Georgia Tech that day 30-22 in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated.
[lawrence-related id=30183]
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]