Demitra’s death hits Blackhawks’ Hossa hard

Marian Hossa is excused for the first few days of training camp while he mourns best friend Pavol Demitra back in his home country of Slovakia.

Demitra was one of the players killed in the plane crash that claimed the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team last week in Russia.

It was Hossa on Friday who raised Demitra’s No. 38 jersey to the rafters during a memorial at the arena in Trencin, Slovakia.

“Marian has gone through a tough time here,” Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said. “It’s a real tough situation for him to deal with. We certainly want to give him the time to be ready to step on the ice.

“Our thoughts are with him. It’s tough to lose a close friend and it was a terrible tragedy. It’s not an easy time for him, but he will be here soon.”

Toews’ big hit:Jonathan Toews was surprised to hear how many people had seen the video of him colliding with a kid on the ice at a camp earlier this week.Toews knew most of his friends had seen it.#147;I thought it was funny because I got like a million texts, more than anything else my biddies had seen on the Internet,#148; joked Toews. #147;They said, #145;Wow, you learned how to hit during the off-season.#146;#147;He#146;s OK, though. We were playing a game of keep away and the kid turned one way and I must have looked away or something and he cut right back in. I had absolutely no time to get out of the way and I kind of ran him over. It was ugly.#148;Goalie news:Coach Joel Quenneville said No. 1 goaltender Corey Crawford will play three full exhibition games, leaving four games for Ray Emery and Alexander Salak in their battle for the backup role.As for the regular season, Quenneville sees Crawford starting about 55 games.#147;To put an exact number on Crow, I would say the mid-50s is the number we#146;re looking at,#148; Quenneville said. #147;That would be a healthy dose for him.#148;Stan Bowman said the fact Emery is without a contract while Salak has a one-way deal, meaning he#146;d get his NHL salary even in Rockford, would have no bearing on the battle to be the backup.#147;We want to do what#146;s best for the team and we#146;re going to find a way to make it work for whoever is on the team,#148; Bowman said. #147;We watch them play in the preseason and they earn the right to be on the team based on their play. We#146;ve got two viable candidates for that role and at this time we#146;ll see who earns it.#148;Sharp update:It sounds as if Patrick Sharp is on schedule to be back on the ice skating in a few weeks following his emergency appendectomy Monday.#147;I wouldn#146;t say it impacts our training or the season, really,#148; Stan Bowman said. #147;It should be a few weeks and we#146;ll have him back and ready to go. In the scheme of things, it#146;s minor. It#146;s too early to predict timing. It#146;s basically four weeks and we#146;ll see how it goes.#148;