Blackhawks to open camp at Notre Dame

The Blackhawks may open the regular season at home against Washington, but they will open training camp on the road — on the campus of Notre Dame to be precise.

The Hawks’ campus camp kicks off Sept. 12. All practices will be held at Compton Family Ice Arena through Sept. 15 before returning to the United Center on Sept. 16, for the team’s annual Training Camp Festival.

“We are thankful that Notre Dame is allowing us to host our camp at their new state-of-the-art, world-class facility,” said Hawks general manager Stan Bowman, an ND alum.

“Opening camp on the road offers our players and coaching staff a unique team bonding atmosphere. We look forward to bringing Blackhawks hockey to our fans in northwest Indiana.”

And the folks at Notre Dame look forward to serving as host for a few days.

“It is great to have the best team in hockey spend time at what we believe is one of the best hockey facilities in the country,” said Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick.

ŸTickets for the 2013 Blackhawks Training Camp Festival go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. Fans can purchase tickets for $5 on chicagoblackhawks.com, by visiting any Ticketmaster location, or by calling (800) 745-3000.

Fans holding tickets to the sixth annual Blackhawks Convention also may purchase tickets on-site.

Eight is enough ... for now:In what should come as no surprise the Blackhawks have a league-high five players invited to the Canadian national team orientation camp, and leading the way are 2010 gold medalists Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook.Also invited to Alberta, Calgary, are 2010 invitee Patrick Sharp and first-time camper Corey Crawford.Meanwhile, three Hawks players #151; Patrick Kane, Nick Leddy and Brandon Saad #151; have been invited to the U.S. national team orientation camp in late August.