Blackhawks fans give Kane a rousing welcome

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Patrick Kane admitted it.

The cheers he received from fans as he skated onto the ice Friday for the first scrimmage at Blackhawks training camp gave him chills.

"That's a pretty cool reaction, especially, you know, given the circumstances," Kane said.

A loud roar went up when Kane's Team Red appeared, and fans cheered again when Kane appeared moments later. He also received a rousing ovation while change sticking after a few minutes on the ice.

On Thursday, the Hawks' superstar, under investigation for a sexual assault that allegedly took place at his Hamburg, New York home in early August, wouldn't talk about how he expected fans to react to his presence. While Kane has not been charged with any crime, a grand jury may resume a hearing later this month.

After participating in the two scrimmages Friday, however, he was clearly relieved.

"It's one of those things when you're going out on the ice, you don't know what's going to happen," Kane said, "and to hear that reaction from the crowd, it definitely gave me chills. So, it was an exciting moment."

Despite the cloud hovering over Kane, many fans of all ages wore 88 jerseys inside the Compton Family Ice Arena. He looked at ease on the ice and Jonathan Toews even gave his teammate a playful swipe with his stick during 3-on-3 play in the first scrimmage.

"Same old, he makes it look easy," Toews said. "I think a lot of guys are struggling … to shake that rust off and get things going, and he just goes out there and plays the game and things are going smooth for him, so it's good to see that."

Kane wouldn't say if any Hawks have taken him aside and had a talk with him. Bryan Bickell, though, said he doesn't notice any difference in his teammate.

"From when he came in here, he was like he left," Bickell said. "He was happy and wanted to be back playing hockey and being with the guys. It doesn't look like any of it has affected him."

Kane, who admitted to being pretty winded during the second scrimmage, said it was his first time on the ice since "everything happened."

While many of the questions were more hockey-related, the 26-year-old still faced plenty of inquiries about the investigation and why he keeps facing reporters.

"Well, I think just like any other of my other teammates, they're making themselves available to the media," Kane said. "I'm in a situation where I'm obviously confident in myself and confident about what's going on, and I think you guys understand I can't really talk about certain things and that's just the way it is."

Kane admitted he doesn't know if or when the questions about the case will end.

"It's a situation I take day-by-day," he said. "There's really no predictions."

As for his play on the ice, Kane was active and picked up an assist on his team's first goal. He made a perfect pass to defenseman Nick Mattson, who one-timed a shot that Corey Crawford stopped. Andrew Desjardins, though, pounced on the rebound and gave Kane's team a 1-0 lead.

On his next shift, Kane nearly scored again, but Crawford was able to make an impressive save.

Coach Joel Quenneville was happy to get camp started and said he liked what he saw of his defending champs.

As for any distractions?

"It was business as usual," Quenneville said. "First day at school - everybody's excited to be back and be part of it like we were today. I thought that was more of the focus."