Rozner: Celebrating Kane a bad look for Chicago Blackhawks

It's a bad look for @NHLBlackhawks as they celebrate Patrick Kane's return to the ice, writes @BarryRozner

There is a contagion in Chicago Blackhawks camp, and it's spreading.

On Thursday it infected Hawks management, which will be trying to heal the scabs for a long time.

This weekend it has begun to work its way around the team.

Seriously, you could make a case for Jonathan Toews having as squeaky clean and perfect an image as any top-notch athlete Chicago has witnessed.

He's the greatest captain in sports. He'll be the next captain of Team Canada, which is about as high an honor as a Canadian can imagine. He's as hard a worker as the sport has seen. And he's led the Hawks to three Stanley Cups.

When it comes to speaking about hockey before or after a big win or defeat, Toews is right on point. His thoughts on the game are so genuine that he can't be anything but honest and correct.

Toews was born to lead a hockey team.

But he is out of his depth when discussing Patrick Kane and has stepped in it twice already.

The first time was a couple of weeks ago when he told a Winnipeg radio station, "I think you just have to have confidence that things like that will resolve themselves over time. For the time being you stay together as a team. You support your teammate, uh, teammates, that are maybe going through a rough patch."

Rough patch? Is that what the Hawks want the players to call this, a rough patch?

Probably not.

And Friday in South Bend, where the Hawks are training, Kane received a rousing ovation from the faithful, many wearing No. 88 jerseys, and Toews was asked what he thought about that.

"It's great," Toews said. "I think it's awesome."

Awesome? Not a word most would associate with the first few days of this debacle.

"Like we said yesterday," Toews said, "we're not going to get into the details of all that stuff."

Stuff? Really, that stuff?

"For now we're excited about hockey," Toews said. "It's great to get that reception, not only for (Kane) but for all the guys on the ice. All the fans were looking forward to watching some hockey again."

Again, Toews is not to blame. He didn't bring the circus to town and he shouldn't have to answer for a teammate accused of a crime. But when he does, it doesn't go well.

With 4,000 fans in attendance, Kane got a huge ovation when he took the ice and another when he was credited with an assist during the Friday scrimmage. "That's a pretty cool reaction," Kane said, "especially given the circumstances."

The circumstances. Yeah, those pesky circumstances. Kane has been accused of sexual assault in New York. He has not been charged with a crime and may never be, but reports out of New York suggest the case will be heard by an Erie County grand jury in the near future.

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

He got the chills. An exciting moment. Yippee for everyone.

"Once you get out there … you kind of get back into your element and enjoy playing hockey," Kane said. "Especially just being around your teammates on the bench joking around, having some laughs, it was good to get out there and do that."

Smiling, joking and wearing a Hawks sweater.

There's a woman in Buffalo who has accused Kane of a crime. We don't know what happened and we may never find out, but it's a fair guess that she didn't get the chills when she heard that Hawks fans stood and cheered their superstar hockey player.

It's enough to make those without blind faith queasy, that their fellow Hawks fans are so eager to support their hero.

There is also the portion of the fan base that has daughters and sisters, and mothers and wives.

It is not an easy watch for them right now, seeing a franchise so celebrated so stuck in a box, passively supporting Kane and showing no concern or compassion for his accuser.

That is a bad look for the Hawks - and getting worse by the day.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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