How Chicago Blackhawks goalie Darling pulled off surprise proposal

When the NHL all-star break arrived three weeks ago, Scott Darling knew his girlfriend wasn't thrilled about being 800 miles away at a U.S. Figure Skating competition in Richmond, Va.

So what did the Blackhawks goalie do?

He jumped in the car with their dog and made the 13-hour drive, of course.

After staying overnight in a hotel, Darling arranged for his girlfriend's mom to meet them in town.

“She had a break in the middle of the day,” Darling said. “Her mom said, ‘Do you want to go to lunch?' And I bumped into her on the street with the dog.”

Well, actually, that's not exactly how it went down.

“I was heading out to grab some food and all of a sudden, this dog comes around the corner of one of these buildings as I'm walking down the street,” Martha Buckley said. “And it came right at me. It kind of freaked me out. I'm like, ‘Wow, this dog's coming at me as if it knows me.'

And then I looked closer … and I think my heart jumped out of my chest at this point because then I recognized it was our dog.”

Darling, who had hung back to let the dog run to Martha, then popped out to complete the surprise.

The first surprise, that is.

“Five minutes later, I popped the question (and asked her to marry me),” Darling said. “It was all good. She was happy. She said yes, so I was happy.”

Said Buckley: “We had had this really great conversation. It was really fun. The magic of it was him coming all the way to Virginia with the dog in tow.”

The couple has been dating for 3½ years with their first date coming the day Darling signed his contract with the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers. They plan to get married in the Boston area, where Buckley is from and Darling trains during the summer. The couple has not set a wedding date.

It turned out to be quite an eventful week for Darling, too, as news then broke just days later that he bought groceries and a hotel room — for a month — for a homeless man in Arizona.

“I know I was the only person that he shared that with,” Buckley said. “So it was obviously really shocking when it got released. But in all honesty, it totally is the kind of guy that Scott is. That's something that's always been endearing to me — we both believe in helping others first.

“His reaction to it was: ‘Totally not the reason that I did it.'

“It's just these are the kind of things which he genuinely enjoys doing. … It's a pretty special quality about him. It's something I've always admired and really respected. He's a great guy — one of the best.”

Back on the ice:

Darling made his first start in nearly a month during the Blackhawks' 7-2 victory over Toronto on Monday. He made 35 saves and improved to 6-4-2 on the season.

The 2 goals he allowed came when the game was well in hand, with the Hawks holding a 7-0 third-period lead.

“It's nice, obviously because you've got a good feeling about the outcome,” Darling said. “But it's challenging too when you're watching the team put on a dazzling show for about 13 minutes straight. So you've got to stay in it mentally.”

One of his biggest saves came in the second period when he dove to his left, robbing Nick Spaling of what looked to be a surefire goal.

“It was unbelievable,” Andrew Shaw said. “It's nice to have Darling come in and play such great hockey.

“You see how hard he works and for him to be rewarded and make a big-time save like that — it'll be in the highlights, that's for sure.”

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Blackhawks (37-18-5) vs. New York Rangers (32-18-6) at Madison Square Garden, 7 p.m. today

TV: NBCSN

Radio: WGN 720-AM

The skinny: This figures to be a tough test for the Hawks as the Rangers have the second-best home record in the NHL at 21-5-3 and are one of five teams with 70 or more standings points entering Tuesday's action. ... The Rangers beat the Blackhawks 3-2 in the season opener for both teams at the United Center. ... Mats Zuccarello and Derick Brassard each have 17 goals for New York. Brassard has 4 goals and 7 assists in the last eight games. ... In his last five games, goalie Henrik Lundqvist allowed just 6 goals, going 5-0 with a .954 save percentage.

Next: Minnesota Wild at TCF Bank Stadium, 2:30 p.m. Sunday

— John Dietz