Hawks can't complete comeback in Quenneville's return to UC
Jonathan Toews knew Tuesday night at the United Center was going to be strange.
Different. Odd. Perhaps even bizarre.
That'll happen when a head coach you spent 10-plus seasons busting your butt for returns with an enemy franchise for the first time.
But when it was all over a completely different word summed up the evening: Special.
"Pretty cool to see the respect they gave 'Q' tonight," Toews said of the fans' reaction to Joel Quenneville's tribute video during the first period of Florida's 4-3 victory over the Blackhawks.
Said Quenneville, whose eyes were awfully misty during the extended ovation: "It felt unbelievable. It was a great feeling.
"They captured some special moments in the building (with) the enthusiasm and the excitement and the noise. ... It was special. It was kind of like saying thank you to me, and I was thanking them."
It wasn't the only time the crowd roared to salute an individual either as about 30 minutes earlier they rained down thunderous applause upon Patrick Kane during an on-ice ceremony to celebrate the winger's 1,000 NHL points.
"Some great moments. Big goals. Huge goals," Quenneville said of Kane's video. "He was a privilege to coach. ... He's a special player and you've got to love players that want the puck, and once they get it they do special things with it."
It wasn't a particularly special game for the Hawks, who fell behind 3-0 after Florida scored at 4:43, 6:14 and 10:04 of the second period. Coach Jeremy Colliton's team did get goals from Kirby Dach, Drake Caggiula and Kane - with Kane's coming at 18:45 of the third period - but a hooking call on Toews with 31 seconds left essentially ended the comeback bid.
The Hawks (24-21-6) had their five-game winning streak snapped and are off until Feb. 1.
Toews played nearly 750 regular season and 128 playoff games under Quenneville and teamed up with the now 61-year-old coach to produce the most memorable stretch of hockey in the franchise's history.
The marriage began when Quenneville took over five games into the 2008-09 season with Toews still a fresh-faced 20-year-old.
Wait. Make that a fresh-faced 20-year-old captain, something Quenneville had never seen before.
"Joel (probably) felt like he'd seen it all, and all of a sudden he's dealing with a 20-year-old captain who has no idea what he's doing," Toews said. "But he was so patient, letting me grow as a player and giving me every opportunity to go out there and focus on my game. ...
"He was a great mentor in that sense for me personally every step of the way."
While the divorce between Quenneville and the Hawks came 14.5 months ago, it wasn't a parting that left the coach with bitter feelings or any animosity.
"I didn't have any of that type of feeling," he said. "The memories were too special and recapturing it here you have that sense of why it was like that.
"They show a lot of appreciation for everyone here. It's a great place to play. Special fans and a fun building and a great organization."
Those fans - all 21,559 of them Tuesday - showed why that's the case during that thrill ride of a 90-second video.
"That ovation was incredible," Toews said. "All of us that played for him were all smiles. His ovation might have been bigger than Kaner's, I don't know. It was a close call.
"Obviously the fans showed him lots of love and respect, so pretty cool to see."