It had been awhile since a Blackhawks game was a capital-E-level Event in the crowded Chicago sports scene.
Sure, there have been sold-out nights and big cheers and historic moments over the last few seasons, but they’ve all been notable solely because of nostalgia over the team’s decorated history and aging-out superstars. Freshness had been lacking.
That changed Saturday. The Hawks’ home opener — a 5-3 loss to the defending champion Golden Knights — was, without question, a capital-E-level Event.
A sellout crowd of 19,867 roared when Connor Bedard walked a red carpet into the United Center hours before puck drop, roared when Bedard hit the ice for warmups, roared when public-address announcer Gene Honda called Bedard’s name at the end of player introductions and roared when Bedard won the opening faceoff against Nicolas Roy.
And they certainly roared when, only 90 seconds into his first regular-season game on Madison Street, Bedard found himself wide open in the slot and buried a wrist shot past goalie Adin Hill.
All the frustration over the franchise’s lack of direction and increasing irrelevance — up until one Ping-Pong ball changed everything in May — was unleashed in one collective barrage of sound.
With rally towels swirling and “Chelsea Dagger” nearly indistinguishable amid the pandemonium, it felt like a playoff atmosphere for the first time in a long time.
“[I] tried to hit a spot, and, fortunately, I did,” Bedard said. “You don’t really get that many opportunities like that, so I just tried to make the most of it.
“It was electric in there. It was cool for me and all the guys there. You get energy from that. For us to get one early and get [the fans] up like that was great.”
Bedard scores less than 2 minutes into his home debut. It’s an absolute madhouse in here. pic.twitter.com/OsUewbmwZv
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) October 22, 2023
The timing of the 18-year-old Vancouver native’s first home goal and second career goal couldn’t have been any better, coming mere moments after new Hawks chairman Danny Wirtz promised to shepherd the franchise into its “next chapter” during an emotional pregame tribute to late chairman Rocky Wirtz.
With Bedard at the helm and a growing assortment of other talented prospects either adjusting to the NHL now or on the way soon, it might be a capital-C-level Chapter.
Hawks fans already have embraced and placed their belief in Bedard — and even fellow high-profile youngsters Kevin Korchinski and Lukas Reichel — more than just about any other player to arrive post-2015 championship, save perhaps for Alex DeBrincat.
Even Bedard seems to be daydreaming about leading the organization into that kind of era, although he’s far too humble and adept at deflecting attention to admit it. He did admit to having watched some videos of the Hawks’ Stanley Cup runs.
It will be a journey, however, to get there. This environment was more like a sneak preview than a new standard. Most games this season will not be sold out; possibly no others will reach capital-E-level Event status. Many will be far less interesting on the ice, too.
The only playoff-like atmospheres will be just that: playoff-like. Barring a miraculously fast maturation of a very inexperienced roster, there will be no actual playoff atmospheres this season — nor next season, probably. The Hawks have, if anything, exceeded expectations during their first six games just to be 2-4-0.
The fact that this game was relatively competitive against such a superior opponent did help maintain the surge of electricity that Bedard ignited, though. The fans got most of what they paid for — and based on resale ticket prices this week, most paid handsomely. An outright victory would’ve been asking a lot.
Young goalie Arvid Soderblom came up with some big saves against one of the deepest lineups in the league during the first two periods. Fourth-line grinder Reese Johnson scored the prettiest goal of his career — tipping a Connor Murphy shot down, off the ice and into the net — to tie the score at 2 entering the second intermission.
But Bedard fell asleep defensively after losing the opening faceoff of the third period, letting Keegan Kolesar slip free behind him to set up Roy 13 seconds in to give the Knights the lead for good.
It was a worthwhile reminder that he’s not a flawless demigod of hockey quite yet, even if the overwhelming hype sometimes creates the impression that he is. He took full responsibility for the goal after the game.
“We clawed and fought with a really good team for 40 minutes,” coach Luke Richardson said. “If we got into that period [unscathed], the longer it went, I think we would’ve fared OK.”
The Hawks’ power play, despite finally looking more cohesive in general, was unable to convert on two opportunities in the last 12 minutes — reviving another playoff tradition by prompting the entire 300 level to yell “shoot” in unison.
The Knights scored two late goals to seal the result and inflate the final score.
“Obviously now you’re focused on what we can do better to win,” Bedard said. “But . . . as a moment in your life, looking back, you’ll remember it.”
