I wanted to open this snowy Tuesday with a happy memory. On Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010, Chicago was in a significantly better place with its professional sports teams than we are today. The to improve to 9-3 on the season. Later that night, the Blackhawks hosted the Calgary Flames. The Blackhawks won a wild game in which every goal by both teams was scored on the power play. Yes, the Blackhawks scored on the power play — four times in one game! Brent Seabrook had three assists that night and Jonathan Toews scored the game-winner and added an assist in . I’m not sure how many times the Blackhawks and Bears have won games on the same day since that day 13 years ago.
I remember both of those games because my wife’s water broke late in the fourth quarter of the Bears game. We headed to the hospital to wait for our second son to come into the world. Bobby decided to take his time, so my wife asked the nurses to put the Blackhawks game on in our room as we waited for his arrival. It became clear that Bobby was going to need help coming into the world, so after the final horn of the Blackhawks game she called the doctors and asked to come get him out.
Bobby’s celebrating his 13th birthday today. When he was younger, his favorite players were Toews and Seabrook because they had big games on his actual day of birth — and because they were tremendous players. He’s fully on the Bedsy Bandwagon now, but still has a 19 jersey in his size ready to wear watching a game. That’s him in the photo above in one of his Toews jerseys staring into Patrick Kane’s armpit. I brought him to Kane’s last practice as a member of the Blackhawks because sometimes you’ve gotta do the dad thing, ya know? Happy birthday, Bobby!
In a few weeks, Adam Gajan will lead Slovakia’s charge in their quest to one-up last year’s near-Cinderella WJC run. For now, he’s still got work to do with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers, but the numbers are solid. He had just one regulation loss in eight starts in November and currently sits with a 13-4-1 record. Defensive zone support hꩲasn’t always been great in frꦬont of him, but Gajan is one of the quickest goalies you’ll find at this level and always gives the Gamblers a chance to win. Many scouts wanted to see how he could do in extended runs after his meteoric rise last year, but the Chicago Blackhawks pick is looking like the real deal.
