Patrick Kane participates in Day 1 of Blackhawks camp

Share

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Patrick Kane’s name was announced early in the Blackhawks’ first scrimmage, after he assisted on an Andrew Desjardins goal.

The crowd response: some boos, mainly cheers.

“That's a pretty cool reaction, especially, you know, given the circumstances,” said Kane. “I didn't really know what to expect, but I thought it was ... you know, it's one of those things when you're going out on the ice, you don't know what's going to happen, and to hear that reaction from the crowd, it definitely gave me chills. So, it was an exciting moment."

After a bizarre press conference on Thursday during which Kane gave a statement and then declined to answer many questions, Kane joined his teammates on the ice to begin training camp on Friday. Kane begins camp while still being investigated for an alleged rape that may have occurred at his home in early August. He has not been charged with anything.

[MORE: Blackhawks test out new 3-on-3 OT format during training camp]

Kane, addressing reporters again following Friday’s scrimmages, said he talked to his family following Thursday’s press conference.

“It’s one of those situations, I’m not going to lie it’s like an awkward situation," Kane said. "You can’t really answer anything and you’re pretty much saying the same thing for every question and not that it’s something you want to do, it’s just the way it has to be right now. They understand the situation and they’ve been very supportive obviously.

"My parents have been there since Day 1. I moved away when I was 13 years old to Detroit and when I wanted to come back after the first day to up until now they’ve been very supportive. It’s been very good to have that support from my mom, my dad, my sisters, my girlfriend.”

Teammates say Kane’s demeanor is the same.

"He was happy and wanted to be back playing hockey and being with the guys," Bryan Bickell said. "It doesn’t look like any of it has affected him."

[RELATED: Bryan Bickell still feeling vertigo symptoms]

On Friday Kane was asked, considering how Thursday went, if he was still confident coming to camp was the right decision. Kane said he was.

“I got invited to camp, I’m happy to be here and I just want to get better every day, enjoy being a good teammate and enjoy being around my teammates too,” Kane said. “Last night we had dinner, just kind of sat around, watching football and just talked about life itself with my teammates.

"It was good just to talk to them about everything that’s not included with this situation. So it was fun doing that, fun to be around my teammates. I’m extremely happy to be here and it was a good first day.”

Contact Us