Bedard Plays In Chicago TONIGHT. We Just Need To Become A Hockey-First City
It's been a bad month. Every time you turn on the TV it's been Chicago teams punching you in the gut and ripping your heart out. I can't not believe how this series has gone for the Cubs. It feels like we have witnessed two deaths in the city in the last month. Soul crushing deaths. Chicago teams always let us down. This year it feels different. It's worse when you get your hopes up.
I think the safest course of action for the City is to just lean into hockey. I don't know what the future holds for the Blackhawks. I think it is virtually impossible to expect the team to win the way they won in the 2010s. That was a once in a lifetime type of run. A perfect core. A perfect coach. A true renaissance of hockey in Chicago after it had been dead for seemingly a generation.
That run laid the foundation. It brought back the casuals. For this era I think it is time for the casuals to become more than that. Not for the team, not for me, but for YOU. We have a truly special player making his United Center debut tonight. Bedard is the type of guy that'll make this organization fun every night. He is "unfuckupable". Bedard is so good that he will provide a foundation and floor for success. The cavalry is coming in the years to come as more prospects and draft picks get added to the varsity, but when you have a talent like his the team should be good enough to be a playoff team for 10 years once he is established. I would love for them to get over the top, but I doubt this team led by Danny Wirtz, Kyle Davidson, and Connor Bedard will ever embarrass the city or let us down. Consistently good with a bonafide star.
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Get in on the ground floor while it's still building. Last time people found out we had an NHL franchise in the city as the 2010 Stanley Cup Final was starting. It's going to be a longer road this time, but you will get plenty of pride and entertainment in the interim. If you've always been a casual, that is fine, welcome. What you need to do now is act as if. Act as if you aren't a casual. Make the Blackhawks part of your nightly routine in the winter. Make it to a couple of games. Watch on TV. Learn the names. Learn everything. If you feel like you can't see the puck...just keep watching. By the 2nd or 3rd game it'll be second nature. Use your eyes to track Bedard and he will teach you things. It's going to be fun here. It's going to be safe. You are safe to believe in something again in Chicago. Make it a hockey town.