The Hawks played the Canadiens during a busy night at the UC. First, it was Lukas Reichel‘s NHL debut. The Hawks drafted him 17th overall back in 2020. He’s been doing well in Rockford, 20 points (11G 9A) in 20 games. I appreciate them not rushing him right to the NHL, spending time in Rockford would do him some good but it was nice to see him get his debut tonight. He ended up having 3 shots on goal, a blocked shot, and 15:55 of ice time, including 1:19 on the power play.
The Hawks did end up winning this game in OT with a crazy goal I’ve included at the end of this blog. But more importantly, in my mind, the Hawks took time tonight to honor Andrew Shaw at the game. Shaw retired 8 months ago after battling another concussion. It was understandable but it still sucks so much to lose him right after his return to Chicago. Shawzy was so damn loved in this city, he gave this team his heart and soul and we still love him for that. He got a proper legacy send-off in front of a crowd of adoring fans. Warning, this video will make you tear up:
I don’t think there will ever be another Hawk like him and I miss him so much already. He was sincerely a special kind of player. Every game he was there, getting up to no good, scoring crazy goals that didn’t even count sometimes (See: Headbutt). Not to mention he was just unapologetically himself off the ice which made for great fan content that I grew up absolutely loving. I think he built the blueprint for what I love to see in players to this day. Like I love Brendan Gallagher, Travis Konecny, Brad Marchand, etc. because they all are those guys who might be small but they’ll pester the hell out of you. They’ll get in your ear, they’ll score sick goals, and they’re all generally my height (5’8″). All of that started with Shawzer. He built my love for this game as it is now. It’s also probably because I see a lot of him in myself (short, angry, scrappy, does not stop talking).
This is a nice video I found that has a bunch of his career as well as some of his AHL goals and fight:
Also, classic:
I hope he gets some form of job with the Hawks so we can still see him. At least his wife, Chaunette, and him are active on Instagram so we have that. It felt right that the Hawks would win this game against the Canadiens in a very Shaw-esque way with a goal that is so questionable but hey, it counted.
Day 1,085 of blogging about hockey, I still don’t have the slightest clue what goaltender interference is. Congrats on the career, Shawzy.
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