Nick Foligno’s 'It’s My 2nd Family' Quote Shows Blackhawks’ Dedication to Community Building

After a successful operation for Milana, he returned to practice on Monday (Oct. 20). He expressed his gratitude about the team’s support.

We found a lot of comfort in the support of the hockey community, fans, old teammates and my second family here. It’s amazing when you go through a hard time how everyone bands together to send you a ton of support and love and prayers, and it was felt by our family.

Foligno went on to talk about the support from his teammates.

Just the group, saying that game in St. Louis (an 8-3 win) was for Milana, right before she was gonna go in for surgery. How much she’s meant to a lot of people. I think she knows she’s loved and appreciated. It’s just the spirit that she kind of walks into a room with. A lot of the guys got to know her pretty well when they came up in the summer, and I think they were all feeling it for us.

The captain is referring to when he invited a number of the young Blackhawks to come up to his hometown in Sudbury, Ontario, to train, skate and hang out. These young men all took some time out of their offseason to spend quality time together. That alone speaks to the bonding this team is willing to do to get to know each other both personally as well as professionally.

While he was away from the team, Foligno had a chance to see from the outside looking in how the team is embracing a winning mentality.

I think we’re a team that’s learning so much on the fly, and I’m so proud to watch that. It’s something we’ve harped on, and I think the coaching staff has done a great job of. Credit to the guys. They’re listening, right? They want to be part of winning, and it’s showing in the games and the way we’re playing. So it’s all fun to see.

Blashill’s Praise for the Blackhawks’ Progression

Foligno cited the coaching staff, which is new this season and led by head coach Jeff Blashill. Blashill spent seven seasons as head coach of the Detroit Red Wings and then three seasons as an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning, led by one of the best coaches in the business, Jon Cooper.

Blashill and the Blackhawks faced off against the Lightning on Thursday (Oct. 23), which resulted in a 3-2 victory. Beforehand, Blashill was asked what he learned from Cooper. He said Cooper showed him what mattered most, and that was a relationship and open communication with the players.

You can have all the X’s and O’s you want, but our number one job is to get the most out of our players. And the way you do that, ultimately, is to build relationships. Hold them accountable, but be in the fight with them.

In the Blackhawks’ Centennial season kick-off and home-opener against the Montreal Canadiens (Oct. 11), they took 10 penalties and ultimately lost the game 3-2. It was an exciting and hard-fought affair. For the Blackhawks, there wasn’t a whole lot of discipline, but there was a whole lot of heart.

Blashill gave some good insight after the game. “If you don’t care about each other enough to fight for each other, you’re not gonna be a good team. So we’re going to make sure we look after each other.” He further confessed, “I like our guys a lot. I like their attitude, I like their approach. I like our talent. It’s a growth process, for sure. We knew it was going to be and we’ll continue to work through that growth process.”  

The coaching staff seems to have the respect and trust of the players, and vice versa. Which is another recipe for success.

Blackhawks’ Top Guns

Now let’s get to the real meat of the Blackhawks’ success, and that’s all the young players that are the future of this team. Ahead of their game against the Lightning, a number of them made a “Top Gun” appearance while boarding the team plane.

The players who portrayed themselves as fighter pilots were Colton Dach, Artyom Levshunov, Landon Slaggert, Ryan Greene, Louis Crevier and Frank Nazar. This is an obvious play on the “need for speed” reference from the movie; speed being a strength of most of these young players and an identity of the team. I’m not sure how this all came about, but it was forward Greene’s 22^nd birthday on this day.

The companionship and swagger is on full display here, showing that this team is bonding beyond just playing hockey games together. There’re a family that’s learning and growing and finding their way, together.

Donato Defers

Ryan Donato is currently on a heater with a four-game goal streak and a five-game point streak, having contributed five goals and seven points in that span. But of course there’s no “I” in team. It’s interesting to hear what he had to say after the Blackhawks’ 3-2 win over the Lightning Thursday night (Oct. 24).

“The young guys are hungry to win” and “everyone pushing from the same side” are words we haven’t heard surrounding the Blackhawks for a long time. It’s a refreshing development, for sure. Nazar gave some more insight on the team’s success. When asked how the team is battling through to win close games, he responded,

I think we’ve that’s something that we’ve built the last few years. There’s been some hard times and some good times, but learning from losses and learning from mistakes, and losing. To be able to come out in games like this and understand what it takes to be mature and win games.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! This team appears to be turning a corner in their progression. They understand that all the tough times are going pay off, and make them a better team in the long run.

The Blackhawks are still going to go through their struggles and their ups and downs this season. There’s still plenty of work to be done. But they seem to be bonding both on and off the ice in all the right ways, and building the right culture. Can they carry this forward, and keep up the momentum they seem to have?

We’re going to find out. In the meantime, this is a fun hockey team that’s easy to root for.