Brandon Pirri was sitting on the bench moments before the start of the first scrimmage of Blackhawks training camp on Friday when he looked up and saw the referee setting up for the faceoff between Bryan Bickell and Patrick Kane.
“We had four guys out there,” Pirri said. “[Coach Ted Dent] kicked me and said, ‘Get out there.'”
Yes, even the Hawks were surprised to learn that Jonathan Toews was hurt.
Toews took part in a brief practice Friday morning but was held out of the scrimmage for “precautionary” reasons with a lower-body injury, according to Joel Quenneville. The Hawks coach said the injury has been “bugging” Toews for a while now, and that he might stay off the ice for “a couple days.” The Hawks’ have camp at Notre Dame through Sunday before the training camp festival at the United Center on Monday night and the preseason opener against Detroit on Tuesday.
“It’s not serious, but we’ll see how he is tomorrow,” Quenneville said.
Quenneville said Toews — who practiced in Thursday’s non-contact session — completed his physical testing on Wednesday.
“It’s not bad, but we said, ‘Let’s be smart about it,'” Quenneville said.
