Hossa wanted to keep Quenneville after everything was known. Quenneville was chosen before the Jenner & Block report was released. It’s not very well advertised, but Quenneville wrote the foreword for Hossa’s book. Of course, the mention of Joel Quenneville and Al MacIsaac probably raised some eyebrows. He touched on a lot of the greatest hits and knew where to get some laughs. He and I discussed a lot about how he went about his Hockey Hall of Fame speech, and it felt like that was a bit of a road map for this one. Which is fine, but you have to put the other six up now, right? Again, it’ll be odd if any of the seven is excluded from that.Īs for Hossa’s speech, none of it was a surprise. I do feel like Hossa holds a special place in Rocky Wirtz’s heart, and this was largely about favoritism. As much as Hossa had a special career, partly with the Blackhawks, he wouldn’t have been my first choice to have his number retired from the seven who won three Cups. I know we’ve talked about it a lot, but now that Hossa’s number is in the rafters, there is more intrigue on who will go up next. As Hossa mentioned in his speech, there will probably be a number more of these ceremonies in the coming years. My immediate thoughts were of everything that once was and how that all has been gone for many years now. There have been some grand on-ice celebrations in recent years with player milestones, Pat Foley’s departure, etc., but this was done up like one of the Stanley Cup banner-raising ceremonies. Powers: I sort of felt like I was back in time covering the Blackhawks. What’s your initial takeaway from the ceremony? Scott, you’ve been neck-deep in Hossa World for a couple of years now, helping him write his autobiography ( buy it here!). For one night, let’s talk Hossa, jersey retirements, and maybe some of the more conspicuous (and necessary) absences of the evening. We can (and will) talk about the harsher reality of the present and the long road and longer odds the Blackhawks face in their quest to bring that Cup and this vibe back to Chicago for the next several months, maybe several years. With more than 21,000 fans on hand to witness it - Hossa even prompted a boisterous ‘DETROIT SUCKS’ chant, the pause clearly written into his 20-minute speech - it felt like the good old days again. Hossa poses with his former teammates, including current players Patrick Kane and Jonathon Toews.

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