Chicago Blackhawks Flashback: Ice Bucket Challenge

By Colin Likas |

It’s Wednesday, meaning some Blackhawk Up readers are about halfway through their work week. So I’m going to provide a blast to the past each Hump Day to give you all a little extra oomph and help you get to the weekend. The Chicago Blackhawks have done a lot of funny or endearing video spots since the organization emerged from its dark days. Those spots will be the topic of these flashback posts.

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This is already our fifth issue of the flashback series. We’ve previously looked at past clips from Joey the Junior Reporter, a Blackhawks holiday special, Jonathan Toews‘ All-Star aspirations and members of the Blackhawks playing Mario Kart. What’s in store today?

We talked a bit yesterday about how the Chicago Blackhawks are a very image-conscious team. If you want proof of that, search “bhtv” on YouTube and look at the Blackhawks internal media page. It includes a tab titled “In the community,” which features Blackhawks players, coaches and staff members doing various things to help those in the Chicagoland area and beyond.

Today’s flashback looks at one of the “and beyond” moments. Last year about this time, many were swept up in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, a way of raising awareness and funds for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Basically, those who participated poured a bucket of ice-cold water on their head or donated money to ALS research (or both).

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It wasn’t long before the Ice Bucket Challenge made its way to the Chicago Blackhawks, who of course challenged one another and were challenged by others outside the organization.

Toews is the first Blackhawk I can recall partaking in the challenge, though I don’t know for sure that he was first. But his completion of the challenge is pretty memorable nonetheless.

Toews completes the challenge while riding a wakeskate, though I think his friends on the boat took the opportunity to mess with him a bit. Toews receives a bucket of water from someone on the boat and dumps it on his head, only to have two more buckets of water thrown his his face, causing him to fall off the board.

Brad Richards was one of the Blackhawks challenged by Toews, and he points out during his own video that he doesn’t have “a pair of black sexy underwear like he does,” making fun of Toews’ swim trunks. But Richards did have a group of kids to douse him with two coolers full of water.

The best Blackhawks Ice Bucket Challenge video might be from coach Joel Quenneville, though. We always wonder why Q seems to angry behind the bench, and this video may have shown us why: Q is kind of scary when he’s happy.

Q shows us that he isn’t faking the ice-cold portion of this challenge by smashing a bag of ice and dumping it straight into his bucket of water, which he then dumps on his head. But it’s the laugh afterward that gets me. He sounds like Heath Ledger’s Joker, and it’s part hilarious, part terrifying.

Other Blackhawks Ice Bucket Challenge videos I could find feature Patrick Kane, now-former Blackhawk Ben Smith, Blackhawks president John McDonough (with Brandon Saad), Dr. Michael Terry, Blackhawks radio analyst Troy Murray (with Jack O’Callahan), Blackhawks TV analyst Eddie Olczyk, Blackhawks executive vice president Jay Blunk and anthem singer Jim Cornelison — after singing the national anthem. Enjoy the anthem, and the ice.

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