All roads lead back to Chicago for Ian Cole's 1,000th game

All roads lead back to Chicago.

For defenseman Ian Cole, the Chicago Blackhawks might not have been a team he ever expected to play for after getting drafted 18th overall by the St. Louis Blues in 2007.

But now, on Oct. 23, he is hitting his 1,000th NHL game as the Blackhawks face the Montreal Canadiens.

And the journey of hitting such a milestone has been a worthwhile for him.

Cole's early impact on Blackhawks

I spoke with Cole on Oct. 12, and he was four games away from 1,000. When I asked Cole about how he was feeling approaching the mark, "It's exciting. I mean, I think 1,000 games is something that when you start your career, that's always kind of like the end goal, right? Of course, you want to win Stanley Cups. Of course, you want to have success in your career, playoffs, maybe even individual awards. But I think as like a longevity milestone, that would be it. It'd be 1,000 games. So yeah, it's great. It's really, really cool. You know, it's a long time coming, but that's kind of the whole point of it, right? But yeah, it's very exciting."

Cole signed with the Blackhawks as a free agent back in July, and the Blackhawks valued his experience over his 17-year career and what it could provide to the young defense, as well as his expertise in areas like the penalty kill.

In nine games, he is averaging 16:52 minutes a night, and has currently been playing on the top pair with Alex Vlasic. He is also a plus-2, and leads the Blackhawks in blocked shots (15).

The 37 year old has been effective so far, and Bowen Byram said about being his teammate, "It's been good. Obviously, a guy that's seen a lot through his time in the NHL. He's got a lot of experience, whether that be on good teams winning Stanley Cups or teams not making the playoffs. He's kind of done it all, so he's a valuable piece to our dressing room, and he's still got a lot of game left in him. He plays hard and blocks shots, and plays great defensively. He's got a big reach, great on the PK (penalty kill). So, he's a big part of our team. And to be a part of someone's 1,000th game is pretty special. There's a lot of time and effort that goes into that. So it's definitely cool to be a part of, for sure."

Alex Vlasic also noted, "Yeah, he's great... He's been good for all the younger guys here, you know, myself included. I found myself talking to him quite a bit throughout the game, just picking his brain on certain plays and situations. He knows a lot about hockey in general, so it's been fun to kind of work with him."

The Chicago connection

Beyond the on-ice factor for the Blackhawks, there is another connection there. During Cole's summer media availability, he mentioned that his mom's family is from Chicago.

I asked him more about that, and he said his mom lived in Beverly and then moved to Hinsdale, where she lived through her childhood.

He said, "I still have aunts and uncles and cousins all around the area. My mom's cousins are all around the area, and you know, going to Notre Dame, (about) an hour and a half away, I still have a ton of friends from college that are here in town, and so it's really cool. It definitely feels like home, and, actually, I lived here for the summers for like six years just out of school. I skated at Johnny's Icehouse with the Hawks, and skated with Brian Campbell, and the guys that were on the team then... It's kind of cool to come full circle from spending a little bit of time during the summers very early on in my career, to then coming back."

Cole is from Michigan, but he had early ties to the Blackhawks: "Every time we came to town to visit family- my grandparents, whoever- you know, we'd go to Hawks games. So, growing up, I had probably been to as many Hawks games as I had been to Red Wings games."

So that raises the question of how rewarding it is to hit his milestone with the Blackhawks and whether he ever pictured himself here. "No. I've been on a fair amount of teams now, and I think in a perfect world, you would have your 1,000th game with guys you've been around for a while, and you can kind of share that experience together. But getting here and getting to know all these guys, it's really exciting. I haven't been here a super long time. But all the guys in this room, and staff, and coaches, and management, everybody has been super welcoming as much as it possibly can in two months... It's a very comfortable feeling. It feels like home. So, it's great."

He continued about the Blackhawks, "Awesome guys. Very welcoming. Very down to earth. (They) want to win, want to work hard, and it's a really great group to be around. So I'm very thrilled about it."

The honor of 1,000

Reaching the NHL is impressive. But reaching 1,000 games is a feat only 5 percent of players will ever reach.

When Cole was asked what has been the most rewarding about his career, "I think winning Stanley Cups is- that's always the holy grail of accomplishment in this sport, in this job. It is absolutely the pinnacle that everyone strives for. So I was fortunate enough to do that twice in Pittsburgh. Made a ton of great friends there, just really great people there. And anytime that you can win with a group, you build a bond that's really, really tough to break. And so I would say that would be the pinnacle, certainly, of accomplishment. But just being around the guys in the locker rooms, a bunch of different locker rooms, getting to know a ton of people, you know, getting to play for a bunch of coaches and seeing how each different coach coaches and kind of the slant they bring to it has been really interesting. So yeah, it's been a very long and fun and interesting ride."

1,000 games later, across 10 NHL teams and two Stanley Cup rings, he remains just as impactful to the locker room.

As Teuvo Teräväinen said (who was also his teammate with the Carolina Hurricanes), "It's great to be his teammate again. He's a great guy. On the ice, like you can just see he has a lot of experience. As you can see, he's played almost 1,000 games. So you can trust him on the ice. He's gonna win his battles, and just off the ice, a great, great guy in the locker room. Like, every team needs one of those guys."

And to continue his career on the Blackhawks?

Very fitting.

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