Patrick Kane

While he is not playing, Patrick Kane lives in his mansion at Hamburg, New York, which is located on the shores of Lake Erie.

In 2015, it was announced by Buffalo News that Kane was being investigated for an alleged sexual assault charge. The police didn’t find any solid evidence against him and all charges on him were later declined.

In August 2009, Patrick was further apprehended by the Buffalo police for punching a cab driver. He pleaded not guilty at first but he later apologised for the distress he had caused.

Patrick Kane was born in Buffalo, New York City, on November 19, 1988, to Donna and Kiki Kane. Patrick grew up with three younger sisters in the middle class household. He has been in love with hockey ever since he was old enough to walk and has played as a child player for the local Buffalo clubs.

While he was growing up, a hockey arena was under construction in his hometown of Buffalo and Patrick practised hard to polish his game. Before all that, he learned the basics of ice hockey from his father who supported Patrick on every step. His father used to drive him over to the tryouts only to cultivate his growing interest and skills in the game. Patrick was still underage to qualify in most teams during the tryouts, but it did give him a good chance to further prove his mettle among the older and better players.

At the age of 9, Patrick played in the Summer League in Wheatfield and scored many goals back to back. He performed so well that the parents of other kids got insecure leading the managers to bar Patrick from playing. This only proved that Patrick was all ready to take on much stronger opponents.

Although Patrick’s small frame was a cause of worry for his father, it turned out to be one of the many strengths Patrick possessed when it came to performing on field. At one time he was playing 300 games each year and when he approached the age of 14, his professional career received a head-start.

He was approached by the Honeybaked AAA Midget Team in Detroit to play for them and he immediately accepted the offer. Patrick played for Honeybaked for the next three years and left them at the age of 17. At the time, he was still in high school and was attending Detroit Country Day School. When the choice came down to choosing between school and hockey, he chose the latter and dropped out of school. His parents supported the decision.

He was performing brilliantly on the junior level year after year and hence, it was apparent that he was to be one of the top choices for the 2007 NHL draft. Rightly enough, he was the top ranked junior among the North American Prospects and got selected as the first overall by Chicago Blackhawks. The official announcement was made in July 2007 and in October 2007, he made his official NHL debut against Minnesota Wilds. On October 6, he scored his first NHL goal against Detroit Redwings.

His electrifying performance throughout his debut NHL season awarded him the Rookie of the Month honour for October 2007. On December 15, Blackhawks played against Buffalo Sabres in their home ground and Patrick was welcomed with applauds despite being in the opponent team. Blackhawks lost the game 1-3 and the only goal for the team was scored by Patrick. With 72 points, Patrick ended his first NHL season with the top spot on the points tally.

In June 2018, he became the recipient of Calder Memorial Trophy awarded to the best NHL rookie player. With his arrival, the Blackhawks’ game improved drastically as he went on scoring a hat-trick against Vancouver Canucks in second round of the 2009 play-offs. He thus led his team to qualify for the Conference Cup finals, which was the first for Blackhawks since 1995. However, the team in lost the final against Detroit Red Wings.

As his contract with Blackhawks approached its end, he signed another contract with them for five more years. In the 2009-10 season, Patrick scored 88 points to attain the 9th spot in NHL rankings. Blackhawks kept performing as per the expectations and attained first spot in Central Division and second in Western Conference.

In the 2010 Stanley Cup finals, he scored the winning goal against Philadelphia Flyers and got his team its first Stanley Cup in 49 years. The goal made him the youngest ever player to score the winning goal in Stanley Cup finals. Following this major achievement, he was made the alternate captain of his team for the 2011 NHL All Stars Game.