Kane is in the house

If the morning skate is any indication, tonight's homecoming for Patrick Kane should make for an electric atmosphere in HSBC Arena. There were about 1,000 folks in the stands, most were wearing Blackhawks jerseys and many had signs (left).

TV and print camermen followed Kane's every move from the time he got off the team bus to entering and exiting the ice. He was smiling and laughing at every turn, almost embarrassed at all the attention. Here's a flip through the morning's notebook:

---Kane was asked if he had thought about what this night would be like and said, "There's some visuals in my head you think about but I'm just going to try to treat it like another game. I know it will be hard but it should be fun either way."

---Kane said he tried not to focus on the fans once practice began but admitted he heard a lot of people yelling for him as the Hawks were on the bench waiting for the zamboni to finish its work.

"I heard somebody say, 'You asked out my sister once, would you still like to date her?,' " he said. "That was pretty good."

---The Sabres are going to have Kane's grandfather, Don, drop a ceremonial faceoff and will do a video presentation honoring parents and grandparents of minor hockey players in Buffalo. It's all, of course, a way to honor Kane's return home. There wasn't much made of Jay McKee's return last month with the Blues and don't look for any big ceremonies when Daniel Briere and Marty Biron come to town with the Flyers on Friday.

I'm OK with that but I know a lot of you aren't. In baseball, a guy comes back and you just let him tip his cap before his first at-bat, take in the cheers and we all get on with things. No real similar chance in hockey and I'm kind of from the school of thinking that they left and they play for somebody else now anyway. Again, I know many of you probably don't agree.

---So how stoked are you to see a Buffalo guy come back and try to beat the Sabres? And should the Sabres be honoring Kane but not Briere (or Biron or, for that matter, Chris Drury)?

Chat it up in advance of tonight's game and we'll have live updates here when the puck drops.

---Mike Harrington

(Photos: Mark Mulville/Buffalo News)

Comments

[andrew]

Here Here Brad!! Im with u on this one. Sod briere and Drury, im gonna be at the philly game this fri and will be heartly booing briere.

[Brad in the Falls]

There is a difference when it is a guy who played here for a few years (McKee played for man than a few) and a guy that was born and raised here, played his entire life in and around the Buffalo area, then gets drafted first overall. He doesn't play for our team but he is a hometown boy that went first overall, not to shabby. So, I can agree with all the hoopla it is a big story and it is even more important to young kids who see him at age 19 playing in the NHL and being drafted first overall, it gives em something to look up to. And in our day in age, a good hometown boy with a solid head on his shoulders for kids to look-up to is a good thing.

Screw Briere and Drury, they played here for 3 years. They werent from here, and I am fairly certain they didn't root for the Sabres when they were kids. Screw 'em