Chicago Blackhawks: Toews and Keith fight is just boys being boys

The Chicago Blackhawks have a very special game tonight, and the day got off to a rough start as two important players had a scrap at the morning skate.

The Chicago Blackhawks have a very special game tonight. Legendary coach Joel Quenneville is back in town as the road coach for the first time since his firing last season. It is a big deal because he was the main leader during the greatest stretch in team history. They are going to honor him well. It is also an extremely important game as Chicago looks to win its sixth straight game.

Two of the three most important players during Quenneville’s run with the team got off to a rough start today, however. Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith got into a scrap during the morning skate, as reported by Chicago Blackhawks writer for “The Athletic”, Mark Lazerus, reported. He claimed it was somewhat serious before Sheldon Brookbank broke it up. Then he asked them about it after and Toews claimed it was “just some friendly wrestling”.

Robin Lehner chimed in on his own twitter profile calling it “brothers love”. This is clearly a classic case of “boys will be boys”. There was probably a classic case of a drill or something that got heated at the moment. Anyone who has played sports competitively knows that it happens all the time. In the heat of competition, anyone can turn into something they’re not.

Toews and Keith are two of just a handful of players that were there for all three of Chicago’s Stanley Cup championships in the 2010s. They are clearly good friends and would probably both say the same thing. It was just two teammates battling hard in practice.

There isn’t much more to read into it than that. They will be fine by the time the puck drops tonight in a very important game against the Florida Panthers. There will be a lot of celebration tonight so a little wrestling match between Toews and Keith is no big deal.