Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/198792
for the Cup as a joke, and I'll just celebrate with my friends and family at night. PS: I brought it to my hometown, Thunder Bay, did some public events for charity, and just kind of hung out at the lake with my family and let my family and friends enjoy it for the rest of the day. After all this excitement over the summer, how much of a challenge is it to actually turn your focus to next season? PS: It's not that much of a challenge to be honest with you....We've got a lot of returning players, and our team is expected to do well again. It feels like we just got off the ice, so I'm excited to get going. PK: When you start training camp and see the group of guys who are all so serious about winning—once that comes around it shouldn't be too hard to get started.... you try to get yourself better and get ready for that first game. What does playing for Chicago mean to you? PK: I keep saying that it's the best city in America. It's the fans—when you're winning and doing well, they really jump on your back and push you forward, and they've been huge to both of our Cup wins. You couldn't ask for a better city to live in; the support is huge. PS: Like Kaner said, it's a great city. I've been here for nine years now, and I've seen both sides. In 2005–2006, we didn't get too many fans, but now to see the fan base and the support we get for every game, whether it's a preseason game or a play-off game—it gets you excited to play all the time in Chicago. If you had one day to spend in the city, what would you do? PS: One of the most fun days I had at the end of the season was going out on a friend's boat on Lake Michigan. Just being on the water and seeing the skyline from that point of view was great. PK: I was going to say the same thing—going out on the water. It's fun to experience that. We had a day after we won last time [when] we pretty much had the whole team on different boats tied up and everyone had a great time. How would you describe your relationship? PK: I've always felt like Sharpie has been a big brother to me, especially coming in as such a young kid [like I did]. He's a guy who's always messing around and having a good time, and one thing people probably don't know is how serious he is about the game. When you see someone like that who has as much expertise as he has taking it so seriously, it makes you want get better as a player, too. PS: Strictly professional. [Laughs] The same thing Kaner says—I treat him as a little brother. It doesn't matter if we're on a 10-game winning streak or a losing streak, coming to the rink I'm always having fun with Kaner, joking around, talking about things we've seen in the league or around Chicago. He's a guy who likes to have a good time, but he's really dedicated to the sport, and he doesn't get enough credit for that. I consider him one of my better friends, and I'm glad I can play with him. You both mentioned the big brother/little brother relationship. Sharp, what would you say is the biggest thing you've taught Kane? PS: I haven't taught him a whole lot—hockey-wise he came in doing things at 18 years old that I still can't do today. He's one of those players who's gifted but also works for everything he has and deserves all this success. One thing I will say about Kaner is that people label him as easygoing and [as someone who's] goofing around; maybe he's not as serious as our other star, our captain Jonny [Toews]—Mr. Serious— but Kaner cares about the game, he always tries to get better, and he always wants to do the best he can. to hang out with any time of the week. What is the thing you've enjoyed most about your professional hockey career? PK: The two Stanley Cups. It's an unbelievable honor, just to celebrate not only yourself but the team that's worked so hard to achieve it. Having the Cup [myself] for two days with the last time and now this year, you see the attention it attracts and how much more popular that trophy is even than yourself. It really gives you perspective about what an incredible award it is, and it makes you want to keep winning it. PS: I just appreciate the day-to-day lifestyle of being a pro hockey player. It's fun to wake up every day and spend time with 25 other guys who are your best friends, and you can laugh and joke and goof around. There's also the competitive side of it; it's fun to compete against other teams and leagues—it's something Kaner and I have wanted to do our whole lives, to play the game professionally, and to be able to do that still is a pretty cool thing. If you weren't playing hockey, what do you think you would be doing? PK: That's a tough question. My whole life, hockey is what I dedicated everything to, so thank God it worked out. If not, my dad had a car dealership when I was growing up that I would visit all the time, and sometimes on a summer day I would bring down my rubber boots and help him wash the cars and things like that. So maybe I would have become a car salesman. PS: I tried to get a job at the Kane car dealership, but he wasn't hiring then. [Laughs] I don't know—I played a lot of baseball growing up, and I always dreamed of being a center fielder for the Toronto Blue Jays, but I've got a pretty good respect for what those guys can do. I didn't really have a backup plan—I wanted to play hockey, and I was going to do everything I could to be a hockey player. What are you most looking forward to in the coming season? PS: A couple of things: It's always fun to get back to the start of the season and see the guys again; and honestly, the first game at the United Center since we won the Stanley Cup will be fun—raising the banner and the whole ceremony that goes with it is something I'm really looking forward to. PK: Sometimes you look too far ahead, and you plan certain goals, and things don't go as well for you. I'm just going to try to enjoy the process this year and soak everything in, but at the same time I think we have a group that's not satisfied and will keep trying to win games. You always want to get off to a hot start personally, and hopefully the team does the same thing. MA "My whole life, hockey is what I dedicated everything to, so thank God it worked out." —PATRICK KANE Kane, what have you taught Sharp? PK: [Laughs] Probably to gel his hair to try to make him better looking for this magazine cover. That was one of the things I was thinking about—I'm going to have my hair trimmed up and make sure I go for a tan or something to look good next to Sharpie. Seriously, whether it's playing with each other or because of the knowledge of hockey we both have, we've always related to each other well. Do you spend time together off the ice? PK: When you're in Chicago, you spend so much time with the team that you try to get away from everyone; but when we're on the road, we'll go to dinner. In Chicago going out and about on the town, he's always the guy I'm looking forward to hanging with. PS: During the season you don't get a whole lot of time for socializing, but Kaner is pretty busy in the off-season as well. In 2010 after we won the Stanley Cup, he probably had one of the busiest summers ever. That was the summer I got married and Kaner showed up to the wedding and that was great—my family was excited to see him. He's fun MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 112-117_MA_FEAT_CoverStory_Nov13.indd 117 117 10/21/13 5:36 PM