UPDATED: Blackhawks Visit White House
Updated 03/11/11 - 6:21 p.m.
WASHINGTON (CBS) -- President Barack Obama hosted the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks at the White House on Friday and wished them success on their bid for a repeat.
"We have hosted a lot of teams at the White House," Obama said Friday afternoon. "But this one is a little sweeter. It is pretty special."
As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, it was the first time Obama has hosted a national championship team from his hometown since he became president, but he said he hopes it's not the last.
"I want to see you back here next year. And let me just say to all the Bears fans, Bulls fans, White Sox fans ... and Cubs fans, I want to see all of you sometime soon as well," Obama – a White Sox fan – said, pausing and grinning before mentioning the Cubs.
"We have a proud tradition in Chicago of believing that – no matter how long it takes, how much we have to endure – our team finally wins it all," Obama said. "But waiting builds character. We have a lot of character. I have to say, even by Chicago standards, 49 years, that's a pretty long time."
The president noted that, before last year's Stanley Cup win, the last time the Blackhawks won it all, "a movie cost 69 cents, JFK had just moved into the White House, I was still in diapers and when the legendary Glenn Hall played goalie for the Hawks, he did it with a wooden stick and no mask."
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Nine months ago, Patrick Kane's winning goal against the Philadelphia Flyers secured both the 2010 Stanley Cup Championship and the invitation to the White House.
This season, the Blackhawks have been struggling in their hopes to repeat as NHL champions, as they make the final stop on their victory tour.
The Blackhawks are making a bid for another playoff run this year after inconsistent play much of the season had many wondering if they'd be left out of the postseason.
"I want to wish these guys the best of luck going into the postseason," Obama said. "I don't want to jinx anything, but after winning eight of their last ten games, I think it might be time for Patrick (Kane) to start growing that playoff mullet again. I thought it was pretty sharp."
The Blackhawks were clearly impressed after their meeting with the president.
"He seemed real genuine, seemed like a regular guy, seemed to have a real good attitude, very bubbly and basically enjoyed meeting all the guys and just seemed very upbeat," Coach Joel Quenneville said.
"When the President walked in the room, you realize why he's President of the United States," Owner Rocky Wirtz said, "The warmth and magnetism he has and just the feeling, how he looks everyone in the eye, he was really special. He is the the Commander and Chief for a reason."
The Blackhawks presented Obama with a team jersey with his name on it and the number "44" on the back in honor of Obama being the nation's 44th president.
"We've even got some blood on here to show it's authentic," Obama said.
Obama also got to wear one of the team's Stanley Cup Champion rings and was given a small replica Stanley Cup trophy, joking, "When I first saw this I thought it looks so much bigger on TV."
After meeting with the president, the Blackhawks joined First Lady Michelle Obama and members of the Washington Capitals in hosting a street hockey workout and clinic for young hockey players on the White House South Lawn. A few members of Congress also took part in the fun.
The event was the brainchild of U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Chicago), widely viewed as the biggest hockey fan in Congress.
"We'll have kids in Capitals and Blackhawks jerseys," Quigley said. "Hopefully the first lady will drop the first puck, and we'll have Blackhawks shifting in, as well as a few members of Congress."
The Blackhawks' day at the White House turned out to be one of greatly mixed emotions for Obama, in the wake of an earthquake and tsunami in Japan that has claimed hundreds of lives. Just hours before he was scheduled to host the Blackhawks, Obama was standing at a White House podium to discuss the tragedy in Japan.
The Blackhawks' visit to the White House originally was scheduled for September, but had to be rescheduled due to a conflict in Obama's schedule.
Blackhawks president John McDonough said the events in Japan put the team's visit into perspective.
"A very daunting job; it's incomprehensible what (President Obama) goes through, what his agenda must look like every day," McDonough said. "That's why we're so grateful as an organization that he would take time out of his day with so many other things going on to honor the Chicago Blackhawks."
The team went about their schedule Friday morning, holding a practice at the Verizon Center. It's been two days since their last game and they'll have two more days before their next game on Sunday against the Washington Capitals, but the visit to the White House will be the highlight of their four-day visit to D.C.
Although there are only three Americans on the team -- Patrick Kane from Buffalo, N.Y., Nick Leddy from Minnesota, and Pat Dowell from Madison, Wis. -- that doesn't take away from the significance of visiting the White House and an American president.
"Our players are very curious and the one thing I'm sure you know ... about hockey players, they're very respectful and humble and appreciative," McDonough said.
On Thursday, the Chicago Blackhawks brought the Stanley Cup with them as they visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
The visit to the White House may be the last celebration for the championship team, defenseman Brian Campbell says, but it is certainly not the least.
"It'll be pretty cool," Campbell said. "We're all pretty excited about it. It'll be something to be on the grounds – get a little tour, hopefully and to shake hands with the president will be something special."
Missing from the visit were 10 title team players no longer with the Hawks – in essence victims of the league's salary cap that forced the team to drastically cut payroll.
Only defenseman Brent Sopel, now a Montreal Canadien, and backup goalie Cristobal Huet, who has flown all the way from Switzerland, will be with their former teammates for the big event. They will meet a president who is actually more a basketball fan, but who by all accounts, caught Stanley Cup fever nonetheless.
