FEATURE: Crawford clears hurdle, practices with team

In what has been a journey of inches for Corey Crawford, Monday seemed like more of an Olympic hurdle than another baby step.
"He's full go," said Blackhawks Head Coach Joel Quenneville. "He got cleared to play and now we've just got to get him game-ready."

"Yeah, that was good," Crawford said. "That's the longest I've ever missed. It was good to be out there and not just me and Jimmy on the ice."
"It was good," Quenneville agreed. "It was a big first day for him, getting shots and getting in the middle of practice and seeing shots with traffic and bodies and pushing. I thought he looked really good in the net as well, so it was a good sign."
Crawford, who only played in 28 games last season, missing a large chunk of time due to a concussion. It's an injury that kept him off the ice all summer - right up until camp - and then kept him away from his teammates a bit longer. But with the season beginning on Thursday night against the Ottawa Senators, Crawford's return to game action is closing in - even if it takes just a little while longer.
"It's hard to say (when I'll play in a game), but after today, who knows? That went really well today. We'll see how tomorrow goes and then we'll have a better idea."
Crawford will travel with the team to Ottawa and St. Louis, but Quenneville cautions not to read into that.
"We need him getting on the ice," said Quenneville. "He hasn't seen pucks for a long time. That'll kind of dictate, and he'll tell us by how he's practicing on a consistent basis when he's ready. We hope it's soon."

Crawford took the ice 15 minutes prior to practice to get warmed up with the other goalies. As forwards and defensemen began to trickle onto the ice, one of the first players to skate over and chat with the netminder was Jonathan Toews.
"I've said all along that part of his getting better is just being around the boys again, so it's nice to have him out there and I think he's eager and he's pretty determined to get back in," said the captain. "It's great to see him back."
The entire team seemed upbeat that their Stanley Cup champion goaltender had returned.
"It was great to see him back out there," said Patrick Kane. "I think he was in a good mood. I thought he kind of made us all excited to see him out there. It looked like he handled it pretty well. He looked pretty (good) in the net for what was the first practice in nine or 10 months. I thought it was a great day."

Crawford rotated in with Cam Ward and Anton Forsberg throughout the practice but remained out there with his team until things were wrapping up. It was a long day in comparison to his previous on-ice sessions.
"It's a good run, we'll take it," said Toews. "That's a great step forward for him, considering what he's been through. It's been a long process so it's nice to see him feeling better and better every day."
Crawford's recovery has been a slow, methodical process to this point. The goal has been all along that Crawford will return only when he's ready. Crawford sees that caution continuing over the coming days.
"Just so we don't take a step back," he said. "It's nice to get excited about feeling good out there, but maybe (you could) push it a little too much. You've got to be careful and think about the long run too."
Physically, the breaks in between and rotating with his fellow goaltenders helped, but when he was between the pipes Crawford says he felt pretty good. Crawford felt sharper than expected in terms of seeing the pucks.

"I was feeling pretty good when guys were shooting it," he said. "I'm picking them up pretty good. That's the hardest thing, I think, is tracking pucks when you first get back in there. It was fine today."
There's still one more hurdle left to clear for Crawford as he prepares to play in an actual game.
Without any Training Camp practices or preseason games to help, it will take some time to get back up to speed before the Blackhawks can call his name. However, the knowledge that someone so loved and respected in the locker room is close is an exciting piece of news ahead of the opener.
"He's an unbelievable goaltender," said Kane. "I think not only that, but he's a great friend to a lot of us in the room. We love seeing him around the rink, love joking around with him and just conversing with him and having him around. But when you think of the on-ice stuff, he's such a great goaltender, probably still very underrated in this league even those he's won a couple cups and he probably still hopefully has his best days ahead of him.
"I think more importantly when someone is going through something like that, you're worried about their health and well-being. I don't think anyone really wanted to rush him back, they wanted him to be healthy and it was great to see him back out there today."