At the Chicago Blackhawks morning skate on Tuesday, captain Jonathan Toews and defenseman Duncan Keith got into a scrap.
According to The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus, Toews “had Keith pinned down on the ice” and “had most of his jersey off.” Blackhawks assistant coach Sheldon Brookbank broke up the fight. There were stick-taps from some of the team and then the morning skate resumed.
Yup. A completely normal Tuesday morning.
Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith were just scrapping at the morning skate. Toews had Keith pinned down on the ice. and had most of his jersey off. Sheldon Brookbank broke them up. A few stick-taps from around the team and back to the usual morning skate. That was… interesting.
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 21, 2020
Fox 32 News’ Siera Santos and the Chicago Tribune’s Jimmy Greenfield managed to catch some of the latter part of the “physical disagreement” on video, but no one seems to know what sparked the scrap.
A skirmish went down at optional morning skate between Duncan Keith and Jonathan Toews.
After practice, Toews chalked it up to "just a little friendly wrestling" and Jeremy Colliton smiled and asked if anyone had brother. #Blackhawks @fox32news @foxkickoff pic.twitter.com/VCuisKeyrt
— Siera Santos (@SieraSantos) January 21, 2020
The tail end of what appeared to be a, um, physical disagreement between Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith.
I didn’t see what precipitated it and can’t say if it was real but sure looked real. pic.twitter.com/77ZcWnk5ZG
— Jimmy Greenfield (@jcgreenx) January 21, 2020
When Lazerus asked Toews about the scrap after morning skate, the Blackhawks captain said, “Just some friendly wrestling. … That’s the whole point of a morning skate, to get you ready for the game. We’re ready now.”
The Blackhawks’ incident is one of the first major tiffs amongst teammates since last season’s fight between Robert Bortuzzo and former Capital Zach Sanford at Blues practice. The Blues went on to turn their terrible season around after that, winning the Stanley Cup.
Testosterone's a hell of a drug.
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 21, 2020
Just guys being dudes
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) January 21, 2020
Headline photo: Twitter/Chicago Blackhawks
