CHICAGO — Connor Bedard knows a little something about being a child hockey prodigy, so he was thoroughly impressed with Lennox Hodgkinson’s skating during the Chicago Blackhawks’ morning skate Wednesday.
“Yeah, we were talking about it,” Bedard said. “He’s like 7 years old and he’s kind of ripping the pill a little bit. It’s cool to see.”
Lennox, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 3 weeks old, was invited to morning skate ahead of the Hawks’ night game against the Edmonton Oilers as part of the team’s partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He participated in drills with players and teamed up with his favorite, Bedard.
“Yeah, we won a little 2v2 (two-on-two) there with Swaggs (Landon Swaggert) and his brother,” Bedard said. “It’s cool how surreal it must be for him to be on an NHL rink and skate with us. And we love it. Obviously for him to get the opportunity, it’s great that we’re doing that.”
Lennox, who wore Bedard’s No. 98 during the skate, also brought along dad Neil and 11-year-old brother King, who suited up in a No. 13 sweater and joined Lennox on the United Center ice.
“It’s been an incredible experience for us,” Neil said. “His wish was to play hockey with the boys.”
Lennox takes medicine and undergoes treatment daily, but he still manages to play on the U9 advanced Truro Bearcats team in the family’s home province of Nova Scotia.
“It was pretty special to see them out there just passing the puck around, shooting it,” Neil said. “This has been an incredible experience. Make-A-Wish has been so amazing to get us here and to look after all this, and the Blackhawks organization has been amazing. So we’re just grateful.”
Neil said Lennox has been skating on an outdoor rink since he was 2 or 3 and has played minor hockey since he was 4.
“He’s a great little hockey player on his team and he doesn’t let his size get him down — makes up for it with shiftiness,” Neil said.
Lennox also loves to play soccer and ski.
“We keep him busy and keep him healthy, and it’s great for him,” Neil said. “You just got to keep him active and keep his treatments up and make sure medications are on point. As long as we’re preventative and stay on top of it, then he does well.”
Probably like a lot of Canadian kids, Lennox became a Hawks fan through Bedard.
Lennox started following Bedard while watching him playing during the 2023 World Junior Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Bedard went on a gold-medal-winning, record-setting, MVP performance.
“So (we) went to a couple World Junior games — basically wherever Bedard was getting drafted that was going to be his team,” Neil said.
Nova Scotia is in the Atlantic time zone, two hours ahead of Central time, so dad records Hawks night games for Lennox to watch later. He plays as the Hawks on video games too.
“We play ‘NHL 25’ on PlayStation,” Neil said, “so he plays ‘Be A Pro’, which is you create your own player. So he’s on Chicago. He just made the top line with Bedard, plays his position, so he loves that.
“I would put him as a center/right winger, so just like Bedard. But if you ask him, he prefers center.”
