{"id":13013,"date":"2025-02-06T15:43:56","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T15:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=13013"},"modified":"2025-02-06T15:43:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T15:43:56","slug":"7-year-old-make-a-wish-recipient-shows-off-moves-for-connor-bedard-chicago-blackhawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=13013","title":{"rendered":"7-year-old Make-A-Wish recipient shows off moves for Connor Bedard, Chicago Blackhawks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

CHICAGO \u2014 Connor Bedard knows a little something about being a child hockey prodigy, so he was thoroughly impressed with Lennox Hodgkinson\u2019s skating during the Chicago Blackhawks\u2019 morning skate Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cYeah, we were talking about it,\u201d Bedard said. \u201cHe\u2019s like 7 years old and he\u2019s kind of ripping the pill a little bit. It\u2019s cool to see.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Lennox, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 3 weeks old, was invited to morning skate ahead of the Hawks\u2019 night game against the Edmonton Oilers as part of the team\u2019s partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He participated in drills with players and teamed up with his favorite, Bedard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cYeah, we won a little 2v2 (two-on-two) there with Swaggs (Landon Swaggert) and his brother,\u201d Bedard said.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s 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\u2019s great that we\u2019re doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Lennox, who wore Bedard\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an incredible experience for us,\u201d Neil said. \u201cHis wish was to play hockey with the boys.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Lennox takes medicine and undergoes treatment daily, but he still manages to play on the U9 advanced Truro Bearcats team in the family\u2019s home province of Nova Scotia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cIt was pretty special to see them out there just passing the puck around, shooting it,\u201d Neil said. \u201cThis 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\u2019re just grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

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.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great little hockey player on his team and he doesn\u2019t let his size get him down \u2014 makes up for it with shiftiness,\u201d Neil said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Lennox also loves to play soccer and ski.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cWe keep him busy and keep him healthy, and it\u2019s great for him,\u201d Neil said. \u201cYou just got to keep him active and keep his treatments up and make sure medications are on point. As long as we\u2019re preventative and stay on top of it, then he does well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Probably like a lot of Canadian kids, Lennox became a Hawks fan through Bedard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cSo (we) went to a couple World Junior games \u2014 basically wherever Bedard was getting drafted that was going to be his team,\u201d Neil said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

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.\u00a0He plays as the Hawks on video games too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cWe play \u2018NHL 25\u2019 on PlayStation,\u201d Neil said, \u201cso he plays \u2018Be A Pro\u2019, which is you create your own player. So he\u2019s on Chicago. He just made the top line with Bedard, plays his position, so he loves that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cI would put him as a center\/right winger, so just like Bedard. But if you ask him, he prefers center.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lennox, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 3 weeks old, was invited to morning skate ahead of the Hawks\u2019 night game against the Edmonton Oilers as part of the team\u2019s partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10,11],"tags":[817,815,26,820,821,279,819,282,281,159,818,813,138,823,219,280,816,822,814],"class_list":["post-13013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chicago-blackhawks","category-nfl","category-san-francisco-49ers","tag-americas","tag-canada","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-halifax","tag-hockey","tag-ice-hockey","tag-illinois","tag-national-hockey-league","tag-national-hockey-league-teams","tag-north-america","tag-nova-scotia","tag-professional-sports","tag-sports","tag-stick-sports","tag-team-sports","tag-top-tier-ice-hockey-leagues","tag-united-states","tag-variations-of-hockey","tag-winter-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n7-year-old Make-A-Wish recipient shows off moves for Connor Bedard, Chicago Blackhawks - 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