Blackhawks forwards Emotional Road To Recovery From Complications Of A Surgery

"The summer kind of sucked. It's been a long, long road and not many ups but a lot of downs."

#Blackhawks' Colin Blackwell gets emotional when opening up about recovery process from sports hernia surgery:

"To be honest with you, I haven't really thought that far ahead or anything along those lines," Blackwell said. "Like I said, I took my dog for a walk this morning and I felt good. I was without walking and not taking anti-inflammatory stuff and stuff along those lines. I feel as close to myself as I remember, what I used to be.

"I look around the room. I mean, it's been a month since I've played hockey, and everybody else here got a summer and then got a training camp and then six games so far. I'm a realist, I'm pretty behind schedule, but at the same time, I'm a gamer. So whenever I get thrown in there, or if I get that opportunity, I'll be ready."

Colin Blackwell got choked up when talking about his wife, family and teammates, all of whom he leaned on heavily while recovering from injury that stemmed from hernia surgery: «It's been pretty draining, to be quite honest with you. They've been unreal.» #Blackhawks

"He's an emotional player, even more than some guys are," Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson said. "He puts everything in on the ice. Putting all that work in on the offseason and maybe not feeling great. ... When you get something surgically fixed or repaired, then you're always thinking that you're going to be perfect. But it takes a lot to come back, for a body to recover, especially a pro athlete level.