After Saturday’s practice, Corey Crawford announced that his absence was due to testing positive for COVID-19. Now that he’s properly quarantined, Crow is ready to get back on the ice and into shape.
The Blackhawks were complete on Saturday after the team had waited the first 12 days of Phase 3 training camp for goalie Corey Crawford to join the squad.
On a Zoom video conference call with Blackhawks media following Saturday's practice, Crawford announced he had previously been diagnosed with COVID-19 and had been quarantining at his family's home in Chicago the past few weeks.
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Crawford was deemed "unfit to play" after his absence on Day 1 of practices but was on the ice Saturday for the session and even participated in some of a scrimmage before heading in early.
It was the Hawks' final training camp practice in Chicago before heading to Edmonton for the NHL's 24-team postseason in which they'll face the St. Louis Blues in an exhibition game on Wednesday and begin a best-of-five play-in series against the Oilers next Saturday.
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The two-time Stanley Cup champion described what dealing with COVID-19 was like for him and his family.
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“A lot of people have different symptoms. I heard some stuff on the news. I was trying to stay as safe as possible with my family," Crawford said. "We spent a lot of time at home, actually, with two young kids: a new baby at home and our 2-year-old. We didn’t really spend that much time, a lot of time out.
Related: Blackhawks' Corey Crawford confirms he tested positive for COVID-19
"It was actually a really big surprise that I tested positive. I was just hoping to recover as quickly as possible, hearing that some people’s symptoms could last for months. But it seemed to go by fairly quick with pretty much flu-like symptoms. Once those were gone, the bad ones, within a few days it was just more trying to recover and get the 10 days — and we even went further than that, the two weeks, to just make sure it was the safest thing.
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“The last couple weeks maybe was a little bit easier, but I still couldn’t do much in case there was something wrong with my lungs or my heart. So we had to get that checked out first before I really started pushing in the gym or come on the ice. All that has been done. The doctors did a good job. I think we were safe enough about it. We didn’t put anyone else at risk. I’m just excited to be back on the ice and seeing pucks again.”
