The cacophony of screams was deafening after Blackhawks practice this past Saturday. That was because Connor Bedard skated over to a crowd of hundreds of kids gathered to watch him at Fifth Third Arena and started tossing some pucks up.
Across the rink, Hawks captain Nick Foligno’s voice was drowned out until he finally paused.
“This is his demographic, his age group,” Foligno said a moment later. “Why not make it so more of these kids can come to the game? Instead of 7:30 at night on a Wednesday. It’s just so dumb.”
Foligno insisted those comments should be on the record. He feels strongly the NHL should schedule more afternoon games on weekends — in Chicago and elsewhere.
“We need more of them,” he added. “With a guy like Connor Bedard on our team, and [considering how much] that age group loves him, I don’t see why we don’t play more. Especially once the NFL season is over, we should take that time slot so more families can come to games. Kids can see one of the next great talents of the world. It makes the arena that much more packed, too.”
The Hawks have already added significantly more afternoon games the past two years, although Foligno wasn’t around beforehand to notice the difference.
In 2019-20, the final season of John McDonough’s presidency, the Hawks scheduled only one matinee (puck drop at 4 p.m. or earlier) out of 13 home games on Saturdays and Sundays. That remained the case as recently as 2022-23, when they again had only one matinee. During that era, most Sunday games started at 6 p.m. rather than 7:30, and that 90-minute difference supposedly made them more family-friendly.
This season, however, seven of the Hawks’ 15 weekend home games are matinees, including one of five Saturday games and six of 10 Sunday games. The first of those matinees happened this past weekend against the Blue Jackets, and the second — the only one on a Saturday — will take place this coming weekend against the Jets.
The Blackhawks’ crowd for their first matinee of the season wasn’t packed.
That number could theoretically get even higher, though. Beyond Foligno’s theory about appealing to kids, Hawks players and staff would appreciate that for their own reasons.
“Teams don’t really want to morning skate anymore anyway, so why waste our time waiting around for a game at 7:30 when we don’t do anything in the morning?” Foligno said. “You get up and play, it gives you easier travel to the next place and you can get a good night’s sleep when you’re not getting home at midnight.”
The Flyers are the NHL franchise most well-known for frequent matinees, but they actually scheduled only one more matinee than the Hawks this season. Eight of 16 weekend home games in Philadelphia this season have early start times. The Bruins, which Foligno mentioned specifically, will host seven weekend matinees this season, same as the Hawks.
“It’s great for an athlete,” Hawks coach Luke Richardson said. “They get a full, proper meal [and] proper rest after a game, and you stay on more of a normal schedule.”
But Richardson also brought up the challenge of conflicts with college football and the NFL, and that’s an astute point. In fact, that’s pretty much why the number isn’t higher.
The Hawks always avoid scheduling their home games at the same time as Bears home games, because they know that’s not a battle they can win in terms of ticket sales and TV viewership. That policy eliminates almost half of the Sunday afternoons in the fall.
And it’s actually difficult to compete against the NFL in any form. The Bears didn’t play at all last Sunday, but the Hawks still drew their second-lowest attendance of the season — 17,393 — at 2 p.m. against the Blue Jackets. The United Center felt oddly dead and quiet all afternoon.