Rivalry Week: Who is your least favorite member of the Chicago Blackhawks?

When I was a kid in the 80s and 90s, my hatred of the Blackhawks ran deep. Kids are emotional creatures, and sometimes they’re pretty irrational. This wasn’t an irrational hatred, though. This was the most reasoned, well-thought out level of contempt that a ten year old kid could manage. It was also openly encouraged by every adult around me, every newspaper, every broadcast of a Blues game on KPLR.

I had to hate the Blackhawks. And as someone who hated the Blackhawks, there had to be some players that I also had to deeply dislike.

I settled on two: Chris Chelios and Ed Belfour.

It’s not that I hated their talent - you can’t deny that Chelios is one of the best American-born defensemen of all time. You can’t argue with his crazy conditioning routine that kept him in the league for so long that I got to see him in an Atlanta Thrashers jersey. And you can’t say that Noted Billionaire Ed Belfour wasn’t an excellent goalie with his own brand of longevity.

I just hated them and the idea that the Blackhawks had good players that could stymie the Blues. I hated that the Hawks always seemed to have the edge in the playoffs (save for one notable incident that we will discuss here later). Any victory that the Blues snagged against the Hawks I took as a repudiation of Chelios and Belfour. Every time Ed Belfour cried and whined and threw a fit, it just fed my soul.

When I was a teenager, watching highlights like this got me through evenings of homework:

But that’s me, a child of the 90s. Maybe the older folks had a thing against Bobby Hull (for many reasons), or maybe you’re in my age group and the guy who drew your ire was Jeremy Roenick. Perhaps you’re on the younger end of the spectrum and you can’t stand the site of Kane and Toews.

I think we’ve got a wide range of Blackhawks, past and present, to choose from here. Go on and share your player(s) of choice and why you zeroed in on them in particular.