Maybe it was just timing. Maybe all the domestic violence issues in the NFL and other leagues were the real reason things turned ugly so quickly. Or maybe it was success. Maybe it was the simple fact that the Chicago Blackhawks were coming off yet another NHL championship, their third Stanley Cup in the last six seasons, an almost-unprecedented run that seemingly cemented Joel Quenneville's group as a true NHL dynasty. Maybe it was the reckless off-ice persona, the immature bad-boy attitude. Maybe it wasn't anything other than people's most base instincts, their desire to watch one of their heroes turn to a villain, to watch the car crash, to slow down as the wreck burns down to nothing more than a frame.
Whatever the reason, there seemed to be plenty of people ready to watch Blackhawks star Patrick Kane flame out, to disappear from the league, just another sad footnote, one more athlete who thought he was invincible, could do whatever he wanted and get away with it, taught the hardest lesson of all.
But then a strange thing happened. Inconsistencies, tiny holes began to appear in the story of Kane's accuser. There was an evidence bag, that turned out to be a hoax, an angry lawyer turned a chagrined lawyer, talk of bite marks and scratches explained away by a lack of DNA in other more sensitive, more telling areas.
Through it all, Kane maintained his innocence and on Wednesday, finally, five months after the Erie County District Attorney's Office announced they wouldn't be pursuing charges against Kane and eight months after the allegations first surfaced, the NHL agreed.
In a statement, the NHL announced that they determined the sexual assault allegations against Kane were "unfounded" and that after an "independent review," they consider "the matter closed."
Erie County announced that they wouldn't be charging Kane on Nov. 5 of last year.
Kane, despite the seriousness of the charges and the immense distraction they could have been, has somehow elevated his game to another level this season. The 27-year-old Kane is at least 16-points better than any other player in the league. He's got 38 goals and 89 points already this season with 15 regular season games left to be played.
"Guys'll say, 'He's been scared straight,' but I almost feel like I owe it to other people now," Kane said recently of why this particular season seems to have brought out the best in him. "Especially the Hawks' organization, my family, my friends and the people who really supported me and believed in me."
Whether that's the case or not is moot. But there's no denying the impressive mental fortitude it has taken for Kane to excel in a season like this, a season that could so easily have been compromised.
