Rookies, Welcome To The Team

While most associate the term "hazing" with fraternities, people may not realize that teams, such as the Blackhawks, know from experience what hazing really is.

Every year the Blackhawks have what they call a "rookie dinner". The rookie dinner usually takes place while the team is on the road for a period of time. The team goes out to eat a lot on the road, and what happens is that they invite the rookies to dinner at a really nice restaurant. According to Blackhawks defenseman, James Wisniewski, the guys order $50 steaks and $250 bottles of wine; at the end of dinner they leave the bill with the rookies. The rookies are then left paying the entire team's bill. The team sees it as a way for the rookies to demonstrate their devotion to the team.

Another example of a prank pulled by the Hawks, was when the team hid Todd Simpson's car for a week. Each day in practice they would give him a different clue as to where his car was hidden.

The Blackhawks are constantly hiding teammates clothes and playing pranks on eachother; it's obvious that they are all really close on and off the ice.