Patrick Kane (born November 19, 1988 in Buffalo, New York) is an American ice hockey player currently playing for the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks made him the first overall pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

 

Kane went to St. Martin of Tours school and started his hockey career playing for the Cazenovia Chiefs in his home town of South Buffalo, NY. He then played for the Buffalo Saints.

 

The London Knights drafted Kane in the 5th round of the 2004 Ontario Hockey League Bantam Draft, but Kane did not choose to play for the Knights until the 2006-07 season. Instead, Kane played for the United States U-18 National Team Development Program (NTDP) where he led the team in scoring with 102 points during the 2005-2006 season. Kane's junior career started off with a bang. Playing on a line with Sergei Kostitsyn and Sam Gagner, he amassed 145 points for the OHL scoring title and combined with Gagner and Kostitsyn for 394 points.

 

Kane participated in his first international tournament for the United States in the U-18 in 2006, where he helped the team win a gold medal. He was then named to the U.S. squad for the 2007 World Jr. Hockey Championships where he was selected as one of the tournament's All-Stars. He was one of only 3 players on the team to be playing major junior hockey. He was tied for 2nd in scoring in the tournament. Patrick Kane and his London Knights finished the post-season losing in the OHL's Western Conference final to the Plymouth Whalers in a 4-1 best of 7 series loss. He finished his postseason with 10 goals and 21 assists for a total of 31 points in 16 games.

 

On April 27, 2007, Kane was announced as the winner of the Emms Family Award for the OHL rookie of the year. He was also named runner-up to John Tavares for the Red Tilson Trophy as league MVP.

 

Kane threw the Ceremonial first pitch at a Chicago Cubs game on June, 25, 2007 at Wrigley Field. Kane later joined Denis Savard, the Blackhawks' coach, in singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game later during the day. Kane also threw the first pitch at a Buffalo Bisons (AAA) game in August.

 

On July 25th 2007, Blackhawks GM Dale Tallon announced that they had signed Patrick Kane to a three year contract.

 

He made his NHL debut on October 4, 2007 against the Minnesota Wild, and had his first assist and first shootout goal, a game-winner, two days later against Dominik Hasek of the Detroit Red Wings. On October 19, 2007, he scored his first NHL regulation time goal on Jose Theodore of the Colorado Avalanche.

 

On November 2, 2007, Kane was named the NHL Rookie of the Month for October after tallying 5 goals and 11 assists in 12 games.

 

On December 15, 2007, Kane and his team visited the Buffalo Sabres for a regular season game. It was the first time Kane had come back to Buffalo as a pro hockey player. Kane recieved a special cheer from his hometown and scored the first goal of the game. However, the Blackhawks lost the game.