Kind of a old article, but I really liked it and wanted to put it in here.

June 15th 2015 was night of celebration for Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks who had just won their third Stanley Cup in six years. The Blackhawks had cemented themselves as legitament dynasty and have knocked off some of the leagues best along the way. But that would be the start of one of the most trying summers of Patrick Kane's life. Kane had been on his best behavior since 2010 when he fought a cabby over a few bucks. He was showing signs of growing up and had just signed a huge contract along with fellow teammate Jonathan Toews for eight years and 84 million. The big contact showed that the Blackhawks had faith in Kane and believed he was a changed man. Flash forward to early August 2015, when a story broke that had a women accusing Kane of raping her at his house during a party. In the days following and more and more information came out it sounded pretty bad for Kane. Public perception had turned against him and with each new news story it just made the situation sound worse for the Blackhawks star. 

But slowly little tidbits started to leak out that there was traces of Kane's DNA on the accuser's rape kit, it was only under her finger nails and back. A few days later it came out that the rape kit had shown up on the front door of the victim’s mother. Thomas Eoannou the accusers lawyer raised concerns that the evidence in the bag might have been tampered with. But a few days later he would walk those claims back when he announced that he would be moving on from the case because he didn't have trust in the story that was told to him. With all this going on Patrick Kane was getting ready for his ninth season in the NHL with the Blackhawks. He had remained pretty quiet during the whole ordeal rarely answering questions, just focusing on the task at hand. The fans in Chicago still adored him and were eager to watch their Blackhawks return to the ice. 

When Kane and the Blackhawks returned to the ice there was still a lot of controversy and questions surrounding the allegations. But Kane was able to put those uncertainties out of his head and just play, he had an assist in a losing effort to the New York Islanders. In early moments of October Kane looked like a shell of himself, he was still scoring but the swagger felt like it was gone. As court continued to be pushed back and it started to like Kane's name would be cleared, he started to turn it on. “ShowTime" looked to be back, he was racking up the points in bunches and was playing better then he had at any other point in his career. Kane was hot heading into November when he got likely the best news of the year. He was not going to be charged with rape because there was no evidence to back up the claims of the accuser. Kane had taken so much abuse in the nation media for his alleged crime, there were questions on his character and whether he had learned anything for the past.

All the hate and frustration he must have been feeling for months has been unleashed on the NHL since early October. Kane is currently riding a 23 game point streak which is the longest by a Blackhawk and an American born player. Kane has been phenomenal for the Blackhawks and has gain the support of NHL great Wayne Gretzky who had this to say about Kane "It's a great, positive story for the Hawks and the National Hockey League. My goodness, it's exceptional what he has done so far and the sky is the limit for him". Gretzky currently holds the NHL record for 51 games in a row with at least a point, and hopes that Kane can be the one to finally break it. Kane's season shouldn't surprise a single person who know that hockey is a way to get away from your issues. Because Kane was able to play the entire time he was under investigation, he had an outlet for all his emotions. On the ice he knows that he is one of the best players in the league and just being around teammates is very healing for a player. He is trying to fix his reputation around the country and show people that he has always been focused on getting better in the NHL. 

Couple that with the fact that he most likely didn't do it and was just being accused because he was a wealthy well know athlete. Could make for a very angry athlete who is looking to prove every single person that he meets wrong. For two months we all doubted if Kane was innocent, but there is no doubting that he has been on of the best in the league this season. He has also been the hottest player in a while and is a key to the Blackhawks making another playoff run.

http://j3sports.blogspot.com/2015/12/why-patrick-kanes-incredible-early.html