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Here are some notes and tidbits from the Chicago Blackhawks training camp at Notre Dame on Sunday: Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said he expected Ben Smith to get first crack at Michal Handzus' penalty-killing role. Handzus and Marcus Kruger were normally the team’s top forward pairing on penalty kills last season. Smith was fifth among the Blackhawks forwards last season with 95:46 of short-handed ice time. Handzus played 148:19 on the penalty kill. Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane commented on how much he and his teammates enjoyed using the shooting and stick-handling rooms at Notre Dame’s hockey facility. Kane believed the Blackhawks organization understood the players’ desire for similar perks. “I don’t think we need to pitch it to them,” Kane said. “I think they know. There are rumors about what’s going on with the practice rink and things like that, so we’ll see what happens. I’m sure they’ll try to put something in like that, too.” Quenneville said Sunday it was too early to determine who was leading for the open roster spots on the team. He said the preseason games would provide a better opportunity to judge talent than the scrimmages. Sunday’s scrimmages included goals by Joakim Nordstrom (2), Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews, Brandon Saad, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Adam Clendening, Kyle Cumiskey, Kris Versteeg, Mark McNeill, Garret Ross and Phillip Danault. Toews and Saad had two of the prettier goals on the day. Toews scored with a perfectly-placed backhanded shot over the goaltender’s right shoulder. Saad scored when Kane connected with him skating hard to the net. Saad tipped the puck in and then went crashing into the net himself. McNeill wasn’t going to get away from tripping Sharp during one of Sunday’s scrimmages. McNeill’s stick got caught in Sharp’s skate during the process. An official had to help Sharp remove the stick before he was able to skate again. The Blackhawks will host their training camp festival scrimmage at the United Center at 7 p.m. on Monday. It will go up against the Chicago Bears-New York Jets game at 7:30 p.m. Quenneville and a number of players said they would be willing to return to Notre Dame for training camp. Quenneville said there hadn’t been any discussions about it yet. The top two lines of the three days were easily Saad-Brad Richards-Kane and Sharp-Toews-Marian Hossa. The line of Bryan Bickell-Andrew Shaw-Kris Versteeg also produced in most of the scrimmages. The line of Danault-Dennis Rasmussen-Ryan Hartman was one of the better prospect lines of the camp. The quote of the day came from Blackhawks goaltender Antti Raanta when asked about being prepared to a be the No. 2 goalie again this season. “I don’t want to talk too much about sitting on the bench,” he said. “I just want to play when I get the chance and I try to do my best.”
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