The Chicago Blackhawks made their preseason debut on Tuesday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets, and play-by-play announcer Pat Foley provided fans with an update on longtime analyst Eddie Olczyk.
Olczyk, who was diagnosed with colon cancer in August, is undergoing six months of chemotherapy as doctors treat the disease, according to Foley.
“This guy is in a battle,” Foley said on the broadcast. “He had to go through a five-hour surgery and it took him six weeks to recover from that. He just started chemotherapy last week. These are very hard times for him, (but) I talked to him today, and he sounded great.”
Olczyk has been a fixture in the Blackhawks’ booth for a decade after playing with the team for five seasons. The Chicago-native was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012.
While he is undergoing treatment, former Blackhawks player Steve Konroyd will fill in for him as the color analyst on Blackhawks games.
