The 41-year-old man acknowledged in his questionnaire that he had read, heard and watched just about everything available about the shooting, from an 80-page civil deposition to the "voluminous" court file to reports from a dozen media outlets.
But there was no denying that Rask's gaffe had changed everything about Game 4 and perhaps the series, and made the most mysterious man in the NHL relevant again.
You'd never know that party leaders had done everything they could to block Blackwell's nomination because they considered him too independent, a man who refused to play ball with the boys.