From tonight's game thread:
here come the shoes

the miiighty cloooown shoes!

"What the hell, let's review it." - Dale Tallon 
"They are!" - Pat Foley 
"What a farce." - Dale Tallon

by HawkVision on Mar 20, 2010 9:28 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

This is just begging

to be turned into a song

by VerStig on Mar 20, 2010 9:37 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Don't mind if I do!

Continue reading this post »

(Reposted with a few edits from my own blog, but I figured a few people here might find it interesting. Or not. If that's the case, just leave a few comments about how I suck. No insult too offensive!)

My dad flew in for the weekend, and we had all kinds of grand plans in mind- golf in the morning, Hawks at night! Except then it snowed a whole lot. Not entirely golf weather.
We decided to get seats closer to the ice than our normal 300 level seats, and we wound up right behind the Hawks bench. There were a few things I noticed that I had never seen before. Up there with the rest of the peasants, it's hard to see what's really going on. Perhaps some pictures will do the trick?

Obviously I had never seen water bottles before, and was very intrigued. If this game had been on NBC, here's where Pierre McGuire would be ruining everyone's enjoyment of the game. This picture was taken shortly after the equipment manager gave Buff something to chew on. Gum? Tobacco? Hard to say. Also, he may or may not look like a rooster in this picture. I had a hard time watching a game without someone constantly complaining "Campbell sucks!" every two minutes. But I could get used to it. Brent Sopel is actually much uglier up close. Somehow, he evaded capture by my camera. Brent Sopel- the Loch Ness Monster? The Q-Stache is oh so much more imposing in person. When Q turns around and looks you in the eyes, you'll know exactly what being seconds from death feels like. "So you see, Steeger, that's how you make love to a woman!" (When I first tried to take the picture, Madden was gesturing wildly with his arms, so the caption would have worked a lot better, but too late, I was already committed to it in my mind) For a brief second after Hossa's goal, I was convinced Brent Sopel scored it. This picture was intended to be titled "Last Thing I See Before a Heart Attack" but then Hossa was credited with the goal, and cats and dogs resumed warring. "People are upset that they did WHAT?!" Sippin' on some Haterade. Juuuust the two of us... The Original Mr. Handsome Funny, I seem to remember we had a savior with a beard... all Hossa can manage is a soul patch? Blackhawks' assistant coach John "Frankentorch" Torchetti had his game face on the entire time. The frightening thing was that when he went to yell instructions to players on the bench, he seemed to turn around, almost so he was looking me dead in the eyes. I had no idea what he was saying but I made a point of backchecking much harder on the next play. "Man, you should hear what me and Duncs were doing in OUR limo..." Blue Steel. I'm guessing that if Jonathan Toews' hockey career doesn't pan out, he can probably get a job as a Dementor. Notes and Observations

• As cool as it was to be so close to the action, it's not quite so fun having the coaching staff/ training staff/players blocking your view the whole game. I'll take the 300 level in the future, please.
• The crowd at the game was pretty small- below 7,000. As someone familiar with driving in the snow, getting to the game wasn't a very big problem for me. However, for a native of NC without much experience, I could see why it'd be enough to keep you from the game. There was not a plowed street in sight, the roads were fairly icy, and the whole state pretty much shuts down.
• I disagree strongly with the notion that Carolina isn't a strong hockey market, especially considering where they are this season in the standings. One thing about the Canes that was very noticeable from the beginning was that they market very heavily towards a family experience at games. You can see that from their commercials, you get that vibe from being in the stadium, and as a matter of fact their normal national anthem singer is a young girl (who missed the game because she got into a sledding accident). They're trying to build the market from the youngsters on up so that by the time they're irritating 20-somethings like me, they'll be filling the RBC Center just like they have since they were kids. Much better idea than Phoenix who tried to fill an arena with snowbirds from Chicago and Canada.
• The fan experience more than anything else was ruined by... you guessed it, a Hawks fan. You don't go into another man's home, sleep with his wife, insult his children, and drink all of his beer (so that's why my uncle isn't allowed at family Christmas anymore). This clown decided to irritate all of the Canes fans around us, who were beyond friendly. I understand it must be tough to only see your favorite team once a year tops, but you have to account for the fact that they may not win when you see them. Does it do any good to repeatedly yell "If you want to win the CUP you have to beat teams like this!!!!"? I remember absolutely zero Stanley Cup Champions who went 82-0-0 . I was hoping that Quenneville would jump over the glass and choke the guy to death with his mustache.
• I'm a big fan of the Blackhawks Ice Crew, but the Hurricanes' incarnation, the Storm Squad, made all of those girls look like me with a wig on. Pictures didn't do them justice, but here's one anyhow.

Hello all,

I'm a Chicago Blackhawks fan recently relocated to the Wilmington area for work for a few months. The plus of this is that I'll manage to be in North Carolina when the Hawks come to town. I've already got tickets to that particular game, but I was curious if you guys had any tips on where to go before/after the game, etc. I've heard the big thing at Canes games is tailgating, which would be very cool for an NHL game. Any tips on that would be appreciated. (FYI- if you suggest a restaurant or bar, please keep in mind that I'm an early 20's dude and I'll be attending with my mid-40's father who dislikes loud noises, so if you could tailor your suggestion to that I'd be very appreciative)

Also- I saw the FanPost about the Wilmington Ale House, and I must say I've been there a couple of times and it seems like a decent place to watch a hockey game (even had the Penguins- Islanders game on a couple of TVs Tuesday night). Any other suggestions for a good place to go to watch a game? 

Also, as a side note, I can't vouch for how well Tuomo Ruutu has played for you guys, but thank you so much for Andrew Ladd in that trade. I'm a big fan of his.

Thanks again Caniacs. 

Starting next month, I am being relocated to North Carolina for work for what I'm told will be about 5 months. The only major problem with this is that I'll be moving away from consistent Hawks coverage that I currently get in the Chicago market area.

I've seen a few people complain about how difficult it is to follow the Hawks from outside the Chicago area, even if you buy the Center Ice package or whatever else the NHL Network calls themselves. What do you guys recommend as the best option for following the Hawks? Center Ice? Some sort of satellite package? Just scouring the web to find feeds that people provide for you?

My uncle mentioned something about getting a dish from Dish Network, having it set up here so that it receives local Chicago channels like CSN and WGN Chicago, and then taking that dish with me. I don't know if anybody else has tried this or if it's worth looking into.

If, for any reason, any of you will be making the trip down to Raleigh to see the Hawks play the Hurricanes next month, I'll be there. Plenty of good seats still available.

I'm not entirely sure this is what the fan post is supposed to be used for, so if I'm doing it wrong then I hope it gets deleted (it's only right). 

Remember all those boring games against the Predators? Of course you don't. If you're even on this site, it means you probably know enough about hockey that you know good hockey when you see it, and those games haven't exactly been it. Apparently the folks on the Blackhawks ticket exchange don't know that, because they're trying to sell tickets in the last row of the 300 level for almost $60 a pop.

This is my plea to you, the good people of Second City Hockey. I've got a friend who's looking for tickets for this game for her boyfriend as a Christmas present. If you've got two extras you're willing to sell, for somewhere a little closer to face value than "double," against a team that is not only bad, but also the Hawks' opponent the night before in Nashville. 

This wouldn't be a gift for him, my old pal Dave. This would be a gift for every guy who grew up on Roenick and is now dying a slow death where his girlfriend makes him watch The Holiday so often he's convinced he actually likes it (classic case of Stockholm Syndrome. It's sad is what it is). This is a gift for all of us.

If you can help, please shoot an email over to accordingtwomey AT gmail DOT com. Thanks again all.

Matin Havlat apparently spoke with Darren Dreger of TSN about the issues he has alluded to on Twitter recently. The interview can be read here: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=284740

I suppose I'm a little surprised that McD is such an egomaniac, but maybe I shouldn't be. I don't disagree with choosing not to re-sign Havlat, but I feel like he's already getting a ton of credit for the Hawks' resurgance, so he probably doesn't need to put his stamp on a player as well. Then again, maybe this is just the rambling of a player who wishes he was still with the organ-I-zation.

UPDATE:  Puck Daddy and B.D. Gallof both have good pieces up on this situation too.

McD is also supposed to be on 670 at 11:00 to respond to Havlat - which could be quite interesting.

According to a story posted on espn.com, there's a possibility that there will be 2 Winter Classic games played on Jan 1st, 2010. The story can be found here- http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=4270968 I think that this is a great idea, except for the timing. I attended the Winter Classic in Chicago and thoroughly enjoyed it. When I spoke to friends about it, many hadn't watched because they are bigger football fans and spent the day watching bowl games. I understand we don't need to make everyone a hockey fan, but wouldn't the sport get more exposure if it wasn't trying to compete with so many other events? It seems like bad marketing to try and expand your product in an already saturated market. Why not do the Winter Classic the weekend before the SuperBowl? There are no college or NFL football games to compete with, maybe an NBA game but that'd be about it. The Winter Classic is certainly a made-for-TV event, and it needs to be able to reach the largest audience possible for the NHL to best capitalize on it.

Just had a few thoughts on the Phoenix situation that I wanted to see if anybody had an opinion on. I figured I'd post here instead of my usual unintelligible rants over at Second City Hockey. I figured this would be a more appropriate place is the more diverse crowd James seems to have over here.

A theory I've heard tossed out there is that the NHL wanted a franchise in Phoenix to take advantage of some of the transplants to Phoenix from other hockey markets, whether as snowbirds or retirees. This seems to make some sense to me. I was in Glendale over my spring break for the NCAA basketball tournament. The Jobing.com arena shares a parking lot with University of Phoenix Stadium, and it just happened that the hockey and basketball games ended at the exact same time (I mean, what are the odds?). What I saw leaving the arena appeared to be about a 5:1 ratio of of Oilers jerseys to Coyotes jerseys. I'm sure this view is a little skewed by my bad memory, or maybe Coyotes fans walked out the other direction or something. And it's certainly possible that maybe the increase in Oilers fans was just a sign that you're never too old for a little spring break. But is it possible that the NHL was planning on non-Coyotes fans being a big draw in Phoenix?

I know very little geographically about Phoenix. I know that you have to travel just shy of forever from the hotel I stayed at to make it to The Job (do Yotes fans call it The Job? It'd be easier to feel sorry for them if they did), but I have no idea if that's a problem a lot of Phoenix fans would face, as I don't know where the majority of them would be coming from. I feel as though it might be a bit of a hinderance to a casual fan, though the diehards would still make it to the rink regardless.

Just another note- at a Blackhawks game against the Blue Jackets in 07, my dad and I ran into a man and his young daughter from Toronto. He told us that it was so much easier and cheaper to get game tickets and a flight to an American city than to a game in Toronto, and every year he and his daughter would do a similar trip to this. I don't know how representative this is of a typical Maple Leafs fan or the fan base in general, but I feel like if any market deserves another team, that would be it. I know how much trouble the Hawks had filling their stadium simply because games weren't on television, so it's almost difficult for me to wrap my head around the kind of devotion to the sport it would take to fly to a different city to see a game I had no rooting interest in just because it was too hard to get tickets to see my hometown team play.