A trip to the United Center

Well, not really. I haven't been in there in many, many months. Hope to soon for my first Chicago Bulls game (which is not a lockout-related thing; I'd meant to go to one anyway, as that's the only major Chicagoland pro team I haven't seen yet). But besides the obvious task on Election Day I had library books due, including some at the Manning branch of the Chicago Public Library, just a couple blocks from the UC. I should go there more often as it's a decent-sized library with Bulls and Blackhawks stuff on display. I believe it's officially sponsored by the former, but the "About" page on the CPL site is blank as of this post--sorry I can't give more info (and I didn't have time to go in this visit).

I biked past the UC, a few hours before a Magic-Bulls game, and thought as long as I'm making this several-mile trip in cold and drizzly weather, I should reward myself by finally seeing the new-ish Dunkin Donuts location east of the stadium. A new Dunkin store wouldn't be much of a big deal (in a city that has scores of them; I know St. Louis-area friends would be excited to get more), except there's virtually no place to grab coffee or food in the vicinity. It'll be nice to hit this before or after a game, someday.

It's a small store with signed Bulls and Blackhawks items. Took me an embarrassingly long time to realize why Duncan Keith would be the jersey up there.

Blackhawks-Bruins, part 2: Hawks win 5-2

hey, that's not a bad headline (and bonus points for "Could it be
Satan?," regardless of how that name is actually pronounced). this was an exciting game to be at, though very different from Bruins @ Blackhawks last month. since it'll be a few days before I'm at my own computer, no real recap/photos yet. but I will say this: my Boston-area friend (who got me into hockey in the first place), who is also a Bruins & Blackhawks fan, wore his Duncan Keith jersey tonight (Keith is his favorite NHL player) (and loaned me a Hawks away jersey I wore for a while tonight), and I wore my Keith shirt (because I haven't saved up for any jersey yet), and damn if Keith didn't score TWO goals (only his second 2-goal game; the first was 2006) AND get an assist AND become #1 star of the game. (along with Kane and Toews, which just felt like rubbing it in to Boston--"hey, look, ALL our big-stars-with-new-contracts!") I'm not sure he's even scored in a while...but he did it for us! oh, and Blackhawks had to continue their streak of always winning when I see them--every Chicago game, plus Pittsburgh and Boston. (sadly, Boston has lost every game I've seen them play, but two were against the Hawks.) I wanted the Blackhawks to win (though I'd have felt fine if the Bruins won), but didn't want to see the B's lose that badly. as a nice Midwestern girl (uh...) I feel a little guilty.

oh hey, you should read this post at Hockey Gone Wild since it mentions me! and you should read the other posts there because I enjoy that blog quite a bit; if I hadn't ended up a Bruins fan due to the friend mentioned above (and past family connections to the Boston area), HGW might have been enough to convince me...

congratulations!

I don't know about you, but I know I'm going to remember where I was when...THIS happened:

yes! Team Canada was a trending topic on Twitter! usually this is reserved for celebrities I don't care about, obvious stuff like Christmas, and illiterate and/or misogynist nonsense (#URaHoeIf and the like), but today, it was up there. (Mary Poppins is because it was showing on BBC at the time and people were twittering about it) and I helped...

and now, the Team Canada announcements, told like so much else here, through screenshots:

I tried finding the official CBC live announcement, but didn't have the right thing installed to actually watch it. all I could see were some very busy chat rooms:

the percentage of "Yes" votes actually dropped in the time I had this on. someone provided a link to a different feed of the coverage:

I'd missed the goalie annoucements, and they took a while with interviews and such before getting to defence (uh-oh, I'm using Canadian spelling now)

Keith makes it, of course!

and so does Seabrook! everyone loves the chemistry of those two

and there's your captain! he needs a photo that makes him look less like someone you see boarding a Greyhound bus and really, really hoping doesn't sit next to you...

and Toews! (they were showing childhood photos of players but I wasn't fast enough to grab most)

the feed kept going, so I left on this sports show. if you'd told me even a year ago that I'd be listening to Canadian sports radio...

there's the roster at NHL.com. wish I'd been fast enough to capture what a contributor on Pensblog found (cut off after the relevant part):

and then I looked at more on NHL.com. if I was any good at funny captions I'd have one for the pic below, because I love their expressions

there's the Blackhawks from the Hawks website. and congratulations to Hossa and Kopecky for the Slovakian team!

and to the Bruins' Bergeron, who I hadn't mentioned yet. his selection was enough of a surprise to some to get its own story on NHL.com

I haven't waded through all the comments in my usual online hockey reads, but I know From the Rink, Pension Plan Puppets, and Puck Daddy all had active discussions, if you can endure the Canadians out there who are showing off so much, they're drafting their imaginary B teams with the Canadian players who didn't make it...

that's what you get for having two first names, Duncs

the NHL Official Guide & Record Book is geared towards sports reporters (hence the very helpful pronunciation guide to players' names) but novice sports bloggers (uh, me) find it extremely useful. I was looking at the NHL awards section this week and noticed this in the Norris description:

awww... I haven't noticed any other mistakes in the guide yet (aside from all the info that's changed since it was printed, of course) but I'll be sure to let you know. btw, people call him Dunc or Duncs, but I have the overwhelming urge to call him "The Dunc," as a dopey Chicago/Boston inside joke; The Dunk being the nickname for the arena where the Providence Bruins play (Boston Bruins affiliate, of course. I envy the teams where it's that easy to figure out). I've never been in it but I got this photo my first visit to Providence (and first visit to Rhode Island, and also the day I first visited a Tim Hortons, but that of course was an event significant enough to deserve its own post later), April 2009:

here come the Hawks and Bruins commercials

plenty of news about the Blackhawks and Bruins and contracts this week, which you don't get here, you get that at other blogs. instead, in honor of this news, I present something that doesn't have anything to do with any of those players, and well, you might have seen these already but no one's put them together to compare and contrast...

first up, it's Milan Lucic; I first saw this at According to Cameron Frye, who also has the recent low-budget Shawn Thornton commercial posted. I'd do a screenshot of the great fake video game in here, but you'll just have to watch:



now, seen too many places to remember where I saw it first, but I'll just randomly link to Ms. Blackhawks because she finds and posts more Hawks videos than anyone, Niklas Hjalmarsson does an ad for the Blackhawks and IKEA:



now, I like both of these, but I prefer the Boston ads. I am jealous the Bruins do fun low-budget local stuff and the Hawks...well, promoting IKEA, and Victoria's Secret via the "Sexiest Athlete" contest? do those companies need any help?

I wouldn't be bothered by a straight-up Hawks commercial FOR IKEA, but this was product placement in a Hawks ad and seemed a little weird. not that I mind watching it...Chicagoland has several infamous low-budget commercials (Victory Auto Wreckers!)...Adam Burish isn't playing right now, can't they at least get him to do a spot where he punches out Eagle Man?

anyway...I'll throw in something featuring Duncan Keith, a "spelling bee" to see if people can spell "Kelowna," where he used to play. I have a history with spelling bees (long story) (oh, and don't spelling bees actually get more airtime on sports networks than, you know, HOCKEY does? but I digress) so I had to include this one. and due to following hockey, I know my Kitchener from Kamloops from Kelowna from Kingston! well, no, I don't, but I know they're all real places and in Canada.



BREAKING NEWS SINCE I POSTED THIS (who knows when it came out, my Bloglines takes hours to get things to me): the Blackhawks-Bears commercials shot a while back have been shelved due to NFL rules. possibly another post on this later...

Hawks vs. Blue Jackets, 12/1/09: wow

so, to count the ways that was an exciting/significant game: 1) it was the Blackhawks' first game at home since Nov. 15, after the successful 6-game Canada/California trip and 2) first game this year against division rivals the Blue Jackets (and Hawks still haven't even played the Blues yet, but played Avalanche 3 times already?) (and my first time seeing the Jackets).

I bought a copy of The Committed Indian from Sam outside the United Center--oh, I'll count that as 3) even if I buy one at every game. I got there in plenty of time for my 4) free winter hat, which I'll be wearing in Pittsburgh this weekend (probably covering up the corporate logo on the back).

and in time for the warmup, where the Hawks were sporting their 5) third jerseys for the first time this year. sure, they're virtually identical to the Winter Classic ones...

I got to see all the players up close though getting pictures with a point & shoot was challenging. I saw Kane toss pucks to people near me, twice.

the game! 6) Marian Hossa's home debut with the Blackhawks. I loooove this video they show right before the game but have yet to get a photo of my favorite scenes, which of course involve the L train going by. this scene is in Millennium Park:

7) exciting goals. Hawks are first to score with a shorthanded goal from Versteeg, and the other two Hawks goals in regulation (by Toews and Sharp) are on power plays. two assists from Hossa!

and it was a 8) close game because oh right, the Jackets scored a few times too, and had the lead for a good chunk of the game. worst of all was the goal scored just 40 seconds into the third to take a 3-2 lead.

so it went to overtime and then a 9) shootout. okay, so I haven't said anything yet about this teenage boy behind me who spent the WHOLE GAME talking to a friend/acquaintance from Australia, who'd never been to a hockey game before. now, the Australian wasn't asking questions. the other kid just felt the need to explain everything about hockey and the Hawks to him, and when I'd hoped for sweet relief by the second period, he moved on to explaining America to him. really. how our seasons and our gun laws and drinking laws compare to Australia, and what Texas is like, and...I'm surprised he didn't throw in an explanation of the electoral college, or how the development of the interstate highway system contributed to patterns of housing segregation in cities. he didn't say anything stupid (though he blanked on what Hossa's first name is) until: "Everyone loves shootouts." uh, well they'd be fun to watch if they didn't actually COUNT. he was saying this in the 3rd period, and that he'd never seen a shootout before. did that curse us to have one?

so, shootout. Hossa scored one early. Rick Nash fell down, hilariously. then nothing happened for a long time. the Hawks stars you might expect to win this didn't, as did players like Kopecky and Byfuglien who haven't been doing a lot recently and this would have been a great time for them to save the day. I nearly felt ill as it kept going and going. I'd say I was developing a heart condition but when I got home I heard about the Leafs' Jonas Gustavsson having to leave last night's game due to one, and that worries me. anyway, it 10) finally ends with Seabrook for a Hawks win!

I found out later it was 11 rounds, the longest shootout in Hawks history, even worse than anything involving the Avalanche. nice to be part of "history," maybe, but damn, I was blaming it on that kid. in my mind, I was going through the list of hockey penalties (which of course, he'd tried to remember out loud for his friend earlier) and committing all of them against him. well, I don't know how I'd manage "too many men on the ice," but any that involve hitting with a stick, YES.*

so Keith got his requisite star of the game (#1 this time) and look, he's #2 on this list at From the Rink of the NHL's top defensive defencemen (Hawks have 3 spots of 25). and I'd remembered this before the game but completely forgot during: 11) the game was Joel Quenneville's 500th win! and he'd just been listed as #2 on Puck Daddy's Top 10 NHL Coaches of the Past Decade. also, here's a nice feature on his time playing for the Hartford Whalers.

12) can't beat the deal I got on this (unless you got free tickets). posted to prove to my friend who's asked, that with TicketExchange you do get a real ticket, not a printout.

*all expressions of violence in this blog are purely for dramatic/comedic purposes and should not be taken seriously by any potential employers, or dates.

Hawks vs. Canucks, football vs. hockey...

a little more about the Chicago Wolves: Committed Indians wonders if Chris Chelios, who plays for them now, could somehow return to the Blackhawks if Sopel and Barker were traded. I'm going to say that's unlikely...(Third String Goalie features Chelios' 1991-92 Blackhawks jersey today because "on this date in 2006, Chris Chelios passed Phil Housley as the all-time leader in games played by an American born player when he skated in his 1,496th game...")

oh, and the hat I mentioned, worn the next day in Chicago's Loop. here, I bring together my love of cute winter hats, hockey, public transportation, and not smiling in photos:

 

 ...so I got back from the diner Sunday and had an hour I could have watched the Bears-Eagles game, but didn't. nothing against football, but I have trouble getting into a sport where there are so few games that every one becomes such an event (and dominates the news all week, news space that could be used to discuss, I don't know, hockey?). also, it's been years since I've seen football in person and I never entirely learned the rules (look, do you expect me to fill up my ladybrain with the rules of more than one or two sports? I can't, not when I need to be able to remember things like which trains use F40PH locomotives).

anyway, Blackhawks @ Canucks finally started at 9, their first meet since Willie Mitchell hit Captain Toews and he was out weeks with a concussion. there's other, uh, tension between these teams (sadly, I wasn't paying close attention to the Hawks when the line brawl which included Duncan Keith getting his hair pulled happened, March '09). no major incidents this time except a Ben Eager-Rick Rypien fight, but overall the game was, well, a little chippy:

 

Bryan Bickell got his first goal for the Hawks, but got sent back to the Rockford IceHogs the next day (Hawks salary issues, of course). Antti Niemi got an amazing shutout. I'm not sure how someone other than maybe the Canucks' goalie was a "star" in a shutout game, but here you go. Keith is star of almost every freaking game this season (I'm not complaining).