I recently took a trip to Chicago, a trip to Chicago that checked an item off my never-see-the-end-of sports list. I’ve been to an NFL training camp, MLB spring training, and now I have been to a NHL training camp…of sorts. Since I opened here by saying I made it down to Chicago, it should be obvious that I went to the United Center to visit the Chicago Blackhawks, the NHL team that myself and many others cheer for.
Allow me to provide a prelude about the day and what my expectations were. Excluding the trip to Arizona for Cactus League baseball, places here in Madison, and the minor league ballparks I’ve visited, I have been to Lambeau Field, Wrigley Field, Soldier Field, and Fenway Park for sporting events…and a fantastic U2 concert. These different venues have given me a good feel for what makes a great sports venue special. It’s not just attending the game that matters, the experience includes the trek to the destination, the atmosphere, the venue itself, and everything else that comes along with a game day.
Between classes last week, I saw on a website that I could text a company to enter a contest to win two tickets to the Chicago Blackhawks Training Camp Festival. Since I looked into going to this event before it was sold out, I sort of knew what to expect- street hockey, a 5k race, tons of people. I received a phone call on Thursday evening from the company whose contest I entered, and I actually won two tickets to Saturday’s festivities! I almost scared my younger sister because I was so ecstatic on the phone while she and I were making our way through the grocery store. I was also excited about her cooking dinner for me too…
Now my Saturday was fully stacked. I was going to the United Center, Solder Field to catch Northern Illinois University, and then meet up with a pal at DePaul Law School. I checked the schedule to find out what time the train was leaving from Harvard so I’d be able to get to the United Center in time to check everything out.
Yikes. I had to leave my house at 5:30 am to get to the United Center by 9:00 am for the start of the festivities. Not a problem. I set the alarm, set the timer on the coffee machine, and checked out the bananas and apples that would supply my game day fuel.
I guess I should soon get to the whole hockey part…
As mentioned above, I thought I knew what to expect from the day because of prior experience to professional locales, but this ended up being much more.
The train station is just about two miles away from the United Center, so my blonde co-pilot and I just hoofed it down Madison Avenue. Traffic wasn’t too heavy at all, even though the low volume could have been due to construction (we all know what that’s like around here, right?)
My eyes started to light up. A great thing about hitting up a major city is not only seeing how everyone wears their fan gear, but the ways that other places support the team. People were on foot wearing their Blackhawks gear, people were eating breakfast in the surrounding restaurants wearing their gear, and both bars and restaurants all over were more than ready for hockey season by having their Blackhawks banners and flags flying, hanging, or waving. Right off the bat, I thought “Wow, this is just what it was like walking up to Fenway Park for the first time”. The community loves its professional team, and I witnessed that from the first practice of the season. I witnessed that love in Boston a day before the Boston Marathon a couple years ago (that is a slight plug for my mother who is running the Boston Marathon again this year – entries were finalized just recently).
When we arrive to the United Center, we made it just before the event started. Runners were piling up behind the start line to begin the 5k race, a band was playing on stage, young people were playing street hockey, food and coffee vendors were tending to lines, merchandise booths were happy with the open wallets, and people were taking pictures. We went over to will call to grab my contest tickets (my Patrick Sharp bobbleheads are being mailed to my house), and were off to explore. I snapped a photo of the Michael Jordan statue, the Blackhawks statue, one with the Blackhawks Team President John McDonough, and I attempted to get a photo with the Blackhawks ice crew. Sadly, the attempt never yielded result.
On a quick side note with Mr. McDonough: Since I decided to wear my white Wisconsin hockey jersey, he asked me who Wisconsin was playing today. I pointed over to the blonde with me and told him that she and I were planning on heading over to Solder Field to watch NIU. He looked puzzled. I told him Wisconsin was playing today against the Huskies. He had no idea there was a game. Also, many people of Chicago had no idea the Badgers and Huskies were playing. I had several people ask me if it Northwestern or Illinois was playing the Badgers. It seemed most people lacked awareness of football in the area.
After snapping plenty of photos, we finally made our way into the arena. And that’s where the fun began.
We made our way up to our seats (I say “up” because the seats sent us in that direction). We sat down, snapped more photos, and patiently waited for practice to get underway.
We saw a group of eight guys making their way behind us. I soon heard rumblings about “the people wearing Detroit Red Wings jerseys.” I realized the two Wisconsin jerseys we were wearing looked awfully similar to Detroit jerseys if one was unable to read the front. I soon turned my torso to look back at them, and a few of them started chuckling because it was a Wisconsin sweater. One guy soon told me the story of how they had seen my co-pilot walking up the street while they were eating breakfast, and one guy joked he was going to run us down because we were supposedly wearing Detroit jerseys to the United Center. That could have been fun.
We quickly became friends with the group. They were eight friends who split the cost of Blackhawks season tickets. There was constant bickering, beer drinking, story telling, ridiculing, and all were in agreement that the only smart guy in the group is the one who had never been married. They provided us with laughter, and it was good to talk hockey and sports with them. Talking hockey with them helped me pick up some things I had not yet known about the Blackhawks.
As it the time approached for the team to hit the ice, the place was filling up quickly as the arena began to audibly buzz.
Soon, the lights darkened and, much like the introductions over at the Kohl Center, the Metallica blasted over the sound system as we were treated to the new highlight collection. My blood started pumping, my feet got a little lighter, and I knew I was ready to get the hockey season underway.
Keeping every other detail out of this space, I figured I can finally get to the day’s highlights and why I enjoyed it so much.
During the practice, a microphone was clipped on head coach Joel Quenneville. Everyone could hear what he was saying in team huddles: directing practice, encouraging players, and telling players to pick up the pace. It was amazing to hear the coach’s voice throughout the whole arena while practicing. To go along with this, the team really made it known they were trying to amuse the fans throughout the day. There were players interviews on the house mic during practice breaks, and, just before the first team scrimmage was to start, team captain Jonathan Toews grabbed the microphone to thank everyone for coming. He said to be excited about the upcoming season, and “to boo the hell out of the red team whenever they touch the puck”. Toews was wearing white that day.
A few of us were pleasantly surprised when “Chelsea Dagger” came over the sound system when the first goal was netted in the scrimmage. This song is played whenever the Blackhawks score at home. It has piled up the play counts on my music player over the last year and hearing it just makes me envision the important goals scored when it hits my ears. Something about auditory emotional stimuli…
Speaking of songs, if you have yet to catch it on television, make sure to open your ears up sometime to Jim Cornelison’s National Anthem. He sings it for every home Blackhawks game. I’ve heard it many times on television, but after hearing it live in the United Center the television version no longer does the artist justice for how powerful his voice truly is.
After leaving the United Center, my co-pilot and I discussed the negatives from the day. The only bad things we could come up with were the scrimmage contained very light hitting. There are guys trying to earn roster spots, and I’m sure one could make himself stick out by sticking a foe. The other negative were the prices of items in the merchandise booths. We were really hoping to walk away with a few things, but we could not part with that much green in our pocket. Maybe next time I will have picked up a fourth job to pay for Blackhawks gear.
The rest of the day included eating at the Billy Goat Tavern & Grill, heading over to Soldier Field to see what was basically a home game for Wisconsin, visiting Millennium Park, seeing my pal at the library (apparently he just likes to hang out there), paying $14.50 for two Goose Island brews, and walking about 11 miles before heading back to the train station to made our trip back to my favorite state.
Torrin Thatcher is a graduate student here at UW studying bacteriology. Apart from being an avid hockey fan, Torrin also is a hockey statistician for UW hockey.