SCH Story Project (Part 1): How Did You Become a Blackhawks/Hockey Fan?

To make the questions easier to find, for one. And to keep new posts for actual stories, for another.

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Mighty Ducks

It all started as a first date. It was the late 80’s and my first game ever at the Chicago Stadium. I knew nothing about hockey. We were a two sport family (baseball and football). None of my friends had ever even talked about hockey. When I was asked to go to the Hawks game for a first date I thought sure, why not? It was at the Chicago Stadium. Our tickets were center ice right above the glass. I was hooked from the opening note of the anthem. I was shocked that people were cheering during the anthem. Part of me thought it was rude, yet another part told me to yell with the crowd. Of course, by the end I had goosebumps just like most people who are able to witness that phenomenon firsthand. The Hawks won that game and I became an avid follower after that. I never quit going to games during the Dollar Bill era. It was kind of nice to be able to get cheap tickets to a game any time you wanted. I cried when we lost in the finals in 1992. I never thought it would take 18 more years to even get another chance at it. I’m so thankful that I was able to see them win the cup in my lifetime and I really hope I get to see them raise it a few more times. I have converted a few of my family members into Hawks fans so now we are a three sport family. I just hope my nephew will tell his kids about his fun Aunt Stacie and all of the games we went to together.

I started going now and then with him around 67 or 68, and got into playing then refereeing then coaching.

I watched my first Hawks game as a kid on channel 9 back in the late 60’s. I think basically the Hawks were only even on now and then when it was the game of the week, at least those are the only games I remember seeing. Obviously those were the days of Hull and Hull, Maki, Whity, Makita, Tony O, etc. I wasn’t a huge fan then, I was just a kid, but the game was a blast to watch.

We moved a lot as a family, started in Springfield, then Iowa, Grand Rapids and Pontiac MI. before coming to the Chicago area in 67, that’s when I got my first taste of Hawks hockey. I will say my parents were Cub and Bears fans, they both grew up in Chicago and my grandparents were there, so sports was a big part of our life. My only real recollection of watching games was at my grandparents who lived in Ravenswood, we spent a lot of time there and visited a lot also when we lived out of the area. We moved again to South Jersey in 1970 but hockey was absolutely huge out East.

Of course there it was all Flyers and they were just starting to get good. The games were on TV a lot so it was more about watching the game in general than anything. And out there a lot of dads built little rinks in the back yard and we also had a few lakes that froze for several weeks during the winter. I became a big fan of hockey in general living in south Jersey, what a blast. I still remember ‘71 though for some odd reason, didn’t see any games but they were still my team.

Jump ahead several years after moving back to Naperville in late ‘73. Hockey just wasn’t big for some reason, girls were, but the Hawks weren’t on TV if I remember, only closed circuit though I could be wrong. Hell they lost again to MTL again anyway. But it was a couple years later when I met a kid in school who played hockey and we became real good friends. Hawks still weren’t on TV so the whole fan base seemed dead living out in the burbs.

I think it was the 81-82 season that the Hawks met the Canucks in the semis and the games were on TV. I remember well the last game and I think it was on ON-TV or Sportsvision, but a bunch of my buddies were at my place and we were watching. It was really one of our first tastes of listening to Pat Foley but don’t remember if he was doing the TV call. The game was super tight and all of a sudden ON TV lost their signal so we listened on the radio, which was definitely Foley. We were all drinking beer and pissed that the TV feed was gone, but the thing was listening on the radio was just as good. We had Patrick cranked up and were spellbound by the broadcast. What I remember most were his “BRODEUR WITH THE BIG SAVE” calls, the Nuck goalie was Richard Bodeur.

The Hawks ended up losing the game and series thanks to Brodeur but it was Foley who really got our attention that night and the excitement was incredible. The following season my best buddy Ken and I started going to the stadium though just a couple games here and there. Eventually we started going to one of the first games of the year and in between periods you could get game tickets 6 or 8 games in advance. We would hike down from the second balcony and get tickets, always section B and usually within 5 rows of the rail. Still my favorite vantage point of watching a game at the old stadium.

Long story, sorry, but it was that final game against the Nucks in ’82 that I became a true fan, and the call on the radio of Patrick Foley.

I started playing hockey at the park near my house when I was about 6 or 7, that would be around 1966 or 67. My older brothers needed a goalie and I quickly learned that if I wanted to keep my remaining teeth I had to learn to skate. Rather quickly I surpassed my brothers’ skating abilities and went on to play organized hockey in Oak Park. Eventually I played high school and adult hockey.

Naturally during this time I became a fan of the Blackhawks. They were still on TV back then but Art Wirtz must have been listening to his son Dollar Bill because the Hawks moved from channel 9 to 32 to I think 26 and then off the air. (For you youngsters out there, that was in B.C., Before Cable, and 32 and 26 were uhf stations that had crappy reception.) However, I still followed every game on WIND (I think it was WIND) and listened to Lloyd Pettit describe the play of Bobby, Stan, Tony-O, and the rest (like on gilligan’s island).

OK, where does Gunzo’s fit in? Well, Wally “Gunzo” Humeniuk (no wonder he went by Gunzo) was a former Blackhawk who opened a hockey shop in River Forest on Madison St. and was the official supplier of the Hawks equipment. Since Gunzo’s was a short bike ride from my house, my friends and I would spend hours each week trolling the store in hopes of meeting a Hawk and drooling over the top shelf equipment we all wanted..

I emulated my Dad a lot growing up, like many kids. The one area I especially followed, was his love of the Hawks. We would listen to home games on an old stereo he bought in college that was kept in our family’s basement. I learned to shoot lefty because of his old hockey sticks – which had the natural left handed curve to it – and watching him use it…so I figured it was the proper way to shoot (although I throw and bat right handed) This was before he bought a couple plastic hockey sticks (which I bent properly in the left handed direction) a net, and a bright orange puck…so we could shoot around in that same basement while listening to Hawks games. While listening to these games (circa ‘85-’86) I would hear the name “Savard” a lot. I didn’t even have to watch to know he was good. I still can hear in my memories Foley’s high-pitched, “He scooooooores!” and the roar of the Stadium crowd over that old stereo, and how my Dad and I would react with the traditional, “Yeah!” with our hands raised. Lucky for me, I would get a much closer look into the world of a team I was growing to love.

My Dad was the Hawks beat writer for the Chicago Tribune for two seasons (‘86-’87, ‘87-’88) I attended my first game at the Stadium February 28th, 1988. That day, my Grandpa and I used the two tickets my Dad was given for every home game. It was the Hawks vs. the Penguins. Everything about attending a first professional game, the sights, sounds, smells, were surreal. From what I could only hear on the radio was now right in front of me. Between the 2nd and 3rd periods, my Grandpa brought me up to the press box. It was there I met my first Hawk in person, Keith Brown. He was out with an injury. It wasn’t exactly the lap of luxury in the Stadium press box. From what I can remember, it was a couple long tables, and folding chairs. I sat down next to my Dad and watched the 3rd. He was meticulously taking notes and watching the game very intently. I was old enough to know what he was doing and knew I couldn’t interrupt his concentration with arbitrary questions a 6-year-old might ask, i.e. “Daaaad, what are you writing?” The Hawks won 7-5. Rick Vaive potted a hatty…or as I thought at the time, “The guy with the big shield in front of his face.” And I was hooked. I would attend a couple more games that season, and was brought to a couple practices where, one time, I was able to practically get the entire roster’s signatures on the Hawks hat I was wearing…even head coach, Bob freakin’ Murdoch. Steve Larmer signed a stick for me. As he was getting ready to sign the blade, he said, “Let’s see if I remember how to do this”, while lodging the knob of the stick in a doorway in the locker room, and setting the blade on his leg to provide a steady surface for his autograph. And one night, my Dad brought home one of Darren Pang’s goalie sticks, that read, “To [me]: Keep cheering for us Hawks! -Darren Pang”. Our family would go on to name the first family pet, a parakeet, ‘Spanky’, which was Pang’s nickname.

So…even after the team went into the abyss for the majority of my late high school/college years…I watched, cheered (as much as I could), became very frustrated and had mini-bouts of abandoning protest…but I knew I could never permanently turn my back on a team that gave me so many great memories. I knew, those initial experiences, would hook me in FOR LIFE. In reference to Sam’s post a couple weeks ago about what the Cup win meant to him, and how the bandwagoners (chads and trixies) didn’t have what he had…it was the same for me.

My brother and brother-in-law took me to my first game during the 1978-79 season when I was in Jr. High. I’ll let you work out the math there ;-) I immediately decided that I loved hockey and that my favorite player was Doug Wilson by the end of that one game. He didn’t wear a helmet and had that head of dark curly hair so he was easy to follow through the game. I won’t lie. It certainly didn’t hurt that he was cute, too! it was intoxicating and I loved the speed and the intensity. When the game was over I made sure they knew how much fun I had!

I went to several more games that season with my brother and BIL who had season tickets and were sweet enough to drag their "baby sister" along. The next year, my brother asked me if I wanted to go to the weeknight games since he couldn’t use his tickets on those days and I became an indirect season ticket holder, going to more than half of the home games for quite a few years after that. The tickets were $3 for the Second Balcony tickets back then. I used my babysitting money to pay for them. My brother let me pay him back by the week!

In 1981, my brother & BIL, who are amateur photographers, were invited to photograph the Blackhawk Standby banquet via one of their friends who was a member. They each got to bring a guest and one of them brought me! Imagine how nervous I was, as a high school student, when I found out that there would be a Blackhawk at every table. I sat next to Keith Brown at dinner that night. I am amazed that i was actually able to form coherent sentences and miraculously didn’t spill anything or embarrass myself in any other way! That same night I met Tony Esposito, Bill Gardner, Terry Ruskowski, Al Secord, my other heartthrob, Peter Marsh, and Stan Mikita (who tickled me when I took my picture with him). I also met Pat Foley during what I think was his second year with the Hawks. When I asked him if i could take a picture with him, he seemed genuinely surprised. “You want to take a picture with ME?!” He was so nice! Sadly, Doug Wilson was not at the banquet as he was recovering from an injury.

I lived and died with the Hawks through college and then life happened. I went to a game here and there, watched them on TV on those rare occasions when the planets aligned and considered myself a casual fan at that point. Some years a VERY casual, barely existent fan. A good chunk of my family have been life-long Hawks fans so I’ve always been aware of what they were doing but I had drifted pretty far by then.

Fast forward to the post-Dollar Bill era….in one year a former co-worker was hired by the Hawks and another friend/co-worker/above mentioned "bandwagon" fan went to her first game after seeing them on TV and listening to me talk about my "good old days" of Blackhawk fandom. I couldn’t let her have all the fun without me. This was my favorite team for so many years that I jumped right back in as if I’d never left. I started watching the games again myself and quickly became the rabid fan I had been in the 1980s/early 1990s. Last summer, I went to the convention and it felt like a homecoming. I’ve been to quite a few games this year and went to all but one of the home playoff games. I’m back for good this time…

Reading all these stories, especially the ones that start in the 60’s and 70’s is really bringing me back. My story starts in the early 70’s. I grew up not too far from the stadium.

I don’t remember my first Hawks games. I was probably too young. My earliest vivid memories are of watching guys like Stosh and Tony O, although I’m pretty sure I went to my first games in 71. I have a game program and pennants from that season. My mom and dad starting going to Hawks games together in the 50’s while they were dating. Apparently, once I was able to walk I replaced mom as dad’s sidekick.

In grade school I played a lot of ice hockey and when I wasn’t playing ice hockey, I played floor hockey. I had a few nasty black eyes and lost a couple of teeth which led to my parents to become overprotective. They made me wear a mask even when I played pond hockey. (this led to me playing goalie most of the time) In high school my interests shifted from baseball and hockey to football and wrestling. I tore ligaments in both of my ankles in HS and haven’t been able to skate much since.

Like Badgerdano mentioned, I too remember the Hawks on 32 and then the even crappier 26. I also remember later thinking “This subscription TV stuff will never catch on.” (I might not be a good source of stock-buying advise)

My dad and I went to Hawks games pretty regularly until I left for college in 86. I don’t remember going to any games during that period, especially since I was in Europe for half of it. I missed out of on 88-89 and 89-90. I stayed in Champaign, IL after graduation and was able to start watching the Hawks again in 90-91 while bartending as a 2nd job. Fucking North Stars.

I went to games pretty regularly during the 90’s and still even went to a handful of games each year until the early 2000’s. My last live game with my dad was when one of my clients gave me his entire suite for for the home opener. I brought a bunch of my friends and some of my dad’s friends. It was a good time watching the generations mingle and argue, listening to the old timers telling us about the good old days.

After 01-02 I was down to 1-3 games a year until the lockout. The lockout pretty much sealed the deal for me and I didn’t attend a game for 3 years until Kane and Toews. I attended some Wolves games and although it was hockey, it just wasn’t the same.

Now I attend at least 5-10 games each year and haven’t missed a single televised game. I’ve been able to introduce 2 of my 4 kids to the UC experience and made sure to make each of their first games against a Canadian team so that they could also experience the Canadian national anthem which has always been a favorite of mine and my father. (maybe it’s the French-Canadian in me) I remember noticing out of the corner of my eye, my older son staring at me as I sang the lyrics to “O Canada.” I knew then that he was hooked too ;)

My biggest regret this season is that I didn’t get to go to any games with my dad, although I tried my damndest. He’s had knee problems for years and now that he’s in his mid-70’s, he can barely walk, but he refuses to use a wheelchair or even a walker or cane. Due to his “pride” he wouldn’t go. I did get him a Hull jersey though, which he wore at home while watching the games on TV.

I thought my “story” was going to be short. Sorry for rambling!

I’ve only been a real Blackhawks fan for a season. My cousin played hockey for 15 years, so it’s not like I never paid attention but truth be told, after high school I stopped paying attention to sports for a few years, until last year that is. Last summer I started following the Sox hardcore, and it was the first time my dad and I could just sit and laugh and talk in I don’t know how long. After he died last September, I started watching the Hawks, because as corny as it sounds, sports was the last father-daughter bonding moment I had with my dad. Sorry, I wish I could have some hilarious story instead of a sob one, but that’s just how it is. For some reason, I wanted to post this, even though I’ve pretty much been a lurker all season. But I will say this, it was quite a season to start paying attention again.

Back in 1992 I was living in Barbados and fell in love with hockey through a tandem of owning hockey cards (hand-me-downs from some other kid) and watching games on satellite television. As a Canadian it was ironic that I started obsessing over the sport once I left my country, but that’s another discussion.

I was immediately hooked by Belfour – his skill, his temper; my eyes were the size of dinner plates when I watched him. My love for the Hawks grew from my admiration of their goaltender. Eddie, then Chelios, then Amonte – these guys became my hockey idols. Being seven I was also impressionable, and so the red (and even black) Hawks jerseys were the coolest damn thing I’d ever seen.

All those things colluded together and made me fervent in my support, and even coming back to Canada, even coming back to Montreal didn’t shake my love for the Hawks. I was very upset when Belfour was traded but I had seen it coming. My interest in him waned over the years, because I stuck with the Hawks. I followed his career in passing, but I refused to root for his new teams.

The last few weeks have made that almost 20 year commitment worth it.

I moved from Cleveland to Chicago in 1990 and officially became aquainted with hockey, specifically the Blackhawks. Coming from a city with no NHL team I was quickly interested in the Hawks with players like Roenick, Chelios and Belfour. I would watch games when I got the chance but at only 8 yrs old I’d rather play street hockey with friends.

The mid 90’s and early 2000’s passed and the Hawks were a distant memory. No televised home games pretty much killed it for me, who was still developing a love for the game. However I would still watch any playoff games because as we all know, playoff hockey is probably the best sport in the world.

Jump forward to October 2007 and a group of friends decides to go to the game vs Dallas to check out these new Hawks we’ve been hearing about, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. The Hawks tie the game with seconds to go in the 3rd period and force overtime and the crowd of 10,000 go nuts. Robert Lang deflects in rookie Jonathan Toews shot with 1.5sec left in the 3rd on a 5 on 3 power play. Jason Williams seals the Stars fate with a goal only 43sec into OT on an assist from Patrick Kane.

That game alone was enough to kickstart my Hawk fandom which had long since ceased to exist. I’m not a season ticket holder, or a “long suffering” fan, but I’ve tried to educate myself on the game, go to as many games as I can, probably 10 a season, and haven’t looked back since.

I became a Blackhawks fan last summer while studying for the CA bar exam in Chicago. My hockey exposure to date was limited to sneaking booze into my high school’s ice arena and attending a couple of ’03-04 Hawks games at a vacant UC; I’d enjoyed the sport but had never gotten attached. Towards the end of law school I was peripherally aware of the Hawks’ rising from the dead, if only from an onslaught of friends’ Facebook status updates during the playoffs.

Then one fateful Friday in late May ‘09 I skipped bar review class for a Cubs/Dodgers game with a couple friends. What was supposed to be a study break turned into an outright day-drinking bonanza down Clark Street after the game, culminating at a little establishment called Moe’s by nightfall. In the midst of discussions on calling it a night, a guy at our table quietly announced "the Blackhawks just walked in." We glanced up to see a group of young men slowly file into the bar, filling a couple booths. They didn’t look like how I’d imagined pro hockey players… instead young, fresh-faced, and of average height and build. This was the team that had generated such a buzz in the past few months?

Out of drunken curiosity, my friend and I approached the Hawks’ booths. To our delight, the guys invited us to share in their celebration after a playoff run that had ended in Detroit two nights prior. After ten hours of drinking followed by buckets of beer and shots with the team, I don’t remember much from that night. But I recall they were incredibly tight-knit, down-to-earth for letting us party with them, and simply fun to be around. We left Moe’s with the team and boarded their party bus, en route to a club in River North. Upon reaching the club, I realized my phone was dead and I had all of two crumpled dollars in my wallet. With seven hours of bar review class looming at 9am the next day, I had visions of waking up in a strange place, queasing into a Jr. league trophy, missing class, failing the bar, and inevitably blaming said transgressions on the Hawks. So instead of continuing the celebration, we thanked the guys and parted ways, chanting "BLACKHAWKS" all the way home.

That night was the highlight of my summer, but I realized how much more unbelievable it would have been had I at least followed the last season or two. If I’d been a lifelong fan and had that experience? I couldn’t even imagine. The rest of my bar study was peppered with playoff highlights and reading up on the team’s progression over the past few years. After I moved to Cali and the regular season began, I began frequenting a local sports bar to watch Hawks games. With every goal celebration I saw the camaraderie amongst the team that had drawn me in that first night and catapulted my fascination into outright fandom. It didn’t take long before I was entirely hooked, and I now I can’t imagine it any other way.

For a few years I took a trip to Toronto each fall early winter. In 1995 it was a little after Thanksgiving, and was staying at the Days Inn on Carlton ST, Downtown. I had always been a passive fan of the Hawks, they were Chicago, and had seen one game in the Ol’ Barn, but was not a real puckhead.

On November 24, the second night of my stay, I happened to look out the window of my hotel, and the street was just completely crowded with people. I was wonder what the hell is going on here. So my curiosity got the best of, and I ventured down to see what was going on outside. I met this guy a few feet from the lobby of the Hotel outside, and asked what was going on. This guy looks at me like I have broccoli coming out of my ears, and responds " The Leafs have a game tonight, you want tickets?" Now this is not the first time I had stayed at this Hotel, but that night was the first time I noticed, what I thought was a warehouse next to the Hotel, had these little signs on it over the doors that said “MAPLE LEAF GARDENS”, I never really took notice to this building before.

So after a little negotiating I got a standing room ticket for $50 Canadian. I went inside, and this was a Hockey Stadium. I looked at the banners, the players warming up an listened to the music, and thought it was pretty cool. So that night I watched the Hartford Whalers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0, and was hooked!

When I got back to Chicago I looked into Hawks tickets, to expensive, wanted to watch them on TV, yeah right. So I went to a Wolves game with a buddy. For $30 each we got corner ice front row seats, where I watched the Wolves beat the Atlanta Knights 5-4 in SO. I proceeded to go to about 20-30 more Wolves games that year, and about 15-20 more the next year before joining the Navy in December 1996.

Since then I have been a Puck head. I was able to see the Hawks a few times in Boston, NYI and an exhibition in Providence RI, as well as seeing the Wolves a few times after they joined the AHL and played in New England. I always wanted to get into the Hawks, but I truly felt the Hawks did not want me too.

But the day I became a Died Hard Hawks fan, well in was in September of 2007, and since I have just enjoyed the ride.

Though I’ve always followed Chicago sports teams in one way or another, it’s always been the Blackhawks that have been closest to my heart. Even through the “dark ages” of the lockout and subsequent years earlier in the decade, when I found myself paying less and less attention to hockey, my heart was always there – like an old flame that you never quite had a final resolution to.

For me, it all started on a cold winter’s night back in 1973, when my dad took my brother and I to our first Blackhawks game, against the gold and green clad California Golden Seals. I was six years old, and honestly, I can’t begin to recall who was playing on what line for either team. I do recall Espo was in net (as he usually was), and Dennis Hull playing as the brother of the famous guy who was no longer on the team. I remember how small I felt in this “huge” stadium, especially when the crowd roared in approval of a hard hit or a well-executed goal. I remember the way my dad tried to shield his sons from the constant cursing and fights that would break out around us in the second balcony. I remember the organ playing “Never On A Sunday” and “Lady of Spain”, and of course the national anthem. But what I remember most was those damned dials on the scoreboard. I mean, really, how the hell could anybody read how much time was left on a power play with those silly, small dials? Of course, I didn’t know any better – that’s just the way it was. But how was it that other teams that I saw Sunday afternoons with Peter Puck on NBC TV had digital readouts to figure time and Hawks couldn’t afford to replace dials? Little did I know that this appearance of cheapness of the ownership would come to underline all it was to be a Blackhawks fan in the years to come.

After that, it was all about watching every road game I could and memorizing all the players I saw: Darcy Rota. JP Bordeleau. Cliff Koroll. Tom Lysiak. Behn Wilson. Warren Skorodenski. Battlin’ Bob Sauve. Ken Yaremchuk. You get the idea. I had to imagine what I had to listen to the home games on radio. I loved the Hawks sweaters and thought the indian head on the front was something special.

The thing I never experienced throughout the many years that passed was the Cup. Oh, there was the near miss in 1992, and I tried to convince myself that there would be more chances. I purchased my first Hawk sweater (#33, Dirk Graham). But things started going downhill slowly after that, until the lockout year when my heart was nearly dead for the Hawks, realizing as an adult how Dollar Bill sabotaged, piece by piece, this wonderful team I had loved since a kid. And I knew that things wouldn’t change until the old man kicked the bucket.

When Kaner scored the clinching goal, I think I finally got a sense of the relief and achievement the players must have felt. For no longer was there another game to be played, no more opponents to defeat. I do feel as though I am a part of this team, considering all the games I attended while at school in DeKalb – driving to stadium after class and driving back afterwards in time to see the highlights on CNN sports after midnight. All the games I attended while working. All of the games I watched and listened to.

On that night of June 9, 2010, everything I did to cheer on the Hawks was rewarded, and what I wonderful feeling it is.

I was 6 or 7 years old, it was ‘72 or ’73, and we used to watch the Hawks games on TV. One of my older sisters was a huge fan, but in a “girlie” way—she liked them because she thought they were good looking. (Sounds like Sharp’s fan club today, huh?)

One night, my mom took was taking my sister and her friend somewhere for something special. Since my other sister and I were too young to stay home alone at night, we were forced to go with them. We went to a Kentucky Fried Chicken. My sister and her friend went into the restaurant while the rest of us waited in the car. The place was really crowded. After a long wait, during which I was NOT a patient or well-behaved little boy, they finally came back to the car. I was made to sit in the front seat in the middle, next to my mom where she could keep me in line. We were in our ’67 Chevy Impala. As we drove home, I asked my sister what was the big deal about going to KFC. She handed me a picture of this red-haired hockey player with blood on his face. It was autographed at the bottom. Right then, my mom slammed on the brakes for some reason and I lunged forward, slamming my 2 front teeth into the dashboard. (It was like hard plastic if I recall correctly.) I started crying pretty good and was concerned I would lose my teeth, especially when I saw I was bleeding.

My sister pointed out that I would be OK and that now I looked a bit like the guy in the picture. It was Keith Magnuson, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

I bought HawkVision (or whatever it was called) so I could watch them when they wouldn’t show them any other way, and I’ve purchased the NHL package from DirecTV every year since I moved to Wisconsin (7 years ago) just so I could watch the Hawks. One of my kids was named “Fan of the Game” when he was a few months old and won a jersey that he now wears when he plays on his mini-mites team. The Hawks are part of our family.

A bit related to that was when I was dating a girl in the early ‘90s and she neither knew nor cared anything about sports. I told her that if she and I were going to keep going out, she’d have to learn to love the Blackhawks at least. For her birthday, I bought her tickets to see the Hawks play. It was the first live game for both of us. This big kid was making his debut that night and he was younger than she was, which she thought was pretty funny since she was only 19 at the time. That kid was Eric Daze. Even though she didn’t know much about the game, my girlfriend fell in love with the game and the Hawks that night. Good thing too—we’ve been married 14 years and are expecting our 5th little Hawks fan in October.

When the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup on June 9, 2010, I cried and laughed and couldn’t stop. I still do when I watch the game winning goal. GO HAWKS!

I could start and give my father all the credit in the world for brainwashing me into becoming a ‘Hawks fan but I can’t.

I could say that the series between the ’Hawks and Oilers in 1985 made me a fan, but I was way too young. The only thing I remember from that series where the two masks worn by the two netminders – Bannerman and Fuhr.

But as a small kid in grade school I could never latch onto one particular team just individual players- Gretzky, Lemieux, Savard, Fuhr, and Roy until one night.

It was the last game of the 1988-89 season between the ‘Hawks and the Leafs with the winner to go onto the playoffs that year. My grandfather (who is a die-hard Leafs fan) was loving every bit of the early going when it was 3-1, but his smile would turn to scorn when Todd Gill coffed up the puck early into OT which was picked up by Troy Murray. Breakaway. High glove on Bester. Game over. ’Hawks win and march into the playoffs. That unfathomable run to the Conference Finals sealed my love for the ’Hawks and it’s been the ’Hawks ever since – even thorugh the most difficult times.

Now I know this sounds bizarre, but one of my favourite seasons was 2005 – the lockout. Why? With all the turmoil surrounding this organization and the recent failures including the disasterous 2002-03 season my optimism for the ‘Hawks started to dwindle a little bit. I’d still watch the games through Centre Ice but I was starting to become apathetic, I didn’t care anymore for it seemed that management/ ownership really didn’t care either.

During the lockout I got see many of the older games from back in the 60’s between the ‘Hawks and the ’Leafs or Habs and it really rekindled my passion and optimism for this franchise. To watch Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita fly down the ice with Glenn Hall or Dennis Dejordy backstoping them all the way to victory I could only imagine if it could happen again. Who would be the hero? Well this gave us our answer didn’t it? We knew right there and then we had something special and then he delivered it the moment we’ve all have been waiting for.

June 6th, 2010 – the day I’ll never forget.

It was October 6, 2007.

I was turning 21, I’ve only been in Chicago the US for a little over 2 months, and my best friend wanted to take me to a hockey game.

I’ve never seen a full game before (the Mighty Ducks don’t count), and she hadn’t followed the sport (or her Pens) since the lockout. When we planned to watch the game it was just a line on a list of things we were going to do for my birthday: brunch, Wicked, dinner, hockey. She got more excited than I did as the day drew closer, but was sure to temper my expectations over brunch, during the intermission for Wicked, while we waited for dinner, right after we had our tickets scanned in at the turnstile:

“We’ll probably lose. The Blackhawks haven’t been good in years.”

We were also up against the Detroit Red Wings, who I was told were the class of the NHL. I took it all in— the arena, the nosebleed seats, the margarita that I didn’t even get carded for when I bought it. When the crowd started cheering for the national anthem I thought I was witnessing an American practice, not a Chicago tradition.

And then the game started.

I don’t remember the details. We went down early, but there was a fight— (“CAN THEY DO THAT?” I asked my best friend, when two players dropped the gloves and started circling the ice, looking to throw the first punch) a shorthanded goal, a power play goal— my best friend rattled off every rule she remembered, to make sure I kept up while she watched herself. I asked her to explain icing a few times, offsides even more, but I’ll be honest— I was barely listening, so caught up in the speed of the game and its physicality and the fact that somehow, the game ended up tied after three periods.

“If they don’t score in five minutes of overtime,” my best friend explained, “it goes to a shootout.”

And to a shootout it went. Patrick Kane (“See that guy, wearing 88?” my friend had asked during the game. “Kid’s a rookie. Only about 18. Went first in the draft— they start playing young.”) was up first, and he was the only one who scored.

The Blackhawks had won the game.

Against the Red Wings.

In a shootout.

By a rookie.

On my birthday.

(Little did I know #88 would someday grow up to do this and this and this, but he’ll maybe almost always get a pass from me for helping turn me into a fan, although my best friend really did most of the heavy lifting, that lazy bastard.)

Now, the Sharks have been in the Bay Area for as long as I can remember, but it was just background knowledge, and a cool logo. I was tailgating Giants games before I could read, I remember playing in the sandbox in kindergarten and telling a friend how Jerry Rice had broken a record during the game the day before. My dad tried real hard to get my brother and I to care about/play basketball, but uh, the Warriors suck. So our TV was always filled with those sports, hockey never really broke through, except occasionally during the playoffs (if the Giants weren’t playing).

Back in 2002? the Sharks were in the playoffs, and were playing the Avs. I watched one or two games of that series, I know I fell asleep during one, and looking back, how the hell did you fall asleep during a playoff game, kid? Possibly during that game, or another that series, the Bay Area being the fault ridden land that it is, an earthquake hit. It took a seismic event for a hockey game to be memorable at that stage.

Three years later, I decided that I was tired of nice weather? or something? and moved to Chicago for college, instead of San Diego. I was on the housing merry go round my freshman year, and winter quarter I moved in with new roommates, one of whom was from Minnesota. This was January of 2006, there was no hockey on TV. She was a die hard Wild fan (she explained to me the tragedy of the (North) Stars) and had the game center package etc. but really, I think she was just in culture shock, being in a city that didn’t care about hockey.

So the Wild were coming to play the Hawks and she asked if I would go with her to the game. I was all “sure! why the hell not.” The Hawks lost, and I just dug up an email I sent afterward I apparently had these thoughts:

Went to the Blackhawks Vs. Wild hockey game tonight, Wild won! Tracy was so so very happy, it was hilarious. It was sad though, how many empty seats there were in the United Center. But yes, some of the hockey players are really cute.

Then Tracy moved back to Minnesota, probably due to hockey withdrawl, and I went back to caring about baseball. (Hey, I did get to a Hawks game before a Cubs game!)

Spring of ‘09, Hawks are in the playoffs, I’m reading about it in the Red Eye on the bus to class. I remember thinking that Patrick Kane looked about 12, and at the time was all “I’ll pull for the Blackhawks and the Sharks!” because I was raised to root root root for the home team. Pointmesouth started getting into the Hawks around this time, but I was in my final quarter of school, had night classes and didn’t actually know where CSN was on my TV.

So in September, she basically told me I was becoming a hockey fan, because she needed someone to talk to about the Hawks. I didn’t need much convincing, especially since I’d managed to get myself a job and would be staying in Chicago for the foreseeable future, and needed a team in my timezone. I bought us tickets to a game against a team I’d never heard of before (the Blue Jackets) because they were cheaper than games against teams I HAD heard of, and she came over every game night because I have cable and she doesn’t.

Then there was that Calgary game. Holy crap. My ticket was punched, and I loved the game. We sat in my living room doing our damndest to figure out how to pronounce Hjalmarsson, I was trying to match numbers with names and figure out as many rules as I could (thanks Wiki!)

I started lurking SCH, because I’d had fun on the McCovey Chronicles, and there was a lot of good info/discussion etc. They put up an announcement for a roadwatch, Hawks vs Sharks at the Whirlaway the day before Thanksgiving. We went, were awkward in the corner, but then Hossa and Sharpy scored on the same penalty kill, and we went up 7-0. That was a GREAT game. Any lingering sympathies I’d had for the Sharks were OBLITERATED. I think I made an SBN account the very next day. It was a Very Blackhawks Christmas.

The Olympics were amazing, meeting all of you has been awesome, the playoffs were a ride, and that Sophie’s Choice of being at AT&T Park during game 1 of the SCF. I went to get some garlic fries and had to shield my eyes walking past the (one) TV showing the game. I swear thirty of my family members were taunting me with the score/results throughout the game, it was a family effort to shield my eyes/ears when they showed the (many many many many) highlights on the jumbotron. I was terrified the whole ride home as we listened to the local sports radio station, but hockey was never mentioned.

This is why it took moving to Chicago to become a hockey fan. and to become a Hawks fan. Celebrating every win, drinking away every loss and hanging out on the ledge with the lot of you (and being pulled back) made it that much more awesome.

Good lord this got long. Sorry Puppet.

My parents had season tickets at the Old Barn – from shortly after their marriage in 1969 until 1976. I was born in February of ‘76: my mom continued to go to the games while she was pregnant with me until she could no longer climb the stairs. After I was born, she told my dad, "If I can’t go, you can’t go." Thus endeth the season tickets.

Once my brother and I were old enough to behave, we’d go to at least one game a year. I don’t remember much except the way your feet stuck to the floor and the colorful language of those seated around us. My first favorite player was J.P. Bordeleau – I think it was only because I had just learned my letters. I would write J.P. on everything. A couple times a year we’d go to friends of my parents to watch some games on SportsVision (and play their Intellivision). They had a satellite dish (one of the ones as big as a small house) and we didn’t get cable until the late 80s. I remember riding in the car with my dad and listening to Pat and Dale a lot.

Once we finally got cable, I was old enough to really understand the game and my fandom really took off. It was the era of Savard, Wilson, Thomas, Manson and a brash rookie named Roenick. Midway through the 88-89 season the Hawks traded for a goalie: Alain Chevrier was his name. He wore the number 30. He played very well for the Hawks in the 89 playoffs and took them all the way to the conference finals before they lost in five games to the eventual champs, the Flames. He only lasted part of the 89-90 season before being traded to the Penguins: some guy named Belfour was making waves. I don’t know why I latched onto him so – I suspect part of it was because I thought he was cute, but I also seem to like goalies [koffNiemikoff].

My Hawks obsession seemed to wane when the Stadium was torn down. I’d go to games occasionally at the UC but by that point I was in college and it seemed like all my favorite players had moved on. By the time the aughts rolled around, I was sick of watching a team that not only was terrible but whose owner honestly couldn’t care less about the fans. “As long as Dollar Bill lives, I’m not giving him my money” I’d say. Shortly after WWW passed, I won tickets to see the Hawks in a skybox. I finally got to see those kids Toews and Kane everyone had been talking about. My gf came with me – it was her first hockey game and as I explained to her the rules and subtleties of the game, I could feel the excitement within me building. I honestly don’t remember who won that game, but I do know it was the beginning of what felt like being welcomed back into the fold.

I thoroughly cemented my place back in Blackhawks fandom last season. My brother had gotten season tickets and I managed to snag a couple throughout the year when he couldn’t go. When the playoffs started, I had gotten tickets to a game in each of the first three rounds. I witnessed the infamous Game 6 vs Vancouver. When Kaner scored that hat trick I had tears in my eyes. Hockey was back. Not only in Chicago, but in my heart.

Even if it’s another 49 years before the Hawks win it all again, I don’t care. You can bury me in Hawks jersey – I’m in for keeps.

I’d been a Hawks fan as a kid, but more than drifted away until pretty late in college, when I started attending loads of hockey games at school. Then I stared paying attention to the NHL again. That was three seasons ago.

so when his girlfriend backed out of a Weird Al concert or a Bulls playoff game, I got the call to join up.

We were a Green Bay Packers family, with a general interest in all other sports. I liked hockey, but unfortunately with the whole “no games on tv” era, I could never see the hawks play without stealing my parents car and driving downtown on a permit. So naturally, when my brother needed a his trusty replacement date again for a Hawks game in fall 2006 I agreed.

I’d be lying if I said I had an epiphany at the game and remembered every last detail. But once I went back to college (I was a freshman in college at the time) I started following a little. Then, I became obsessed during the 07-08 season. Somehow we got both VS and Comcast Sportsnet Chicago in Iowa, so I was able to watch almost all of the games. So basically, in 3-ish years, I went from knowing only what the Trib said about the Hawks to actually meeting some of you great people and celebrating the Cup!

Well maybe not in a galaxy far far away but definitely a long time ago. I wasn’t quite seven years old and I went to my first game with my Dad and brother. It was February or March of 1967 and the Hawks played the Red Wings. Our seats were a few rows behind the penalty box. We were surrounded by what seemed to be a bunch of old men in fedora hats, overcoats and suits. The goal I remember from that night was by Bobby Hull. He rushed up the ice, skated by a few guys, took a slapshot and scored. The Stadium crowd went crazy. The Hawks won that night and I’ve been pretty much hooked since then.

Following the Hawks for all of these years there have been plenty of ups and downs. (Most of which have been referred to throughout this thread) All I know is Hockey will always be the greatest sport, the Black Hawks my favorite team and June 9, 2010 as the day I was rewarded for all of my years of being a fan.

I was adopted by my father. And for him the Hawks were a family affair. Dad’s Dad was an old school Hawk fan, who took his kids to see the games back in the glory days (dad still has Mikita and Esposito signed programs around somewhere, apparently from the press box). He came from a large family, and the Hawks were always something they shared.

His father died when he was in high school, and by the time I came around, he and his older brother shared season tickets in the 100 level. Dad took me and my sister to a game with Mom (we were both wearing freshly minted Belfour and Roenick Jerseys, the Belfour is hanging on my wall behind me as I write this). I sat with my sister there in the 100 level, a few seats from the aisle and learned values like “Cheer during the Anthem”, “wait for the whistle” and “Detroit sucks”. My sister and I went to the glass with the rest of the kids during one of the pre-game warm ups, and JR flipped a practice puck over the glass, and I caught it. As I brushed some remnant ice off its edges, I was hooked. To this day, hearing Fanfare for the Common Man at the UC still brings back those memories for me.

When the Dollar Bill fall out happened, my family gave up their tickets (the subject of very bitter jokes last Christmas, btw), and followed from afar, as many families did. But in the past few years we came back and watched this team come from nothing, and make something of itself.

Lets put it this way, I had friends from Virginia and further south come up here when I was in college, and I took them to Hawks games (when 300 level was like 15 bucks a pop). I considered the Anthem part of the Chicago experience. I considered a bunch of red clad hockey nuts part of that experience. I never took them to a Cubs or Sox game, and the Bears were never even in the conversation.

My first vivid, in person Chicago Sport memories were of a bunch of guys flying around a rink in red sweaters, taking shots, shaking glass, and Wayne Messmer supported by the deafening cheers of thousands. My family gave that to me, and that is why I am a fan.

Phase 1: First Blackhawms game was (I think) in 1972 with my dad and bropther. Lou Angotti scored on a breakaway for a 2-1 win. I was hooked. Vivid memories of Lloyd Petit on the radio and occasional UHF/crappy TV action (road games, of course- always the red sweaters. Memories are so ingrained I still struggle with the white/red home/road thing.)

Phase 2: My bro picked up season tickets coming out of college in 1986- lots of great hockey between then and ’96. The halcyon days. Clear recollection of post-game radio interview with Dollar Bill glad-handing JR after getting knocked out by Colorado in the conference semis in ’96. Rarely can the end of an era be pinpointed so precisely. Bro drops season tickets.

Phase 3: The dark days. Career, young kids, and crappy hockey conspired to push the Hawks off my radar. Brother-in-law from out of town organized annual family trek to UC around Christmas, and watched a handful of games a year, mostly competitive (if crappy) games against crappy opponents or clinics administered by superior teams. Pulse barely detectable. (No bash on bandwagoners- the only major division among fans I recognize is between the handful who kept the faith during these years and the rest of us.)

Phase 4: Ding dong the witch is dead. Pretty obvious this team was headed in the right direction. Havlat was the best guy in an Indianhead in a decade, and Toews and Kane coming. Reupped for season tickets three years ago.

I’ll admit it. I’ve been a fair weather fan practically my whole life. I don’t like losing, and I don’t like rooting for teams that lose.

Growing in Chicago, I’ve always thought: we think of ourselves as a city starved of championships, so why not root for them all? Being a diehard fan is draining; I have tremendous respect for those of you who’ve stuck with teams through thick and thin. Being a busy kid (thanks Mom & Dad), I often couldn’t put in the hours to watch.

So I optimized. My earliest sports memories were of MJ & Scottie and their six championships together. I lived and died with the Cubs in ’03. I put myself absolutely behind the Sox in ’05 and the Bears in ’06.

But hockey never entered my consciousness. Aside from thinking that Gary Suter was kind of a good player when I caught it on TV occasionally, I was as out of touch with hockey as it seems Dollar Bill wanted me to be.

That all changed last year. I had just moved to New York. I found myself a little homesick of Chicago and got caught up in the Bulls-Celtics hype. Flipping the channels during a commercial break, I was surprised to discover that the Blackhawks were in the playoffs. I thought we were supposed to be bad, so I gave it a shot.

The first game I saw came towards the end of the Calgary series. I was spoiled from the start. We won seemingly every game, and oddly the names that stuck in my head were Ben Eager, Cam Barker and Nikolai Khabibulin. I asked myself why I hadn’t found the sport exciting before, because at least with the style we played, it sure as heck was fun to watch. What really struck me about the ’Hawks was how they would always rally when they were down. No lead was safe against us. When the Bulls got eliminated and we were in the thick of it against Vancouver, I watched on.

Then Hatrick Kane happened. The UC blowing its roof off, the crowd singing along “duh duh da, duh duh da” burned into my head as much as it did Luongo’s. There was no looking back. This was a young, stacked team. My thirst for ’Hawks news was born. I scoured Google, Yahoo — and discovered Second City Hockey.

I started watching the team in Finland, and was glued to whatever online feeds I could find. I quickly found the news repetitive, but SCH always had something fresh, and something else too: a community. As I delurked in January, I was hooked. You all gave me a fanbase to associate with, which I had lacked outside those I could convert (mostly my family). It turned me into a hockey fan and I soon went to my first game in NJ. VERSTEEG! (my namesake!) ties the game with 20 seconds left. Captain Serious with the shootout winner. Amazing.

There’s something special about this whole experience. For once I could express my fandom, not through my 7000 comments, not through statistics, but through a team spirit that I never had for any team or school.

Once a fair weather fan, always a fair weather fan? We may not find out for a while, and I have been spoiled. But if I were a betting man, I’d put my money on “Not Anymore.”

I’ve lived in Chicago area my whole life, went to college in Chicago. Have no clue when I became a fan, just know I always was (except for the dark years). Have few memories, mostly due to intoxication.

singin’ the “no reply key” blues again.

A propos of length:

“I apologize for the length of this letter but I didn’t have time to make it shorter.”

- attributed to Pascal (snopes message board)

I bet meeshak spent hours on his story.

Growing up, my family was Bears fans. My earliest memory is watching the 1985 Super Bowl, and I lived and died by the Bears the way many of you did the Hawks during that time. None of my friends or family even mentioned hockey when I was growing up. It saddens me now to know that exciting and historic things were going on at the Madhouse on Madison at this time and I didn’t know it, but I believe we find what we’re looking for when we’re supposed to, so here I am.

I picked up the Cubs and baseball when I went to college, but it wasn’t until Bill Wirtz died that I paid attention to the Hawks. Oh, I paid attention to the Bulls championships like everyone did (who doesn’t like a winner?), but during the lead up to the 2006 Super Bowl, the Trib did a summary of Chicago teams’ successes/failures in championship games. I was shocked and appalled to realize the Hawks had been in a SCF series during my lifetime and I hadnt realized it. I pride myself on my support of Chicago teams and I didn’t know one of them had been to a championship?! That bothered me a lot.

So when Wirtz died and McD went to the Hawks, my interest was piqued. The games were going to be on tv and there were several ticket sales going on with a lot of media hype. Perhaps my guilt at not knowing about the SCF run motivated me, or it just bothered me when I realized no one actually went to these games and I was not a very good Chicago sports fan, but I bought a pair of tickets (I waited too long to buy more than a set ) and went with my stepdad, a big hockey fan, to the game.

The main thing that sticks out from that game is how shocked I was at how young the team was. They were all younger than me except for a handful and my stepdad took great delight in giving me a hard time about how “old” I was getting. I enjoyed the game, even if I didn’t quite get what was going on. I think they lost, but I spent the rest of that season trying to catch games on tv and calling my stepdad with hockey questions. I bought a partial pack of season tickets the next season with 2 friends and I was hooked.

I don’t know if I would love the Hawks as much if our team was composed of different guys. But they have definitely made me appreciate the game far more than I ever did before, and I find myself watching other teams’ games for fun, so maybe I would. When I’m asked to rank my sports teams, I now I have trouble choosing a number one and I never thought that would be the case. I didn’t have years and years of disappointment erased by this Cup win, but I know I’ve probably never experienced anything like that moment when I realized Kane had scored. Shit, I just made myself tear up remembering it.

So I lied, it’s not short at all. Sorry.

My first game was in December of ’93 and it is all thanks to the brillant marketing of the NHL…..Anyone else remember being a kid and being fascinated with expansion teams. For some god awful reason I loved the San Jose(San Jozy) Sharks as an 8 year old. Apparently I really liked the color teal, anyways my Dad got seats way up high at the old barn for us and my friend and his Dad…I remember walking up to the top level and seeing the wonderful mural of haggered drunken women mixed with plumes of smoke everywhere. Cheering loudly for Cheli and Roenick. That game ended early for me as my friends Dad got completely smashed and poured beer on a lady and preceeded to pull her hair….My first experience with drunken fans and definitely not my last. I remember taking home that years program and reading it cover to cover everynight. Learning all about the players and where they were from and what they liked….Asking my Dad what these weird abbrivations after strange towns were like AB, ON or PEI.

I went on to play roller hockey at the same rink where the Granatos learned to skate in Elmhurst and God knows I lifted that blue recycling can over my head a million times being Cheli and winning the cup. It was really special for me three weeks ago tomorrow as it was for all of us. When you discover something in your innocence and keep it with you as you age, you will always remember where you were when. For me I am a member of the last generation that can say their first Hawks game was at Chicago Stadium. Thats something that is pretty cool, also those thousands of time playing road hockey winning the cup was always a dream and sometimes I thought it was a fantasy especially in the early part of the 2000’s

This championship has made me think so much about those days and it makes me smile that my team did this. From cheering on Chelios, Roenick, Murphy being wowed by Belfour….being amazed by Amonte and wondering what Eric Daze could really be. To putting up with all the crap of horrible teams and talent to finally spending the evening of June 9th with my brother who was our 4 year old goalie who is now 21 and my two uncles that have waited since 1961….Thinking about my Father who passed away during the 2008 season. We finally did something I dreamed about and damn it feels good….They can never take this from US…NEVER!

I was always kind of a hockey fan growing up but we didn’t have cable so I listened to Pat and Dale every night in bed like the kid in the commercial. We finally got cable when I was 15 (1999) and I was able to start watching games. Then I went off to college at DePaul and was dumb enough to get married at 19. I’ll spare you the details of my “dark years” but I will say the $8 student tickets were a great way for me to go out with friends while still being financially responsible. Unfortunately, the ‘03-’06 teams were not very good, but it was a great chance for me to go out without going to a bar, spending a ton, and angering the wife. It was during this 3 year span of going to 20ish games a year that I really fell in love with the game and began to understand it.

Anyways, in the summer of ‘07 I found out our child wasn’t mine (no he wasn’t actually black or I would have found out sooner but you wanted a clever title). This left me with significantly less financial responsibility and significantly more free time for my senior year at DePaul. Instead of going to every other game, I went to every home game. This continued until 12/23/2007. My best friend and I walked up to the box office an hour before drop and student IDs in hand requested a pair of $8 tickets. We were told it was a sell out. We then pooled our resources (thank you Santa) and bought season tickets for the final 20 games of the year. While life has pulled him away from the games I still have those 2 seats in the second to last row of section 325 and have no plans to get rid of them even if they do now cost about 10% of my salary.

I’d like to say something about how awesome this season was, but really I can’t begin to describe it. Thanks for sharing your stories and taking the time to read mine and of course…. LETS GO HAWKS!!!!

I’m another recent Blackhawks fan. No one in my family was a hockey fan when I was growing up, and I didn’t know anything about the Hawks except what I’d read in the paper about how cheap “Dollar Bill” Wirtz was and how he had ruined the team.

Then things seemed to change, as more people began to talk about that Toews kid and that Kane kid.

One Sunday a couple years ago, I flipped over to CSN to watch their Bears postgame show. What I got was hockey. I decided to keep watching and after a few minutes I realized, “Hey, this is pretty exciting,” so I checked the cable guide to see when the next game would be on. By the end of the season I was hooked on the Hawks. My mom was kind of a Hawks fan when she was younger and I’ve pulled her (back) in, too.

I realize I’ve only been here for the fun part of being a Blackhawks fan, but even if things fall apart, I’m staying. Like the White Sox, Bears, and Phillies, the Hawks are “my boys.”

I grew up a Bruins fan. It would stand to reason, for (a) my dad was a fan of all things Boston, for (b) he grew up in Vermont and © his dad was a fan of all things Boston. And it so happened that the Boston station (WSBK) reached our house in northern New York. And when baseball season was over (October 1, mostly), hockey season started. Some of my fondest memories of home was dad in his chair and me on the couch watching Fred Cusick and Derek Sanderson call the games. And everytime there was a big hit, my dad would turn to me and scream, “OOOOOOH!” And he would clap his hands so loudly on a great goal (in time with Cusick’s call — “SCORRRRRE!”) that the house would shake.

That was TV. But I also had access to the AHL, a mile from my house, where the Adirondack Red Wings played and, during my youth, won four Calder Cups. The best player I ever saw with the A-Wings was our old friend, Martin LaPointe. During the 1994-95 stoppage, he played magnificently — his last game, if I recall, was a four point game, after which a capacity crowd of 4,800 gave him a long standing ovation. That’s the way of minor league hockey, of course; as soon as a guy gets really good, they get called up to the big club.

Then came Stanford — a beautiful place with no easy access to hockey. (The Sharks played many miles away; with no car and no easy access by public transit, it was impossible to see them play — except for one time when a dorm group got together and went.) The hockey fix had to come on trips home for Christmas, when my dad’s season tickets to Adirondack games were mine for the taking.

Then law school at UW-Madison. The student section at the Kohl Center was pure heaven. Loud, rude, crude and — as is the custom — standing for the whole game. Brad Winchester and — oh, my — Dany Heatley were the stars back then.

Note this: there was a club a few blocks away from the rink — the Blue Velvet. It was a high class joint in a town filled with grime-filled, frat-boy-filled boozers. The Blue Velvet had good beer and bigger cocktails. But it required a little more sophistication, in terms of clothing. And, so: a coat and tie was worn to the hockey game, and then to the club. This is where the whole tie-at-the-game thing truly started for me.

I moved here in 2003, and went to a handful of games, but did not get a ticket plan until after the lockout, when the prices came down. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Yes, in fact I am a proud Blackhawks Fan!

As of last September(2009) though, I couldn’t tell you how many teams were in the NHL, how many guys played on the ice as a time, what the positions were, what a power play was or that there were only 3 and not 4 “quarters” in hockey (that freaked me out the first game I saw as the Hawks were up 2-0 over the Preds and I thought they needed to hang on for 1 more “quarter”.. Fun discovery :)

  I got into watching hockey because some friends in a fantasy baseball league wanted me to join their hockey league so I did and figured I’d watch a few games to try to understand. I knew the Flames were in Calgary and not Atlanta so I figured I’d find a team I liked sooner or later even though I still like the Flames franchise from since they were in Atlanta.

I have never rooted for a Chicago team before, ever. I despise the Bears and am not overly fond of the Cubs or the Bulls either. The White Sox don’t suck as bad as the rest but that doesn’t mean I root for them.

That being said, we got the NHL TV package and I settled in to watch the game against the Wild on a Monday night and saw the fans in the UC react to the National Anthem and was reminded of something very profound(to me at least) I had seen almost 20 years ago on the news…..

  I was in school in ‘91 and I well remember the TV commentators saying then how 95% of the country were behind the troops. I wonder if I wasn’t in school with the other 5% and I well remember being told not to wear my uniform on campus because of “safety concerns.” I also remember seeing the news after the NHL all star game that year and seeing the signs and how the fans reacted to the National Anthem in ’91 at that game.

The Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB9YT3aOlgc

Seeing the video (link above) and remembering the way the anthem is done in Chicago and that it has been going on that way since possibly 1985 and maybe sooner means a lot because I was called to active duty in ’91 during Desert Storm. While I was raised with the whole stand-face-the-flag-and-put-your-hand-over-your-heart way of honoring our national anthem; I hope how the anthem is presented at the UC is one tradition that never goes away because it meant a lot then and means a lot more now to know that still goes on at Blackhawk home games.

This is the 1st year I’ve followed hockey at all since the Flames were in Atlanta and I’m a Hawks fan not because of Toews and Kane or Keith or Hossa or Sharp or Antti Niemi; I’m a ’Hawks fan because of how other ’Hawks fans and how they still honor and respect our nation and that means a lot regardless of what happens on the ice. This was a very fun season to start watching hockey and the ’Hawks! Repeat in 2011!!

I always found it hard to be excited about something when I felt like the only one who cared what was going on. Dollar Bill never chased me away from the Hawks – I was simply never drawn in to start with. Only a love of sports and blind-hometown loyalty ensured I even knew who the Hawks were – that, and spanish class.

I met my first hockey friend in during 7th grade. With a Canadian mother & Cuban father, she was a passionate Blackhawks fan and fluent in Spanish. So when we ended up in the same Spanish class with a teacher who liked having us write & perform skits using the week’s vocab/grammar lessons, we tended to let her write all our skits. So all our skits ended up having a Blackhawks slant (Cuanto es el Cheli con carne, por favor? Donde esta el United Center?) and our teacher dubbed us “the hockey girls”. Hockey friend would tell me stories about going to Hawks game, meeting Keith Carney/Ed Belfour/some other Hawk, and would invite me to go to games with her. She had her birthday parties at Cheli’s Chili Bar. In high school, we would go to Wolves games, and when I came home from college during winter break, we’d go get student tickets at the UC.

I had always loved hockey for the physicality, and the fact that it was a game where I could use my natural competitive aggressiveness without it being looked down upon. In college, I was definitely the Burish/Sunshine of our co-ed IM floor hockey team: all energy, limited skill, and the ability to piss off the other team (whatever, if you have the ball, I will knock you over and take it from you. And if someone significantly shorter than you can knock you over & steal the ball, you should be ashamed of yourself instead of mad at me.) But other than floor hockey, being away from my hockey friend and the Hawks freefall into irrelevance meant that I had no one to talk hockey with. So hockey and the Hawks became a tertiary interest.

I knew the Hawks were on their way back to relevance when a college friend asked me if I knew who Kane and Toews were. This coming from a girl whom I’m pretty sure considers DDR a sport because you sweat when playing, was a clear indication that something big was going on with the Hawks. But by then I was living in a different time zone every few months, and none were anywhere near Chicago. I was in California when the Hawks were making their run at the cup last year – I watched the games alone, on DVR. Whenever I mentioned the Hawks to people, I would get a funny look and asked 1) who are the Hawks? then 2) you watch hockey? and finally 3) did I realized that the Bulls were making a run to the Finals? So with no one to talk to or even watch the games with, I would simply look up the score & fast forward to the goals. I cheered for the Hawks because of hometown loyalty and fond memories but I was still alone in my interest of hockey, so afterwards I wandered away again.

Finally I came back to Chicago for semi-permanence. I found SCH via the hockey friend, when she mentioned offhand reading articles on SBNation. I found SCH, started to read the game threads for entertainment, and finally decided to join. I convinced a friend to go to a meetup, and met some of you people in person & decided you’re not at all sketchy psychopaths. I kept commenting, learning more about of the nuances of the game I had never bothered asking my hockey friend about in the past, and continued to meet more SCHers. I started to get excited about this game that I had always enjoyed watching, but now I understood more of what was going on. I started to learn who these players were (thanks BHTV!) and started to actually care about the play on the ice. I started to care more about the game of hockey, and less that they were a Chicago team. And for that, I actually started to love the Blackhawks even more.

The morning of June 9th, 2010, while adjusting my plans to meet up with SCHers, I realized I finally felt like a hockey fan. At 10:06pm, there was silence. At 10:07pm, it was nothing but screams, hugs, and high-fives. That night felt like more than the Hawks ending a 49 year drought – I feel like a personal drought ended for me as well.

Mid-70’s: My father was the P.A. Announcer for the Dallas Blackhawks farm team of the real deal. I didn’t know much about hockey and I knew less about the Chicago Blackhawks, but I did know about rubber chickens, unruly crowds and the rare occasion my dad would play broom hockey between periods.

Mid 80’s: I became aware of ESPN showing the Playoff games during the Edmonton Juggernauts era and there is nothing not to love about those teams playing. Edmonton had tough guys, helmet-less guys. guys who could score and a guy who saw the ice better than anybody else ever has. In 1987, I saw The Easter Epic and fell in love with hockey for good. Still, I didn’t have a team…

1990: …until I was watching the Hawks against Edmonton in the ‘90 playoffs. I recognized Dirk Graham from his Dallas days and then…there was something about the Hawks…the jerseys, the toughness, the Roenick…I found my team. ’Blades of Steel" became my favorite video game until EA Sports began its Sega NHL franchise. Anyone who knows hockey video games knows Roenick’s legend on EA Sports.

Early ’90s: I became immersed in everything Hawks…at least as much as possible for a guy located in Dallas being a fan for a team that was rarely shown on TV. The ’91 playoff loss to the North Stars still showed the promise of a good team. ’92 was heartbreaking because the team was so good, but we now know how much better the Penguins were at the time (it is as unfair for us to have Toews and Kane on the same line as it was for the Pens to have Lemieux and Jagr). Still, after that heartbreak, the Hawks seemed to me to still have the necessary ingredients to make a few more cup runs.

1993: the Stars announced their move to Dallas and I purchased a 20-game plan and immediately requested the 3 (or 4) Hawks games. After the first game, we heard the Hawks hung out at a certain bar and we were there when they strolled in. Dirk, who had scored a soft OT winner, came over and said “Hawks fans….in Dallas…hmmm. Thank you guys for coming out and supporting the team.” And then he bought our group of 8 the next round. I met all my heros, shared some beers and even managed to drunkenly offend HOF-er Michel Goulet (ME: “So Michel…awesome game tonight. I’m so glad we won…but I have to ask: when are you going to retire?” Michel: “Go away now. Seriously.”)

1994 to ‘07: I moved away from Dallas to a smaller, non-hockey market. Dollar Bill’s TV policies forced me to spend $50 at a sports bar if I wanted to see a game…which I became less inclined to do as the soul of the team was traded away. It was a very long and painful decay and I voted the only way I could in ’99 by refusing to spend any more money on the team, though I always kept a hopeful eye on the team. Since hockey had become my favorite sport in ’90, I ended up following a few teams that I could actually see on a regular basis and who appeared to want to win. I even followed th Roenick/Amonte Flyers for a bit.

‘07 to Present: AS soon as Wirtz passed, I started paying attention. The changes were pretty radical and evident immediately. Also, due to internet video coming of age, I was able to see practically any game I wanted ( I now live about 5,000 miles from Chicago). I don’t think I need to explain my feelings about the Hawks of last season and, of course, this season. My background with the Hawks may different slightly (or greatly) from many of you, but our success has proven to me one thing; i am a Hawks fan through and through. I’ve seen teams I’ve liked win the cup (the Forsberg/Sakic Avs) as well as players (Chelios), but none of them have even generated satisfaction within an order of magnitude close to the satisfaction I have gained from the Hawks winning the cup.

Today I spent several hours reviewing many of the playoff highlights via youtube. Even though I knew the outcomes beforehand, the highlights were practically opiates in nature. I love the Hawks. For life.

Parents weren’t hockey fans, wouldn’t pay for ice time. Fortunately, Wayne Gretzky invented inline skates shortly after his trade to Los Angeles, and the rest is history.

My fandom was solidified when my parents made the best decision of their lives. Divorce. This allowed my mom to data a Season Ticket Holder a few years later – soon, I had more Jeremy Roenick autographs than Jeremy Roenick has in his practice autograph notebook.

Been a Hawks fan for as far back as my memory will stretch…..GET ON BACK THERE….HE LOOKS UP….YOU CAN PUT IT AN THE BOARRRRD! YESSSS!!!!!!

Sorry…I apparently had another Hawk attack just there…..

Anyway….I remember the entire family gathered around the TV on Saturday nights watching the Hawks with Lloyd Pettit calling the action. Watched the Hawks skate against the likes of Gump Worsley, Terry Sawchuk, the Mahavolich brothers, Phil Esposito (God how I hated Phil Esposito) while cheering on heroes like Chico Maki, Eric Nesterenko, Dennis DeJordy, Jim Pappin….the list goes on and on. My favorite player was Bobby Hull. My next oldest brother was a fan of Stan Mikita. Led to multiple brawls…..as if we needed another excuse…..

Continued to follow the Hawks when watching them was not an option. Insisted to my new wife that we subscribe to OnTV so I could watch Hawks games again. Had nothing to do with the soft-core porn movies they used to show…..nothing at all…..

Cheered as they battled Gretzky and the Oilers in the 80’s.

Hoped for a miracle against Super Mario and the Pens.

Waited for Alex Zhamnov to do….something…..anything…..

Happily welcomed the Hawks back to local television, though relegated to a spare TV by the missus who was not a fan. Last season, after I convinced her the Hawks were REALLY good, she started watching as well. Got my oldest son to become a fan – very cool.

This season, we all followed the Hawks. My wife even suggested a few ideas for songs for You Tube videos I do of the Hawks, but that’s a story for another time.

The greatest moment was overtime, Game 6 – in the living room, me and my two sons (converted the younger one this year – also very cool), on the edge of our seats – my wife secluded in the bedroom because she was too nervous to watch (but she was watching anyway) – a moment of uncertainty, and then – screaming, jumping, high-fives, even a tear or two….a moment I will always remember.

The Hawks are a way of life – the Hawks are my way of life, and I aims to keep it.

My father was a hockey player. He was also from Chicago. I grew up watching the Blackhawks, I played hockey myself. They’ve been (one of) my favorite sports teams for as long as I can remember. Altough I must admit that I rooted for the Dallas Stars during the “Dark Years,” but with Brett Hull and Mike Modano on that team, could you really blame me? Started getting back into the Blackhawks after the lockout.

He was a die-hard Blackhawk fan. I kinda followed but didnt really have a favorite team or really payed a whole lot of attention to the sport. Then in ’03 when I was 10 he died unexpectedly and I had to keep his love for the hawks going so I payed more attention and have fallen in love with the team since then just as he had.

Last year, I found out my drummer is a huge Hawks fan. We would drive 50 miles to band practice a couple evenings a week. When the season started, he’d put on the radio broadcast if a game was on during our commute. Thank god for John & Troy, because through their broadcasts I was actually able to learn enough about hockey to appreciate it. That’s when I started to watch the games or listen to the radio when I was out.

Around the same time, a freak accident left me with a torn MCL and pretty much unable to do shit (because I’m the kind of dumbass that thinks things “fix themselves”). I spent the fall/winter healing and rehabbing my knee, which left me plenty of time to watch or listen to every game.

In February I celebrated “Hockey Weekend Across America” by playing 2 sets in Hawks gear (a conversation starter I guess?). I got so shit-hammered that I ended up finding out a friend of mine is a huge Hawks fan and we agreed to go to a game together.

My first game was March 5th against Vancouver. We got to our section just as the Anthem was starting. It was pretty awe inspiring. The Hawks put 5 GOALS on Luongo (scored by 5 different players, including Jordan Hendry & Teeth) in the 1st period. I think there were 2 or 3 fights; one between Ladd and Kesler, and another between Seabrook and Andrew Alberts. It was also Andrew Alberts’ first game as a Canuck. Bad timing, I guess. Luongo was pulled – he was unsuccessful at smashing his stick on his way off. I guess he’s not good breaking equipment either.

The rest of the game was relatively uneventful in comparison, but the experience was enough for me to become a true fiend. We went to a few more games in the regular season plus a couple of playoff games too, and got to enjoy the the SCF with the fine folks of SCH. Glad I made it onto the bandwagon in time.

Growing up in the Quad Cities area, hockey was barely a blip on my sports radar. Illinois hoops, NFL and MLB were my sports passions.

While home during Christmas break, my parents gave me a VHS tape of the Hawks 91-92 Stanley Cup run that they had won at a charity auction. I watched the tape several tapes in complete awe of the passion, jubilation and heartbreak of the players and Stadium fans. In particular, I remember Wayne Presley scoring huge goals in the Cup run and the celebrations with his teammates. From that moment, I was hooked.

As we all know, this was the worst time to become a fan of the Hawks. The Dollar Bill era kicked in and favorites such as Roenick, Cheli and Belfour were dismissed. While little success occurred in the mid 90s – 00s, players such as Amonte, J.P. Dumont, Ethan Moreau, Steve Sullivan and the Sparkplug Krivokrasov kept my faith that eventually I will see first hand what I saw on a VHS tape in December 1992.

Started playing hockey in Naperville with the Sabres at the age of 4. Since then, it has been a marriage for 15 years. Hockey is my favorite part of life and the Blackhawks go hand in hand with it.

Born in 1972, I grew up in Cicero.

In the winter of 1977, my best friend David got some new hockey skates for Christmas. I had never been ice skating, but he let me use his old skates, and an extra stick (without any curve in the blade) when we went over to Clyde Park where there was a frozen sheet of ice to try to play hockey.

I was in love with the sound of the blades on the ice, the wind on my face, the smell of the ice, and I wanted nothing more than to play hockey.

We didn’t have the money for me to get started in organized hockey, but I loved to play the game. David’s dad took us down to the Chicago Stadium to see the Blackhawks – I didn’t even know they existed at the time, I was 5 – as a Christmas present to both of us.

I can’t tell you who they played, I can’t tell you who was on the ice. I can only tell you that I was mesmerized by the sounds, sights, and smells of the game, and hooked on the Blackhawks for life.

As I grew up in a relatively hockey free house, the 1980 Olympics were the most exciting thing in the world, aside from possibly seeing the Blackhawks again, since everyone was talking about it, and wanted to watch it. I remember that we were at my grandmother’s house for one of the games, and it was on TV, and I was so excited watching it.

From that time on, every single time I was at my Grandma’s house at night time, she would call me into the kitchen where she kept an old counter-top radio, and she would make me some popcorn and tune in the Blackhawks game for me. I remember hearing “Here come the Hawks” at the start of each broadcast, and I would stand in the kitchen, eating my popcorn and listening to the game. I remember hearing Murray Bannerman, Darryl Sutter, Steve Larmer, Jack O’Callahan, Tom Lysiak, Denis Savard, Al Secord, Doug and Behn Wilson and Bob and Troy Murray named as players specifically.

At one point in time, Marc Bergevin was living at my uncle’s house, and I got to meet him, and I was amazed by him.

I continued my love-affair with the team as I travelled all over the world. I remember being at Fort Gordon, in Augusta Georgia in January of 1991, as a Private in the US Army, and getting tears in my eyes as we watched the NHL All-Star Game in the breakroom. Those were MY people, BLACKHAWKS fans, cheering like that with all of the signs supporting us, the US Soldiers.

I was stationed in Stuttgart, Germany and staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning, in 1992 watching the Blackhawks in the series that I knew they couldn’t lose.

Just over the last few months, I sat in front of a computer and shared this year’s magical run to the Stanley Cup Championship with all of you here, at SCH, while I am deployed in Afghanistan. I sat there in our operations center, and cried when they won, and I cried again when the story about Jeremy Roenick’s comments were posted.

He said it all for all of us.

“It’s the Chicago Blackhawks, man!”

And it got me thinking: well… how exactly? And that thought was difficult. But I guess I pretty much got it, so here goes:
sorry, bear in mind that based on my personal history, and that of this site, coherency isn’t necessarily a high percentage shot at 11:18 PM on a friday night.

Anyhoo, grew up in Crystal Lake (IL). Had a dad who’s entire existence up till and including college was very hockey saturated. As a youngster, pre intelligent thought, I was pretty hockey saturated too. Every winter. Old beat up skates, public frozen beach… backyard hosed down, the works. I loved the stuff, and had all sorts of deke moves worked out on the goal that existed between the two trees in our backyard. Of course, I was into all those other cool sports too, especially during the summer: truth be told, my baseball obsession was even greater, but that’s another story and I digress.
Eventually when time came for all mothers and fathers to sign their kids up for sports, it became evident that we were poor as hell, and that hockey was big money shit. Pads, sticks, skates, and that oh so limited ice time… yeah, they had to rethink where to go with this guy. So, they traded that all for shoes optional, singlets provided wrestling, and that was that (in the long run, I thank them for it, since that pretty much singlehandedly got me into a respectable college).

Sidenote: do normal internet rules of steering away from “TLDR” type posts apply to threads where you are telling your fan story? I hope not… this is dragging, and I’m only 9 years old at this point… Oh yeah! The dead years! Those will be easier.

So yeah. Went and did my thing. Continued to have a passion for Hockey though, and have fond memories of my dad (ex collage netminder whose one destroyed testicle – bad cup placement there goalie! – didn’t prevent him from knocking up my moms. Pheew! close one) getting irate about Belfour’s mobility. “Damn it! Get back to the fucking net!” Had I to guess, he wasn’t much of a “puck moving,” or “mobile” goalie in his day, but hey! he was right catching, which means something.

Those early 90s years I continued to follow the sport, and was right there with Chicago, envying the hell out of JR and Cheli and The Eagle (my dad liked him too, he’d just get pissed, I wasn’t much of a “rebel against the pops” sorta kid). I’d pick players to mimic during pickup games on the tennis court (the only true playing field for serious street hockey afficionados). Losing in ‘92 sucked, but wasn’t at the forfront of my disappointment.

Then came high school, and music obsessions, and visual media obsessions, and baseball baseball baseball, other stuff…. giving a shit about hockey sort of took a backseat. I’d watch when I could, but that wasn’t all that often. And then it was even less often. And then… damn, I liked that Amonte guy. And then, thinking “it’s really weird that there’s never games televised.” You could probably throw some NHL ‘95 for sega genesis in there… that helped my fandom. And then we sort of sucked for a while.
Then, eventually we got some big draft picks, and (now graduating college and going on to all those great opportunities) I remember my dad getting excited and bitter at the same time. "We’re getting some big talent on this team. But it’s bullshit that we can’t even watch the games."

Fast forward to ‘09. Me, on an aircraft carrier for the entirety of the ’08-’09 season, and exchanging emails with my dad and brother about the Hawks mayhem that sprung seemingly out of nowhere after Dollar Bill’s demise. They were getting pumped to the max, and I was jealous that I was missing all that craziness. During the playoffs, I was at least able to watch a bunch of their games on AFN, which endeared me to the team. And oh the feeling of following along and watching during the Calgary and Vancouver seasons… I was hooked.

Then I decided to buy an NHL network package for the first and certainly not last time in my life.

Then all that stuff happened.

And holy shit was it awesome.

Nothing like dedicating yourself to an entire season of hockey to convince you that it is the greatest sport in the world.

1988 introduced me to Def Leppard, Guns N’ Roses, and Hockey! I often think it’s ironic that Toews and Kane are 19 & 88. My first hockey memory is sitting somewhere in the Caps’ Center in the fall of 1988 with my Dad. I don’t remember the score and I only know the Caps were playing the Islanders because I can still here the goading of Hall of Fame goalie, "Billlly Billly Billly" Smith. As an 11 year old easily impressionable boy I know that was the moment that hockey got me. My dad saw this as a bonding experience and set us up for tickets close to my birthday to see this team from Chicago.

I would be lying if I said recounted all of the facts from that game in January of 1989. But I do remember seeing 3 fights that night. Plus this goalie with a cool mask, Eddie Belfour and the Blackhawks had such a cool Red sweater. This was long before the internet was the place to get info, so I picked up the hockey news yearbook and read everything I could get my hands on about the Hawks. I remember the look my Dad gave me when I said I wanted to go to the game the next season cause I wanted to cheer for the Hawks. Since that day he has often referred to me as a "contrarian.’ I don’t see it as wanting to go against the grain as much as I had a real fascination with Belfour and his team.

I do however remember my 2nd Hawks game. It was early in the ’90 season when we ventured down from Baltimore, to the Caps Center. It would be one of the last times my Dad would agree to sit with me during a game that I was cheering for the other team  After a back and forth game, that featured a Dale Hunter bout with Keith Brown, Belfour got, I think, a come from behind victory. See I don’t remember the game as much as the walk to the parking lot.

As we exited the arena, 2 Hawks fans clad in Red (just like me) walked by with beers in their hands, saw me and yelled, "what a win!" "Cubbies Win the World Series!" And I looked to my Dad and said, "Those guys are assholes aren’t they?" My Dad looked me square in the face and said Yep. "Someday you’re going to be just like them." This might be one my most treasured Father/Son moments (as twisted as it sounds.) He was so right it’s scary. From that point on he would take me and a friend to any Hawks game I wanted with the stipulation that I sit anywhere in the arena that was not with him.

So I guess I was a bandwagon fan, back in 1988,89,90 but I remember the heartbreak of 1992 as a freshman in high school and the subsequent fall from grace. But Belfour hooked me into the Hawks and I admit to following him when he left. I cheered for the Stars when he won the Cup. And I followed him to the Leafs. I will admit to cheering for Toronto as well to this day. But at some point I would like to write my "Where was I when they won the Cup story." It was the single happiest day of my sporting life and I thank you for allowing me to remember the birth of Hawks fan in Baltimore.