(Editor’s note: A pair of new staffers have joined the crew here at SCH and we’re thrilled to have them aboard. We’ll start by affording them the space to introduce themselves.)
Katherine Gross
Hi everybody! My name is Katherine Gross, and I was hired after I sent Second City Hockey a bunch of excerpts from my 2nd grade diary, which was literally 150 pages of straight Blackhawks play-by-play. While my passion for Blackhawks hockey has stayed the same over the years, very little else has changed (well … maybe — hopefully — my spelling ability. And the Blackhawks’ playing ability, but that’s more negative).
I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago to one of those families whose basement is a shrine to sports. I remember taking my friends downstairs and telling them, “Hey! Don’t sit on that. Those chairs were in the Chicago Stadium.” My dad definitely inspired my love for the sport, and never complained (to me) about 12 years of driving me to travel ice hockey practices.
Although most of my life was spent in the Midwest, I moved around as I got older, to NYC, London, and Paris. While I lived abroad, many people were surprised to hear about hockey being so important to me, and they always asked the usual questions about aggressiveness and physicality and fighting. My favorite response was always some variation of pointing out how soccer players will withstand a hit half as hard but will complain twice as long. I still love the sport though, so if you ever want to talk soccer, I’m here.
I can’t wait to spend the rest of the season with you all as we complain about the team we all love. I’m optimistic about the future (the verrrrrrryyyyyyy far off future) and I hope that in the long run, on our deathbeds, we will all die happy knowing that we always expressed perfect opinions online. But on a more serious note, I love anyone who loves the Hawks, and I’m excited to spend my nights hammering out posts for you all.
Eric Gegenheimer
I never really had a choice.
My grandfather was an equipment manager for the Blackhawks long before I ever met him. My parents’ first date was up somewhere in the cheap seats of Chicago Stadium. I learned everything there is to know about watching sports (and swearing!) by sneaking down to the basement to spy on my dad and his buddies whenever fortune would favor us with an actual broadcast of a playoff game. The 1991-92 team was the first to break my heart. And my first jersey (of any kind) was a bright red home Belfour I bought straight off the hanger at Gunzo’s with a check I got from my grandma for graduating eighth grade.
While I’ve been watching the Chicago Blackhawks for as long as I can remember, this is the first time I’ll ever be writing about them.
SCH has been my go-to since its early days and I’m super excited to complement all the excellent work being done by Dave, Shea, Betsy and Mil (and my fellow newbie, Katherine).
I’m also a huge hockey dork in general so I’m always happy to talk about everything going on in the beautiful game as well as pizza, riding bikes, why Chicago rules and any band who probably played at The Fireside Bowl.