- So not only are we leading the league in attendance this year, but we’re also watching a shit load of it on TV. From Nielsen:
The Chicago Blackhawks are televising all of their regular season home games for the first time, and viewers are responding to their exciting young team with a 71% boost in average ratings from last season.
Has anyone ever been more wrong about anything than when Bill Wirtz thought televising games would be bad for business? Oh right, when someone thought hockey is a good idea in Atlanta… (Thanks to Paul over at Kukla’s for the link)
- The Hawks have announced their second fan convention, July 17-19, you can start making a reservation at the hotel a week from today – make your reservations now so you can be the first to bitch at Tallon if he’s still around. I had a decent time at last year’s event but don’t know if I’d go again. Anyone else attend the first convention? What was your experience like? Would you go the second?
- Count Dempster and Samardzija (who says only hockey players have weird names?) among two Cubs players that are looking forward to the Winter Classic. I didn’t realize Jeff was a fan of the Hawks.. or that his dad played semi-pro…
- There was some brief discussion about Blackhawk Fan traditions in the pre-game post from last night – if you have something to add to it, feel free to write a FanPost or FanShot about it over on the right. I know there was one thread about it before the season started but I’d love to see more of those types of discussions on this site.
- Don’t know what a FanPost is? Well Al over at Bleed Cubbie Blue recently posted a great rundown of what they’re all about…
Finally, if you’ve ever taken a look around SB Nation’s other hockey blogs you may have noticed some run a competition called SPG, I’ve noticed it most on Fear the Fin and Pension Plan Puppets. It’s a simple game where you pick which player on your favorite team will get the first Shot, Penalty and Goal of each period. It’s all tracked by a great website – Pick SPG.
As of right now though, the Blackhawks aren’t listed on the site but I’d like to see that change. I’ve had some brief talks with the guy who runs it and he’s more than willing to add the Hawks, but it’d take some extra time from me. I’m also willing to help out – but only if people think they’d be interested in playing along. So.. are you game? Let me know in the comments… don’t be shy
If enough people sign up and we get a relatively competitive game going – there might even be a prize for the winner at the end of the year. So let me know.