So if you meet me, have some courtesy, have some sympathy and some taste

I have been a Blackhawks fan since I was about 6 years old. I still remember going to games with my dad, sitting up in the 300 level and playing 1 v. 1 hockey with my friend behind the seats using our wooden shiny sticks and a hacky sack puck we got from one of the vendors.

I fell in love with players like Tony Amonte, Chris Chelios, the Eagle, Eddie Belfour, and suffered through the 00’s with (and I still have a hard time saying this with a straight face) Captain Alexei Zhamnov. After the lockout, in 2004-05 I kind of fell out of hockey and started paying heavy attention to European soccer and baseball. In 2008, my dad purchased a 6 game package and that’s when hockey sucked me back in. I was inches away from purchasing a Tuomo Ruutu sweater but luckily I resisted and he was traded before the trade deadline that season for Andrew Ladd. After that season my dad upped his package to a full season and it has been all hockey since then. Sadly, I didn’t get to watch Game 6 because I was working in the kitchen of BD’s Mongolian Grill in Naperville. I heard the shouts and screams and came running out of the kitchen just in time to see the replay. I was indescribably happy for 3 seconds before the general manager barked at us to get back to work. That night driving home I had a smile on my face, and the first thing I did when I got home was give my dad a huge hockey hug. I had never experienced a championship like this, even with the Bulls winning 6 times, and since being a Cubs fan comes with a life-time of disappointment, the Stanley Cup was life changing.

By my name, you can probably tell who my favorite player is, and how much of a "fan girl" I am for him. Hopefully going forward I can bring some strong discussion and interesting topics to cover, I love debating/arguing with people so that will probably be something that you will see from me from time to time. I went to Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa and majored in communications, journalism /advertising. Like I said above, I am also big Cubs fan and for the most part hate college sports because I feel that they (especially college football) receive way too much attention for the purpose college sports is supposed to serve. But that’s for another blog.

I will be posting articles about once a week or however often Greg lets me. Just wanted to say thanks to Greg for giving me this opportunity to write about something I am very passionate about, our Chicago Blackhawks. I hope they can figure this lockout garbage soon so we actually have something important to cover. My first real topic will probably be something I find incredibly interesting; advertising on jerseys and helmets in hockey and where I think the league is headed in regards to sponsorship and advertising. I know you all won’t have any issues with letting me know if you think I’m wrong or stupid so I look forward to the conversations and hopefully the start of real hockey very soon. (I’m still holding out that the league can’t be stupid enough to lose to revenue from the Winter Classic.)