Round One Updates

Over the weekend, I posted the picks Cindy and I made for the first round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now that all 8 matchups have at least played 2 games in their respective series, I thought I’d recap how well we’re doing with our teams and highlight a few surprises.

Surprise in the West
The Western Conference has perhaps the biggest surprise of this year’s playoffs so far, with the Ducks winning the first 2 games on the road in San Jose. Remember that the Sharks are not only the top team in the West, but they won the Presidents Cup trophy for the best record in the league during the regular season. They also managed only 5 regulation losses at home during the season, so how could they be down the first two games at the Shark Tank, to the Ducks no less, with the lowest season point total of all 16 teams in the post season?  Everyone seems to be giving kudos to the young Anaheim netminder Jonas Hiller, but whatever the reason, the Sharks are in the precarious position of becoming the next victim of the Presidents Cup curse that bit the Red Wings in recent memory.

While both Cindy and I chose SJ to come out on top of ANA in round one, we’re not at all against the latest Duck, and most recent ex-Hawk, James Wisniewski advancing to the second round. Our hearts go out to Jeremy Roenick, a childhood idle of mine, as his post season hopes grow dim in the process. From a Hawks perspective, should we advance to the next round, we’d wanna see the Ducks advance over the Sharks anyway.

Rest of the West
The rest of the Western Conference seems about par with what we expected. Our hometown Hawks pulled off two HUGE wins at the UC, although the series turned more interesting after a loss in Calgary. One more game (Game 5) at the UC couldn’t hurt. :)

Detroit makes the trip down south to Columbus for game 3 tonight leading the series 2-0. Not the start that the Blue Jackets wanted for their franchise post season debut, but it is what it is. Vancouver also looks to be the first team to advance in this first round, and can do so with a W over the Blues tonight in St. Louis.

The East
We’ve always been more focused on the Western Conference, but I’ll run down the East for completeness.  Boston and Montreal have been slugging it out in the only Original Six matchup in Round One.  Boston has not surprised anyone by jumping to a 3-0 series lead at the expense of the Canadiens’ young goaltender Carey Price. They shoot for the sweep tomorrow at the Forum.

We picked the Capitals in their race against the Rangers, who in turn had their own plans. Whether we like it or not, Sean Avery has been making an impact for NYR as well as playoff veteran Scott Gomez. The Caps lost both of their home games, but took one back from the Rangers last night to cut the series deficit in half. Pittsburgh has the advantage against Philly in the battle of Pennsylvania, which is probably the best first round rivalry (next to BOS and MON). We just wish we’d been able to see more of those games thus far.

Wrapping up the Eastern Conference is the one series that Cindy and I didn’t agree on, the Devils and the Hurricanes. So far, Cindy’s Devils are up 2 games to 1 over my Canes, but there’s plenty of hockey left in this one. Of all the matchups, I think this one has the best chance of going to a game 7. Although, if Carolina doesn’t even the series tonight, I think they’re in a heap of trouble.

5 Games Tonight
While our Hawks regroup in Calgary for Game 4 tomorrow, there are 5 other games tonight. Only the Canucks have a chance to sweep tonight, but both San Jose and Columbus are in virtual must-win situations if they want to keep their post season hopes alive. It should be a great night of hockey, and will be interesting to see where everyone stands this time tomorrow.

Enjoy the games tonight, and GO HAWKS!!!

Our 1st Round Playoff Picks

It doesn’t take the fact that our hometown Blackhawks finally made the post season for the first time in seven years to get us excited about the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It doesn’t hurt, though, either.  Cindy and I have been tracking the playoffs for the last few seasons now, making our own picks as to who’s going to win in each round. We each have our own ways of picking our favorites, and they don’t necessarily match up against who’s the better team. We also don’t always see eye-to-eye in our choices, so that makes following the games that much more entertaining.

Seeing that we now have our blog more active than in years past, I thought I’d share our picks for the 2009 playoffs. Unlike last year, our picks for the first round were pretty much the same except for one match-up.

Western Conference

San Jose vs. Anaheim – As much as we’re happy that the Ducks ended up with the 8th seed in the West, mostly for the sake of former Hawk James Wisniewski, Cindy and I both are picking San Jose to take the first round.

Detroit vs. Columbus – It’s painful for us as die-hard Hawks fans to choose Detroit over Columbus in this series, but neither one of us thinks the Blue Jackets can pull off the upset.

Vancouver vs. St. Louis – I think we’ll be secretly cheering for the Blues, but ultimately Cindy and I are sure that the Canucks will make it through to Round 2. Luongo is just too good of a goalie to tank it against a #6 seed.

Chicago vs. Calgary – Duh! Cindy and I are pulling for the Hawks, of course. Not sure they can do it in four games, even though we swept the season series against the Flames, but we’ll be happy with a series win in 5 or 6 games.

Eastern Conference

Boston vs. Montreal – We both became fans of the Bruins right around the All-Star break. If not for our Blackhawks making the charge in the West, we probably would be routing for the Bruins more. Montreal just isn’t the team they used to be.

Washington vs. New York – Cindy isn’t a big Ovechkin fan, but neither one of us likes to see Avery in an NHL sweater. We’d rather see the Capitals take it into the second round.

New Jersey vs. Carolina – Alas, we can’t agree on everything.  Cindy is pulling for Brouder and the Devils, and I think she has a crush on Parise (shhh, don’t tell her I’m on to it).  I, on the other hand, want to see the Hurricanes get closer to the finals after they missed out on the playoffs last year.

Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia – Cindy and I are pulling for the Pens in this first round rematch from last year’s playoffs. Other than the finals last year with Pittsburgh and Detroit, their series against Philly was the best one to watch last year. This year aims to more of the same.

So those are our picks for round one. I think we’ve played it safe on most of them, but that just means if there are any major upsets, we’ll be happy with their outcomes. Be sure to share your thoughts as well as tag along here for updates as Round One progresses.

Thanks,
- Kris

Where Did March Go?

It’s kind of ironic that I’m starting a blog post with a title saying March is over and we’re getting hit with a snowstorm today. Oh well.

The last time Cindy or I posted here, we were still freshly relaxed from our trip to Maui and busy getting into the spring feeling by doing some cleaning at home. Now, 4 weekends later, so much has gone on that it’s really too much to cover in detail.  In the last few weeks, we’ve:

• Been to a few Hawks games,
• printed out photos from our Maui trip,
• ordered and received our vacation portraits (which we absolutely love),
• another cavity-free trip to the dentist,
• Cindy’s first visit to her new eye doctor,
• celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with some grub at Hackney’s,
• booked our next long weekend in Door County for my birthday in April,
• rocked out (badly) at our second Rockband Nite party,
• budgeted our next trip to Maui for September’s Maui Photo Festival (details soon),
• made it back to Woodfield (aka Swarovski) for the first time since January so Cindy could get her annual member pieces,
• and probably a dozen other things that I’m forgetting right now.

Hawks Games
As mentioned, we did manage to check out a few Hawks game this month. Two, to be exact, and both on the opposite sides of the spectrum. The first was a matinee game against the New York Islanders, a team which has the distinct honor of having the worst record in the league. And the Hawks played like garbage. There were actually people in the rows in front of us that decided to leave early, something we hadn’t seen in the handful of games we’ve been to this year.

The second game, however, was absolutely amazing. It was this past Wednesday against the Western Conference leading San Jose Sharks, and the rematch to the game we saw last year. Not only did we have incredible seats down in section 111, the Hawks played out of their you-know-whats to keep us on the edge of our seats the entire game. When the dust had settled, the Hawks were victorious by a score of 6-5 after needing a shootout to determine the outcome. 

Since we were setting closer for this game, I brought along some of my camera gear and took advantage of the view we had. I think I scored some pretty decent shots, and you can see them for yourself. We currently don’t have tickets for any more regular season games, but there’s always a chance we might grab some last minute. Potential playoff tickets go on sale Tuesday (they haven’t officially clinched anything yet), and we’re also planning on going to the upcoming Bud Light Hockey Night event at Buffalo Wild Wings the following week.

Door County
Well, seeing that it’s already been 4 weeks since our last vacation, we need to get away again. :)  Kidding aside, we’re going to spending my birthday up in Door County this year, as I celebrate turning 25 for the 4th time. This trip, we’re staying in Ephraim, which is just south of where we stayed in Sister Bay last December. We’re sticking with the 4 days weekend plan, leaving on Thursday (after a half-day at the office) and coming home Sunday night. Other than scouting out a few lighthouses, one of the state parks, and a spa day for Cindy, we’re planning to take it pretty slow and enjoy the peace and quiet.

It’s still a little bit chilly this time of year up in northern Wisconsin, but no where near the single digit temps and snow we encountered 4 months ago. From what we’ve been reading, we’re looking at mid-40’s during the day, which isn’t great, but still cool enough to switch on the fireplace and whip up the hot cocoa. May is supposed to be the time of year when everything starts blooming, so we’ll have to keep that in mind for next year.

Maui is Calling
As productive as March has been for everything else, I’m still pretty behind on my photos and website updates from our last trip to Maui. While I’m still working on getting caught up there, we’re already hoping to go back in September for the Maui Photo Festival and Workshops. It’s the first of what is shaping to be an annual event on the Valley Isle where novice and experienced photographers alike can attend workshops and hands-on instruction from professional photographers from around the world. Early registration ends on Tuesday, and I’m hoping to score the discount for that today or tomorrow and then start figuring out the rest of the details.

It’s a four day festival from Sept. 16th-20th, and we’re hoping to make a week out of it by leaving that Tuesday and ultimately arriving home the following Monday. While I’m off shooting and filling my brain (and my memory cards) with all new tips and skills, Cindy should have no problem finding things to do. It’s being held at the Hyatt Regency Maui, which has a HUGE spa and a quaint little stretch of sand along Ka’anapali Beach. It’s still walking distance from Whalers Village, where we always spend time during our annual trips, so it looks like a win-win for both of us. Plus, the 20th is our anniversary, and what better way to spend our anniversary than on Maui (again).

More Updates Soon
Seeing that it’s been almost four weeks in between this and our last post, we’re going to try and do a better job of keeping things updated here. March was such a busy month, but April doesn’t appear to be any less hectic, and once the weather (finally) starts warming up, we’ll be outdoors again and doing all sorts of fun things.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to head out and grab some lunch. Where’s my winter coat?

Looking for some Hawks Deja Vu Tonight

We're heading out to our second Bud Light Hockey Night out at Buffalo Wild Wings this evening, hoping the Hawks can repeat the spanking they gave Edmonton last time. Despite the nasty weather and equally worse commute last December, the turnout at BWW was pretty impressive, as was the 9-2 win the Hawks had over the Oilers. 

The weather doesn't figure into the commute this time, but we are planning to arrive earlier than before to make sure we get a better table. I don't think we'll be bringing as big of a work crowd this time either, but folks that do show up will be sure to have a good time. There are even a few running jokes here and there around the office about the last get together. Who knows.

The Hawks are in the midst of an 8-game West coast road trip, which has pushed the game times out into the 9:30pm realm here in Chicago. Not bad if the Hawks are able to jump on their opponents early and often (right Phoenix?), but those nail biter finishes late into the 3rd make getting up the next morning a little tougher.  The puck drops at 8pm tonight, though, which should be a welcome change this week.

Our Next Hawks Game

You might remember we won Hawks tickets last time we went to one of these events, and we wouldn't mind repeating that, too. The Hawks don't return home until the 14th, which is the night before we leave for Maui. We do have really great seats for the Sharks game in March (the 25th, I think), and I'm really looking forward to that, too. Should be able to get some more really great shots like I did last year.

Aside from that game, we haven't looked passed our upcoming vacation much to see if there any other home games we want to see. I remember looking at one of those 6-game packs briefly, and noticed our regular seats were getting a little harder to come by. We'll have to wait and see.

Go Hawks!!!

Hawks Tomorrow

Just a short note that we'll be heading out to the last Hawks home game before the All-Star break. After this home game, the Blackhawks won't be returning to the UC until Valentines Day, which is night before we leave for Maui.

To help hold us over, we're planning another visit to Buffalo Wild Wings for the Bud Light Hockey Night on February 3rd. We had a blast last time, and while this one is sort of a drive out to Vernon Hills, we hope we'll have the same turnout.

After our trip, we have tickets for yet another game against the Sharks (who the Hawks haven't beat in forever).  And the Sharks game (not until March 25th) will be the good 100 level seats, which mean I can finally bring my camera gear and get shots like I did last year.  Sweet.

On a somewhat related note, the Hawks announced they are currently taking deposits for season tickets next season.  I thought about it for few minutes, but we're not sure if we're ready to lay out that kind of cash just yet.  We'll see, though.

Go Hawks!!!

Chicago Hockey History

It doesn't seem that long ago, yet this time last year we were home watching the first NHL Winter Classic being played in Buffalo, NY on our new 42" HD TV (which we bought for Xmas). The experience was awe inspiring to say the least.

Here we are, a year later and us hometown Chicago fans are at the center of the Winter Classic excitement, and of all places to host such a monumental event than the historic Wrigley Field. Today's game against the Detroit Red Wings will no doubt go in history as the greatest moment in Blackhawks history.

While Cindy and I decided to enjoy the game from the comfort, and warmth, of our living room, my brother was dying to go to the game. After some initial disappointment trying to get tickets, we struck gold last week and scored tickets on the last public on-sale. We really made his Christmas.

So, the network pre-game is about to start, and whether the Hawks win or lose (even though they'll win), today is going to be absolutely amazing. My brother is going to be talking about this game for years to come, and since I lent him my camera, I hope to have photos from the game posted here as soon as humanly possible.

Go Hawks!!!

Second Skating Session

Those following me on Twitter and my Facebook buddies found out last night that I was back out on the ice again, and given today's deep freeze, it was just in time. And unlike two weeks ago, the rink was actually open this time!!!

It was a rather gorgeous night, if you like winter that is. It had been snowing lightly for about an hour by the time we left for the rink, and I was smart enough to bring my own shovel. Being on the ice for about an hour, I probably spent a third of the time shovelling enough space on the ice to actually skate. Those girls from the Ice Crew at the Hawks game are never around when you need them. :)

Anyway, Cindy came with this time, and although she wasn't skaing (yet), she still had fun and even shot a few video clips of me on the ice. I figured some sort of visual reference might be a good idea for those that either (a) don't believe I was back on the ice, or (b) wanted to see how fun it really was and come out skating next time.

This first clip is showing off that I still have a few moves left, and was taken later in the session once I shovelled a large enough area to spread out.

You can sort of see some of the snow falling down, but this next clip that Cindy shot is just of the snow falling itself. Again, if you like winter and enjoy those big fluffy snowflakes, this one is for you. If that's not your thing, you might want to turn away.

Personally, I think that shot of the snow falling is pure beauty.  Very well done, dear!

Overall, there are 7 clips that I uploaded, and you can few them using the playlist below. There is one of me shovelling, which is not to be interpretted as my audition tape for next year's Ice Crew. There is also a few of me skating with the camera, including the last one which is a pan of the entire rink. Very peaceful.

Enjoy.

Best Tuesday this Week

Given the fact that work Tuesday morning was a little more aggravating than usual (for multiple reasons), and since we had yet another snow storm that dumped close to 4" of snow on us, it didn't look like yesterday was going to be that memeroable. Well, yesterday was awesome!!!

Skipping all the bad stuff and going right for the gold, Tuesday night was our first trip to Buffalo Wild Wings for Bud Light's Hockey Night in Chicago. For about half of the Hawks' road games this season, they host an event at different area BWW locations, with giveways, a season long air hockey tournament, and a packed house with lots of hockey fans.  They've been doing this for a few years now, but this was our first one.

The Game

Last night's game was against the Edmonton Oilers, who despite being last in their division were on a bit of a roll winning 5 of their last 7 games. They even recently knocked off the league's best San Jose Sharks in OT, who the Hawks haven't been since 1812 or something like that.  Regardless, the Oilers are never a team to take lightly.

And the Hawks did anything but that. With a season record 5 goals in the second period, the Blackhawks provided all the firepower to keep a lot of wings fans (the buffalo kind) very happy despite horrible driving conditions and multi-hour travel times people had to endure to get there. The Hawks finished the night with a 9-2 win, which made everything else seem trivial.

As if a Hawks goal scoring spree and a few drinks wasn't good enough, the Hockey Night in Chicago event was a blast. They hold a season-long air hockey tournament, which my brother and I both signed up for. While my name wasn't picked to face-off in the tournament that night, Bobby's was. It was a short game in the first round, and he ended up getting bumped out by some 320 lb giant. The air hockey table itself didn't look that great, and I think my brother might have broken the other guy's finger with one of his shots. Hilarious.

Even though my name wasn't called for the tournament, it stayed in the box for some of the other giveaways they were having. Which turned out to be pretty sweet because about 30 minutes after Bobby was eliminated from the tournament, my name was called as a winner of 2 tickets to the Jan. 14th game against the Buffalo Sabres. Nice!

Needless to say, with a late 8:30pm start in Edmonton, the game lasted until about 11:30pm. The commute home was about 750% faster than the drive out there, which was great. Getting home around midnight, we mostly just crashed and, as a result, I'm getting a little later start than usual this morning. Well worth it.

Doing it all again

The Hawks website has the schedule for the other upcoming Hockey Nights. While most of them are out of decent driving distance for us, there are at least two more that we'll likely go to. We highly recommend going for anyone that has a chance and loves the Hawks.

No Skating Today

It was just two days ago when I was saying how bitter cold it was and that chances for skating Friday night were going to be slim. I also mentioned that reports were saying 40s on Saturday. Well, they were just about right.

We were up in Wisconsin on Saturday, but I'll let Cindy cover those details in her weekend post. Regardless, it was rainning for a good part of the day, and did make it up into the upper 30Fs to the point where skating would have been out of the question yesterday even if there was time.  And today?  Well, they're saying close to 50F! Oh, Chicago weather, how crazy you are.

Looking ahead to the upcoming week and possible skating opportunities, Monday is supposed to be back all the way down to 19F for a high (sheesh), and we already have plans for Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday and Friday are looking to be the better chances this week, so I guess I'll just need to be a little patient.

Frigid Friday

Clear skies, bright sunshine, and a gentle breeze. If it were June, it would be gorgeous outside. But alas, here we are less than 2 weeks away from Xmas and that trio of weather conditions means cold, cold, cold. The dashboard thermometer was reading 11F when I was leaving for lunch just a few moments ago, and it's not lying. Wind chills this morning were being reported at -4F as well, and that's not even with a strong wind!

Is it February yet?

Now I'm just complaining for the heck of it. After all, I have lived here all my life. It's really just a little satire for the blog here, that's all. It has gotten to be about as cold as it was in Door County last weekend, even though there were reports it was supposed to be near 40F tomorrow.  We'll see.

Anyway, I'm just writing a little note while sitting here at Starbucks like I do every day around this time during lunch. From the drive out to the office this morning, it looked like it was going to warm up at least a little, and I had started thinking about finding a place to skate tonight while the Hawks beat up on Colorado. Seeing that it is really only picture perfect outside and not really temperature perfect, that will have to wait until at least Sunday. Bummer.

Back to the original plan of watching the game tonight. Go Hawks!

Season's First Skate

While I came up empty over the weekend on our trip to Door County, I still managed to get the skates on last night.  It was short, only 20 minutes, but it was still very sweet. 

It was a tiny little outdoor rink in Glenview, which technically was closed last night. It about 7:15pm and it was still snowing just a little bit. When I pulled up, there were already two kids out there shooting around. No nets, no boards, just a set of bleachers and an 8 ft fence around the snow and the ice. When I say it was technically closed, the gate was actually locked. I didn't realize that at first, and it wasn't until I made almost an entire lap around the small rink before asking the kids how they got one the ice.  There was only one way ... up and over.

Not having nets or boards to shoot against, it wasn't ideal. There was a dusting of snow still on the ice itself, which looked cooler than it was. The temp in the car said it was about 18°F with the air temp alone, probably a little cooler with the light wind. Skating wasn't that bad all bundled up, but my lungs filling up with that colder than usual air slowed me down sooner than I would have liked.

The verdict on the rink? It's still early in the season, so if they do manage to put up boards and have nets when the rink is officially open, it might be a nice backup if there aren't too many people out there. It was nice and quiet, so that helped with the atmosphere. Still going to look for a better option for more regular hockey sessions.

And no, I did not climb the fence with my skates on!

Hawks over Ducks, 4-2

What a game for the Hawks to win at home for the first game after their circus trip. They took one away from the "road hot" Anaheim Ducks with 3 unanswered goals in the last 6 minutes of the game to finish with a 4-2 win. Huet gets his first win since Nov. 9th, and revenge on the Ducks for a heartbreaking 1-0 loss last Friday.

First Period
The Hawks really needed to solve Anaheim stand-in rookie goaltender Jonas Hiller early if they wanted a chance to win this game. And it looked promising after Hawks leading goal scorer Patrick Sharp put in a one-timer from Kane just 15 seconds into their second power play of the night. Yet after dominating in the first period with a shot advantage of 17-9 going into the second, they fell flat in the middle frame.

Second Period
The Hawks' momentum was pretty much already gone when Selanne put in yet another power play goal halfway through the 2nd period. So with the game tied at 1-1, the guys in red couldn't really get much going. They struggled with their breakout, and with Anaheim shutting down the neutral zone, there was way too much east-west movement between the blue lines and not enough penetration in the offensive zone. They pretty much conceded their large shot advantage giving up 15 in the second and only answering with 11 in the second.

Third Period
So you can imagine the Hawks needed a strong 3rd period if they wanted any chance to take one from the Ducks, ranked 3rd in the Western Conference. Well, Chris Pronger pretty much silenced the crowd with a blue line blast just one minute into the third period to give the lead to Anaheim. Come to think about it, the Sharks scored in the 1st minute of the 3rd when we saw them at the UC on Nov. 16th. Not a good habit to get into, boys.

Much of the next 15 minutes of the 3rd period was pretty hard to watch. It seemed like the Ducks had the Hawks right where they wanted them, with a 2-1 lead and solid pressure in the neutral zone preventing an offensive attack. It wasn't until Duck forward Ryan Getzlaf took a slashing penalty on an Anaheim power play that broke the game open. Playing 4-on-4 hockey, the ice opened up and the Hawks got back into the game. With less than 15 seconds left on the 4-on-4, Hawks rookie Kris Versteeg undressed the Anaheim blue-liner (Blackhawks TV) and made a great dish to Keith, who in turn fed Havlat and the back of the net. The crowd was back in it after that.

With about 4 minutes left in the third period, the Hawks gave up a quality scoring chance to Anaheim's Getzlaf, not doubt trying to redeem himself for the slashing penalty he took on the power play two shifts earlier. Huet stoned him dead-to-rights, to which Getzlaf unleashed his frustration and took a crosscheck right to the mask of the Hawks netminder. With the fans screaming at the non-call, Huet took exception and gave Getzlaf a face full of blocker in classic Khabibulin style. That seemed to appease the fans, and Huet for that matter.

Final Two Minutes
The home team recaptured much of the momentum in the 3rd after that tying goal. With Hall of Famer Bobby Hull in the house, and on the very next play after showing him on the jumbotron watching from his skybox, the Hawks reaped the benefits of their re-found momentum with a great play from Versteeg to Toews in the Anaheim goal mouth that turned out to be the game winner. The house on Madison went completely nuts after that. The Ducks had one last chance after pulling Hiller, but the Hawks shut 'em down and Bolland added the empty netter to seal the deal.

Next Game
What an amazing victory for the Hawks' return to the United Center. They really needed this one and hope to carry the momentum into Joe Louis Arena to face their Central Division rivals, the Detroit Red Wings. The Wings have been on their usual tear as of late, so we're going to have to strike early and often against the Wings if we want to repeat our domination of the team from the Motor City that we had last year. As always, it's going to be a great game.

Go Hawks!!!

Welcome Home Hawks

As the days come and go, we keep crossing things off of our busy calendar. Today, we welcome back the Chicago Blackhawks to the United Center after spending the last 3 weeks on the road while the circus was in town. We were at their last home game all the way back on 11/20 as I mentioned here, so we're looking forward to seeing them again.

And, of course, all the talk about winter over the past few days is going to make it a little more challenging. It's around Noon right now, and although the skies are somewhat clear at the moment, there's a storm not that far West of us that's expected to hit within the next few hours. Starting as rain, turning into a rain/snow mix, and then probably all snow by the end of the evening.  Expected accumulation of 2-4 inches.

With us going to the Hawks game tonight, the timing couldn't be worse.  It's a 7:30pm start, and we like to get their early to find better parking, grab some overpriced food, and get comfy in our 300 level seats. Given normal traffic, we'd probably leave for the UC around 6:30pm, but today we're thinking it's going to be more like 5:30pm.  But first, I have to get home from work, which by leaving at 3pm and assuming the storm is well underway, should take 60-90 minutes.  Ouch.

But we're used to it, so we suck it up, bundle up, and make the best of it.  We're hockey fans, for crying out loud, and aside from those locos sitting shirtless at Soldiers Fields in the middle of December, hockey fans are pretty darn tough.

The Hawks have been doing pretty good this year, although there is always room for improvement. They're 2nd in their division behind Detroit (duh) and have a record of 10-6-6 about a quarter into the season. The Western Conference is pretty tough this year, too, and the Hawks are currently 7th in the West. The last home game we saw was in November where they gave up a heartbreaker to the league's best San Jose Sharks.  But tonight it's Anahiem we're up against, who beat us by a slim 1-0 margin last Friday in California. The Ducks are currently 3rd in the conference, so it should be a tough fight.

Tomorrow

Hopefully we'll be leaving the United Center with a win tonight, but we're also pretty sure the drive home will be a mess, even if the storm is done by then. We have to get up early tomorrow because we're leaving for Door County, WI around 9am. They've been getting more snow up north than I had originally read, so I'm hoping it's going to look pretty beautiful up there.  We can't wait.

Anyway, Go Hawks!

Returning to the Ice

During the pre-game at the United Center for the Hawks and Sharks this past Sunday, they ran an NHL ad on the scoreboard from their "Is this the year?" campaign.  I'm paraphrasing from memory, but it went like this:

Hockey never left Chicago...

But Hockey in Chicago has returned.

The ad is related to the recent resurrgence of popularity that the Chicago Blackhawks have had in the last 18 months with a focus on their new, young talent.  In fact, this ESPN post quotes an NHL report that the Blackhawks led the league in average home attendance after the first month of the season, something unheard of just three years ago.

Our Part

As mentioned in previous posts here at our blog, Cindy and I have been doing are part as well.  We've already been to 3 home games this season, and have tickets for 2 more (so far).  That's more games that we've seen at the UC since, well, since it replaced the Chicago Stadium.

But what does that mean to me?  Well, it's starting to hit closer to home for me, personally, and that itch to get back on the ice myself is getting harder to ignore.  Talking to the ad quote from above, I pretty much left hockey, or more recently, hockey sort of left me.

In the Past

I have been fortunate to enjoy the game as both a player and coach for most of my life.  As a player, I got the opprotunity to play 4 years of Varsity hockey at the High School level, in the very competitive Chicagoland area I might add.  That was before I gave it all up to pursue a career in web and software development (my new life).  All in all, I think it turned out for the best, and I don't really regret any of it.

Most recently, I was given the priviledge to return to my former high school team as an Assistant Coach, the duties of which I fulfilled for 5 seasons.  Unfortunately, as you can tell from the lack of activity at the site behind that last link, the team is no longer in operation after losing the required number of players needed to field a team.  This is the second year without a team, and that's what I was referring to by saying that hockey left me.  In that regard, I really had no real choice in the matter.

Recently

Besides the excitement around Hawks recently, there are other factors that are contributing to the current effects of hockey withdrawl that have been growing as of late.  This past summer, I've been on the biggest health-kick in my life, which for those of you know me personally, is really my first health-kick ever. :)  That led me to dig out my old rollerblades and get that wind-in-your-face feeling back via lunch time skates with co-workers and evening treks with Cindy on the forest preserves trails near our condo.

The feeling of being back on skates led me to checkout the outdoor, inline hockey rink near my office.  Needless to say, it wasn't much longer before I ditched my co-workers (sorry guys) and went from skating on the bike trails to shooting pucks again during the lunchtime hours.  There were even pickup games with a great bunch of guys (albeit 10+ years my senior) that we had every Wednesday.  It really felt good to be competitive again.

The Now

And now, to quote my younger brother (who's sort of in the same boat as me), it's time to !$@% or get off the pot.  This is a family blog by the way (that is if bunnies count).  Nevermind.

What I mean is, its time to get back out there and return to the ice and play some hockey.  I was already planning to checkout one of the outdoor rinks in Sister Bay, WI during our next trip to Door County in two weeks.  With the additional hype around the Hawks and the much anticipated Winter Classic at Wrigley Field come Jan. 1st, I think it's only fitting that I want to target as much time skating outdoors as I possibly can this winter.

But why wait?  I've already started hitting up the AHAI site for local rinks looking to rent ice, and could be out there shooting around within the next week or so.  After that, there are also a few teams that some of my former teammates from high school play on in local adult leagues that are always short bodies, so that will likely be the next step.  In fact, I wanted to be already be playing by now, and would have been if not for an out-of-the-blue bout of back spasms that I was battling for the last two weeks.  Those are gone now, and knock on wood that they were just a one time occurrance.

Stay Tuned

By Christmas, there could be photos and video (yes, video) of my floating around the site here of me back on the ice and racking up points on the scoresheet, so you don't want to miss it. Cindy, the converted hockey fanactic that she now is, did an amazing job of videotaping all of the hockey games of the high school team when I was coaching, so I'm sure she just couldn't resist getting me on video.  Besides, it's been **gulp** 10 years since she saw me play my last game in my senior year in high school, so such a comeback would be nice to have as a keepsake (and possibly for insurance purposes).  Just kidding, I'll be fine.

And forget I mentioned the 10 year part, would you?  Thanks.

A Quick Update

Just wanted to post a quick mid-week update. Cindy and I were invited to the Wolves game last Sunday by her aunt and uncle, who won a suite at the Allstate Arena for a game. It was against the Rockford Ice Hogs, which is the AHL affiliate for the Blackhawks, so we were torn. Actually, we weren't because we were routing for Rockford (sorry guys). They ended up winning in an 8-round shootout, which was the first shootout we have seen like. That was cool.

I tried my best to take photos with my new camera, but we almost directly behind the goal, so I had the protective netting above the class to content with. I managed to sneak over to one of the adjacent sections for the 2nd period and tried to get some good photos. I'll be posting them over on Flickr and blogging at photonelly.com sometime this week.

Travel plans are coming along, and we're hoping to have good news on our next Maui trip in the coming weeks. Sooner than that, we're heading out to South Bend, IN to visit one of Cindy's friends and looking to spend another weekend in Door County, WI the first week of December. More details as things get closer.

Aside from that, just working through the week and trying to play catch-up with a lot of little things in my spare time (like blogging).

That's all for now.

Mahalo.

Another Hawks Game, Another Win

It was a spur of the moment idea late Saturday night, but we decided to grab tickets to the Hawks game for Sunday and made our second trip out to the United Center in five days. And, after a tough loss to the Blues the night before, the Hawks were out with a vengeance and stuck it to the Canucks 4-2.

We still had seats up in the 300 section this time (301 Sunday, 310 on Wednesday), but it was still a great view. Sunday's game we were at center ice, which was just like seeing it on TV but with all the live excitement and atmosphere.

We knew it was going to be a great season to be a Hawks fan this year, but I don't think either of had expected to be watching 2 of the first 3 home games at the UC instead of on television. Makes me kind of wish we had gone and gotten a 6-game pack or something like that. Might be something to check into.

Let's see if the guys can keep the turnaround going this Wednesday against the Oilers. Given that both baseball teams here in Chicago crapped out in the playoffs, we have the Bears and the Hawks to route for. And while the Hawks started slow, it's a long 82 game season and we have a lot of hockey to watch...

Hockey's Back, More Door County, and Closer to Maui

Aloha,

It's only been a few weeks since we came back from Door County and my last post here, but it seems like forever. It has been a very crazy and stressful last few weeks for me, but it looks like it's starting to calm down again, even if only for a little bit.

Hockey's Back
Cindy and I are so excited that it's hockey season once again, and routing for the Blackhawks this season is getting rather popular. Cindy and mom are still bummed about the Savard thing, though. It seems like it was a difficult choice to say the least, but if it truly is what's best for the team, we'll be happy when they're winning.

We all went to our first Hawks game this season, and it was a blast. It was a Buy One Get One offer, so the seats were up in the 300s at the United Center, yet surprisingly they were great seats. Too high up for my camera, but from a fans perspective, you could see everything. They ended up getting their first win of the season, beating Phoenix 4-1 in a exciting and physical battle. We have Wolves tickets with Cindy's aunt and uncle for the 26th, and then it's back to looking for Hawks tickets.

More Door County

I mentioned it's only been a few weeks since Door County, but with all the stress and chaos going on in our lives right now, we're ready to get away again.  Right now, we're thinking the first week of December for a Thursday-Sunday trip, and looking to stay in either Fish Creek or Ephriam this time.  We'll probably start looking next week, and maybe take a peak at what the weather is historically like in early December (read "how much snow").  It will be fun to get away again, and hopefully I won't have to spend my mornings working this time. It will also be easier to find something now that we have a good idea of where everything is now.

Closer to Maui

We'll, it's just about 4 months until we leave for our next planned Maui trip, and we're getting pretty anxious to be back on the warm sands of Ka'anapali.  We had a good talk with my aunt earlier in the week (at the hockey game of all places) about using their timeshare in West Maui for our trip.  At first, we brushed off the idea of not staying at the Sheraton again this year, but after some discussion and the fact that it would save us tons of money, we reconsidered.  We hoping to find out today more details about the timeshare and what the availability looks like for the two weeks we want to be in Maui.

That said, we could have our lodging booked this weekend!!!  I've been watching airfare with Kayak and it seems to be fluxating just a little, but if that ends up being the most expensive part of our booking, than I'll be pretty darn happy.

Well, that's the short and sweet of it right now, without all the crazy stuff going on.  As mentioned, I'm hoping to have good news on the Maui trip, so if you hear me screaming for joy, you know why. :)

Mahalo,

Kris