Snowy Night in Chicago: Stars at Blackhawks

It was a snowy night to attend the Chicago Blackhawks game. But I managed to make the drive from my home to the United Center in less than 30 minutes. Rather than park for free on the street as I have many times this season, I used one of the parking passes I bought last year from Red Top Parking. I parked in their lot rather than brave the snow on the city streets.

Obtaining Tickets
I parked just before 7:30 pm. I expected to see more ticket scalpers walking towards the United Center box office than I did – but it had snowed all day. The scalpers who were there, either looking for tickets or did not have a single. Meaning I bought a standing room only ticket for $25 from the ticket office – even though seats were available. I bought SRO because my cousin, “Blackhawks Jim,” was at the game and I was hoping to sit with them in the first level.

Standing Room Only
Since I arrived just before the game started, I immediately went to the upper deck and found a seat for the first period. “Blackhawks Jim” texted me that there was a seat in front of them so I met up with him during the first intermission. The seat was free so I sat in section 120 row 10 for the 2nd and 3rd periods.

The Game
Tonight was Tony Esposito Heritage Night. I actually attended the last Tony Esposito Night on March 19, 2008 when the Blackhawks started celebrating the hero’s of their past.

This was the fourth shootout game I have attended this season. Kris Versteeg scored in the 5th round to win the shootout 1-0 and give the Blackhawks the win 4-3. Patrick Kane scored two goals in the first period as the Stars and Blackhawks traded goals throughout the game.

Last Minute Ticket: Blue Jackets at Blackhawks

One reason (of many) I never buy tickets ahead of time to games I am planning to attend is because you never know if you might get invited to the same game. On Sunday Blackhawks Jim called me since he had an extra ticket to the Blackhawks game versus Anaheim. However, since I was in Ann Arbor attending the Northwestern at Michigan men’s basketball game, there was no way I could get back to Chicago in time for the 6 pm start time.

However, that bad luck probably led to good luck tonight as I received the same invite. Blackhawks Jim texted me stating he had an extra ticket to the game. This time I was in town and was already planning to attend. Instead of having to negotiate with scalpers outside of the United Center, I already had a ticket.


The Game
Blackhawks Goalie, Cristobal Huet, shutout the Blue Jackets 3-0. Huet made a great save in the second period as he blocked a hard slap shot from Fedor Tyutin and kept the rebound attempt by Kristian Huselius out of the net.

Tonight’s game was the third straight Blackhawks game I have attended where they shutout their opponent and it is the fourth overall shutout I have seen this season. Both Huet and Antti Niemi have two shutouts while I am in attendance.

This was the Blackhawks last game at home for three weeks. They are heading on an eight-game road trip and return back to the United Center on February 3 to face the St. Louis Blues.

NHL: Vancouver Canucks at Dallas Stars

While I was on my flight to Dallas I decided my best option was to attend the Dallas Stars game at 1 pm and then drive to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl. My timing for the day would need to be nearly perfect. I figured the Stars game would last 2.5 hours, giving me enough time to drive to San Antonio.

My flight was scheduled to land at 11:45 am and Dallas Love Field is only a 10 minute drive (5 miles) to American Airlines Center. Thus, I figured I could make the Stars game on time. My flight was five minutes late and I had my rental car by 12:30 pm. Just as I thought, I was parking at 12:45 pm – just enough time to buy a ticket from a scalper and enter the arena.

Parking
I parked in a lot near the W Hotel for $10. This was the best lot so I could make my getaway to San Antonio after the game.

Obtaining Tickets
I only wanted to spend $10 on a ticket for the game. However, when I talked to a couple of scalpers they were not willing to part with their tickets for less than $50 ($150 face value). I ended up paying $40 for a club level ticket which did not have a face value on it. After the game I looked at the Stars’ website and they do not list a price (but it is listed higher than the $150 seats).

The Game
Scoring in the game came quickly after the intermissions. Vancouver’s first goal came 1:30 into the second period. Dallas tied the game 37 seconds into the third period and Vancouver took the lead two minutes later. Roberto Luongo then shut down the Stars – making 13 saves to close out the game. Vancouver scored an empty net goal with 17 seconds left in the game to win 3-1.

As soon as the final horn blew, I ran out of the arena to my car. It was 3:30 pm and I had a minimum four hour drive ahead of me.

Standing Room Only: Red Wings at Blackhawks

My original plan for today was to fly to Pittsburgh in the morning, attend the Green Bay Packers at Pittsburgh Steelers game and fly back to Chicago after the game. That plan was changed when the game, originally scheduled for 1:00 pm ET, was changed to a 4:15 pm ET kick off – meaning I could no longer make my 6:50 pm ET flight back to Chicago.

With my trip to Pittsburgh cancelled, I took in the best event in Chicago today – the Detroit Red Wings were visiting the Chicago Blackhawks for the first time since the Red Wings defeated the Blackhawks 4-1 in the Western Conference Finals.

Obtaining Tickets
Since I had not planned to attend the Blackhawks game, I had to research ticket prices on Sunday afternoon. The cheapest price on StubHub was $65 for a single and craigslist.org had a $40 Standing Room Only (SRO). Prices were much more expensive than I thought, but I should have expected that. However, high ticket prices did not discourage me from driving to the United Center without a ticket.

I parked for free on the corner of N. Hoyne Ave. and W. Warren Blvd. That location determined my “scalping tickets walk”. I walked to the corner of W. Madison St. and S. Damen Ave. before heading towards the United Center. Even though I had not visited the ticket office yet, I used $25 (face value for SRO) as my price point.

One scalper offered me a ticket for $80 (face value $75 if bought on the day of the game). Even though I now knew prices were close to face value, I went to the box office to see if SRO was available. SRO was available to I bought one – rather than try to match $25 on the secondary market (cheapest seat in the arena for the game was $40 face value).

Standing Room Only at United Center
As usual I was able to find a seat in the upper deck (face value of my seat was $60 on the day of the game) so I paid less for the SRO ticket and sat in a good seat.

It is difficult to watch the game from SRO if you arrive late. If you actually want to watch the game from SRO you need to either:

1) Arrive early and get a good spot in the SRO section above the third level.
2) Arrive late and find an empty seat in the upper deck (lower level if you are lucky).
3) Arrive late and enjoy the new SRO concession stand above the third level and watch the game on the flat screen televisions. This area is basically a bar (consider your ticket a $25 cover charge) within the United Center.

I am always able to accomplish #2, which is why I will continue to buy SRO tickets for sold out Blackhawks games.

The Game
The Blackhawks shut out the Red Wings 3-0. The convincing defeat may be a changing of the guard in the Central Division – the Red Wings have won eight straight division titles.

Doubleheader Day Game #2: Lightning at Blackhawks

After the Chicago Bears game, I took the CTA train back to our house to pick up the Ultimate Sports Wife, go to a holiday party near our house and then drive down to the United Center for the Blackhawks game – ah, the conveniences of living in the city.

Obtaining Tickets
When I called Blackhawks Jim to invite him and his wife to the Packers and Bears game, he said he had his usual four seats in the lower level for the Blackhawks game. So after a simple trade of tickets, the Ultimate Sports Wife and I were sitting in the same seats where the Vince Vaughn drama occurred a few weeks ago. Too bad tonight’s ceremonial first puck dropper, Jim Belushi, did not cause any drama.

The Game
The Blackhawks shutout the Lightning 4-0 – the second consecutive Lightning game I have attended in which they were shutout. Patrick Kane scored his 10th goal of the season to take the team lead.

NHL: Colorado Avalanche at Tampa Bay Lightning

Last night I chose to attend the Tampa Bay Lightning game. St. Pete Times Forum is a 90 minute drive from where we are staying in The Villages, FL.

Parking
Parking around St. Pete Times Forum is cheap. Most lots are $5 and if you bring change you can park at the meters for 75 cents per hour.

Obtaining Tickets
I always park at a lot with some distance from the stadium so I can pass scalpers on the way to the stadium. My goal last night was to pay $5 or receive a free ticket. The first scalpers I passed had between 10 and 20 tickets each. I’m not sure why they had such a supply but that was definitely to my benefit. I decided rather than spend time looking for a free ticket I would offer the next scalper $5 for a ticket. I did and he accepted the offer. In my mind, $5 is equal to free when I do not spend any energy searching for tickets.

The Game
Before the game, IKEA sponsored a $5 all-you-can-eat buffet with Swedish meatballs, hot dogs, chips and non-alcoholic beverages.

The arena was pretty empty last night. Even though the announced crowd was 12,214, only the first 8,000 fans were supposed to receive the night’s promotion of thunder sticks and gate attendants were still handing them out when I entered the arena.

The Avalanche scored a goal in each period to win 3-0. Matt Duchene had two goals as Craig Anderson made 33 saves to lead the Avalanche.

Game TBD: Ducks at Blue Jackets

It was a day of temporary departure times. Hawkeyes Bryon and I were driving to Columbus, Ohio for the Iowa and Ohio St. Saturday afternoon. However, we were debating on when to leave. The drive takes six hours from Chicago and with a one hour time change we would arrive seven hours after we left.

Bryon had to work on Friday and had said he could not leave until 5 pm. He wanted to leave Friday so we would be in Columbus early even though kickoff was at 3:30 pm. With possible (probably guaranteed) Chicago traffic, I was hesitant to leave at 5 pm because it could take us a few hours just to get out of Chicago. Plus I prefer not to leave Nicole for an extra evening if it is unnecessary. Thus, I was still debating on whether to leave Friday night or very early Saturday morning.

However, I would leave Friday if Bryon could get out of work earlier and he mentioned it was a possibility so I had determined two sporting events we could attend Friday night based on our departure time:

1) If we left before noon, we could attend the 7:00 pm Columbus Blue Jackets game versus the Anaheim Ducks in Columbus (six hour drive plus one hour time change).
2) If we left before 4 pm, we could attend the 7:00 pm Purdue Men’s Basketball game versus Cal State Northridge in West Lafayette, IN (2 hour drive plus one hour time change) assuming we did not have traffic leaving that late.
3) If we left after 4 pm, we could stay in Chicago, avoid traffic and attend either the Chicago Blackhawks game (7:30 pm start time) or Northwestern Men’s Basketball game in Evanston (7:00 pm start time) or hang out at home. We could then leave after the game to avoid traffic or leave early Saturday morning.

Friday morning, Hawkeyes Bryon said he could leave early and that I should pick him up in downtown Chicago around 11:00 am. That meant we would arrive Columbus about an hour before the Blue Jackets game was to begin.

We arrived in Columbus at 6:00 pm – one hour before the Blue Jackets game was scheduled to begin. We checked into the Red Roof Inn downtown which was a three block walk from Nationwide Arena.

Obtaining Tickets
Tickets outside Nationwide Arena are generally easy to purchase for less than face value. I went through my usual steps of buying tickets:

1) I checked to see what the cheapest seat was at the box office. Their response was $36. The cheapest seat the Blue Jackets sell is $10.
2) I waited a couple of minutes to see if a fan had an extra ticket.
3) I went to talk to a couple of ticket brokers rather than continue to wait for a fan that might have free tickets. I offered the scalper $10 each for tickets that had a face value of $20. At first he countered my offered with $20 each, then $15 each. I decided to walk away. As I was walking away he accepted my $10 offer.

Pre Game
After buying tickets, I met Bryon at O’Shaughnessy’s Public House – a few steps from Nationwide Arena. O’Shaughnessy’s had a 24 ounce can daily special for $4.50.

The Game
For the second time this week, the NHL game I attended went to a shootout. This time the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 after winning the shootout 2-0.

Nationwide Arena
In 2009, ESPN The Magazine’s Ultimate Standings determined Nationwide Arena was the ninth best stadium experience out of all four major sports (122 teams in MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL). There were a few differences I noticed about Nationwide Arena than other hockey venues.

First, the net that protects fans behind the goal was about 1/3 as high as it is at the United Center and other arenas. I’m not sure why other arenas cannot figure out how to have lower nets behind the goal.
Second, the Blue Jackets do not use Ice Crew Girls. Rather they had men in sweatshirts cleaning the ice in between play.
Third, Nationwide Arena sold 24 ounce beers – bigger than most arenas.
Fourth, those beers were not poured into plastic cups. Rather they handed over the can! I believe no other venue hands fans a can fearing fans will throw the cans on the playing service or at another fan.
Fifth, if you are interested in eating food only found in Ohio (and they have expanded to parts of Kentucky, Indianapolis and Florida) then stop by the Skyline Chili concession stand. You may not like it at first but it is an Ohio delicacy.

Post Game Dining
After the game, we met other Iowa fans at Barley’s Brewing Company located at 467 N. High St. for dinner. Then we headed to Bar Louie Tavern & Grill before heading to bed for our early morning.

Tickets for Blackhawks and Panthers Games in Helsinki

In addition to booking hotels on Monday, September 28 while I was at the Britannia Hotel in Manchester, I did some research on buying tickets to the Blackhawks and Panthers games in Helsinki. Tickets were still available from Hartwell Areena where the games would be played. Since tickets were still available I figured I could show up at the arena and buy tickets on the secondary ticket market (I’m not sure why I was so confident I could buy tickets on the secondary market for the hockey games in Helsinki but not for the soccer matches I attended in the United Kingdom).

However, that same day I found a craigslist ad on the Helsinki site that stated a guy had four tickets to each game. His trip had been cancelled and he needed to sell his tickets. I emailed the guy and offered to pay him half price for one ticket to each game.

He wrote me back asking me if I was Finnish and if I would help him sell the tickets. I told him I would sell the tickets for him outside of the arena if he emailed me the tickets.

On Wednesday night after the Manchester United Champions League we talked on the phone – he wanted proof I was a real person. We agreed that I would receive a free ticket to each game and a percentage of whatever the tickets sold for.

He emailed me the tickets on Thursday and I printed them out after the Fulham match at Big Chris’ house. Now I needed to sell the tickets before each game in Helsinki.