Last night the Vancouver Canucks were back at the United Center for the first time since losing Game 6 of the second round series against the Chicago Blackhawks 7-5 as the Blackhawks advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

Last night’s game was different as the Blackhawks could not hang onto a 2-1 lead in the third period giving up two goals to the Canucks at 7:44 and 4:42 left in the game. The Canucks won 3-2.

Parking
Once again I parked for free along the 2100 block of W. Warren Blvd. which is on the opposite side of the United Center than where I parked last year – the Red Top Parking Lot on the corner of Madison St. and Ashland Ave. This difference in parking location changes what scalpers and fans I will end up negotiating with for tickets as I am now coming from a different direction from last year.

Obtaining Tickets and 2009-10 Chicago Blackhawks Ticket Prices
Last night I saw a fan try to sell his ticket to a scalper but noticed that the ticket did not sell. I yelled at the guy to get his attention and asked if he had an extra ticket. He had a $12 upper deck single – the exact seat I wanted to buy since I believe it is the cheapest ticket available for Blackhawks games.

One note on Chicago Blackhawks tickets for this season is that the ticket price for new or non-season ticket holders are drastically different than the ticket price for season ticket holders of four years or more. The $12 face value was the “four-year-season-ticket-holder” price for the cheapest seats. The price for the cheapest seats for last night’s game would be $30 for me since I buy tickets on the day of the game ($25 if I bought in advance). To make things even more confusing for non-season ticket holder, prime games this season (mainly weekend games) cost $40 on day of the game ($35 if bought in advance). Of course these prices are the cheapest in the arena and seats closer to the ice go up from here.

Thus, with all of this information, I offered the guy $10 for his $12 (or $25 or $30) face value ticket. He countered saying he paid $20 and wanted $20 mentioning that tickets were more than $12 at the window. I offered him $15 and he accepted. I ended up paying more than the price on the ticket but half price based on the cheapest ticket at the ticket office.