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STORYTIME: Sunday Night Showdown


CHICAGO, IL -- The best part about this week's blog is that my little tag to the left over there that reads Chicago is actually accurate as to where I was for the game I'm about to talk about.

 Yes, folks, I was up in Chi-town for the weekend and boy, did I have a blast.

 I want to first thank my best buddy, Shay, for the fun-filled Sunday--we made the most of our one day together, and she gave me the best Christmas surprise EVER. More on that in a second.

 You see, when we bought these tickets, she told me she'd buy them and I could just pay her back for the ticket. She sent me a picture from the seats we had, and though they were in the 300-level, they weren't bad seats. I was just stoked to be going to a Hawks game at the United Center.

 She kept telling me that there was this huge surprise for my Christmas present, but she insisted that it wasn't hockey or Blackhawks related, which naturally left me very confused. But, I relented and decided to just be patient.

 Oh, boy, did that pay off.

 We went to the Palace Grill for a quick linner (lunch/dinner) before the game, and it was then that she decided to reveal the surprise.

 We weren't sitting in the 300-level. Oh, no.

 We were sitting right behind Corey Crawford's net, eight rows up from the ice.

 You can imagine how much I cried at that. And, to make things worse, that wasn't even the last time I cried that night. Again, more on that in a second.

 We hit up the Madhouse store for funsies since I hadn't been to the UC since the new atrium was built, then waited patiently for the gates to open. Once they did, our section was basically right where we walked in.

 Shay actually took a video of my reaction to walking into the United Center and it's funny to watch back because I was just so shocked and excited at the prospect of sitting that close--I've never sat that close at a game before, not even at a Hurricanes game.

 Warm ups, though, were the real target before the game started. We went over towards the bench and grabbed seats over there, hoping to see the boys up closer and to (hopefully) get a puck from Patrick Kane. I tried to get one from him on my birthday, but I was standing by the netting, so he couldn't get it to me.

 Shay made a nice sign for me that read "I CAME ALL THE WAY FROM RALEIGH, NC! 'KANE' I GET A PUCK?"--it was similar enough to my poster that I made for my birthday, but I still thought I probably wouldn't get a puck. It didn't help that there were about twelve kids sitting in front of us.

 Honestly, I was just excited to be down on the ice. When they skated out for warm ups, Cam Ward glanced at my poster before doing a double-take, squinting at it, then nodding and smiling. That alone kind of made my night, and I honestly would've been fine if it ended there.

 But, it got better. Oh, boy, did it get better.

 I was casually watching both Crawford and Ward get in the net and take shots, not really paying attention to anything right in front of me. I did hear a tap on the glass in front of us, and when I looked, I was staring right at Patrick Kane.

 He made eye contact with me and nodded, a puck on his stick, and I realized right then that, holy shit, he was going to give me a puck.

 I tried to carefully set my poster down (Shay was telling me to just toss it, which I should have) and I looked back to Kane and nodded back, and just like that, he tossed me a puck. This sounds dumb, but it was way colder than I expected it to be and I nearly dropped the damn thing, but I caught it. He tapped on the glass one more time before skating away, and I all but melted right then.

 In fact, that was the second time I cried that night. Look, it doesn't take much to make me cry, okay?

 The game itself was even a little fun--seeing the Hawks score twice in, like, a minute and then again a few minutes later was awesome, and to be fair, I do like the San Jose Sharks a lot, so seeing them score 7 goals wasn't the worst.

 Overall, that experience was so fun and something I'll treasure forever. It's little things like that that really keep me invested in this team. Kane could've given that puck to anyone else, any of those little kids, or anyone else with a sign, but he saw mine and said 'yep, let's do this' and I really appreciate him for that.

 Plus, I can brag until the cows come home that I made longstanding eye contact with Patrick Kane, who has the prettiest blue eyes in the world. And, yes, I will brag about that.


On a slightly different note, the Hawks found two wins this week--one against the Nashville Predators (HELL YES) and the other against the Dallas Stars last night! Back-to-back wins? It's more likely than you think.

 They're looking better lately, and while I don't want to take credit for inspiring them, I kind of do. Sunday was a fluke, but Tuesday and Thursday have proven that somewhere, deep down, they are a hockey team.

 TBD if they can pull out a win against the Colorado Avalanche and the best line in the league, who you should know if you follow former Stars captain Mike Modano on Twitter. If you don't know, it's called the Rocky Mountain Line - Mikko Rantanen, Nathan McKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog - and they are known for lighting up goalies.

 For now, I'll bask in the two-game winning streak.

 Let's go--are you in?
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