Caps @ Hawks: My first game this year

I hope you wore a caps jersey … If I were at a hawks game I’d have to wear the ol’ blue with one with eagle just to stand out.

Sometimes the little things about Steckel’s dad in a serendipitous moment are more touching than all the paeans to the Olympian heroes. Glad that you got to enjoy a comeback and walk out of Chicago with your head held high.

It may not be fair to compare the Blackhawks environment on this particular day. It’s a day game and may have a different mix of people. Also, with the big lead it may not inspire passion and 2:16 is a soul crushing reversal of fortune.

Verizon’s Unleash the Fury though is classic and we would have Unleashed the Fury when it was 3-2 and avoided giving up the hard hat goal that tied the score. That’s the goal that Chicago has to look at, along with the silly penalties.

Mr. Steckel was in town from Wisconsin to see David play. I asked him where his seats were, a little curious why I would be seeing him on the upper-level concourse, and he told us that Stecks got a bunch of good seats for his friends but left his parents to buy their own Standing Room Only tickets.

Nice.

Nice. A rec for your first FanPost and especially for the anecdote about your dad meeting Mr. Steckel. That’s good stuff.

wonderful story, and welcome! I hope you’ll post more :)

awesome fanpost, thanks for the first-person account. sorry we couldn’t hang out during the playoffs last year! my impression: united center also seemed HUGE to me compared to VC. the upper seats in the united center were way worse than the upper seats at VC (if people can believe it).

Having been too a few Sunday day games at Verizon Center, I will say that the crowd is usually a little slow to get going for the earlier starts. The sun still shining, less alcohol consumed (and possibly still working off a Saturday night hangover), and many folks still warming up to the day I’m sure has a bit of an effect. Add to the effect that Sunday’s game was being played in Chicago (central time zone) and was the first day of daylight saving time, and what you basically had was a 10:30 AM start…at least 2 hours earlier than any game I’ve ever attended. I’d be willing to bet a close Saturday night game vs. the Red Wings (or possibly the Caps) would be a bit more “exciting” to watch at UC.

Having said all that though, you gotta love the energy that Caps fans have been bringing day in and day out for this team. I’m not saying it would be impossible for another arena to match the energy level we get at the Phone Booth these days, but I’m pretty sure you’d be hard pressed to find one that surpasses it (or, frankly, really even comes close). Sure, you expect a crazy atmosphere when teams like Pittsburgh come into town, what surprises you is the energy level you get when the Florida Panthers come in on a Wednesday night.

Couldn’t agree with you more on the overall atmosphere in the UC. This was my first game in Chicago, but it was nothing like VC. Actually there were a bunch more caps fans than I expected.

Having been to games in Philly, Pittsburgh, and NY, the fans in Chicago were pleasant (no one said anything to me at all). I’m pretty sure I saw you father’s new bradley jersey cause I really wasn’t expecting anyone else to be wearing a brads jersey but me. I saw him in the 300 level behind the goal where the caps shot twice

Remember when we were losing to the Pens in Pittsburgh last year 3-0 a the start of the third…It was the first time we played them that year, then we won that game 4-3 in regulation…Well, This looked VERY similar. I just hope that doesn’t mean we go to 7 against Chicago in the Final and lay an egg

Great recap – and I agree with many of your points.

I was shocked at the lack of energy in the United Center from the opening faceoff. Sure, the National Anthem was fantastic and their goal celebration fun, but those aside, I felt like I was watching a game between the two last-place teams in the league. There was nothing remotely comparable to Horn Guy, Goat, etc, and barely a "Let’s go Hawks" rally. Maybe it is by choice, but there was also very little in-game media to get the fans going.

Re: the Anthem — I was fully prepared to hate it, as I was in the “it’s disrespectful” camp, but it actually gave me chills and I was almost teary-eyed by the ending. The crescendos of cheers are just awesome. I’m a believer now. But yeah, no energy, and no organic chants during the game. Whatever one thinks of Wes, he really does get people pumped up. The nasily-voiced announcer at United sounded like he just woke up from a nap.

I fully expected that when I walked into UC in my Cap’s #8 jersey I would be greeted with boos, trash talk, looks, anything at all. When #8 himself got kicked out, I was ready for even more.

I was down in the 100-level (elitist!), right in the corner where the Ovechkin hit took place, and trust me — I heard about it. And I also got abused in line for the men’s room, although in a mostly light-hearted way (I’ve seen FAR worse at the VC). I did enjoy the comeback more for it, though, because there were dudes in front of me who taunted every Hawks goal, but got real quiet once the Caps started scoring.

Verizon Center is loud.

Yes, yes it is. MUCH louder, in my opinion. Maybe it’s because it’s smaller. That said, there is still an “aura” to the United Center. I guess it’s really the house that Michael Jordan built, but you could feel the ice history as well, looking up at the rafters at Cup banners and numbers like Bobby Hull’s #9. A small story:

They have beer vendors who go up and down the aisle (including during play, the propriety of which is up for debate). During one of the intermissions, my wife ordered two and went down to pay. The beer man said to my wife with a chuckle, “I see — he buys the tickets, you buy the beer.” She laughed and told him, “Well, yeah, this is special for me. I grew up here in Chicago, but I never made it to this arena. Even though I’m a Caps fan now, it’s a privilege to be here.” She then handed him a five dollar bill as a tip for what was less than $14 in beer. The vendor, who had given her a buck in change, gave her the five back and took the dollar. He said, “We don’t take that kind of money in this house. It’s a privilege for us. Enjoy the game.” And he continued on his way.

Two last random thoughts (which I also posted in the game thread at the time):

1) They continue serving beer on the concourse-level bars well after the game, which is all kinds of awesome.
2) Their ice girls are ridiculously hot.

Great great post. Seeing a game an opposing teams stadium is usually a pretty good experience, and always “interesting” at least in one way or another. And that is a funny story about Stecks, I just hope for his sake he has an excuse like his parents have more money than his friends or something.

In other news, I know I’m not sleeping enough because when I initially read this line:

There was nothing remotely comparable to Horn Guy, Goat, etc,

I read it as “There’s nothing remotely comparable to Horny Goat Guy.” I was wondering who this gentleman/lady was, and how on earth I’d never seen/heard of him him/her at any of my prior trips to the phone booth.