Michel: As a half-Canadian, I have long felt that I should probably follow hockey more than I do. As such, I was super excited to go to my first NHL game. My previous experience with live hockey involved singing musical theatre for a crowd of about 17 at a Monday night Houston Aeros game when I was in high school.
Elizabeth: And as I work with an office full of hockey-obsessed Chicagoans, I was excited to finally be able to give the correct answer to the question, "Did you see the Hawks last night?????"
Deedle dee dooo, deedle eet deet doo
Deedle dee dooo, deedle eet deet deet deet
Bum, badda, badadada, badadat dat dat dat daaaa DAH DUH!
The FINAL COUNTDOWN!
1. Don't get up or leave your seat during play.
2. Don't yell at the players to "Shooooot tha puuuuuck!!!"
3. Drink beer and have fun.
Michel: Because the Blackhawks had already made the playoffs, this game did not, strictly speaking, count for much. However, that was not reflected by the excitement of the crowd, which was on the same level as a UT football game.
Elizabeth: The crowd was really intense and seemed to understand everything that was going on, including what the refs and players alike were doing wrong, which was helpful for me in following the game play.
Michel: It also helped in knowing when to make crowd noises.
Elizabeth: I found that a general AaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaHHH! seemed to work in most cases.
Michel: That's also how you order in restaurants.
Elizabeth: Well, you know, I like to get my point across.
Elizabeth: Game play was fast, furious, and shockingly lacking in the Flying V, which we all know is integral to winning any hockey game according to The Mighty Ducks. It also looked like the hockey version of one of my brother's PeeWee League baseball games. Morale was a bit low at the second intermission with the Minnesota Wild playing particularly well, but none other than Elwood Blues himself made an appearance to support the Hawks.
Michel: I suspect that they were saving most of their juice for the playoffs. Which, spoiler alert, seems to have paid off.
Elizabeth: And then! When all hope seemed to be lost, the Hawks scored!!!!!!!!!!! Na na NA NA na na Na na Na-ah-ah na! (That's the Hawks' scoring song, in case you couldn't tell.)
Michel: Unfortunately, the Hawks were unable to pull off their strategy of scoring more goals than the Minnesota Wild. The final score was 2-1, Minnesota.
:-(
Michel: But then a month and a half later, the Hawks won the Stanley Cup. So it all worked out.
Even though we lost, the Blackhawks game was super fun. Here's hoping for another great season!
