I thought the Bears had this in the bag; well, I guess nobody can tank better than them, but there is the possibility of another Chicago sports team tanking just as good as them. Yes, the Blackhawks have entered in the race for title of The Tank Masters in Chicago sports 2023. They followed up on the guys they already traded, including Blackhawks legend Patrick Kane, with a few more moves, including trading Max Domi, before the game at the UC on Thursday night. The tank has shifted into high gear; the results were predictable on the ice.
It was the annual birthday gift game, as my brother and I went with our dad to the game. I wondered how many of these guys I would know; the answer was not too many. I tried to learn the roster early on in the season, but haven’t really watched a whole heck of a lot of Blackhawks hockey this year. As I’ve explained earlier, the year in Chicago sports has been wearing me down; I already watched the Bears knowing they wanted to lose every game… at least I wasn’t letting myself get pissed after every loss. Now, the Blackhawks are doing the same; so I’m supposed to tune in to root for my team that WANTS to lose? It’s tough, but… if the Hawks end up with the #1 pick, I guess it will all be worth it.
The game didn’t start off like a total joke. In the matchup of last and first place teams in the conference, the Blackhawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead. Yes, we got to sing the song; always want at least a couple goals when you head to the UC to watch the Hawks. The Stars tied it soon after, and then took the lead before the end of the period; now it begins. But wait, the Blackhawks scored again early in the 2nd period; we missed it because we were in the new Fanduel sportsbook inside the UC watching the Illinois vs Michigan 2OT ending. That place is like a little slice of Vegas I tell you. We got back to the game a bit later in the 2nd. We didn’t head back to our seats in the 300 level, but instead moseyed on into the 100 level, and found some seats behind the goal the Hawks were shooting at; as my brother said, it was the Blue Cross Blue Shield seat upgrade. Yeah, it’s a little easier to do that in a hockey game vs a basketball game, since they stop everyone from returning to their seats when the action is going on; we just walk in with the crowd. We had seen there were a good number of empty seats, and found some without issue.
That goal in the 2nd period would be the only goal of the period between both teams; 2-2 heading to the 3rd. It was then that the Hawks executed their game plan to a tee; they absolutely stunk up the joint in the 3rd. Maybe it was a combination of that and the Stars kicking it up a notch; 5-2 was the final… that did include 2 empty netters, so it wasn’t as bad as it seemed, sort of. The Hawks really had no sustained offense the entire period; they had a couple chances, but nada. Hawks lose and I guess everybody should have been happy about it.
I get it. If Bedard is everything he’s supposed to be, imagining him in a Hawks uni could be our quickest route back to glory. We were reminded of our recent glories when they did a quick thank you to Kane on the jumbotron, who was making his debut for the Rangers in New York the same night. Yes, although Kane is gone, the banners he helped bring us still hang in the rafters; the memories of those years will remain etched in our hearts and brains. Not a whole heck of a lot to complain about if you really take a step back. Now we patiently wait for the next run, assuming there will be one. It’s always nice to go to a game; I was happy to watch most of the game from start to finish. I’ll try to tune in a bit more than I have the rest of the season, but no promises… Good luck with the tank boys.
Leave a Reply