So I'm not sure whose brilliant idea it was to leave in the middle of the night or awhile before midnight and drive there as the sun rose but it ended up backfiring on us a wee bit. I can't remember the exact timeframe but the trip was supposed to be about eight hours with stops here and there for food and fuel but the road wore on us. Since the vehicle we were driving in was Gary and his brothers parents Toyota Rav-4 they were the only ones allowed to drive it, which is totally understandable but neither of them were ready to drive four hours apiece. So along the way, a bit over half way, we rented a hotel room with two beds to crash in and recoup. Pretty much we ended up spending like $40 bucks a head to sleep in this room for about six hours hahaha. Did I mention it was cold? I thought outside Detroit in Ann Arbor was cold but wow this had the windchill and flurries attacking us that made it just as bad! But we prevailed on and eventually got to Chicago.
Gary ended up booking us a place on Hotwire I believe, where you get the best rate at a random hotel that meets your criteria without knowing what hotel it is before you pay. We were pretty fortunate to get into a Hyatt connected to the convention center and within walking distance of the stadium. Granted it was a little bit of a hike but we bought so much penguins gear at work and were layered up that we were totally up to the task.
Backtrack a little to our first day there though where we went to check out a couple things and enjoy ourselves before gameday came the next day. First off we had to check out the Bean! I knew so little about Chicago before going that I didn't even know what we should be trying to see when it came to sights and what not but this thing was quite intriguing. What a cool piece of art that you could interact with. We got some pictures there and then decided to head off to a pub to grab some grub and get the drinking going heading into the evening. I think it was Rudy's Bar and Grill we stopped into since it was so close to Millennium park but I could be wrong. It wasn't anything too out of the ordinary with myself ordering a buffalo chicken sandwich. Sadly though whatever Gary ended up ordering didn't agree with him and he decided to spend the rest of the night in and prepare for the big day coming up tomorrow. After going back to the hotel with him, Kevin (Gary's younger brother) Chris and I went out for a night on the town! Now Kevin was kind of leading us to a place I believe some of his friends were at so Chris and I just followed to at least start our night there. Well the bar we got to happened to have a deal going where you pay $20 or $30 and you can drink whatever you want till midnight. It was on.
Chris and I ponied up for some wristbands and started going hard to get our moneys worth haha Midnight came around and we hadn't left or even thought about stopping. We didn't interact a ton with randoms at the bar except a girl and her group of people we talked to for awhile, she happened to be from Ireland I think so that was entertaining for awhile and then we ended up moving to the end of the bar by the bouncer so I pretty much talked to him the whole time and heard his life story. At this point I was probably just talking non stop and he had to put up with it haha
One am came around and I'll tell ya, we were pretty darn lit. Somehow I was in contact with another buddy from Pittsburgh that Chris and I play hockey with that happened to be in Chicago for the game too and we decided to try and track him down. So we hail a cab and tell him some bar that our buddy Jimmy McKenzie is apparently at. Well we end up in some dark part of town and hop out of the cab to find no place fitting the description of where Jimmy is apparently at haha this would happen. I try and call him and figure things out while Chris is in dire need of a restroom and theres two buildings with lights on our block that are actually on. Stumbling into a shady convenience store Chris starts begging the guy behind the counter to use their restroom that doesn't happen to be a public restroom while I pace back and forth on the phone with Jimmy. We end up walking out and trying to decide what to do from here. It was getting late so we decided to head back but our bladders needed emptied before we embarked on that trip and no hope was in sight.... Chris saw a dumpster close to the end of the ally by our street and decided to take the plunge and relieve himself while I called Jimmy back up to tell him meeting up was a no go. Across the street there was some construction work going on so they had the sidewalk covered with a tarp roof or ceiling and then it wrapped down to the street to create a wall about four feet tall and windows to see out to the street while walking on the sidewalk. Well I started walking through this tunnel if you will while on the phone and had the brilliant idea of relieving myself there in this tunnel of sorts hahaha. No. I did not stop walking, that wouldn't sell the bit and I'd look suspicious. When I told my mother about this a year or so later she told me I'm just like my father because thats something he would do hahaha It wasn't a easy task while on the phone intoxicated but hey I didn't get arrested so I call it a win!!!
We get back to the hotel after a short cab drive and Chris walks in the door, mumbles to Gary whose still awake watching movies and literally falls face forward onto his side of the bed and immediately passes out with all of his clothes on and even his shoes haha! I'm pretty blitzed still and apparently tell Gary the whole story of what we did that night two times in a row. Eventually Kevin stumbled in and cuts me off, thank god since I'm sure I was annoying as heck.
The next day starts off slow. Hydration was the key word and boy did I come prepared. I had two things of coconut water, two vitamin waters, a sierra mist for my stomach if I needed it and a rockstar recovery energy drink, as well as powdered Biosteel... which is pretty much healthier gatorade. Even then my hangover was real and everyones else just as much. We opted to lay around and gather ourselves as well as order an authentic Chicago style deep dish pizza to get a little taste of the town and hopefully cure our hangovers. Something I probably left out in my New York post was I tried their thin crust pizza while I was there and fell in love. To this day I order the thinnest crust I can because it reminds me of that great pizza I had on Long Island. Wellllll Chicago was quite the opposite in their approach to the style of making it. We decided to get a large or XL since there was four of us and we didn't even finish that. This sucker was the biggest slab of a pizza I ever did see. It was like eating a cake. We ended up getting half pepperoni and half meat lovers and I don't think I finished two pieces. Now I attribute a lot of that to my hangover but wow was this a monster to behold!! I was pretty good though!
A few hours later we started layering up to walk about 20min to the stadium and dive into the main event. Since three of us worked at the same hockey store and got discounts, like the shmucks we are; we bought penguins colored hats and scarves even to wear to this and boy did we look... interesting...
Grabbed a few roadies and shoved off drinking along the way through the city to Soldier Field. At this point the snow was coming down in a nice flurry that luckily wasn't too windy. It set the scene for walking to the stadium and seeing the whole sky lit up and the snow reflecting from the stadiums lights with this inviting aura. Head towards the light. As well funneled closer to the stadium we were joining the masses of people walking there as well and it was a fun time just taking it all in and seeing the numbers of people in assorted jerseys, a lot of which happened to be Pittsburgh Penguins ones. Although the majority was surely Blackhawks. We arrived at the stadium and started taking in the antics around it with bands playing and people selling this and that and grabbed another beer before the prices skyrocketed once entering the stadium. At this point I was still having some trouble shaking off my hangover from the night before and sipping my beers at first but getting progressively better at putting them away.
A bit before the game was to start we decided to head in together and navigate to our seats with time to hit up concessions and room for error. Gary and Kevin were much more close to the rink/field than Chris and I but we happened to be on the same side and only two sections down/up apart. Chris and I, being so high up happened to be just under the shelter of a slight roof that came out of the back wall probably thirty feet and it helped us not get pelted by snow as much as those infant of us. This is where it hits me, every time. You sit down and you look around at the magnitude and the atmosphere and it hits you how amazing the situation is. The snow was coming as a constant rate in flurries that set the scene, the wind was harsh at times but you started to not even notice it and the show started to begin.
With the teams marching out side by side to the national anthem playing while fireworks shot from the tops of the stadium. The tone was set and everyone was incredibly excited for it to get underway. Now I don't know if you remember watching this game but the Penguins just did not come to play. They looked terrible, they weren't hustling and maybe were trying to get too fancy while the conditions of the ice hindered them. In this environment the ice conditions didn't give anyone a chance to be fancy and try and pull off risky plays from the snow adding a level of friction that they clearly weren't used to. The Blackhawks on the other hand either adjusted to the elements or went into it knowing it was going to be a straight forward kind of game or just pushing the puck forward and driving to the net because they capitalized, a lot.
The ending score came to be 1-5 in the favor of the Blackhawks while Pittsburgh's James Neal was the only one to find twine and keep it from being a shutout. I think because of the outcome of the game it was that atmosphere and sense of adventure that stuck out so much more to me than the actual game itself since it was riddled with broken plays and a lack of effort and adjustment by the Penguins. Didn't help their jerseys were kind of stupid looking too haha.
Luckily this trip home was uneventful but Chris and I surely want to go back to the Windy City and see a game indoors as well as spend a bit more time taking in the town itself, theres always next year.
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