Black Hand Productions

Last night Julie and I went to Wrigley Field for the BP Crosstown Classic between the White Sox and the Cubs.  The Blackhawks were on hand with the Stanley Cup.

Side Note:

* As low scoring baseball goes the game was interesting to watch since both pitchers had ‘no-hitters‘ going for quite a while.  The Cubs ended up winning 1-0.

** We got rooftop tickets via youswoop.com and went to the Down the Line rooftop.  I was not impressed at all.  There was little information on their website (when do doors open, where’s the entrance, etc.) and the way the whole thing was run was shady.  On the main deck they had three couches setup and then tables and chairs behind them.  If you weren’t one of the first 3 people up you didn’t get a couch (I was fourth) and when you sat at the tables people just stood in front of you.  We ended up moving down stairs and watched from the window and the TV.  I think they might have just started business this season but compared to the Skybox on Sheffield this place was a joke.

Last night the neighborhood was pretty loud as the people went to the streets after the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.

Parade is on Friday.

This past Sunday Julie and I went to Game Five of the Stanley Cup Final.  As much as I’d like to see the Stanley Cup won in Chicago it felt like the odds were against the Hawks going into this game.  After dropping games three and four to the Flyers everyone had assumed the series would end in Game Six.  Now if that holds true the Blackhawks will have their first Cup in 49 years. As all the Chicago games have been in this series it was intense and the Hawks started off quickly getting their first PowerPlay goal in about three months.

Side Note:

* The rest of my photographs are up on Flickr.

On Friday Julie and I went to game one of the Stanley Cup Final between the Blackhawks and the Flyers.  This is our third trip to the Finals in three years (much like Marian Hossa), we were at games one & two in 2008 and game one in 2009; all in Detroit.  Thankfully we had a different outcome this time around with the Hawks pulling out a 6-5 win.  The United Center was probably as loud as I’ve ever heard it in the past two years.

Julie’s got some great pictures over at chicagometsfan.com, including shots of a couple of the Hawks goals.

The Blackhawks completed the sweep of the Sharks last night at the United Center.  Once again the Hawks came from behind and now we’re headed to the Stanley Cup Final.  We got to see the Campbell Trophy awarded and the handshake line.  Jonathan Toews, much like Crosby two years ago, did not touch the Conference Championship trophy.

Side Note:
*The rest of my photographs from Game 4 are on Flickr here.
**Once the on ice celebration began Patrick Kane began circling the rink waving his stick looking for some one toss it to:

On to the Stanley Cup Final.

Last night Julie and I went to Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals at the United Center.  The Blackhawks won 3-2 in Overtime to take a 3-0 lead in the series.  This game was much closer than the two in San Jose but once again the discrepancy in penalties was unreal.  I think the Sharks were on 6 Power Plays and maybe the Hawks had 1.  Either way the Hawks managed to pull out a home win and are one game away from the Stanley Cup Final.

Side Note:
* If you check the photograph above closely the two guys in jerseys on the glass farthest to the left are Kevin James and Vince Vaughn. During the Kiss Cam Vaughn slipped some tongue to James.
** The rest of the photographs are on Flickr here.

This afternoon Julie and I headed down to the United Center for the Blackhawks – Red Wings game. It didn’t go well. The Hawks were more or less ran out of the building.

*Side Note:
Honestly, what is it with people from Detroit drinking beer with straws? If some one could possibly explain to me the benefit of using a straw I would greatly appreciate it. At this point I can only assume if you have an open beer in the city limits of Detroit some Detroitonian will spit into your glass as a sign of respect.

The Blackhawks have circled the wagons.  Last night the hawks won 4-3 in OT at the United Center to put the series 2-1.  The game started as with the hawks going up 3-0 rather quick but then Detroit simply turned it on.  There were a good number of Wings fans in the stands but much less than I would have expected.

The photographs above are of the OT goal by Patrick Sharp.
 

The Hawks did pay a price for the win.  Martin Havlat was leveled by Niklas Kronwall late in the 1st period and will be out for game 4.  Nikolai Khabibulin also didn’t finish the game and word is he’ll also be out.

Those are two big losses but worth the win.

*Side Note:
All of my Blackhawk playoff photographs are here.

Last night was game 4 of the Blackhawks – Canucks series and my second OT game of the Playoffs.  The Hawks were able to tie up the game in the final minutes and then won on an Andrew Ladd deflection in OT.  The top photograph is from the game winner.

* Site Note:

The rest of my photographs from the game are on Flickr.

Tonight we went to the Untied Center for game 3 of the Blackhawks – Canucks series.  The Canucks won 3-1 in a rather lackluster showing by the Hawks.  I did manage to get some good photos of the game.  This is the second time I’ve used my new Nikon D40 at a Hawks’ game.

All of my Blackhawks Playoff photographs can be found here on Flickr.