By: Ryah Olson
With 32 percent more tickets sold now than last season, The Chicago Blackhawks are ready to compete for the Stanley Cup once again. Starting the season off with a win, the Blackhawks defeated the Dallas Stars 3-2 to a shoot-out on October 9th.
The 2013 Stanley Cup Champions are currently 4th in the Central Division and have defeating the Dallas Stars, Buffalo Sabers, Nashville Predators, Philadelphia Flyers, the Ottawa Senators (twice) and the Montreal Canadians. For the first five games of the season, The Blackhawks were undefeated, but the streak was shattered by a loss to the Nashville Predators on October 23rd, 2014. It’s too early to tell whether our beloved Hawks will bring home the Stanley Cup once again, but there’s no reason to not cross your fingers and hope for the best.
But really, what good is a team without the players? I’m sure you all have your favorites like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, or Brent Seabrook. Some people praise number 81, Marian Hossa. He has had a total of 13 games, 2 goals, 3 assists, and has a total of 5 points. Now I know that he’s no “Captain Serious” (Toews) and he doesn’t have Kris Versteeg’s shooting percentage (14.30%), and he definitely hasn’t had as many goals as Patrick Sharp (56), but when you really watch him play the game, he hustles and he goes for that puck like his life depends on it. In my eyes, he’s the king of the ice.
We all know that the players are important, but who doesn’t love a good mascot? That’s right everybody, I’m talking about good-old Tommy Hawk. This fun loving bird is what gets families going when it comes to cheering on the team. Tommy Hawk even has his own fan club called “Tommy Hawk Kids Club”. As long as you’re 14 years old or younger, you can have access to exclusive events, a birthday card from Tommy, a Tommy Hawk gift bag, e-mail updates about events, and so much more for just $25! He even makes surprise appearances and school appearances! Now that’s a mascot.
Now we may seem like an ordinary NHL team, but we are so much more than that. We don’t cheer after the “National Anthem”, we cheer during the “National Anthem”. We don’t just cheer after a goal, we sound off the sirens. We don’t just move along after some opponent thinks he’s “all-that”, we throw the gloves off and we win. We aren’t just a regular NHL hockey team. We are much more than that. We are the Chicago Blackhawks!