I did something this week that I’ve wanted to do for years now.

I went to my first hockey game. My friend Christine found Blackhawks tickets for $30 somehow and we went on Tuesday night. I had to miss Lost, so that should tell you how important this was to me. I’ve only been a fan of the Blackhawks for about a year now, but I really enjoy hockey and going to a game has been on my Chicago bucket list for a while.

This is what it looked like when we first walked in. The United Center is pretty big but not overwhelming like I thought. I was able to keep track of the puck the entire time, so it’s not like you’re squinting to see what’s going on. We sat in the third tier behind the Blackhawks goal for two periods, so the seats were pretty decent (especially at that price).

It was Tony Esposito Heritage Night when we went on Tuesday. He got to come out with his granddaughters and drop the puck.

Before coming to the game, my friend Ryan told me to make sure that I was there in time for the national anthem. He never told me why, but it’s because it’s a tradition for Blackhawks fans to cheer loudly throughout the national anthem. I thought it was funny, though I could see some people finding it offensive. Meh, don’t go to a Blackhawks game then.

The Blackhawks played the Dallas Stars who scored 3 goals but didn’t really dominate offensively. The Blackhawks had control of the puck most of the time, so that was fun to watch and anticipate goals (the goal anthem is this song by the Fratellis…basically you just scream ‘put it in’ and dance around a bit when they score).

Blackhawks and Stars tied, went into overtime and ended in a shootout. It took four tries, but the Hawks won!

I really had a great time. I love sporting events but this was just so much fun. We had some jerks in our section who were a little too drunk, I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I had had more to drink… alas, it was a weeknight. Ticket prices look to be really high for the rest of this year so I probably won’t be going back anytime soon, but I plan to go to another Blackhawks game next season.