United Center

CHICAGO, IL -- The United Center. Home of the Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago Bulls, the United Center was built to replace the Chicago Stadium in 1994. With a sellout capacity of more than 22,000 for hockey, it is the largest hockey stadium in the world, and for the past five years the Blackhawks have led the NHL in attendance annually. For the past decade, it has been my home-away-from-home, as we have had season tickets for the Blackhawks. In High School and even UW days, it was not unusual to make it to 20-30 games per season (out of 41 regular season home games). In more recent years, however, my ability to get to home games has been much tougher, living in London and then for the past year, living out in California. This season specifically, my last trip home was for Thanksgiving in November, and during that time the Hawks were ironically playing in LA and Anaheim, among other western cities. Being particularly busy with work recently, this meant I would have the chance to make it to just one home game this year, and that took place on Wednesday night (2/29) at the UC.

February 29, 2012 - Opening faceoff at the United Center. See any empty seats? Didn't think so!

Last weekend, if you look at my previous blog post you notice the Hawks lost both of those games, in LA and Anaheim. They also lost a game before that, so they were on a three-game losing streak in the stretch run here before the playoffs start. In addition, after Wednesday night's game they embarked on a three-game road trip, essentially rending the game a must-win for the Hawks. Against an original six rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the game did not disappoint. Just 59 seconds into the game the Leafs skated out to a 1-0 lead. A few minutes later the Hawks tied it 1-1, but shortly after that the Leafs scored twice more to take the 3-1 lead, despite the Hawks having the better of the play. We stuck with it, and sure enough, with just 30 seconds remaining in the period we scored to make it a 3-2 one goal game at the end of the 1st period. In the second period, the Hawks scored twice to take their own 4-3 lead, and wound up winning the game 5-4 in an electric atmosphere. It was just what the doctor ordered, and the Hawks jumped from the 7th to the 6th seed in the Western Conference.

February 29, 2012 - Hawks win! After the victory, the players salute the UC fans by raising their sticks at Center Ice.

However, despite my excitement at attending a home game and one that the Hawks actually won, I promised a blog comparing the fan experience to that at the Staples Center and Honda Center. As such, I will say that relatively speaking the Staples Center is a better comparison. That said, the United Center is bigger and louder. The food selection is not that special, but it is not bad either. There is no marble in the concourse, but with Chicago winters, that wouldn't be the best idea anyway. The in-game entertainment is not as good as at the Staples Center, but better than Honda Center. Ticket prices are widely varied. They are as cheap as at Honda Center for the worst seats, but more expensive and comparable to the Staples Center for the top-end tickets. The scoreboard is new as of a few seasons ago, and is just slightly below the Staples Center standard. Parking here is expensive - $27 for the lots next to the stadium ($20 in LA and $15 in Anaheim to compare). Additionally, the location is terrible. There are no easily accessible interstates, and the neighborhood is one of the less desirable places in Chicago. That said, the best part of coming to a Hawks game is the fans - we are passionate beyond anything seen in LA, Anaheim, or almost any other city in the NHL really. I said above that it gets loud in the United Center, and it stays that way for hours on end because it is full - all of the games are sellouts. The stadium is rocking, something that the others cannot say. At the end of the day, I give the United Center a B+ grade. The only reason the stadium isn't higher is because the in-game entertainment could be better, and the location is a real sour point. There is, however, a reason why all hockey fans know they must make a trip to the United Center at some point in their lives, and the above is a sampling of the reasons why they do.