When the NHL lockout ended, the excitement for a NHL season was at an all time high in Chicago. A group of Blackhawks fans decided that this would be the perfect year to make a trip to Detroit.
Little did they know, the Blackhawks would have a 27-game point streak, 21-game point streak to start a season and 8-game winning streak. With much at stake the stage was set for an epic game in a hostel environment.
The Chicago crew running nine deep, included Dan “High Sticking” Hyland, Brian “Not Campbell” Noetzel, Parker “Goon” Cleveland, Bob “Probert” Noetzel, Anthony “Tony O Chicago” Oral, Matt “Blackhawk” Brice, Mike “Ragin'” Regan, Danny “The Fanny” Schultz and Kyle “Cornelison” Cornwell. They thought they were ready for whatever Detroit could throw at them, but they were mistaken.
The group left Chicago with three cars, riding down I-94 in a Blackhawks convoy. As they arrived at their hotel in Detroit, they noticed Blackhawks gear was frowned upon. So the Blackhawks fans decided to break out their gear, which was 15 hockey sweaters, three Native American head dresses, two flags and a goal horn.
All decked out in Hawks paraphernalia, the fans went out on the town. They went to two bars, the first was Grand Trunk Pub an old fashioned, laid back place. Chicago people were welcomed with a friendly greeting.
The second bar, The Old Shillelagh presents itself as an Irish pub but it’s actually more of a broken down old frat house with a bunch of shady people. Blackhawks fans were not appreciated there. Everyone gave the large Chicago group dirty looks, so the Blackhawks fans began to embrace the hatred. A couple yelling matches broke out and many “Blackhawks sucks” comments but nothing too bad.
The Hawks fans headed back to the hotel expecting the Blackhawks hatred to stop. When drunk Red Wings fans at a bachelor party across the hall started banging on their door and yelling Red Wings chants. The hallway filled with 20 Hawks and Wings fans with the great possibility of a fight when the unexpected happened.
Two drunk bald guys from each group just started drinking and dancing without shirts and the rivalry was over. The drunken, idiotic antics created enough comedic relief to simmer any conflicts. The two parties combined and all was well for rest of the night.
The next morning some of the Chicago crew were not quite ready for the 12:30 afternoon game. So the rest of the group just pre-gamed by awkwardly standing over them, questioning if the hungover hooligans would ever wake up. Leaving two of their comrades behind, the depleted Chicago crew headed to Joe Louis Area for the NHL’s game of the week Chicago Blackhawks vs. Detroit Red Wings.
When the group arrived to the area, they mostly thought is was a cool old time hockey stadium. There is no sky boxes in the lower bowl so fans in the cheap seats are actually closer. There is talk of a new stadium for the Red Wings although Detroit fans like it how it is.
While inside Joe Louis Arena, the Blackhawks fans got a little bit of negative chatter from Detroit fans. Most appreciated the Blackhawks gear but still said “Chicago sucks.” As the Chicago crew stood in the concourse waiting for its two late comrades, they received more and more positive comments about their apparel.
We became minor celebrities at the game, at least 15 people asked to take pictures with us, Blackhawks fans and Red Wings fans. NHL.com, Blackhawks.com and RedWings.com all featured the photo of the feathered fans.
Surprisingly it was a good showing by Blackhawks fans with probably 2,000 fans almost 10 percent. When the fans chanted “Let’s Go Red Wings,” it sounded like”Let’s Go Black Wings.”
When the game started all the fans were pretty intense.
It was Marian Hossa’s 1,000 game, the former Red Wing was booed every time he had the puck. The Red Wings announced Hossa’s milestone over the PA, fans had a mixed reaction. All the players tapped their sticks out of respect.
The first two periods were scoreless, it created a tense atmosphere. Everyone was on pins and needles, ready to erupt. With 17 minutes left in the third, the Red Wings scored the first goal.
The time started to trickle away and the Chicago crew was devastated with the thought of being at the Blackhawks first lose. With two minutes left it was thought to be lost, when Patrick Kane scored a game-tying goal that put Chicago fans in a frenzy. The entire group was jumping, screaming, dancing, high-fiving and taunting.
The Red Wing fans started throwing pretzels at the Chicago crew, which was fine. The Chicago crew had done the same to other fans at Chicago stadiums, nobody can get hurt with pretzels.
The Blackhawks got it to overtime and the Detroit crowd was distraught. No matter what happened in the shootout it was fine, because the Hawks continued their point streak to 28 games and extended their record point streak to start a season. However everything was going right for the Hawks and they won in a shootout.
Corey Crawford had an impeccable game with some clutch saves. Crawford was the player of the game but Kane was a close second. Kane scored the game-tying goal and the game-winning goal.
Red Wing fans were tough losers, they weren’t taking much crap. As usual there were nice fans and fans from the jerk store. One old Red Wings came up to the group and told them to “f*ck off and go back to Chicago.”
Three Wings fans saw three of the Chicago crew and jokingly said “we have to fight, since it’s 3-on-3.” Somehow a snowball fight started. Cornwell picked a snow boulder in a failed attempt to finish off the Red Wings fans, they just ran away.
The Chicago crew was not expecting snowball fights with Red Wings fans and did not think two bald dancing drunks could settle the feud. Even though it was an interesting and successful trip, Detroit is a weird place.