Demise of the Paper Ticket: Hockey

The last in my ticket posts covers hockey.  My venue visits are limited to Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit and South Florida. It pains me to write about the Blackhawks – the disappointments of recent days are beyond sad – but my memories go back to before the 1961 Original Six Stanley Cup, so here’s a rundown. 

NOTE: Most of my out-of-town tickets from 1994 to 2007, except where noted, were arranged by my college roommate Nate Greenberg, who spent 34 years in the Boston Bruins front office. During that time period, the Bill Wirtz/Bob Pulford regime comped my tickets maybe twice (during years the teams played more than once at home), only after Nate told them I had to take out a second mortgage to pay for seats directly behind the bench. 

 Chicago Black Hawks vs. Philadelphia Flyers,  February 3, 1968.  Unfortunately, I don't have the ticket stub for the first season the NHL went from the Original Six to the second six, all expansion teams placed in a separate division. Because of traffic backups on the north side of The Spectrum, we missed the first goal of the game, the Flyers at 1:09. The eventual West Division champions defeated the Black Hawks (they became the Blackhawks for the 1985 -1986 season), 5-3. After completing the 1954 - 1955 season with the Black Hawks, Larry Zeidel returned to the NHL in 1967 at age 39. The Jewish forward from Quebec was taunted with anti-Semitic slurs during his tenure; a friend heard the tape of an interview Zeidel gave with the Anti-Defamation League naming at least two Boston Bruins (I'm not posting their names; both have passed away).

Montreal Canadiens vs. Chicago Black Hawks, January 1, 1959. In one of my earliest, if not the earliest, hockey games, the Black Hawks tied the Canadiens, 2-2, on New Year's Day. The Hawks finished 3rd in a 6-team league and lost to the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

Boston Bruins vs. Chicago Black Hawks, December 18, 1983. The night had double significance: I caught up with college roommate Nate Greenberg after being out of touch for ten years, and Bobby Hull's number was retired. The Hawks lost 5-1. Before the game Nate (Bruins public relations director) and I were walking in the concourse when he spotted Hawks General Manager Bob Pulford approaching us. Nate declared, “Watch this. I’m going to yank Pulford’s chain.” Nate said, “Hey Pully, how come you’re retiring is number after all of the trouble he gave you?” In typically Pully fashion, he mumbled something unintelligible, while looking down to the floor, and kept walking. Two years ago, I told Hull the story; he loved it.

 

Boston Bruins vs. Chicago Blackhawks, February 27, 1994. This was my last game at Chicago Stadium and first appearance on a hockey telecast. The Bruins shutout the Hawks, 4-0. Nate had sent the tickets to Chicago with the broadcast producer; upon picking them up at The Westin, he told me I would be on television the next day. With my seats' location in hand, Nate told him to put on TV, which he did after a stoppage of play leading into a commercial. 

Calgary Flames vs. Chicago Blackhawks, November 12, 2004. In a season that would find the Blackhawks tied for the second lowest point total in the NHL (59), the Flames beat the Hawks 6-2, as goalie Michael Leighton allowed 5 goals. He would later let in Patrick Kane's goal that won the 2010 Stanley Cup. Rookie Matthew Lombardi, in his 14th NHL game, had a hat trick. The game drew an announced crowd of 11,988 but there were probably about 7,500 in the house. The only seats taken in our long row behind the goal were the two on each end.

 

San Jose Sharks vs. Chicago Blackhawks, May 23, 2010. The Blackhawks advanced to the Stanley Cup finals by defeating the Sharks, 4-2, to sweep the Western Conference championship, 4 games to 0. Attendance was 22,224.  I paid "only" $80 on a winning eBay auction. The last time I had stood for a game was after paying $5 to get in a back door of the Boston Garden on Jan. 17, 1970, to see the Hawks (B. Hull, Mikita, Tony O.) battle the Bruins (Phil Espo, Orr, Bucyk).

 

Los Angeles Kings vs. Chicago Blackhawks, June 2, 2013. The Blackhawks drove Jonathan Quick from the nets with 4 goals on 17 shots in the first 30 minutes on the way to a 4-2 victory in Game 2 of the Western Conference final. Attendance was 21,824. The $101.25 ticket in our seats in Section 328 was $48 during the regular season. NOTE: Our group wisely gave up our season tickets for this season. By the time the Hawks met the Bruins in the Stanley Cup finals, my friend Nate Greenberg (see 1983 entry) had finished his 34-year career with the Bruins, and I couldn’t ask him for tickets.

 

Anaheim Ducks vs. Chicago Blackhawks, April 21, 2015. After playing in the longest game in team history in Anaheim two nights before, the Blackhawks lost Game 3 to the Ducks, 2-1, as the team failed to score on all of its power-plays, including a 4-minute penalty in the 1st period. Attendance was 22,160. The Hawks would go on to win the series in 7 games on the way to defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning for their third Stanley Cup championship in six seasons.

New York Rangers vs. Chicago Blackhawks, February 19, 2020. My last paper ticket and game before the pandemic locked down the NHL for five months. Tied 1-1 after two periods, the Rangers poured in 5 goals in 11 minutes to defeat the Hawks, 6-3, before 21,572 fans. I have not been back since and don't plan to for the foreseeable future.

 

Chicago Blackhawks vs. Detroit Red Wings, December 8, 1992. I attended my first hockey game in Detroit during a business trip to the Motor City. Tickets were graciously provided by client Valassis Communications, who we were not visiting that day.  The Blackhawks defeated the Red Wings, 3-2. The Joe Louis Arena was a great place to watch hockey, as seating was on one level with great sight lines. A wide aisle halfway up was used for standing room; the area was so popular ushers checked tickets to keep out interlopers. I also attended a Bruins - Red Wings at the Joe in 1995 as part of another business trip.

 

Boston Bruins vs. Florida Panthers, December 19, 1993.  We were fortunate the Bruins were in town during our annual holiday visit for first season if the Florida Panthers. Both the Heat and Panthers played at the downtown Miami Arena. The Bruins defeated the Panthers, 2-1, on an overtime goal by Joe Juneau. Except for a mix-up noted below, the Panthers always comped our tickets until his contact at the team retired in 1999.

 

Montreal Canadiens vs. Florida Panthers, December 29, 1996. A mix-up in the Panthers' ticket office ended up with us purchasing tickets partway up the upper level (tickets were usually comped thanks to Nate Greenberg’s friendship with Panthers’ management). Oddly, we ended up sitting next to Ralph Mellanby, the former producer of "Hockey Night in Canada" and the father of Cats' captain Scott Mellanby. We found out when he said, 'That's my son" after Scott scored the Panthers' only goal. I don't know why he didn't have a better seat. The Canadiens won, 2-1, on two goals by Vincent Damphousse. Montreal had only 17 shots on goal during the game. The Panthers moved out of the Miami Arena after that season; we were fortunate to attend a game during the Year of the Rat (1995 - 1996). The arena was demolished in 2008.

 

Chicago Blackhawks vs. Florida Panthers, March 8, 2011. Dale Tallon (pictured on the ticket) spent 33 years with the Blackhawks as a player, announcer and front-office executive.  He joined the Panthers that season as general manager.  The call-out was prophetic, as the Panthers led 3-0 after one period (chasing Corey Crawford from the nets) and went on to win 3-2. I attended a Red Wings – Panthers game with our daughter the month before, where two-thirds of the crowd were wearing Detroit apparel.

 

Los Angeles Kings vs. Florida Panthers, February 9, 2012. With Nate retired and my ticket guy gone over a dispute with the team, I found tickets for the family for $8.99 each on eBay. The Panthers made two 2nd-period goals stand up (adding an empty netter in the last minute) to defeat the Kings, 3-1, for the first time since Nov. 2002. The Panthers finished first in the Southeast Division but would lose to eventual conference champion New Jersey Devils, The Kings, the 8th seed in the Western Conference, went on to defeat the Devils to win the Stanley Cup in 2012. This was our last Panthers game. We sold our South Florida apartment the following year but did not attend a game.

 

Montreal Canadiens vs. Boston Bruins, March 22, 2007. Nate Greeenberg got me the Media Pss in what was his 34th and last year with the team.  I sat next to Gerry Cheevers during the first period and also took the elevator up to the press level with Canadiens greats Guy Lefleur and Bob Gainey. My name was on the scoreboard for my birthday in the TD Banknorth Garden, a first and no doubt a last. The Canadiens, scoring 5 unanswered goals beginning with less than 2 minutes left in the 2^nd period, defeated the Bruins, 6-3. I also sat with Nate in one of the crow’s net press boxes for a game vs. the New York Rangers on April 1, 2005, the last season for the old Boston Garden; a shortened season because of a lockout prevented me from seeing the Blackhawks’ last game at the Garden.

 

Rockford IceHogs vs. Chicago Wolves, November 26, 2016. We attended our first American Hockey League game at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont with tickets won at a charity auction. The Wolves, a Blues affiliate, defeated the IceHogs, a Blackhawks affiliate, 3-2 before 7,126 fans. We did not know the IceHogs had scored the second goal until returning home; because it was scored with 0.6 seconds left in the game, there was no face-off at center ice that usually follows a goal.