Chicago Blackhawks 2025-2026

#252      
Roundball Sage
Mr. Tibbs said:
i’m a south sider originally and am old enough to remember the awful smell around the old Amphitheater.
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Well, it WAS right by the Stockyards! And how many Bulls fans today even know that the Stockyard vibe is what inspired the actual Bulls franchise name?

I think the old Chicago Packers also played at the Ampitheater. And there was a short-lived pro basketball league that had a team called the Chicago Majors (the American Basketball League). Pro basketball failed more than once in Chicago before the Bulls finally took hold -- thanks to the original Bulls expansion draft guys and the later guys that came in like Walker, Love, Sloan, Van Lier, and Boerwinkle. And real old timers even remember going to various events at the Chicago Coliseum.

For decades, the really big winter events in Chicago were the Blackhawks and the big College basketball double-headers at Chicago Stadium that were post World War 2. The place rocked. My family members loved it.
 
#253      
Mr. Tibbs
Roundball Sage said:
Well, it WAS right by the Stockyards! And how many Bulls fans today even know that the Stockyard vibe is what inspired the actual Bulls franchise name?

I think the old Chicago Packers also played at the Ampitheater. And there was a short-lived pro basketball league that had a team called the Chicago Majors (the American Basketball League). Pro basketball failed more than once in Chicago before the Bulls finally took hold -- thanks to the original Bulls expansion draft guys and the later guys that came in like Walker, Love, Sloan, Van Lier, and Boerwinkle. And real old timers even remember going to various events at the Chicago Coliseum.

For decades, the really big winter events in Chicago were the Blackhawks and the big College basketball double-headers at Chicago Stadium that were post World War 2. The place rocked. My family members loved it.
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nothing like a history lesson from a walk down Memory Lane
 
#254      
2X2L
And don't forget the Chicago Zephyrs. Walt Bellamy!
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Never saw the Black Hawks play at Chicago Stadium (in person) as a little kid from West Dundee. Saw them just about every time they played the Blues at St. Louis Arena 1968-72 against Blues goalies by the names of Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante.

Yes, Stan and Bobby invented the curved stick in the mid-60s and practiced their new, crazy shots on the unfortunate Mr. Hall, according to an article I just read.

Mr. Hall wore a mask for the first time in Nov. 1968, according to another source.

Find some Glenn Hall quotes - funny guy! RIP.
 
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#255      
Roundball Sage
2X2L said:
Never saw the Black Hawks play at Chicago Stadium (in person) as a little kid from West Dundee. Saw them just about every time they played the Blues at St. Louis Arena 1968-72 against Blues goalies by the names of Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante.
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The big radio station in St. Louis KMOX carried those Blues games. And you must have been listening to the great Dan Kelly whose voice would be amplified to most of the United States along with that loud crowd chanting... LET'S GO BLUES! LET'S GO BLUES! These games would come in clear around Chicagoland.

The smoke and haze in the St. Louis Arena could be as much if not more thick than the fog that used to engulf Chicago Stadium. I might still have some clothes around with that smell. But the Hawks and Blues quickly developed a hot rivalry when the Blues were formed.
 
#256      
2X2L
KMOX - great!. John McCormick, "The Man Who Walks and Talks at Midnight"' and other superb personalities, shows and sports coverage.

Let us not forget Gus Kyle, Dan Kelly's color man. I think they also did tv on WPLR tv - Kyle, at least.

While I'm at it, St. Louis Hawks with Bob Pettit, Cliff Hagan, Lenny Wilkens, Paul Silas, Zelmo Beatty, "Easy" Ed McCauley ... played at the Arena and Kiel Auditorium.

Yes, the Arena was a little seedy for a while. Went to a circus there. Saw The Moody Blues there too! (I saw The Beatles at that circular thing called Busch Stadium on Aug. 21, 1966)

But this a Blackhawks forum.

My all-time favorite announcer: Lloyd ( "A shot ... and a goal!") Pettit. None better, in my opinion.

Go Hawks! "Here come the Hawks, the mighty Blackhawks ...". Sing it. All together now. I wish The Beatles had covered it.
 
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#257      
Battle89
Roundball Sage said:
Fans today wont experience the joys (sarc) of... driving through dangers on the West Side to get to Old Chicago Stadium. Or – God-help-you – riding the bus. If you drove you then got to pay too much to park in a rutted open lot filled with broken glass and refuse...

For Bulls games in those days just before the opening tip off (they still had those then) an interesting grassy smell began to pervade the airspace around you. Gee, I always wondered what that was... (!). Not to mention for Hawks and Bulls games the nights were mostly cold as hell.

And yet somehow through all of this, it was damned good fun. That place had personality and a vibe to it that was special. And the sound was deafening when the fans got cranked up. Your ears might hurt for hours after the game ended.

Sure, the United Center seems like a palace compared to the Old Barn. But for many, the Old Barn was still more fun to watch a game at.

And you learned how to pray – that your car was still there when you went back there...
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All this and the temperature thing sparks memories for me. Freezing cold unless you were within fifteen feet of the radiator, where it felt some portal to Hades appeared to open (presumably with Blues players coming out).
 
#258      
Roundball Sage
2X2L said:
Yes, the Arena was a little seedy for a while. Went to a circus there. Saw The Moody Blues there too! (I saw The Beatles at that circular thing called Busch Stadium on Aug. 21, 1966)
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I watched Michael Jordan play at the St. Louis Arena. For real. Yes, it was a pre-Season game. But the place was packed.

2X2L said:
My all-time favorite announcer: Lloyd ( "A shot ... and a goal!") Pettit. None better, in my opinion.
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He was exciting to listen to. You could feel the energy through him. He was WAY better doing hockey than when he did baseball on WGN.

He married into big money and left broadcasting. He once tried to bring an NHL franchise to Milwaukee but the very high franchise fee turned him off. He and TV was a big part of how the Blackhawks really picked up a lot of fans back in the '60s. And I liked Lloyd way better than Brickhouse.
 
#259      
CHI 1086
Roundball Sage said:
I watched Michael Jordan play at the St. Louis Arena. For real. Yes, it was a pre-Season game. But the place was packed.



He was exciting to listen to. You could feel the energy through him. He was WAY better doing hockey than when he did baseball on WGN.

He married into big money and left broadcasting. He once tried to bring an NHL franchise to Milwaukee but the very high franchise fee turned him off. He and TV was a big part of how the Blackhawks really picked up a lot of fans back in the '60s. And I liked Lloyd way better than Brickhouse.
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I listened to both and they each had their strengths. I loved both.
 
#260      
2X2L
CHI 1086 said:
I listened to both and they each had their strengths. I loved both.
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Yes, but Mr. Brickhouse was too cornball for me. Lloyd relegated mostly to "10th Inning". They say Jack, as WGN sports director, prevented Lloyd from doing CBS NHL national broadcasts/telecasts? Dan Kelly got the job, they say. I dunno for sure. What is truth?

But this I know: Pat Pieper was the greatest public address announcer I've ever heard (going way back as a boy of 4 or 5).

And Jack Quinlan was the greatest baseball announcer of all time, IMO always. Throw "the dark one" he urged Don Cardwell once upon a time.

But this is a Blackhawks forum.

Flying emblem garden flag right now.
 
#264      
Joel Goodson
#266      
Joel Goodson
SnakePlissken said:
I really like Lardis so far. I don't want to expect too much too soon from him, but it looks like he is going to be a really good one.
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from an offensive standpoint, he's got it going on (especially, for a 20 yo rookie). not phased at all by the moment, seemingly. very impressive. unreal for a 3rd round pick

expecting good growth in his overall game over the next couple of years
 
#275      
KBLEE
Interesting video about Hawks prospect Mason West:

 
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