Hockey is back in Winnipeg!

Pregame at the UC

But I'm not. Of course I never was, but that's neither here nor there.

The Case for Expansion

First, I hope everyone keeps the tragedies of this summer in their hearts and minds throughout the year, and that the hockey community can use these to help educate itself on many of the underlying issues on the fringes of the game that contributed in any way to these horrible events.

That said, I hope this becomes a better season than last year, and I personally have more than a few of my next games planned out (if anyone has some cheap tickets to the Winter Classic...)

Ok, on to what I already wrote.

Soccer, ways to fix it, and the start of summer

Well, it's the beginning of summer, and you know what that means!  No hockey until October.  While I need to keep posting on this blog for at the very least my own sake, so I don't completely forget it and not chronicle my journey, I really can't post about anything new.  So, I plan on making a post every week or month or so about something preferably sports related, until I can start on the next season.

And I've looked at the new schedules, and see a few trips to the East Coast in the not-too-distant future...

However, on to the post which took by far the longest of the posts I've written.

I like soccer.  There, I said it.  It’s a very entertaining sport to watch, especially in the summer, where the only other major sports are baseball (which is as exciting as watching Astroturf grow) and NASCAR.  Now, as any snobby European will tell you, soccer is for some reason not very popular in the States.  So I decided to suggest ways to fix it, because, to quote Top Gear, how hard could it be?

Pictured: Soccer

Ending the regular season in Saint Louis

For what would most certainly be the last game of the regular season for me, I traveled to nearby St. Louis for a Blues game against their division rival Nashville.  This was after an aborted attempt a week earlier to go to Minnesota.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Big Board

My goal/mission

I should probably start this first post with a quick introduction.

My name is Sean, I'm from Chicago, and have been a Blackhawks fan since I first became aware of hockey (which really is the most beautiful game, imho).  That was sometime around 1994-1995, ish.

So, after rekindling my love of hockey, after living in the middle of nowhere for a few years with maybe 1 game a week on TV, and being able to actually see my Hawks on TV a couple years back, I made a decision.

I was going to go see a game in all 30 NHL arenas.  Admittedly, some of these will be a lot easier than others.  Going to a game at say, the United Center is a few blocks away, whereas Vancouver is quite an excursion.  So I gave myself some time.  Luckily, my first game came on October 13, 2010.  This makes 30 months roughly April 13, 2013, which is about the end of the 2012-13 regular season.

Now, since I'm currently at 3, I'll add posts for each of those games, with pictures I took at the venue/city.  Hopefully I'll be able to fully chronicle my entire journey.

Wish me luck!

Sean goes to Canada!

Given the title and above picture, it's pretty obvious that my latest journey took me to the Great White North.  Even though this time of year it was the Moderately Dreary North.  This trip took me to the great city of Toronto for a Maple Leafs game, plus the Hockey Hall of Fame.

There's the cup, shiny...