Chicago Culture, Celebrity, Arts & Entertainment
Chicago culture, arts & entertainment with Billy Dec

Browsing all posts tagged with Patrick Sharp.

11/01/12

Champs for Charity Good for Players & Fans

Uncategorized

It’s a tough time to be a hockey fan. The ongoing lockout doesn’t seem to be near an end at all, games are being canceled handfuls at a time, and the list of players signing overseas continues to grow.

Despite the lockout, players from around the league have been arranging charity games.  Last Friday, Adam Burish, former Blackhawk (and current San Jose Shark) arranged Champs for Charities at Allstate Arena with an all-star roster that benefitted Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland & Northwest Indiana – a charity close to the Blackhawks organization.

The game certainly did not disappoint the fans.  If anything, it left us all wanting & longing for more. The all-star roster was split into 2 teams: Team Chicago (all current/former Hawks, except for Joe Corvo) vs. Team World (basically players with no ties to Chicago, except for Daniel Carcillo).

Team Chicago consisted of Patrick Sharp, Andrew Ladd, Jake Dowell, Troy Brouwer, Jamal Mayers, Craig Adams, Adam Burish, Patrick Kane, Jim Vandermeer, James Wisniewski, Brian Campbell, Joe Corvo, Craig Anderson and captained by Jonathan Toews.  Team World was made up of Bobby Ryan, Greg Campbell, Jordan Staal, Daniel Carcillo, Mike Brown, Antti Miettinen, Shawn Thornton, Ville Leino, Jared Boll, Ryan Suter, Alex Goligoski, Tom Gilbert, Niklas Backstrom and captained by Kimmo Timonen.  Robbie Gould, from the Chicago Bears, was the celebrity coach for for Team World and Ryan Dempster, former Cubs pitcher, for Team Chicago.

The game was everything fans wanted: fun, light-hearted and high scoring.  During the 3rd period Danny Carcillo jumped over the boards of the Chicago bench and started “fighting” with Dempster. The final score was a tie: 15-15.   To determine a winner there was a 5 round shootout with Daniel Carcillo being the final shooter; if he made his shot, World won, if he missed the shootout continued. Carcillo made his shot and proceeded to taunt the Chicago bench at which point Toews jumped over the boards and tackled Carcillo.

In the end, the night was a complete success raising a total of $323,500 for RMHC-CNI –  $73,500 over the initial fundraising goal set for the event – and the fans got to see some of their favorite players hit the ice.  Go here to see the entire set of pictures from the game.

-Alex Chwastek & Grace Sweeney

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

07/06/12

Blackhawks in July?! It’s Like Christmas!

blackhawks, celebrities, chicago, Food, Networking, nightlife, Pictures, Press, Radio, restaurants, sports, Video

If you’re a Blackhawks fan and planning on going to the upcoming Blackhawks Convention – like me – then last weekend was like Christmas for you.  Convention passes and welcome letters were sent out to the delight of fans across Chicagoland.  July 20th – 22nd the Hilton Chicago will become Blackhawks central; players & fans will flock to the iconic Chicago hotel for a weekend of hockey in the middle of summer – it’s quite a sight!  This marks the 5th year of the convention and as in years past, it has completely sold out – unless you’re willing to go on StubHub.  It’s no surprise this event is so popular.  I went to my first convention last year and if you’re a fan of the Hawks, it’s something you NEED to go to.

Friday kicks off the festivities with event registration opening at 12pm in the Northeast Hall where fans can pick up their programs for the weekend.  The International Ballroom plays host to the opening ceremonies at 5pm where the team is together for the first time since the end of last season and introduced to fans.  Expect to hear from Blackhawks TV color analyst, Eddie Olczyk – as he’s been the emcee in the past – and Blackhawks Captain, Jonathan Toews.  Also expect appearances from Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Patrick Sharp, Brent Seabrook and many more familiar faces!

Saturday starts off nice and early at 9am with various Q-and-A seminars with panels of players and coaches discussing a range of topics.  Once the sun goes down the Blackhawks players and celebrities will judge ‘Blackhawks Idol’ and crown the winner. Sunday wraps up the convention with more Q-and-A sessions beginning at 9am; with everything finishing up at about 1pm.

There will also be various Blackhawks memorabilia vendors as well as a locker room sale where you have the opportunity to buy items from the Blackhawks locker room.  Attendees may also have an opportunity to meet their favorite players, get autographs & have their pictures taken.  It’s an all-around great weekend for Blackhawks fans of all ages and I, for one, am VERY excited for it!  There’s 2 weeks until the convention, but if you’re too excited you can’t handle it, take a look at my pics from last year!  See you all at the Hilton Chicago, I’ll be the one in the Blackhawks t-shirt ;)

-Alex Chwastek

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,