The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team (NHL) based in Chicago, Illinois. The Blackhawks compete in the Central Division of the Western Conference along with the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, and Winnipeg Jets. Their historic rivalry with the St. Louis Blues is still going strong. The team plays its home games at the United Center in Chicago. The Blackhawks were named after the Black Hawk infantry division during World War I. The division had been named after Chief Black Hawk, a Native American leader.
The United Center opened in 1994. It is an indoor arena, located on the Near West Side of Chicago, with a seating capacity during hockey games of 22,428. The United Center is also home to the Chicago Bulls (NBA). In addition to the Bulls and Blackhawks, the arena hosts college basketball games, concerts and family events. The Blackhawks and Bulls play their home games, sometimes on back-to-back nights. The ice for the hockey games is overlayed with a hardwood floor for the basketball games. The very first event at the United Center was the WWF SummerSlam in 1994. The arena hosted the democrats for the Democratic National Convention in 1996. In May of 2011, Oprah’s Farewell Season: Oprah’s Surprise Spectacular episode was recorded at the United Center. The first musical performance at the arena was the great Billy Joel, but numerous performers have followed him over the years from Prince, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Dave Matthews Band, Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones and many more!
Chicago boasts a foodie’s dream. There are a ton of great restaurants to be had in the Windy City has has four iconic dishes; deep dish pizza, Chicago-style hot dog, popcorn and the Italian beef sandwich. For Deep-Dish Pizza nobody beats Lou Malnati’s. For Chicago-style hot dogs head on over to Portillo’s. Since 1949, Garrett Popcorn has been making freshly made kettle popcorn and finally for the best Italian beef sandwich there’s no other like Al’s Italian Beef.