At 3:30 PM Marinela and I headed for the large International Ballroom, and make sure we had a place for the 5 PM opening ceremony. It was already crawling with red, but we managed to find space to the middle right as we walked in. We just sat down on the carpeted floor, as some fans did, but I don't find that comfortable at all.
It was thrilling to be at ceremony. Eddie Olczyk emceed the long awaited affair, and guided the one-by-one introductions of the front office leadership, the old-time players, then of course the current coaches and players. I wanted to stand by the runaway, and get some low-fives from Blackhawks as they walked up to the stage. But when we walked in, we could see neither the runway nor the stage. I videotaped the ceremony, but it was clear from where we stood that there was no way to get a good shot of any of the Blackhawks. Still I videotaped away, and will edit my clips at some point.
The main thing for Marinela and me was soaking in the electric atmosphere, and place was definitely rocking. Jim Cornelison sang the National Anthem so loudly, we felt his voice reverberate in our chests, flush our cheeks, and pierce our eardrums. Jonathan Toews took a couple of selfies, apparently reluctantly, once at the podium, and that in itself was an awesome, contemporary thing to do.
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