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Pictures of the Allstate Arena

Ever since the Chicago Blackhawks turned from a succesfull franchise with close to 30 years of playoff-hockey in succesion into a team playing for high draft picks instead of hardware in the middle of the 90s the Chicago Wolves became extremly popular in the windy city. Attendance-wise the Chicago Wolves were ahead of the competition in the International Hockey League, and with championship-teams in 1998 and 2000 there is also a lot to celebrate for the regular visitors. Unfortunatly the rest of the teams in the International Hockey League fared a lot less succesfull at the box-office and the league folded after the 2000/2001-campaign. Six teams joined the American Hockey League in something that was sold as a merger of both leagues, the Wolves qualified for the AHL and will resume their business in that league starting in 2001/2002.

The Allstate Arena, home of the Wolves, has a seating capacity of approximatly 16.000. On any give game-night about 10.000 people show up to the games of the slighty outdated venue. Many families are in attendance and give the crowd quiet a different look than at most (pretty expensive) NHL-arenas around the country. The team has done a good marketing job (compared to the Blackhawks who still have not found out that televising home-games might help attendance in the long-run) and tries to put on a good show each night, the player introduction is spectacular with fireworks and a lenghty light-show.

The level of play in the IHL or now AHL might not be up to the NHL (maybe compareable to the german DEL) but the games have a tendency to be a lot more offensive with more goals, more shots on net and more back-to-back action than you will get in a typical New Jersey Devils vs Dallas Stars NHL-game. On the average close to 7 goals are scored per game which is 1.5 more than in the big league (and 5 more than when the Devils play the Stars)  where 10-15% of the games result in shutouts for goalies these days.

Tips for visitors:

If you´re around Chicago on vacation, have a car, don´t want to spend a lot of money and are in the mood for a good hockey-evening there is nothing better than a game of the Wolves at the Rosemont Horizon. I personally would still prefer the Hawks at the United Center with the NHL on the ice, but 15 to 20 dollars get you a seat right close to the ice here while you are in the way of planes going down at O´Hare for that kind of money with the Blackhawks.  Basically a ticket here costs you as much as parking at the United Center where tickets run at 45 dollars on the average.

The district "Rosemont" is a couple of steps away from the usual footprints a tourist might leave in the windy city and about 20 miles from the inner city and Lake Michigan. I can´t really recall any public transportation in that area, there probably is some but I don´t know about it. If you´re running by car try to consider that 20 miles can take quiet a while in Chicago, especially if you´re trying to get through during rush-hour.

The only slight disadvantage the arena has is that the elevation of the rows is not really very steep. This might turn into a problem if you got some big people sitting in front of you and is not really great but I guess that people didn´t grow as big as today when the arena was built. Thanks to the low prices many families come out to games so that there is always a good chance of sitting behind a youngster, it only gets tough if he´s sitting behind you....

A sellout is not really common so I wouldn´t worry too much about tickets. If you´re a fan of the better-safe-than-sorry strategy Ticketmaster also sells tickets of the Wolves throughout the Chicago area (remember that I bought my tickets at a supermarket in Wheeling).

Directions to the arena:

From Downtown Chicago:

West on Kennedy Expressway (I-90). Go past toll booth, take first exit
(Lee Street) and turn right. Make an immediate right and the Allstate Arena
is down the hill.
OR
West on Kennedy Expressway (I-90) to I-190 toward O'Hare to Mannheim
Road North exit. Take Mannheim Road North about 1 1/2 miles to Allstate
Arena parking lot. The Allstate Arena is on your left.

From South or Northbound Tri-State (I-294):
Exit at Northwest Tollway (I-90 - West toward Rockford). Proceed on
Northwest Tollway and take first exit (Lee Street) and turn right. Make an
immediate right and the Allstate Arena is down the hill.

From Eastbound Northwest Tollway (I-90):
Exit at O'Hare International Airport exit (I-190 West). Proceed on I-190 to
Mannheim Road North exit. Take Mannheim Road North about 1 1/2 miles to
Allstate Arena parking lot. The Allstate Arena is on your left.

From O'Hare International Airport:
East on Interstate 190 (sign reads: "to Chicago") to Mannheim Road North
exit. Take Mannheim Road North about 1 1/2 miles to Allstate Arena parking
lot. The Allstate Arena is on your left

PACE Bus Route to the Arena:
Take the CTA Rapid Transit line (Blue Line) to Rosemont-River Road station.
Transfer to the RTA bus line 221 to the Allstate Arena.

For bus schedules, call the RTA at:
836-7000 from area codes 312, 630, 773 and 847.

Links to the team:

The Chicago Wolves: www.chicagowolves.com

The Arena: www.allstatearena.com