The Chicago Blackhawks Go to Washington

This past Friday, March 11, the Chicago Blackhawks were invited to the White House by President Obama. I was lucky enough to get to cover it, alongside the Daily Herald's Blackhawks writer, Tim Sassone.

Blackhawks President Tom McDonough gives President
Obama a #44 Obama Blackhawks jersey

First off, getting into the White House is a lot more difficult than any of the other government buildings in DC. At the House and Senate office buildings, you can walk in the doors before hitting security. At the Capitol, the main steps are blocked off by guards wielding machine guns, but once you get in one of the side entrances, the security is similar to the office buildings. You can't get remotely close to the White House without passing through a gate and security. It is separated from any streets by a lot of land and not easy to get to.

Once I finally found the correct entrance, I waited in a line of reporters behind a large gate. We each individually stepped up to an intercom where we stated our name and media outlet. After a guard in a little building just inside the gate confirmed our name was on the guest list, he opened the gate. When I walked in, I gave my driver's license to the guard and he gave me a red press badge on a metal lanyard.I stepped into the little building where I went through security and then was directed down a path towards the White House. I started walking with an NPR reporter from the midwest. Neither of us had ever reported a story out of the White House before. We ended up in a clump of reporters outside a little room that led to the South Lawn. I was definitely the youngest there. I recognized WGN's sports reporter, Dan Roan, and then found the Daily Herald's Tim Sassone.

President Obama holds a mini Stanley Cup, given to him
by Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews

All of us were soon herded through a hallway off the side of the White House onto the South Lawn, where we waited about an hour for the event to start. Special guests began to enter the lawn; kids who were participating in the clinic after the ceremony, their families, Blackhawks players who weren't on the team last year, various Illinois politicians. They got front and center seats, while the reporters were set up along the periphery, hardly able to see. The seasoned photographers had brought step ladders. I was left to reaching my arm as high as I could, hoping my iPhone was pointed in the right direction.

The Stanley Cup Championship team finally exited the White House and lined up on bleachers behind a podium on the South Lawn. They were all wearing suits. Jonathan Toews was carrying a mini Stanley Cup. Then the president came out and gave a speech, recounting the season and the winning cup game as if he had followed it every step of the way. Blackhawks president John McDonough presented Obama with a Obama #44 Blackhawks jersey and let him wear the Stanley Cup ring. Toews gave him a mini cup.

First Lady Michelle Obama chats up Patrick Sharp

After the ceremony, the President shook hands with kids in the crowd and the Hawks left to change into jerseys. They came back out, with the First Lady, and held a clinic for DC students. Some of the players seemed more into it than other. Patrick Kane seemed to be having fun teaching kids to shoot a puck and the First Lady spent some time chatting up Patrick Sharp (recently named one of Chicago Magazine's 50 most beautiful Chicagoans).

At the end of the event I was able to sneak my recorder in for an interview with Patrick Kane, getting about a foot or two away from the 22-year-old who scored the Stanley Cup winning shot.

I couldn't feel my feet by the end from standing for hours in heels in the cold, but it was absolutely worth it.