For the second time in three seasons, the Chicago Blackhawks will reportedly call Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum their home overnight.
The Blackhawks are scheduled to play the St. Louis Blues in an exhibition game on Oct. 5 at the Milwaukee Bucks' home arena, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Monday, citing anonymous sources.
The team played the 2022 Minnesota Wild, owned by Racine native Craig Leipold, at Fiserv. The match sold out in minutes.
“One of the reasons we chose to come here is because we knew we had a great fan base, we had a great hockey fan base here, and we had a great Blackhawks fan base in Milwaukee. ” Blackhawks Director of Business Operations Jamie Faulkner said that day. . “I wasn’t surprised, but I was immediately excited when it sold out like this.”
More than 80% of orders came from customers with ZIP codes in Wisconsin, and only 7% came from Illinois.
The game brought together two worlds, with famous national anthem singer Jim Cornelison pumping up the crowd just as he did at the United Center, and Bucks DJ Shauna and mascot Bango making their mark on the night.
Although a large number of Blackhawks fans helped draw the franchise to Milwaukee, the crowd included a significant number of Wild supporters and a large number of people dressed in Nashville Predators gear. The Predators are the parent club of the Milwaukee Admirals' AHL franchise, and fans of both teams expected Nashville to be included in the next NHL game in Milwaukee.
Admirals owner Harris Tuler said he supports bringing the NHL to the city, regardless of the team.
“Any time hockey in general happens and gets attention, it’s good for us,” Tuler said in 2022. “People pay attention to that game. We're the town's hockey team, so any event here, even if we're not playing, every time hockey is played in the community, it draws attention.” , that’s a positive thing.”
Fiserv also hosted a four-team holiday college hockey tournament showcasing the Wisconsin Badgers.
