Royalty w/o 12/20 in review

After getting a few nights off upon returning from the Sunshine State, I was ready to tackle the week ahead.

Here's how it played out:

Wednesday night I went to Madison Square Garden to see the Knicks take on the Thunder. This time Kevin Durant played after I missed seeing him play in Boston and New Jersey. He looked great in the first half of the game as the Thunder hung tough with the Knicks. In the second half, it was a different story. The Knicks wound up pulling away and they went on to win the game easily, 112-98!

The Knicks were paced by Amar'e Stoudemire who scored 23 points. Wilson Chandler added 21 while Landry Fields had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Raymond Felton finished with a dozen points and he dished out ten assists.

For the Thunder, Kevin Durant had 26 points. Most of them in the first half. Teammate Russell Westbrook poured in 23 in the loss.

Thursday after work I went to the Prudential Center in Newark to see a battle of local area teams. The NJ Devils hosted the NY Islanders.

The Islanders built an early lead and they went on to cruise to an easy 5-1 victory. Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur was awful.

For the Islanders, Josh Bailey was the hero. He scored two goals and he added as assist in the triumph.

After another night off on Christmas Eve, I braced for an another weekend getaway.

I wound up spending Christmas Day at the Garden as the Chicago Bulls came to the Big Apple to play the Knicks.

The Knicks out shot the Bulls in this one to emerge victorious, 103-95!

Raymond Felton led the way as he scored 20 points, handed out a dozen assists and he had five strips. Amar'e Stoudemire had 20 points and 10 boards. Wilson Chandler added 15 points and he grabbed 10 rebounds as well.

For the Bulls, Carlos Boozer, who they signed in the off season led the with 26 points and 19 rebounds. Derrick Rose had 25 points, dished out 8 assists and he stole the ball a half a dozen times.

After the game, I went to LaGuardia Airport to catch my flight on Southwest Airlines to Chicago Midway Airport. I wanted to make sure I arrived in "Sweet Home Chicago" early enough so I wouldn't miss seeing the games I had planned due to mother nature.

With that being said, my trip consisted of a Sunday Chicagoland doubleheader. I saw the Bears play the Jets at the New Soldier Field and the 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks take on the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The last time I went to Soldier Field to see the Jets play was in 1997 before they renovated the stadium.

In 2002, I saw the Jets play the Bears in Champaign, Illinois home of the Fighting Illini while Soldier Field was being renovated.

This time I was looking to see the Jets play in the New Soldier Field.

Thanks to help from a fellow roadtripper, Andrew Van Cleve who has Bear season tickets, that mission was accomplished.

In addition, another roadtripper, Bob DeVries who I met at Citi Field back in September was there too.

Ironically Bob's a Bear fan and he asked me if I was coming to Chicago for the game. I said I was so we wound up hooking up too.

Stay tuned as I will write a special post on the reuniting of us roadtrippers. I'll go into further detail of how everything unfolded in the second city.

As for the game we saw, the Bears got off to a fast start in cold, windy and at times snowy Soldier Field.

The Bears raced out to a 10-0 lead early but the Jets came back behind Mark Sanchez drove who his team down the field for a touchdown to make it 10-7.

After the Bears got the ball back, the Jets Dwight Lowery picked off a pass and ran it back 20 yards for the go ahead score at 14-10. The Jets extended their to 21-10 and 24-17 at halftime.

In the third quarter, the seesaw battle continued as the Bears tied the game at 24 and then they regained the lead as always dangerous Devin Hester caught a 25 yard TD pass to put the Bears up, 31-24. Santonio Holmes caught a 23 yard TD pass to tie the game again.

The Bears proceeded to go ahead again when wide receiver Johnny Knox caught his second TD pass of the game which gave the Bears the lead for good as they went on to hold off the Jets, 38-34!

Despite losing the game, the Jets received help from the Washington Redskins who knocked off the Jacksonville Jaguars in overtime allowing the Jets to clinch a playoff berth. As a result, we all turned out happy in the end.

After the game, it was off to the United Center aka the Madhouse on Madison to see the Stanley Cup Champs play.

As for that game, the Blackhawks led the Columbus Blue Jackets, 1-0 going into the third period. In the third, the Blackhawks extended their lead then they put the game away as they scored three times. The Blue Jackets avoided the shutout late in the game as the Hawks won, 4-1!

Patrick Sharp of the Blackhawks scored two goals in the victory.

Thank you for following along and please stay tuned for that special post I told you about.

It will be another example of why going with royalty is the way to go.

Happy New Year!

Yours truly,

Gary Herman