U-46 teaching couple bring love of hockey to school

Home remodeling? An elaborate honeymoon? New furniture, even?

Nah.

Newlyweds Abbie and Matt Ecklund spent their wedding cash on Blackhawks season tickets.

"When we got married last July, I brought up that we should spend the money we got from friends on tickets," said Matt Ecklund, a Downers Grove native and lifelong Hawks fan.

"I was just joking, but one day she called me up at work and said she'd checked it out, that there weren't very many season tickets left."

Now this, he thought, really is the woman of my dreams.

Dubbing it a wedding present to themselves, Abbie and Matt sprung for 300-level seats at the United Center.

From their seats high above the playing surface, Abbie says she likes watching plays develop and come down the ice. It wasn't long before what she saw became part of what she teaches her sixth grade students at Lowry Elementary in Elgin.

"We'll be sitting there at the game, and she'll notice something and ask me 'Why was that guy off sides?' or 'Why was he skating over there?' and then she'll have these epiphanies for teaching her class," Matt Ecklund said.

As the season's progressed, hockey has penetrated virtually every lesson plan.

For geometry, the class plays a game using reflecting lines.

While learning measurements, students look at pictures of Hawks' fans with playoff beards and estimate the length of their facial hair.

Hockey terminology has become part of vocabulary lessons and the class regularly bursts into "Here come the Hawks." As part of the school's Positive Behavior Intervention and Support program, Abbie doles out pucks, posters and rally towels - courtesy of the Blackhawks - as rewards for good behavior.

Matt, who also teaches in Elgin Area School District U-46, says as a U.S. history teacher at Abbott Middle School in Elgin, it's a little bit tougher to incorporate hockey into lesson plans.

Still, he says, when talking about war and conflict, he makes analogies to sporting events.

"I try to throw it in there as often as I can," he said. "But I don't have the luxury of teaching about beards."

Instead, he persuaded a half-dozen of the school's male teachers to grow their own playoff beards and to play roller hockey after school some days.

Hockey wasn't always a shared passion for the Elgin couple. "Before I met Matt, I hated hockey," Abbie said. But over time, with a bit of gentle coaching, she says she's grown to love the sport.

The Ecklunds say the season has not only influenced their teaching, but their relationship.

"I've been a hockey fan forever," Matt said. "But it's cool too because a lot of this is new to her."

As for that upcoming anniversary mark, the couple says their choice for the ultimate celebration is as easy as an empty-netter: a Stanley Cup victory.