NHL Draft in Chicago was huge success

By all accounts the NHL Draft was a smashing success for the Blackhawks and the city of Chicago.

Fans packed the United Center, streamed through the streets, stood in line for autographs, bought plenty of merchandise and no doubt tried to learn as much as possible about all the unfamiliar names on the draft board.

"It's been an incredible weekend," said Hawks GM Stan Bowman. "I've been to a lot of drafts and I've never seen something like this. … I just heard before we came in here that we set a record for the weekend. You could tell there was a lot of energy."

The record Bowman was referring to was the 47,514 who attended FanFest outside the UC.

Friday was clearly the high point of the weekend, with some of the highlights being:

• Fans mercilessly booing NHL commissioner Gary Bettman from the opening of the draft through the 31st pick. Give Bettman credit, though - he seems to be developing a sense of humor. "You can do better than that," he told the cat-calling masses as he announced the draft was getting underway.

• When fans started disparaging the Detroit Red Wings with a chant, they were silenced and somewhat shamed when Tyler Wright, the team's director of scouting, announced this would be the first pick Detroit was making since owner Mike Ilitch passed away.

• Dale Tallon, who was the Blackhawks' GM from 2005-09, received a warm welcome as he stood up to announce Florida's pick. "Right back at you!" Tallon said.

• While those moments stood out, the UC was never louder than when Stan Bowman paused before announcing the Blackhawks' first pick and said, "You know, I think there's a better way to do this."

Out walked Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, and up, up, up went the volume inside the arena. The two stars proceeded to tell the world that the Hawks were taking Finnish D-man Henri Jokiharju.

"We're all really lucky here and we all appreciate the fact that our fans are passionate about the team," Bowman said.