CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks brought the Stanley Cup home Tuesday and proceeded to take it on a pub crawl, with scores of ecstatic fans flocking to taverns and restaurants in hopes of catching a glimpse of their beloved players and the sacred trophy awarded to the NHL champion. Many fans, bleary eyed from staying up the night before to watch Game 6, looked to the skies for TV news helicopters that would alert them they were on the right track. Others set themselves up at bars, hoping the rumours from friends or Twitter might turn out to be true. "Weve been packed since 7 this morning." said Brad Tice, general manager of The Pony on Chicagos North Side. "In 2010 (the last time the Blackhawks won the cup) it came here, and players hang out here and live in the neighbourhood, so everyone is hoping it will show up." In suburban Oak Brook, fans descended on a restaurant said to be a favourite spot of Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. By midafternoon, the cup hadnt shown up at either spot. The trophy that turns into a drinking buddy once it is awarded to the National Hockey League champions had already put in a pretty full day. Though it hadnt made it to the runway of a strip club or the bottom of a swimming pool -- just two of the many places that players have taken it over the years -- it did make the rounds, stopping at two restaurants and the United Center, where the Blackhawks play, and a downtown steakhouse. "Im shaking, that was so cool," said 21-year-old Anne Fernandez after she reached out and touched the cup as Blackhawks President and CEO John McDonough pulled it out of a black SUV in front of Phil Stefanis restaurant and held it aloft as so many players had on the ice in Boston the night before after their series-clinching win over the Bruins. Fernandez showed up after a rumour showed up on Twitter, while others got their tips from friends -- though nobody knew where this intelligence was coming from. "I got an email that said if I wanted to see the cup to be at 437 (the address of the steakhouse) in 15 minutes," said Carrie Williams, a 28-year-old magazine editor, who did not know how the emailer got that information. At about 4 a.m., the jet carrying the players and the Cup touched down at OHare International Airport, where they received a water cannon salute from about a dozen fire trucks and police cars, all with their lights flashing. Veteran forward Michal Handzus was the first player to emerge from the aircraft shortly after 4 a.m., hoisting the 35-pound cup above his head with both hands and shaking it several times. Guests, police officers and firemen cheered at the bottom of the stairs. Players, coaches and team officials mingled with the crowd for about 10 minutes before heading for the city to continue the party that began in Chicago shortly after the team stunned Boston by scoring twice in a 17-second span during the final 1:16 of the game. There was a stop at a Harry Carays restaurant in Rosemont -- the same first stop the Blackhawks made after winning the championship in 2010. There were more than 1,000 fans waiting, and players took turns hoisting the cup over their heads to screams of excitement. The Scout bar in the South Loop area of downtown was the next stop, as team members greeted cheering fans outside with high-fives before filing into the bar. "My (5-year-old) son stayed up to watch the game but I told him he could go over there if it was packed and we looked outside and it was packed so we went," said Ekta Joshi after she and her son, Kabir, went over to cheer the players. Because she and her husband know people who work there, she was one of the lucky few to be allowed inside, where they met some players and the coach. "He got a few autographs on his hat and Im sure hes showing it off at school now," Joshi said. After that stop, the cup made it out to the United Center. There were rumours that it was on the move and, in fact, McDonoughs driver at the steakhouse said earlier in the day when he drove off -- without the cup -- he saw in his rearview mirror TV news trucks that obviously thought he had it. ------ Freelance writer Matt Carlson contributed to this report. NMD Shoes Wholesale .J. -- Travis Zajac of the New Jersey Devils took a lot of grief considering his scored the first of his career-best three goals just 12 seconds into a crucial game against the Florida Panthers. Adidas NMD NZ Sale . The four-time Grand Slam champion has beaten Hantuchova nine straight times, with the Slovaks only win coming when they first played 10 years ago. "I had a tough first opponent who can play extremely good tennis," Sharapova said. http://www.nmdshoesnz.com/adidas-falcon-cheap-nz.html. -- Lara Gut of Switzerland regained the overall World Cup lead with Sundays super-G win in Lake Louise, Alta. Cheap Adidas Shoes NZ . And all things considered, the first 40 games have offered a little bit of everything from a hockey club that faced many questions in its first year under new management, with a new head coach and with a number of new faces in the lineup. However, with a recent dip in scoring, it seems some of the same old questions persist and several new ones have been raised after a somewhat troubling homestand. Stan Smith Shoes NZ .com) - Richard Shermans two interceptions highlighted a dominant defensive effort, as the Seattle Seahawks routed the San Francisco 49ers in a highly anticipated NFC West Thanksgiving clash. ST. JOHNS, N.L. -- Its clear that if the St. Johns IceCaps want to win their American Hockey League playoff series against the Norfolk Admirals theyll need to solve goalie John Gibson. Gibson stopped 42 of 43 shots he faced to beat St. Johns 3-1 on Tuesday in Game 1 of their series, improving his 1.42 goals-against average and a .947 save percentage in four first-round playoff games. "Their goaltender is obviously really strong in net," IceCaps head coach Keith McCambridge said. "He has the numbers he has in the playoffs for a reason and he was very strong for them tonight. I thought we did a good job of trying to get traffic in front of him. "Their defencemen did an excellent job boxing out and making our forwards work." St. Johns defenceman Will ONeill said the key to solving Gibson is the same as beating any hot goalie. "Just like (solving) any goalie, we need to get more traffic to the net," ONeill said. "I think second and third opportunities are where we are going to have success. We need bodies to the net and to (capitalize) on those opportunities." McCambridge said scoring the first goal would have been key Tuesday night. "I thought we had some opportunities," he said. &"Obviously we would have liked to get the first goal to build some momentum.dddddddddddd With regards to generating offence, I thought we generated some good scoring chances and had some decent traffic." Nic Kerdiles scored two goals and John Kurtz had the game-winner for Norfolk. Andrew Gordon replied for St. Johns, while IceCaps goalie Michael Hutchinson stopped 24 shots. Norfolk opened the scoring when Kerdiles one timed a wrist-shot from the slot 10:14 into the first period, finishing off a pass from Andre Petersson, who sent a pass from behind the net. St. Johns killed a 40-second 5-on-3 power play, starting at 13:15 in the first period. Despite the IceCaps outshooting the Admirals 18-5 in the second period, Gibson was impenetrable in the Norfolk net. St. Johns found the equalizer 3:20 into the third period when Gordon tipped in a heavy point shot just as a power play expired. Gibson saw little of the shot, if anything, as Jason Jaffray and Gordon had set up on the doorstep. Admirals forward Zack Strotini carried the puck to the net and, on the ensuing scramble, Kurtz tapped it in to retake the lead, 2-1, at the 7-minute mark of the third period. Kerdiles added an empty netter with 13.8 seconds left. ' ' '