Fans frantic for championship gear

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If you want a T-shirt — or baseball cap, or sweatshirt, or about anything else — declaring the Chicago Blackhawks to be the 2015 Stanley Cup champions, you’d better be patient.

Not Cubs fan patient, but still.

That’s because all the Stanley Cup champions stuff sold out faster than a Brent Seabrook slapshot.

At Gunzo’s Sports Center, a few blocks east of the United Center, business was so hectic, they kept their doors open for hours after the Blackhawks won the Cup — until nearly 1 a.m. Tuesday — to accommodate fans.

“It’s been pretty crazy,” said Julian Sarabia, a sales associate.

“Ever since game seven of the last series we’ve been non-stop busy,” he said. “We’ve been filling about 20 jersey orders a day.”

Replica jerseys — “sweaters” to you purists — sell for $185; authentic ones sell for $330, he said.

“We sell hockey equipment, too. But it’s been almost all apparel. I haven’t seen business like this before,” said Sarabia, who has worked at the store for more than a year.

More of the Stanley Cup championship gear is on the way, of course. Eventually.

<small><strong>Gunzos employee Mike Uczen shows off some of the store’s Hawks gear. Anything that said “2015 Stanley Champions” is long gone, but more obviously is on the way. | Mitch Dudek/Sun-Times</strong></small>

Gunzos employee Mike Uczen shows off some of the store’s Hawks gear. Anything that said “2015 Stanley Champions” is long gone, but more obviously is on the way. | Mitch Dudek/Sun-Times

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