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Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:47 am
by cprice12
Ok, maybe not a high school team...they are the European Club champions... but a team the hawks should have handily beat.
Zurich wins 2-1 and celebrates like they just won the Stanley Cup. :lol:
I want to say this is the first time a European Club team has beaten an NHL team...at least that is what I thought they said on the NHL Network last night.

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Hawks fall in Victoria Cup finale
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/chi;_ ... UD.vN7vLYF
September 30, 2009
BY ADAM L. JAHNS, Sun-Times News Group

A day before shipping off to Europe, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville referred to the match-up Tuesday with the ZSC Zurich Lions as a ''meaningful'' game.

In many ways, he was right.

Not only was the Victoria Cup at stake, but many of the Hawks' regulars got one final chance to tune up before the regular season starts. Injured players Dustin Byfuglien (groin) and Kris Versteeg (upper body) also got a chance to play for the first time in more than a week, while on-the-bubble players such as Jack Skille and Radek Smolenak got one last chance to make an impression.

But perhaps most important, the Hawks received a much-needed wake-up call in a humbling 2-1 loss before the opener Friday against the Florida Panthers in Helsinki, Finland.

''We tried to probably make too many fancy plays early in the game, and then we were in a real hockey game,'' Quenneville told chicagoblackhawks.com. ''They got some speed. They got some skill, and they worked hard. It's kind of like what we would like to do as a team.''

The New York Rangers won the inaugural Victoria Cup last year with a 4-3 victory over Russia's Metallurg Magnitogorsk. With the Hawks playing many of their regulars, the NHL was expected to go 2-0.

But the game against Zurich, the defending European club champion, was nothing like the Hawks' 9-2 rout Monday of HC Davos. Although they were outshot by the Hawks 35-22, the Lions, who have players from Canada and other European countries, took advantage of the larger international ice, played physical and capitalized on their chances.

As a result, the Hawks closed the preseason with a 2-3-1 record.

''They're the champions of their league for a reason,'' Hawks winger Patrick Sharp said. ''They played well as a team. I think they played a little better of a team game than we did. And that was the difference. It was clear that they wanted it more than we did today.''

Cam Barker scored the lone goal for the Hawks on a shot from the blue line at 6:13 in the first period. Zurich tied it six minutes later on Patrik Bartschi's breakaway.

Lukas Grauwiler notched the eventual game-winner in the second on a rebound in front of Hawks goalie Cristobal Huet (20 saves).

Zurich's Ari Sulander made 34 saves for the victory.

''(The loss is) definitely tough to swallow,'' Hawks winger Patrick Kane said. ''It's something we have to move on from and learn from.''

The Hawks depart today for Finland, where the Panthers had a shock of their own Monday. They lost to Finnish Elite team Tappara 3-2 in a shootout despite putting 50 shots on goal. Like the Hawks, the Panthers had some of their regulars in the lineup.

''We've got bigger and better things ahead with the regular season starting now,'' Kane said. ''We've got to gear up for Florida.''

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:02 am
by TSUCookieMonster
Yeah I watched it over here... the reactions from the Blackhawks team were hilarious. Looked like someone just stole the Stanley Cup from them or something... winning team kind of resembled USA v. CCCP in 1980.

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:03 am
by SamJunior
The Zurich Lions are not Swedish, but they are Swiss.

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:07 am
by Sweetred95ta
Wow. They got medals and a trophy. That must be a big deal over there.

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:27 am
by DaDitka
Did Kane kick their azzes and steal their trophy?


Maybe he just jumped their buss driver.

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:33 am
by ohio BLUES
:hawkssuck: :hawkssuck: :hawkssuck: :hawkssuck: :hawkssuck:

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:51 am
by WaukeeBlues
Sweetred95ta wrote:Wow. They got medals and a trophy. That must be a big deal over there.
I don't get why the NHL is over there in the first place. Yea, I know- international exposure, bla bla bla. But I mean come on- these Euro teams are playing like its game 7 of the Cup Finals and the NHL pros are by and large just getting ice time. Then you get the Euro players possibly going reckless abandon trying to win... just too many possibly bad scenarios. Keep the preseason in the states.

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:08 pm
by Nyghtewynd
Kane offered them $0.10 for the trophy and then beat them down when they didn't accept.

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:24 pm
by gaijin
Nyghtewynd wrote:Kane offered them $0.10 for the trophy and then beat them down when they didn't accept.
More like the team asked $9,999.80 for the trophy, Kane gave them 10K, and when they couldn't pony up the .20 change, he whooped the entire team's ass (not likely anyway).

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:25 pm
by philco_3
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Hey look at us we won a vase with plastic multi-color hockey sticks.

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:41 pm
by ohio BLUES
I love that pic... awesome. I think I'll save it. :lol:

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:45 pm
by SIU LAW
The guy on the far right kills me.

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:49 pm
by ohio BLUES
Check out who's a Zurich Lion...

It's Sejna!

Image

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:55 pm
by philco_3
wonder how long it will take bettman to say hey lets start whoring off our jerseys too.

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:56 pm
by philco_3
SIU LAW wrote:The guy on the far right kills me.
the guy holding the vase looks like Cam to me.

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:48 pm
by section319
ohio BLUES wrote:Check out who's a Zurich Lion...

It's Sejna!

Image

Well, that's why they won.

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 6:22 pm
by Nyghtewynd
They had SEJNA!? Obvious unfair advantage.

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:36 pm
by ohio BLUES
SIU LAW wrote:The guy on the far right kills me.
He looks like a drunk ass dude who lived in my dorm freshman year of college. But that's probably the happiest moment of his life :)

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:20 pm
by northwest dave
Coach Q lost a big game? :aaaa:

Re: Blackhawks Lose to Swedish High School Team

Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:56 am
by cprice12
northwest dave wrote:Coach Q lost a big game? :aaaa:
Define "big game".

But yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Coach Q comes up short in a "big game" once again.

Seriously...what is his deal? Dude just can't win in a playoff atmosphere.