Stanley Cup Fever

By Todd McClamroch in News on Oct 6, 2006 2:45PM

Chicagoist is not advocating the mass quantity purchase of aluminum foil to build your own Stanley Cup just yet. We are, however, encouraged to see the Blackhawks start their regular season off on a positive note, building on a successful pre-season by winning their season opener against a tough Nashville Predator team. ESPN calls the Predators "The Thinking Man's pick" to represent the Western Conference in this year's Stanley Cup.

The Blackhawks found themselves down 2-0 after just four minutes in the first period, and Chicagoist admits to feeling duped by the pre-season success and thinking the real Blackhawks had just stood up. But Martin Havlat, with an inspired burst of speed, scored a breakaway goal to get the Hawks on the board. After that, goals came much easier.

The Blackhawks, who averaged 3.625 goals per game in the pre-season, proved that was not a fluke and bettered that average, scoring 8 goals Thursday night to defeat the Predators 8-6. The Blackhawks scored a variety of goals, including a short-handed goal and scoring on both power play opportunities, and Havlat scored his second of the night, an empty-net insurance goal in the waning minutes of the game. Head Coach Trent Yawney said, "The fun part is that we can score eight goals. That's obviously something to be positive about. The ones we gave up, we probably could have done a lot better job defending."

The win puts the Blackhawks in first place of the Central. Chicagoist suggests they pull a Costanza and quit while they are ahead and go out on top. If they choose not to do so, their next game will be their home opener on Saturday night versus the Columbus Blue Jackets.