BLACKHAWKS SUFFER UGLY LOSS TO ROCKIES

 

"In this league, you have to be ready to compete every night. We spend hours preparing for every game, and a performance like that is completely unacceptable," said Blackhawks Head Coach Jim Schoenfeld. "There are some teams where you can get away with a slow start but not the Rockies. We came out flat and paid dearly for it."

 

Chicago looked like a minor league team in the first two periods of Saturday night's matchup with Colorado. They gave up a natural hat trick to Petr Svoboda in the first six minutes, then allowed two goals by Ron Francis before the first intermission. It was more of the same in the second period, with Hull, Yzerman, Schneider and Klima scoring for the Rockies. The Blackhawks were outshot 24-11 and down 9-0 after 40 minutes!

 

The third period started off just like the others, with Larionov scoring early to put Colorado into double digits. The home team was in cruise control the rest of the way, but to their credit, the Blackhawks didn't quit. Cliff Ronning scored on three consecutive shifts to make the final score a little less one-sided.

 

The Hawks will look to bounce back in their next game vs. Quebec. Chicago had gone 3-1 following their 10 game losing streak and last night's loss in Denver, so the focus will be on keeping this ugly loss as an isolated event and getting back to the game plan that worked vs. Anaheim, Calgary, and Hartford.