Blackhawks Sat Oct 03 2009

0-For-Europe

Man, Europe has been pretty rough on Chicago in the past 24 hours. As you may have heard, the International Olympic Committee gave the big heave-ho to the city's bid for the 2016 Games, treating us like a steak at a vegan dinner. How bad did it look to the rest of the country that Chicago got bounced out in the first round of voting in Copenhagen? Even New York City is feeling sorry for us (although an editorial still managed to turn their sympathy into a tweak at Chi-Town resident President Obama's expense). Normally, after a loss like that we'd come back with a "wait'll next year", but unfortunately that doesn't apply.

And not long after that, our next best hope for a victory on European soil fell short as well as the Blackhawks dropped a 4-3 shootout to the Florida Panthers in Finland. Their 55 shots on goal were made null and void by a shootout goal by Florida's Ville Koistinen (a native of Finland, naturally). The two teams meet again today in Finland and you can watch the game on an outdoor screen at the Country Music Festival in Grant Park beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Look, maybe we should give this European thing a rest for a bit after this. Is "See American First" still a valid slogan?

— Ken Green / Comments (0)