Schuster: Hawks Loss, Game Recap
The pre-game ceremony couldn't have been any better. The United Center was jammed to the rafters and a crowd of over 22,000 people were reveling in the raising of the championship banner from the previous season. Unfortunately then they played a game and the Hawks dropped a 3-2 decision to the Redwings.
Lets start with the ceremony and once again the Hawks marketing department did themselves proud as all the speeches, videos and other touches were right on the mark. The ceremony was culminated with the players introduced and when Johnathan Towes skated onto the ice with the Stanley Cup you thought the roof would blow off. Then members of the 1961 Cup winning team handed off the 201o banner to members of last years team to raise to the rafters. The cameras and cell phones were flashing and many people had tears in their eyes. Great stuff indeed!
As for the game, Valtteri Filppula scored the games first goal and then his power play tally in the third period broke a 2-2 tie giving Detroit the victory. Brent Seabrook and Bryan Bickell scored for the Hawks but their power play was just 1/5 and Marty Turco gave up a couple of soft goals as the Hawks have just one point in their first two games.
Before the game it was learned that Patrick Sharp would not play due to an upper body injury that could have been a mild concussion sustained in the teams opening game. Joel Quenville refused to release any details but did say that Sharp should play Monday night in Buffalo.
