As my colleague Jeff Drouin reported to you a little earlier today, the Chicago Blackhawks received a severe correction from the St. Louis Blues in the Winter Classic game presented yesterday at the legendary Wrigley Field.
A 6-2 defeat which hurts the first choice of the 2023 auction. As reported by Tracey Myers, journalist for the NHL, the young 19-year-old superstar did not mince his words to express his shame.
“There were (more than) 40,000 people in the stands, and 30,000 of them were probably our fans. These tickets to come and cheer us here were not cheap. In the locker room, we are disappointed in ourselves. I feel sorry for our supporters who witnessed this discomfiture. » -Connor Bedard
“It’s a special day. How many teams are playing an away game this season? Four. So we’re lucky to be one of the teams chosen, and then we get dominated. It’s certainly frustrating. » -Connor Bedard
Their captain, Nick Foligno, also commented on his team’s performance and expressed being embarrassed to present such a performance in front of his family.
“Everything leading up to the match was incredible, but when you lose and you think about it, you feel extremely bad. It’s rubbish. You have your family waiting for you outside the locker room. They froze for four hours looking at you, and you’re not able to greet them with a big smile and celebrate the evening. That’s what’s a shame. And there are also the Blues supporters who are celebrating, while ours are disappointed. It’s another bad feeling. We’re tired of disappointing them. We want them to be optimistic about our team and support us. That’s not the way to do it. » -Nick Foligno
“Chicago knows how to celebrate sports, our fans didn’t disappoint today, and I think that’s what makes the loss even harder to swallow right now. It’s embarrassing to lose 6-2 at a time like that at home. Our fans deserve better. It’s up to the guys in this locker room to find the solution because it’s three games in a row where it’s not enough. I don’t know. I really wish I had an answer to give you. In such a context, with the excitement before the match, I thought it was going to be a turning point for our club and, obviously, that was not the case. » -Nick Foligno
A match where the Blues never looked back. Taylor Hall, scorer of the first goal of the Hawksalso put his two cents into what he believes to be the Blackhawks’ problem.
“The execution. It seems like we lost a little bit of confidence, a little bit of the attitude that we had for a few games. We are a young group, so it can sometimes be a little difficult to keep morale high. But it seems like when we have a bad game, it takes us three more to get over it. It all started in Buffalo. The other night against Dallas we played better, but tonight the execution wasn’t there at all. And they jumped on us. They got to the pucks quicker, they put us under pressure, they made plays. We were not able to do it. The puck was bouncing and we couldn’t control it. I’m so disappointed. » -Taylor Hall
The players obviously all seem to have the same opinion, but above all they are all frustrated. They’ll have to start finding solutions, otherwise a few heads will start rolling.
