Patrick Roy...deep in conversation
This year, there are countless off the ice potential jinxes for the Chicago Blackhawks. Sports Illustated, Barry Melrose, and countless other publications and experts have picked the Hawks to win the Cup. Patrick Kane is on the cover of EA Sports' NHL10 video game. If that's not enough, the opening sequence of the game shows Jonathan Toews hoisting the Stanley Cup. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that for the first time.
We've all heard of the Madden curse. In 2006, Donovan McNabb was on the cover. He suffered a sports hernia. In 2007, Shaun Alexander made the cover. He broke his foot and missed 6 games. Vince Young was the victim in 2008, when he suffered the first injury of his football playing career, and his career has fallen apart since. How about football's iron man Brett Favre in 2009? Favre played the entire season, but the Jets collapsed late in the season, and many blamed Favre's gimpy arm.
Does the curse translate to the NHL? Let's take a look. In 2006, Vincent Lacavalier graced the cover of NHL06. He enjoyed a solid season of 75 points, and the Lightning finished with 92 points. Alexander Ovechkin was the cover boy in 2007. He finished the season with a very solid 92 points, but that was the lowest total of his career. How about 2008? Eric Staal enjoyed your average "Staal-ian" season, notching 82 points. Dion Phaneuf made the cover in 2009. As we all know, his Flames were eliminated in the first round by the Blackhawks. His -11 regular season rating marked the only time in his career he finished with a minus rating. That's as bad as it's been in recent memory.
It doesn't look like Patrick Kane has much to worry about. For the most part, the players on the cover have enjoyed pretty standard and healthy seasons. If the first two games of the season are any indication, he might be on his way to destroying the notion of an NHL curse all together...knock on wood of course.
Jay Zawaski is the Executive Producer of the Danny Mac Show (M-F 9am-1pm) on WSCR, 670 the Score.
Does the curse translate to the NHL? Let's take a look. In 2006, Vincent Lacavalier graced the cover of NHL06. He enjoyed a solid season of 75 points, and the Lightning finished with 92 points. Alexander Ovechkin was the cover boy in 2007. He finished the season with a very solid 92 points, but that was the lowest total of his career. How about 2008? Eric Staal enjoyed your average "Staal-ian" season, notching 82 points. Dion Phaneuf made the cover in 2009. As we all know, his Flames were eliminated in the first round by the Blackhawks. His -11 regular season rating marked the only time in his career he finished with a minus rating. That's as bad as it's been in recent memory.
It doesn't look like Patrick Kane has much to worry about. For the most part, the players on the cover have enjoyed pretty standard and healthy seasons. If the first two games of the season are any indication, he might be on his way to destroying the notion of an NHL curse all together...knock on wood of course.
Jay Zawaski is the Executive Producer of the Danny Mac Show (M-F 9am-1pm) on WSCR, 670 the Score.
1 Comment
Patrick Boylan said:
Before writing for ChicagoNow, I wrote about the EA curse for ChiTownDailyNews. I found an excellent multimedia explanation of it here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0704/gallery.nhl.ea.sports.curse/content.1.html
I say trade Kane now (then hang up the phone). :)
Leave a Comment?
What your comment will look like:
said: