Conference III Championship Belt Tale of The Tape: Chicago at Nashville, 6 December 2014

by J.R.

Tonight, Chicago rolls into Nashville for its first defense of the Conference III Belt of the 2014-15 season — and Nashville gets its first shot at the strap in the new campaign. The Hawks and Preds met for the Belt three times last season, with Nashville winning twice.

The Challenger: Nashville!

The Champion: Chicago!

The Belt!

Nashville Predators		Chicago Blackhawks
17-6-2	Record	17-8-1
7-3-0	Last 10	8-2-0
Peter “Giddy Up And Go” Laviolette	Coach	Joel “The Thrill” Quenneville
69	Goals For	82
51	Goals Against	52
“Prince” Filip Forsberg (25)	Points Leader	Patrick “Mr Patty Kane” Kane (26)
Forsberg (11)	Goals Leader	Kane (12)
Pekka “The Eraser” Rinne	Goaltender	Scott “Oh My” Darling or Antii “Faantastic” Raanta
Eric “Not Nys” Nystrom	Threero	Bryan “Bingo” Bickell and Michal “Big Rozie” Rozsival
Forsberg	Rookie To Watch	Klas “The Klaw” Dahlbeck
6’1″	Average Height	6’1″
200	Average Weight	191
3	Title Belts Won	4
3-3 as Challenger, 1-3 as Champion	Record In Belt Matches	4-3 as Champion, 4-3 as Challenger

It’s a 6 PM start on a Saturday in Nashville. I’m sure there’s an official reason for it, but the probable actual reason is that that’s one less hour the Red Horde can pound beers on Lower Broad and make a mess of themselves.

In any event, this one is not just for the Belt, but the battle between two of the NHL’s hottest teams is for the Conference III lead, coming at an intriguing time in Nashville’s schedule, the Preds having played St. Louis Thursday (and boasting a gaudy 11-1-1 home record). Chicago played Friday against Montreal, so come in with a little bit of the back-to-back drags.

A successful defense by Chicago would mean the next Belt match would come Dec. 16 against Minnesota, who held the strap for the first six weeks or so of the season. If Nashville wins the challenge, the Preds will defend Tuesday in Colorado.