It's Blackhawks Time

The home attendance at a recent Blackhawks game was 17,950 fannies in the seats.

No, Janet Jackson wasn't singing the National Anthem nor was Alanis Morisette singing "O Canada" for the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.

No, some hibernating Blackhawks fans just found out that they're actually winning on west Madison Avenue these days. Since Denis Savard took over head coaching duties, the team is 9-3-3, and is actually a game over .500 at the midway point in the season for the first time in a long time, 16-15-5.

Strangely enough, they're winning without the benefit of a decent power play (12.3%, good for 27th in the league), but with Nikolai Khabibulin not stealing from the 'Hawks coffers anymore, the team can actually be counted on making all the games competitive.

They even beat Marty Turco and the Dallas Stars on Tuesday 2-1, Turco being a goalie who was 11-1-1 against the Blackhawks for his career. The Stars were also 23-13-0 prior to the 'Hawks game, a team currently in front of the Blackhawks for a playoff spot.

Dale Tallon's addition of 500 goal scorer Peter Bondra has helped lift the scoring even if the 'Hawks still don't have a viable answer at Center.

But I'm certainly not the best Blackhawk analyst by any means (my forte being more hoops and baseball), so I'd like to direct your attention once again to the best Blackhawks site around -- WirtzSucks.com -- and its administrator, MrMiller, as he hands out his mid-season grades for the Blackhawks.





Click on the above banner for the jump and enjoy!