Full Court Press

And, the Hawks still remain the last NHL team to lose the 7th Game of the Stanley Cup finals at home. (1971) 3 third-period goals by Montreal did them in -- a 3-2 loss...and I still have not forgotten.....

I hate to be cynical but I am of the opinion that until Bill Wirtz & the Illustrious Pulford are completely & I mean completely out of the picture, there will be no meaningful progress w/ the Hawks. I'm even beginning to have serious doubts about Peter Wirtz too....I fear being around his father's hairbrained, no class management style has given him a warped view of how things should be done in order to be successful.

Yeah, it was tough watching the last period of game 7 of the Stanley Cup, which is the greatest trophy in all sports.

Hockey is great, if played right. And nothing beats a game 7, especially in the NHL.

Dollar Bill has killed hockey in Chicago. He needs to sell the team ... NOW!!!

i can remember when hawks tickets were the hardest ticket to get in town. yet dad would scrounge and come up with a pair every year. there has been nothing special on the ice in chi-town since savard. and they diddn't put anything else with him then ! next year will be better. when daze, ruttu, are healthy. and we have better " company man " type announcers all will be right in hawkdom again! sound familar ? and lets start a grassroots push to get dale tallon that contract extenstion he so richly deserves. denzer

As a former Blackhawk season ticket holder now living in the Southwest I still can't believe what has happened to this once proud franchise. I'll echo previous comments, as long as the Wirtz/Pulford cabal runs this team they'll always be a piece of crap. The Wirtz's should be the poster family for the estate tax! Force them to sell and Chicago might eventually have a shot at hoisting the Cup. What was even more depressing about watching last night's game was the realization that under current ownership we'll never be able to see the Hawks on that national stage...a sad fact for Blackhawks fans.

I still burn with anger when I think about how Wirtz'a old man and his partner Jack "Goldfinger" Norris wouldn't televise a long sold out home ice Game 7 of the 71 Stanley Cup Final. No cable in those days, so Wirtz sold the "closed circuit" TV rights to a few choice movie houses in Chicago willing to be blackmailed. My dad and I had to drive to Winnetka to pick the game up from a Milwaukee TV station.

This franchsise has done nothing to suggest it is no longer the worst franchise in professional sports: http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/story?page=FranchiseBlackhawks

Check out Bill Wirtz' wikipedia entry and laugh at the understatement:
Wirtz (AKA "Dollar Bill") has a reputation for stubbornness and frugality.

Overall, it is estimated that Wirtz's holdings are worth about US$ 3-4 billion.

Oh, and has anyone mentioned 1961 yet? This is an awful franchise with little hockey sense. And it's a real shame because the NHL put on an excellent season, and fantastic playoffs. Bummer Chicago couldn't be a part of it this year, and likely won't be a part of it any time soon.

That was another great Stanley Cup and antoher terrible NHL season in Chicago. We might as well not have a team anymore. Perhaps we should be like NYC and have a second team, after all, The Hawks don't have that many devoted fans anymore.

Things haven't exactly come up roses here in St. Louis either. I remember when a Blues/Black Hawks ticket on Satruday night was well, you know. In watching the NHL finals this year I couldn't believe how many ex-Blues were playing for other teams. Both of our franchises have been horribly run. Huge mistakes made. We will soon have a new ownership group in place in St. Louis but it'll be years before we return to the glory days. And, it doesn't look like an ownership change is anywhere over the horizon in Chicago. That's sad.

i moved to nashville recently for music and am finding little reason to remain a blackhawks fan. the preds have a nice little franchise down here even if home games are a bit cheesy. years of failure and futility with the wirtz family and i'm almost ready to abandon one of my all-time favorite teams. sad, isn't it?

Thanks, Wirtz-ford, for making the Blackhawks the laughing stock of the professional sports workd (to the extent any attention is even paid to this sad sack of an operation). Until both of those clowns go, the Hawks will be condemned to being also rans at best and doormats at worst (the present situation).

2006 was the year the Blackhawks ownership had a chance to show what they were made of...They had 2 years to think about players that would fit nicely into a new set of rule changes...This last year is all on the coaches and management...The teams that played the best and went the farthest in the playoffs, were the teams that players who adapted to the new rules...The Blackhawks coaches didn't do their job of TEACHING...The Hawks looked "lost" most of the season...I agree that the players must play...But 2006 was the year that coaches (and management) could show their creativity while aligning their players to a new set of rules...I think back to what Herbie Brooks did in the '81 Olympics...He "created" a system that his players hooked into...Every team started with a clean slate in 2006...I want to give the Hawks Management/Coaches the benefit of the doubt and hopefully 2006 was a learning year...To Mark Z...Yea I remember that series "BUDDY"...To the Former Hawk fans that moved and are dissing the Hawks...Thanks for sharing and don't let the Zamboni hit ya on yer way out.

Even though the cubs suck the Hawks suck more!Im surprised that the media hasnt picked up on that.

PULFORD HAS TO GO, EVER SINCE JOIN THE BLACKHAWKS, THE TEAM HAS SPIRAL DOWNWARDS FROM WINNERS TO LOSERS, HE NEEDS TO GO BACK TO THE MAPLELEAFS.
TALLON NEEDS TO GET 2 BIG MOBIL CENTERS TO CLEAR OUT FRONT OF NET AND DUMP IN REBOUNDS. 2 GOOD POINTMEN TO RUN THE POWER PLAYS AND 3 GOOD FACEOFF MEN TO WIN THE FACE OFFS.

its good to see the hawks honor their past legends. it bought back many memories i have from watching mr hull and makita. i was a advid watcher of the hawks during the seventies. so many great players from the mph line, to tony-o, to loyld petitt. no one could call a hockey fight like mr petitt on the radio. i still can hear mr petiit call that bobby hull overtime goal in the playoffs against new york at the chicago stadium.i hope to see more players from the hawks past get their due also. players like larmer, savard, d.hull, espo,martin,pappin.