Just a another sign that the resurgent Chicago Blackhawks are proving a hit with television audiences this season. Thursday night's away game against the San Jose Sharks, which started at 9:30 p.m. Chicago time, scored a 3.60 overnight Nieslen rating on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. That wasn't a record rating for the Blackhawks this year, but it sure beat by a wide margin the rating for a similar Blackhawks vs. Sharks game televised on Jan. 31, 2009, that also began at 9:30 p.m. Chicago time.

The game a year ago managed a measly 0.78 rating. In other words, in a year's time, the TV ratings for a Blackhawks game -- televised at a very late hour for many Chicagoans -- have increased a whopping 361 percent. As we've said before, it helps, of course, that the Blackhawks are a dominant force in the NHL this season, and it also helps that the team the Blackhawks faced Thursday night was the Sharks, who could be a serious contender for the Stanley Cup this year along with the Blackhawks.