Hawks home games on TV?!

You can't say new Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz isn't a man of action.

Generations of Hawks fans always have known two things to be certain about their team: the omnipresence of Bob Pulford and the fact that home games weren't televised.

Well, the times they are a changing.

First, Pulford was moved from his position as senior vice president of the hockey club to a position with the Wirtz food-service company.

Now comes the most shocking news of all: the Blackhawks are in negotiations with Comcast SportsNet to televise some of their home games this season.

The Hawks released a statement Monday afternoon announcing that "representatives of the Chicago Blackhawks met with Comcast SportsNet executives (Monday) to begin discussions about televising some home games this hockey season."

But …

"It's important to understand that Comcast SportsNet's current schedule was developed well over a year ago, so fitting the Blackhawks into that schedule cannot be done overnight."

For his part, Comcast SportsNet president James J. Corno is thrilled over the prospect of airing games from the UC.

"Yes, I'm excited to confirm the Blackhawks and Comcast SportsNet are moving forward with the concept of airing some Blackhawk home games on our network this season," Corno said in a statement. "We are happy to be taking this next step to showcase this very exciting and talented young team to our viewers from the United Center in HDTV.

"As we are currently in the preliminary stages, exact details of which games will air on our network should be determined in the very near future, and an official announcement will occur at that time."

Perhaps the part of the Hawks' statement that will most warm the cockles of long-suffering fans is the statement concerning the organization's change in philosophy regarding home games on TV:

"We are convinced that it is the appropriate next step to re-energize Chicago hockey fans and create new fans. We are also working on a long-term strategy for televising additional home games in the future."