New Year's miracle -- on the ice

It's no exaggeration to think more children opened presents and found Blackhawks jerseys in December than in any month in 20 years.

Maybe 30.

And so begins a Happy New Year for Hawks fans desperate to embrace their team again.

For that, you can thank one man and one man alone: Rocky Wirtz.

"It's really unbelievable that in a football town like Chicago, we're generating such an incredible amount of interest right now,'' Wirtz said as he pondered the end of 2007 and the start of 2008. "Even when my wife goes to get her nails done, and they don't even know her last name, she walks in and they're talking about the Hawks.

"To me, that's the unofficial barometer right there. When they're talking hockey at the beauty salon, you know something special's going on.''

We're not surprised that Rocky has moved swiftly and decisively after the passing of his father, since we'd been told for years that once Rocky gained control of the franchise, things would change for the better.

What's stunning is that Rocky had the patience to stay away, knowing it was pointless to interfere with the policies of his father, Bill Wirtz, and his brother, Peter.

"The unspoken word was that dad and Peter were running it, and at the same time it allowed me to spend time on the (liquor) business,'' Rocky explained. "I wasn't putting my nose in the hockey team because the last few years, I knew -- and their body language made it pretty clear -- that they didn't welcome my opinion.

"Sitting back, I knew there'd be a time for me, and I was hoping the franchise wasn't too far gone that I couldn't bring it back.

"It certainly could have happened, and I'm not sure how close we were to losing it forever.''

From that, to Hawks fans believing Wirtz when he says he will deliver a Stanley Cup, is beyond implausible.

The shocking 60-day turnaround -- from the passing of Bill Wirtz to the hiring of John McDonough -- makes Rocky Wirtz and the Hawks the story of the New Year in Chicago sports.

Rocky road

There are challenges ahead, as Wirtz and McDonough know winning is the best way to fill the building, and at some point they'll have to make employment decisions along those lines.

Those fighting to save their jobs will continue to spin it as though the years of misery were planned en route to drafting high and going young, but this sham does not pass the smell test and their new bosses are too smart to buy it.

The previous regime produced Brent Seabrook, Dustin Byfuglien, Duncan Keith and James Wisniewski, among others, but GM Dale Tallon also drafted well and gets high marks for taking Jonathan Toews over the objections of others in his crew.

On the ice, the hockey side deals with the fallout from a December locker-room conversation in which Martin Lapointe nearly ripped the shirt off Martin Havlat.

Havlat -- the verbal instigator -- is still a very valuable offensive player when he actually plays, but Lapointe is popular in the room, the unquestioned leader of the team, and for some odd reason, the unnamed captain.

And Havlat also has more than 1½ years left at $6 million per, so the Hawks have to decide whether he's a player -- along with Robert Lang --with whom they can ultimately take the next step on a team with impressionable young players trying to play a team-first game.

In the past, complete denial of the incident would have been the only policy. How they react now will be viewed with interest.

Meanwhile, a tough part of the schedule and the trade deadline loom large.

There is constant line juggling, Byfuglien yo-yoing to offense and back, and rookie phenom Patrick Kane was sent to pad his stats with an empty net and a 2-goal lead against Nashville last week.

It's not the kid's fault. He just goes when tapped, but it raised eyebrows around the league, where teams remember such moments of vanity, and makes you wonder what message it sends young players about team vs. individual.

Still, long term on the West Side, the good far outweighs the absurd.

Bill Wirtz, Peter Wirtz and Bob Pulford are gone, Rocky Wirtz and John McDonough make for the best 1-2 punch in Chicago sports, home games are on TV, Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita are back, crowds have returned, and this is just the beginning.

Rocky will make certain that the people in place are the right ones for the job, and the days of men landing their positions merely by hanging around, or knowing the right family member, are over.

"I'm very serious that we are going to win the Stanley Cup in my business career,'' Rocky insisted. "I would not expect any fans to come back if they didn't know we had that kind of commitment.

"The unconditional message from the top is we're going for that. Then, you have to make sure people sign on to that from the top, all the way down to the last guy, and then you have a pretty powerful organization.''

The family

It is just three years to the 50th anniversary of the last Stanley Cup in Chicago.

But it is also only three months since the passing of Bill Wirtz, something Rocky Wirtz hasn't had much time to ponder in the whirlwind that's been his brief ownership of the Hawks.

"It hasn't hit yet,'' Rocky said. "September 26 seems like yesterday, but there's been no time to mourn. I imagine it will hit me in time, but the business needed immediate attention, and what had to be done here, had to be done yesterday.''

With apologies to Fredo and Michael Corleone, Rocky Wirtz quickly took sides against the family.

"I absolutely meant no disrespect toward my father, because regardless of what people said, my father was a businessman and a good one,'' Rocky said. "He would understand this: put business first.

"I think on a lot of these things, like home TV, he just got himself in a position where he left himself no out, and the deeper he dug, the worse it got.

"He had nowhere to go, and nothing anyone was going to tell him was going to change that.

"So now, we start from scratch. The fans, despite my last name, have allowed me this chance, and we begin with no grudges and no sacred cows.''

Though Peter had spent years with the team, Bill Wirtz knew Rocky was the man for the job. And while his dad might be turning over in his grave, Rocky has brought back a franchise from the brink of extinction.

"I'll tell you something funny that no one knows: We're going to start running out of jerseys any day now,'' Wirtz laughed. "Reebok can't make them fast enough and we won't make it to March.

"It's a nice problem to have, but I can promise you next year we'll have enough.

"You'll never hear anyone from Judge and Dolph say we sell from an empty wagon, so if we can manage a wholesale liquor business, I think we can manage jerseys.''

Good thing, too, because holiday shopping season is only 10 months away.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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