Hawks enjoying their very own Age of Enlightenment

Forgive defenseman Brent Seabrook if he feels he's entered some sort of bizzarro Blackhawks world.

Because he has.

"It's weird actually; Sunday after the game (a win over Detroit) I got home and went to bed and woke up the next day and had no idea what to do with myself," Seabrook said. "Usually I'd be packed up and going out with the fellas and planning my summer."

Not this year.

This time Seabrook and the fellas qualified for the fourth spot in the Western Conference and made the franchise's first playoff appearance in seven years Thursday against Calgary.

"It's been a lot of fun this year, a new experience," Seabrook said. "I've wanted to play in a playoff game since my first year in Chicago."

That would be 2005, also known as the middle of the dark ages around the franchise, where home crowds under 10,000 and season records under .500 were the norm.

Former Blackhawks and current Calgary Flames Rene Bourque and Jim Vandermeer remembers those days all too well.

"It was tough to play in ... nobody liked playing here, as far as other teams coming in," said Bourque. "There was no atmosphere. I went through it for two-and-a-half years. Now, as you see, it's one of the best places to play. It's amazing."

"You go into other rinks and there's 17-, 18-, 19,000 people. It's a little more difficult (when no one's watching)," Vandermeer said. "It seemed like the emotion in the building was not there."

Now, to a man, including former Hawks coach Mike Keenan, the Flames can't wait to get a taste of playoff fever at the United Center.

"It's good to see the building alive again," Keenan said. "(Flames GM) Darryl Sutter and I went through that transition when we came here as (Hawks) coaches - the transition from a small fan base to a lot of playoff games, full houses and a lot of fun."

Their former teammates are especially happy for young Hawks veterans such as Seabrook and his blue-line partner Duncan Keith, who weathered some rough years.

"The guys that have been here for a while - Seabs and Duncs," Bourque said, "for them to still be there and to see that is good because they deserve it."