The Blackhawks continued their resurgence into existence in Chicago with a 6-1 spelunking of the Phoenix Coyotes Friday night, leaving coach Wayne Gretzky checking his watch and looking for all the world like he realized he forgot to lock the AmEx Black away before the road trip. Dustin Byfuglien (pronounced "AWE-sum") scored three goals before the ice was even scuffed in front of Nikolai Khabibulin's net.

Byfuglien, a defenseman, is so obscure that most sports sites don't have a head shot for the 2003 eighth round pick.

It's another mile post on the road to recovery for a franchise teetering on the edge of insignificance for nearly fifteen years, thanks to an ancient sports business approach provided by an ancient legacy hire, William Wirtz. Scion of the real estate mogul Arthur Wirtz, he took over the family business and made it wildly more profitable than ever before in every arena it entered (liquor distributorship, real estate, banking, insurance) except the NHL.

"Dollar Bill" Wirtz never seemed to apply basic notions of investment he insisted upon in his other business dealings to the Blackhawks, instead running the business underground by hiding home games from television and divesting almost all investment in players and marketing. Wirtz carried these old school mantras about sports business (damned players make too much, television is robbing us of ticket money, candle power was lighting the games just fine, and the players learned to skate around the wax, etc.) to his grave.

This left most Chicagoans believing the only hockey team in town was the AHL Chicago Wolves. The Wolves packaged themselves well, priced tickets reasonably, and put a quality product on the ice. They weren't brilliant, by any means; they just looked like it next to their NHL counterpart.

Since the passing of Bill Wirtz a few months ago, Rocky Wirtz took over the team from its caretaker (and his younger brother), Peter Wirtz. Existing hires from Pop's time were promoted out of danger; Peter's hires were undoubtedly put on notice at the same time.

The young talent the 'Hawks had been gathering over the last few years were just starting to emerge as well, but no one would have known without an actual marketing campaign and the ability to see these young men excel. For example, a few Chicagoans Saturday morning might recognize Dustin Byfuglien, the 6'5" behemoth with the natural hat trick, because Friday night's home game was on local cable.

Rocky Wirtz has been championed for these moves and others, including stealing the president of the Chicago Cubs (John McDonough) during the Cubs' long transition into new ownership. Still, he's only taken the first few obvious steps that any minor-league hockey team in town would take.

His future prowess as a businessman and sports team owner are still to be determined as he works to win over the eight-year-olds in 2007 that will become the base of the returning Chicago Blackhawks fans. Capturing the next ten years' worth of eight-year-olds will finally allow the team to recover from the damage done by dear old Dad.