Blackhawks Chair Rocky Wirtz said that the team is "still trying to become profitable" despite four deep postseason runs in the past six years, highlighted by three Stanley Cup Final appearances and two championships, according to Jared Clinton of THE HOCKEY NEWS. While the six-year run of success the club is currently enjoying is "outstanding and helping to turn things around from a business perspective, the damage done by a decade of poor on-ice performance and lack of fan support" still has the Blackhawks "trying to turn a profit." Wirtz on Wednesday night prior to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final said that the club is "starting to become close to profitable and they were, 'closing the gap.'" Clinton noted much of the "failure to turn a profit stems from years past, including the dark period" of the mid-'90s to mid-'00s. Wirtz during the '12-13 season said that he "didn’t see why the team couldn’t be profitable" by '15-16. With this season’s berth in the Final and the possibility of the Blackhawks capturing their third Stanley Cup in six years, it "doesn’t seem like Wirtz will be too far off with his estimation" (THEHOCKEYNEWS.com, 6/4).
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: Wirtz on Wednesday also said that he "would like to build a hockey training facility to be used by the organization and the public within one year." ESPN CHICAGO's Scott Powers noted Wirtz and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in January first "spoke publicly" about the Blackhawks building a $50M, 105,000-square-foot two-rink training facility near the United Center. Wirtz on Wednesday said that he "hasn’t had discussions with Emanuel about the facility since the mayor was re-elected in early April, but he intends to go ahead with the plans." Wirtz: "I’d like to do (the facility) within a year. The trouble is we have the money allocated, so if we could work within the next year, I think it would be exciting." He added that the youth hockey component is "essential to the new facility." Wirtz said, "It's something that we, as an organization, can really promote. So we're talking about building an indoor arena with two ice surfaces. Ninety-five percent would be for the community" (ESPNCHICAGO.com, 6/4).
