Kukla's Korner Hockey
Entries with the tag: rocky+wirtz
Blackhawks GM Tallon Under the Gun
by Alanah McGinley on 10/17/08 at 12:37 PM ET
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From Chris Kuc at the Chicago Tribune:
With the hiring of Joel Quenneville as Savard’s replacement, some of the focus of the rest of the management team, consisting of Wirtz, McDonough and senior adviser Scotty Bowman, likely will shift to Tallon.
“I can handle it,” Tallon said of the scrutiny. “That’s what we’re in this business for. As John has said, this is a big boys table, a big boys club. We’re here to win. I’m going to give it my all.”
The Hawks have made three coaching changes since Tallon was named the eighth general manager in team history June 21, 2005. Tallon’s first act was to let coach Brian Sutter go. His replacement, Trent Yawney, was dumped Nov. 27, 2006.
Update 1:36pm ET: Blackhawks press release on new additions to coaching staff --
The Chicago Blackhawks announced today the addition of Marc Bergevin as an assistant coach on Joel Quenneville’s staff. Bergevin, 43, is currently in his third season in the Blackhawks front office, having previous served on the scouting staff, which includes his most recent stint as the director of professional scouting. The Montreal native joins John Torchetti, Mike Haviland and goaltending coach Stephane Waite as the fourth member on Quenneville’s staff.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Chicago Blackhawks | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: dale+tallon, denis+savard, joel+quenneville, rocky+wirtz,
Returning the ‘Hawks to Their Heyday
by Alanah McGinley on 05/27/08 at 12:42 PM ET
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From Ben Klayman at Reuters,
However, many thought Wirtz’s coup was the late November hiring of John McDonough, president of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, to the same position with the Blackhawks.
“We need to take that beautiful arena and we need to bring back the roar and fill that building every night,” McDonough, 54, said. “Expectations are sky high.”
He moved quickly to repair relations with alienated former Blackhawks stars still beloved by fans, hiring Hall-of-Famers Hull, Mikita and Tony Esposito as ambassadors.
“It was embarrassing for a while there. Things were looking real dismal,” said former star goalie Esposito, 65, who was the face of the franchise in the 1970s. He said the club is now being run like it was in its heyday.
more... *a detailed look at the evolution of the Blackhawks franchise
As I’ve written in the past, the changes in Chicago represent one of my favorite NHL stories this season. A remarkable turnaround in effect there.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Chicago Blackhawks | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: john+mcdonough, rocky+wirtz,
Rocky on the Radio
by Alanah McGinley on 12/06/07 at 02:27 PM ET
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Chicago Blackhawks Chairman Rocky Wirtz will be a guest on today’s edition of NHL Hour hosted by National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman on XM Satellite Radio.
Broadcast can be heard live online here, but not till the program is on the air.
NHL Hour broadcasts live Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET on NHL Home Ice, (XM channel 204) and NHL.com. The show will re-run on XM Satellite Radio and NHL.com, with archived shows available for download via a podcast on NHL.com.
update 4:07pm, Rocky Wirtz had to re-schedule for next week. Mark Messier and Stephen Walkom wll be on the show today.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Chicago Blackhawks | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: chicago+blackhawks, media, rocky+wirtz,
Business Is Business
by Paul on 11/24/07 at 01:19 PM ET
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from the Chicago Tribune (Sunday edition),
“After Dad’s passing, I realized the Hawks have lost money, but I was surprised they had lost as much as they had,” Wirtz said. “I knew we had to start doing something right away.”
If his philosophy could be boiled down to one cliché, it is this: You have to spend money to make money. But as clear as Wirtz is about this basic theory, it is at the perplexing crux of how he differs from his father.
“Dad believed that in our other businesses, and then the money we make, we put right back into the organization,” Wirtz said. “He just didn’t execute it [with the Hawks], and I don’t know why.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Chicago Blackhawks | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: chicago+blackhawks, Rocky+Wirtz,
Free TV
by Paul on 11/06/07 at 07:32 AM ET
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from Kevin Kaduk of the Northwest Herald,
It didn’t take long Monday for Rocky Wirtz to answer the questions many of us have been wanting to ask for about, oh, the past two decades or so.
At any point, did he ever set dear old Dad down for a talk about TV and its magical ability to provide a free three-hour commercial for his product, Chicago Blackhawks hockey?
And did he ever try to argue against the archaic notion that televising home games would hurt the turnstile count?
He had to have said something, right?
“Absolutely,” Wirtz said of his father, Bill, who died in September. “And it usually started and stopped about there.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Chicago Blackhawks | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: chicago+blackhawks, media, rocky+wirtz,
Blackhawks Confirm First Televised Home Game
by Alanah McGinley on 10/29/07 at 03:15 PM ET
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From the Chicago Blackhawks,
The Chicago Blackhawks and Comcast SportsNet have announced that Comcast SportsNet will televise their first home game of the season on Sunday, November 11 when the Blackhawks play host to the archrival Detroit Red Wings at 6:00 p.m.
The November 11 game will be the first in a series of home games to be broadcast live and in high-definition on Comcast SportsNet. The full schedule will be released next week with additional home games airing throughout the remainder of the 2007-2008 season.
“It’s time to share the energy and excitement of the Blackhawks with all of our fans,” said Blackhawks Chairman W. Rockwell “Rocky” Wirtz. “We are entering a new era and putting home games back on TV is the first step to supporting our great players and fans.”
*Previously mentioned last week, but only confirmed by the ‘Hawks today
Filed in: NHL Teams, Chicago Blackhawks, NHL Media, Hockey Broadcasting | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: chicago+blackhawks, media, rocky+wirtz,
Rocky Bringing the ‘Hawks into the 21st Century
by Alanah McGinley on 10/23/07 at 01:15 AM ET
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From Jay Mariotti at the Chicago Sun-Times,
I’ll never forget the hilarious day when Jim DeMaria, public relations boss of the least publicly relatable sports team I’ve known, tried to censor me with an ultimatum. If I wanted to cover a Blackhawks home game, I had to agree not to mention the forbidden words: No home TV.
Naturally, in either the first or second paragraph of my live column from the United Center, I wondered why the Hawks were the only franchise in the civilized world not to televise home games. It was such a gross miscalculation of the needs of 21st-century fans, the edict literally swallowed up what once was the crackling pride of every Chicago winter. Long before Michael Jordan, the Hawks owned the West Side, but as long as Bill Wirtz was lowballing his star players and making illogical decisions about TV marketing, they were doomed to plunge further in popularity and impact than any team in American sports.
Well, in the wee hours of a September morning, Mr. Wirtz passed away. And not a month later, in a Monday memo that melted the ice beneath the feet of the few local hockey fans that remain, his son moved quickly to rectify a decades-old blunder.
continued...
*Original press release from the Blackhawks about televising home games in the future is noted here.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Chicago Blackhawks, NHL Media | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: chicago+blackhawks, rocky+wirtz,
Change Is Good In Chicago
by Paul on 10/16/07 at 06:39 PM ET
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from the Chicago Daily-Herald,
It’s the question most Hawks fans are asking: Is the team going to be run differently with Rocky Wirtz in the big chair?
The answer is… it sure seems that way.
The fact that Rocky Wirtz recognized Pulford’s presence in the United Center gave the perception to the outside world that he was still making all the decisions was a critical moment in the recent history of the franchise.
According to a source close to Rocky Wirtz, physically removing Pulford from the building and moving his office across town was a symbolic move made to show Hawks fans that change is coming.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Chicago Blackhawks | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: chicago+blackhawks, rocky+wirtz,
