The Chicago Blackhawks literally rolled out the red carpet last night for the 2008-2009 home opener. Madison was shut down so the Jonas Bros. of the NHL—Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane—could climb from limos and stroll before an anxious puckarazzi, starving for a reason to cheer for this once proud and successful franchise. Frankly, as a Notre Dame fan, I’m a little wary of any teenage athlete stepping out from a stretch limo before he’s won anything. Well, Kane did win rookie of the year, but, wrinkled and mis-fitted, it did seem as if he’d never before worn a suit. Still, the fans line up to see Kane nervously teeth his mouthpiece and weave through defenders, not strut in Italian tailoring.

Having been to the last four home openers, it was stunning and satisfying to see a capacity crowd (nearly 22,000) at the United Center. Attendance has slowly crept up, and nobody was complaining that those $10 cheap seats quickly jumped to $15, and now $20. OK, so a drunk guy in the luxury box behind me kept yelling "GO ‘TOES’" (mispronouncing the name of the team’s budding star), but I’m going to chalk that up to intentional white-drunk-douchebag irony. Area excitement for a Blackhawks team has not been higher in a decade. And, frankly, you have to give credit to (admittedly brilliant) marketing. Games are back on TV, and new team president John McDonough brought a little of his Cubs savvy to the mix with a preseason fan convention. Sure, the team finished six games over .500 last season in the brutal Western Conference, and owned its rivals—the Stanley Cup-winning Red Wings—but realistically this team is not quite ready to contend as last night’s 3-2 loss showed.

The roster is mind-bogglingly young (to this 30-something fan, at least); the bulk of the team can’t rent a car on their own. But after a long, dark era of depressing dump-and-chase hockey, this Blackhawks team can skate and (theoretically) move the puck. Unfortunately, it’s not quite happening yet. New defensiveman Brian "Soupy" Campbell thrilled the crowd with a nifty 360 in the third, and both Toews and Kane quickly squirted through the Predators defense for shots on goal a couple times, but the Hawks continued to struggle in the neutral zone. Time after time, the Hawks D would send the puck up to the left wing, only to see a mis-handled or all-together missed pass. Savard has fiddled with the lines in the off-season, so I’m going to chalk that up to some raw chemistry. More troubling was the situation in goal.

The Hawks retained goalie Nikolai "The Bulin Wall" Khabibulin (letting the strong, cheap Patrick Lalime skate away to the Sabres) and picked up Cristobal "The Crystal Wall" Huet. Now, I loved Huet with the Caps last year. His 1.63 GAA easily beat any Hawks netminder, and he has one of the most enjoyable names to roll off the tongue (always a key in hockey). However, he’s been a little shaky in his first two starts for the Hawks. Playing sloppy, Huet seemed at times to be made of cheap plywood—pucks rebounded off his body with alarming velocity. Against a better team than the Preds, several of those would have been converted to possible goals. And, of course, he was awful in the brief game-losing shoot-out. The team looked formidable in the second period—playing more aggressively with the forecheck. But overall, I got the nagging sense that this could be another "wait ’til next year" season unless the lines gel and the guys start getting more physical. And let’s not take that "One Goal" slogan too literally, okay, guys?

That being said, the Hawks are still the best sports experience in town. Yes, Cubs fans, deal with it. In no other sport does the spectator get such proximity to brutality, speed and grace. On top of that, you have the best unis in the game (perhaps in all of sport) and a fight song that’s part "Speed Racer" and part early Beatles. What other sport offers a dude named Tootoo wearing number 22? It’s fascinating to see tween girls swoon over local athletes and finally hear the south end of the United Center ignite in a thundering cheer of nearly 30,000 people. Take the bus and see this team. The bandwagon has already left the station. Now all we need is a win.