Last year, I bought tickets to four Blackhawk playoff games. I attended three of those games and sold the fourth to a friend. It was great. This year, I will be buying tickets to ZERO Blackhawk playoff games, and that has nothing to do with the team's recent on-ice slump.

You see, the Blackhawks are not having any presale for those of us who are partial season-ticket holders this year. I was able to get pretty decent seats for last year's playoffs because the team made tickets available to us, their most loyal customers, before putting them on sale to the general public. That's the right way to do it.

No such luck this time around. Playoff tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. tomorrow. So, if I want tickets, I have to log on to Ticketmaster and fight with the ticket brokers, the bandwagon fans --  the Cellphone Chads and the Tubetop Trixies -- along with all the other true Blackhawk fans who have partial season tickets and have been left out to dry this year. No, thanks. I think I'll pass.

This is all very disappointing. Worst of all, I've yet to hear any explanation from my Blackhawks ticket representative. The Blackhawks communication on this matter has been absolute zero. At the very least, I feel I deserve to get an e-mail explaining why there is no presale this year. That hasn't happened. Instead, I had to call them. Naturally, my ticket rep is out of the office until tomorrow. Great.

Even though I'm pleased with the Blackhawks on-ice product, this makes me reluctant to renew my ticket plan for next year. If I'm going to be treated like just another bum on the street come playoff time, why should I make an investment in the Blackhawks organization by purchasing a ticket plan?

That's a question I intend to ask my ticket rep, if he bothers to call me back.