Empty seats to greet Blackhawks in Colorado

Although Colorado is off to a red-hot start (11 victories, tied with San Jose for most in the NHL's Western Conference), plenty of good seats still remain for tonight's game against the Blackhawks (8 p.m., CSN, AM 720): The Avalanche drew a franchise-low 11,012 fans at Wednesday's game against Phoenix, and team officials are baffled by the attendance dip.

"My initial reaction is surprise, that after this unbelievable start, we've been unable to get our attendance up to where I think it should be," Paul Andrews, Kroenke Sports executive vice president, told the Denver Post.

Colorado's average of 14,759 fans through five homes games ranks 25th in the league, with only Florida, Tampa Bay, Nashville, the New York Islanders and Phoenix drawing less. As of Thursday afternoon, 4,000 tickets remained for tonight's Hawks game, Andrews said.

Get the full story at DenverPost.com.