lt turns out that great shot of the Chicago Blackhawks was a regional cover for Sports Illustrated this week. It went out to 66 percent of the country.

The other cover was a vintage photo of Patrick Ewing at Georgetown, noting the end of the current version of the Big East in basketball.

It got me thinking: When was the last time Sports Illustrated had a coast-to-coast, national cover for hockey?

The answer: More than three years.

You have to go back to March 8, 2010 when Sports Illustrated featured Sidney Crosby and Canada winning the gold over the U.S. in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Since then, Sports Illustrated has run five regional hockey covers. Prior to this week’s issue, the previous one was last April, featuring New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lindqvist in a playoffs preview. I didn’t see that cover in Chicago. We received Bubba Watson winning the Masters.

Among the other regional covers were the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup in 2010, and the Boston Bruins in 2011. Sorry, Los Angeles Kings, but you didn’t merit any cover treatment for capturing last year’s Cup.

When I asked about the cover situation, SI spokesman Scott Novak said, “Hockey is deeply woven in the DNA of Sports Illustrated.”

Indeed, hockey isn’t likely to get slighted with the new administration at Sports Illustrated. Paul Fitchenbaum, the head of SI’s entire sports group, served as the magazine’s hockey editor for many years. Chris Stone, the new managing editor, once wrote the Inside the NHL column.

That doesn’t guarantee that hockey will be featured on more covers. And it would be easy to knock SI for not featuring hockey more in its most prime position. Hockey was routinely on SI’s cover during the first 30 years of the magazine.

However, it’s a new era. At the end of the day, it also is incumbent on the NHL and hockey to produce stars and deliver stories worthy of SI cover treatment. The Blackhawks story clearly is a start in the right direction. Hopefully, there will be more.