> I don't know about the rest of you, but if BU tv (fox sports) can't
> produce what they say, dump them on their terrier loving a##es!  How can
> they tape delay a championship game!  Don't double book!

I do not blame Fox Sports New England, but rather I blame Hockey East.

FSNE has a contract with the Boston Celtics, a pro basketball team that
probably brings in a huge amount of revenue for FSNE.  That is their first
priority, and it should be in a business sense.  While we all love college
hockey, we also must understand that it doesn't generate enough revenue on
its own.

Also, do you remember the days when NESN used to cover games (are you ready
for this?) ALL SEASON long?  Yes, I know that is a foreign concept now.  The
casual Hockey East fan might think the season starts in January.  But again,
FSNE is using Hockey East to fill in a gap AFTER college football is over
and between college basketball and Celtics basketball.  They do not view
Hockey East as a very valuable commodity (IMHO).

So the problem lies with Hockey East.  They are the ones who have negotiated
the contract and have allowed their league to be relegated (television-wise)
to a third-rate promotion.  Fans do not get to see games for the first 3+
months of the season (unless local channels cover games, which fortunately
for Central/Northern Maine WABI does).  They allow FSNE to bump the crown
jewel of your conference, the conference tournament, to tape delay for one
of two semifinals and the championship game.

But even better.. FSNE was given exclusivity (the way I understand it).  So
this is why you don't see any WABI games during FSNE nights (Saturday or
Sunday afternoon in the second-half of the year) and why even if a local
station wanted to produce a Hockey East Tournament game they would be...
SOL.  Hockey East needs to have some backbone here.  If FSNE doesn't want to
work with HE, only "fit them in", then HE needs to be able to look elsewhere
for additional television.

And if you can't televise the title game, why bother picking up the
contract?

FSNE is not doing anything wrong in the sense that they are a business and
need to make money.  Hockey East as a conference has grown into one of, if
not the best, conference in the country.  To keep that going they need to do
a better job with their television package.  This is a sham that the
conference championship game is not on live television, and I hope that Joe
Bertagna and company learn from this and make sure in future years that this
does not happen again.  It is no good for the conference, no good for the
teams and no good for the fans.

-Deron