(the following appeared in the March 26 BDN Sounding Off Column)
 
MORE WORK REMAINS FOR HOCKEY EAST
 
Hockey East is at a critical time in its existence.
 
The 13-year-old leage has already addressed one of the two major issues
facing it by naming Joe Bertagna, the commissioner of ECAC hockey
operations, to be the new commissioner.
 
The next issue is to acquire a television contract to replace the one with
the New England Sports Network (NESN), which just ended.
 
Bertagna is a good fit for the league because he has an extensive hockey
background and knows all of the coaches through his work as executive
director of the American Hockey Coaches Association.
 
The league has made some significant strides in recent years.
 
Keeping the league quarterfinal series a best-of-three affair for the second
consecutive year is a positive development.  This ensures the best chance of
getting the top four teams to the FleetCenter in Boston and this also
supplies extra revenue.  It should stay as is.
 
The FleetCenter has been a good site for the tourney, which drew a tad over
19,000 for the two sessions this year.
 
As for the TV contract, John Claiborne, the president and general manager of
NESN, said his station would be very interested in carrying Hockey East
games again if the league pays the expenses, which can range up to $15,000
per game.  The league could help pay for the expenses through advertising
revenue.
 
NESN had been losing too much money by footing the bill itself and that
resulted in the termination of the deal.
 
Having a TV deal is essential.
 
It gives the league terrific exposure and that exposure has helped the
recruiting immeasurably.
 
Hopefully, Hockey East can land a Game-of-the-Wekk deal with ESPN, ESPN2 or
SportsChannel.  But there has always been a reluctance to televise college
hockey because of the cost and low ratings.
 
Still, with such diverse sports programming available now (i.e. pool, rodeo,
mostalgic highlights of games that took place years ago), it's about time
one of the major stations besides NESN take a shot at televising an
occasional hockey game.
 
All levels of pro hockey have expanded dramatically in recent years and that
could have a trickle-down effect on the interest in college hockey.
 
Hockey East could also use a 10th team so everybody is playing league games
on weekends.
 
The league wasn't as strong as it has been this season due to early pro
signings, defections and the fact several teams had suffered major
graduation losses.
 
Look for it to be significantly stronger next season.
 
-- Larry Mahoney, BDN