Hi All,

I presume some of you saw the interesting article (syndicated) today by
John Eisenberg of the Baltimore Sun entitled "The highs ... and lows of
hockey." The basic thrust is how the NHL blew it after the rise in
popularity of hockey following the 1980 miracle at Lake Placid. The
article asserts the owners assumed they could expand the league and pay
their stars at the level of the NFL, NBA, etc.  This then led to the
"financial ruin" claimed by the owners. I dont know if that is entirely
correct, but it sounds plausible, although I am sure the players
attitude is involved also.

However ... for the college hockey content:

In it there are some interesting quotes from Jack O'Callahan. One of them is

 "I love hockey, but I also love junior hockey, and college hockey, not
just NHL hockey. If (the players and owners) dont want to come back and
split $50M (in annual salaries) per team, I'd be happy to watch college
hockey."

I wonder if the overall attendance at the D-I level has shown a
signficant increase in areas of NHL hotbeds, say for example, the Boston
area? I think we theorized about this before the season started.

Cheers,

Tony Buffa
RPI '64