John Edwards writes:
 
>To some degree, but I think there comes a time when the commissioner, if
>he is going to promote a candidate, has to pick a horse and ride him.
>I think you could make an argument that it is in the interests of Hockey
>East as a whole to have the Hobey Baker winner come from HE. That said,
>the best way to ensure that would be to promote the you-know-what out of
>the potential candidate you see as the conference's best chance to win.
 
But, he's getting paid by ALL the schools in the conference.  To allow
favortism of one player at one school over another, or two or three, at
other schools is just not right.  He is a league commissioner, not a team's
commissioner.
>
>In Hockey East's case, this year, that was Chris Drury. IMHO, this has
>more to do with his performance in past years and his high profile than his
>performance this year.
 
First, the Hobey is for this year's performance not for a career.
Secondly, at the time Bertagna started promoting Drury at the expense of
all others was in December when Krog was leading the nation in scoring by a
wide margin and Drury was not even in the top 20.  Third, at the beginning
of the season Bertagna announced that there would not be any pre-season HE
all-star teams because he felt that naming one would skew the voting
towards those named at the end of the season. At the time I felt his stance
was reasonably thought out and justifiable.  But then, just 2 short months
later, he contradicts his own rationale by pre-determining that Drury was
THE man for the Hobey.
>
>If the conference promotes all of its candidates, there is a greater risk
>that the message could be diffused, and/or that the votes would be split.
>A campaign of "Vote for Drury! Vote for Drury! Vote for Drury!" would
>probably be more effective for HE than a campaign of "Vote for Drury, or
>Krog, or Mowers!"
 
Again, it's not the job of the conference, at least early on, to get
involved in this campaign.  It is what SIDs get paid for.
>
>In its essence, this is a political campaign. It's not as overt in hockey
>as it is in football for the Heisman, but the essence is still there.
 
It is political but for the schools and, if necessary at a later date for
the leagues. Period.
 
Greg Ambrose
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.