Some may not be aware, but Sean McDonough used to be the play-by-play
man for NESN's Hockey East telecasts, up until about 1990 or 1991 when
he began to move into work with CBS and ESPN.  He also used to be a a
regular on the Beanpot and even did an NC$$ championship game for ESPN
a couple of years ago.  As such, he's called a lot of games involving
HE and ECAC teams (NESN used to carry HE-ECAC regular season games as
well as the ECAC final four from the Garden), so it is not surprising
that he would remember someone like Jamie Baker as being from SLU and
that he would plug collegians as Gary Thorne does.  And as Eli mentioned,
he can often be seen at games as a spectator...I seem to recall he was
one of the 700 max at BC for the sparsely-attended UMass-BC HE 8 vs 9
playoff game this season.
 
I thought Sean did a superb job on the HE games and wondered if anyone
would be able to match him...then Minnesota's Bob Kurtz came along. :-)
Kurtz has a true enthusiasm for the game that goes beyond what even
McDonough displayed.  It's not feigned, either, as you can tell if you
ever speak to him about college hockey - he has a genuine love for it.
He also has a unique ability to make any game sound exciting whenever
you tune in and whatever the score is.  It could be 9-1 and he'll find
a way to keep you interested.  Truth be told, although I like
McDonough's work, if I had to pick one person to call a college hockey
game from all that I have ever heard, it would be Kurtz.
 
That NESN HE play-by-play job seems to have all sorts of springboard
possibilities...first McDonough and now Kurtz have both used it to
move on to the coveted Red Sox play-by-play position.  Kurtz is
pulling double duty now, working HE in the winter and joining the Sox
down south in March.  That gives Dave Shea, another announcer I like,
an opportunity to fill in for Kurtz, and I suspect that if Kurtz has
to retire from HE to devote his time to baseball, Shea may be in line
to fill his shoes permanently.
 
With McDonough, Kurtz, Norton, and Shea, those of us who follow NESN's
HE telecasts have been blessed with some of the most outstanding
announcers in the game.  NESN deserves kudos for bringing these guys
aboard.  Since NESN is bankrolled by the Bruins and Red Sox, no one
could blame them if they treated other sports as second class, but at
least as far as college hockey goes, that's not been the case.
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Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93