Actually most of the prominent posters from the past who are no longer
posting are NOT at the websites.  They've simply dropped out, and regrettably
so.
 
However, if a fan looks at the sum total of what is available when including
the websites, we have much more to work with now than ever.  If we look
at it this way, these are the "good old days."
 
I'll be personal for a moment.  Before US College Hockey Online I covered
games on a semi-regular basis and commented whenever the urge hit me.
Now I'm typically writing game reports for two or three games a week.  Each
report contains quotes from coaches and players, something I never did
before for HOCKEY-L.
 
I also write a weekly preview every week of all the Hockey East games,
with all of the recent previews containing quotes from every single league
coach.  This was *never* something that was available.
 
Finally, I write a feature every other week.  The current one is based on an
interview with Marty Reasoner, again something which was never available
on HOCKEY-L.
 
When summing my own HOCKEY-L and website contributions, I've increased
my total by about an order of magnitude.
 
Although the other conference writers at USCHO are not carbon copies of
me, they follow roughly the same approach.  Weekly previews and a
feature every other week.
 
COLLEGE HOCKEY HAS NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD.
 
A few days ago Steve Klein praised the Globe's feature on Bruce Crowder
and commented that that type of thing was still not available on  HOCKEY-L
or the websites.
 
I'd have to disagree.  Although I'm not Kevin Paul Dupont -- very few writers
are -- I did a Crowder profile months back and have since done ones on
Chris O'Sullivan and, as I mentioned before, Marty Reasoner.
 
We now have information and articles that were never
before available to us.  If we look at it in this light, we could recognize
that we may be entering the "Golden Age" of college hockey coverage.  We
just don't realize it yet.
 
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Hendrickson  [log in to unmask]
Hockey East Writer for US College Hockey Online
     http://www.uscollegehockey.com
 
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