Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

[mookie1995]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

I'm really disappointed with the lack of original reporting as to EXACTLY WHY Bertagna is being let go. Between USCHO and CHN, I've read three columns and two staff reports and no one has said exactly why he's leaving. And of course knowledgeable fans through speculation are providing more insight into what is going on here than the internet's two largest supposed news sites for college hockey.

You mean no one at USCHO or CHN can get any ADs or associate ADs or univ presidents on the phone and get them to say why he's not being renewed? Give me a break.

whynt you try to go into ANY company and get info on why an employee has been let go let's not be foolish and infect others

[Dirty Dream No. 2]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

The audio of Bertagna's conference call is on the Hockey East web site. He was asked - he said he doesn't know. He then goes into speculation, which includes many topics discussed here and in the aforementioned articles. Have a listen.

Give me a break. He knows, he's just not saying why. I will certainly listen to his call, thank you for pointing it out. But bland speculation like "they just want a change" isn't very insightful into why he was let go. This is why you ask others, ESPECIALLY those who are responsible or who know why Bertagna was pushed out. ADs, associate ADs, head/assistant coaches, presidents. That's a lot of people to ask.

This isn't national security. If Bertagna said he was being pushed out because Hockey East ADs wanted to hire the Sultan of Brunei, would that be the truth? As evidenced by this thread there are many many legitimate issues surrounding Bertagna's departure, ranging from Hockey East member finances, the league finances, the league's viability, tournament financing, the 11 school roster, no league TV deal, a small ESPN+ league streaming deal.

Lots of things to report on surrounding Bertagna's departure. Let's put a little bit of effort into this as opposed to stenography.

[Dirty Dream No. 2]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

whynt you try to go into ANY company and get info on why an employee has been let go let's not be foolish and infect others

It's called journalism. Sure, it's entirely possible this is pandora's box and nobody's talking. It just seems no one at CHN or USCHO is trying, as evidenced by Wodon's remarks and Connelly's "candidate" column. Wodon's been writing about college hockey for 20 years. He can't get anyone on the phone about this? Get out of here.

Wodon's excuse was "what if they're lying?" Really? These aren't 9/11 suspects. You're not torturing them into confessions. His sitting on the racial taunt issue last season with the Providence hockey team was also evidence of a lack of journalistic effort. It gave Wodon a chance to get on his moral outrage platform and pontificate about how bad this racial taunt was, but then he claimed he knew who did it but refused to report it. Nice going.

I guess CHN and USCHO are really fan sites as opposed to news organizations. Which is sad because the sport needs good original reporting.

[Dirty Dream No. 2]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Just listened to Bertagna's conference call. Not a whole lot going on here.

Bertagna: they want to hire marketing, media, and branding people. (What does that mean?)

Jim Connelly: What are some of your Hockey East career highlights? (Groan.)

Bertagna: I don't know why I was not returned. But I was told we're in the entertainment business. (What does that mean?)

Lots of joking about parodies.

Does geography matter?

What about your long lost acting career?

Lots of joking between Bertagna and reporters on this conference call.

That's pretty much it. As I said, we could really use some original reporting on this. I hope to read some someday.

[Split-N]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

It's called journalism. Sure, it's entirely possible this is pandora's box and nobody's talking. It just seems no one at CHN or USCHO is trying, as evidenced by Wodon's remarks and Connelly's "candidate" column. Wodon's been writing about college hockey for 20 years. He can't get anyone on the phone about this? Get out of here...I guess CHN and USCHO are really fan sites as opposed to news organizations. Which is sad because the sport needs good original reporting.

Couldn't agree more. There has to be a "story behind the story" that nobody seems to want to dig into. Disappointed in Messrs. Connolly, Woden, etc. who come off more like fanboys than journalists.

[ScoobyFanClub]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

His sitting on the racial taunt issue last season with the Providence hockey team was also evidence of a lack of journalistic effort. It gave Wodon a chance to get on his moral outrage platform and pontificate about how bad this racial taunt was, but then he claimed he knew who did it but refused to report it. Nice going.

Not sure how you consider it "sitting on it" when the only way anyone knew about it was because CHN reported it, and criticized Bertagna for the handling of it.

Methinks you're all making the reason for the firing a lot more complicated than it is. He's old and want a modern day "marketing genius" instead of a "hockey guy" - it was all alluded to. You're claiming that this is not 9/11 on the one hand, and then want some explosive investigative reporting on the other hand, on a non-topic, on sites you read for free.

[BoSox3066]

Just listened to Bertagna's conference call. Not a whole lot going on here.

Bertagna: they want to hire marketing, media, and branding people. (What does that mean?)

Jim Connelly: What are some of your Hockey East career highlights? (Groan.)

Bertagna: I don't know why I was not returned. But I was told we're in the entertainment business. (What does that mean?)

Lots of joking about parodies.

Does geography matter?

What about your long lost acting career?

Lots of joking between Bertagna and reporters on this conference call.

That's pretty much it. As I said, we could really use some original reporting on this. I hope to read some someday.

Death of local journalism killer here. The info you want is going to come from ADs or inside the schools. The people with those relationships should be the local outlets. ProJo for Providence, BDN for Maine, Free Press for Vermont, etc. Not like the Boston papers give a hoot to have someone call BC or BU AD about Joe its small potatoes to them.

[Chuck Murray]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

DD#2 has this nailed, right down to the floor. No journalism going on at USCHO or CHN.

"Gentlemen, we've gotta protect our phony baloney jobs!!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTmfwklFM-M

[The Zlax45]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Death of local journalism killer here. The info you want is going to come from ADs or inside the schools. The people with those relationships should be the local outlets. ProJo for Providence, BDN for Maine, Free Press for Vermont, etc. Not like the Boston papers give a hoot to have someone call BC or BU AD about Joe its small potatoes to them.

Mark Divver of the Providence Journal was let go after the season....

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

lesson -- see what happens when one shoots for average?

Bingo.

[Ed Trefzger]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

DD#2 has this nailed, right down to the floor. No journalism going on at USCHO or CHN.

I can't speak on behalf of CHN, but I know they work hard to get to the root of stories like this, and if they had something, they would have published it.

When Joe's departure was announced, Jim Connelly was on the phone to a lot of people at Hockey East schools. The people he quoted in what he wrote are the ones who were willing to speak about it. The conference's ADs have a chairman and he's the one who was designated to comment.

[Split-N]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

...The conference's ADs have a chairman and he's the one who was designated to comment.

Maybe I've lost something off my fastball (er...slapshot) but I can't make any sense out of this. Who is the "ADs chairman?" What was/were the comment(s). I can't recall any comments made anywhere by any AD chairman in any of the USCHO/CHN reporting.

[Ed Trefzger]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Maybe I've lost something off my fastball (er...slapshot) but I can't make any sense out of this. Who is the "ADs chairman?" What was/were the comment(s). I can't recall any comments made anywhere by any AD chairman in any of the USCHO/CHN reporting.

I was referring to UVM AD Jeff Schulman, who is the chair of Hockey East's men's executive committee.

[Chuck Murray]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Terrific. So all of the HE AD's get to hide behind Jeff's skirt - so to speak, I certainly don't want to offend anyone's sensitivities here - and then Jeff comes over the top with a terse "no comment" or "beyond my purview" . And no one calls him on it. Nice. That's 21st century journalism for you, right there.

[tape]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

I'm not sure what more you expect them to do besides ask everyone they can ask. If no one talks, that's about it! I seriously doubt there's going to be an equivalent of the Pentagon Papers that Adam or Jimmy C. or whoever can expose.