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WIS Productions Presents ... The Effingwoods Hockey Almanac

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  • #16
    Originally posted by Chuck Murray View Post
    Pop quiz answers:

    (1) Which Hockey East referee is also well-known as an Everett (MA) police officer? Benedetto
    (2) Which Hockey East referee had a cameo once on This Old House? Gravallese

    Moral of the story taken from the quiz (if any)? Being a HEA on-ice official is probably a great side hustle, and helps these guys supplement their income, all the while doing something they all probably really enjoy doing (and for the most part, they do good work that keeps them in those jobs). But it's clearly not paying anyone enough to be a full-time gig, unless you can string in a few ECAC and/or AHL games to round things out - to say nothing of the seasonal nature of the employment.

    Now ... back to where we left off, which was with the BU blogger's stray observation in his circa 2014 review of HEA officials, in which he commented at length about a certain Kevin Shea ...

    https://baystateroadsports.blogspot....season-in.html

    Another interesting stat about Kevin Shea is that among his 27 games that he officiated in Hockey East last year, he officiated approximately 0 BC games. Now this may be because he has a documented bias for or against BC(I'm going to go out on a limb and say it is for if this is the case) so good for Hockey East for not assigning him to BC games but they still benefit by not having the worst ref in the league do their games.

    So that didn't go any further with the blogger, at least not that he commented on in his blog. But it's an interesting observation that at least deserved some further checking into, so the folks at TEHA set about doing that checking. To recap one of the things we'd stumbled into earlier … Shea was placed him on a Beanpot officiating crew circa 2003, when his full-time job apparently was as "chief spokesman for the Boston Red Sox". This mention, and details of an in-game injury he suffered, appear at the bottom of this long-ago ESPN article:

    https://www.espn.com/ncaa/news/2003/0203/1503576.html

    TEHA sources were able to determine that Shea left the Sox a year later, sometime in 2004. The next couple of years, Shea went to work for the Archdiocese of Boston as communications director for Cardinal O'Malley, during a fairly turbulent time with the Church, in the aftermath of the various sexual abuse scandals that rocked the Archdiocese at the turn of the century. Two years later, no doubt having experienced a demanding and challenging time working for the Archdiocese, it appears Shea took his career in a different direction, and into the world of academia, where over the next decade-plus, he would advance to the heights (spoiler alert) of overall second-in-command at a most prestigious local university. As a Holy Cross graduate, it probably shouldn't have come as a big surprise that his route into academia followed a Jesuit path, but after starting out as an Executive Assistant in the President's office …

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-shea-95a25811/

    … ten years later, Shea would be appointed as Vice President and Executive Assistant to the President, Fr. William Leahy S.J.

    https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/bcnews/cam...president.html

    https://services.bc.edu/publicdirect...r=BC+Community

    At Boston College

    As in, the second-in-command at a prominent HEA member institution is an on-ice HEA official.

    Bet you never saw that coming. I know for sure I didn't.

    So TEHA at WIS came upon this information before Saturday night's UNH @ BU rematch, in which Shea was the lead official for a second straight night with the home-and-home series, working with two entirely separate officiating crews. Reach your own conclusions about how that game was called. I made some comments dotted in and around the game thread that evening, and in a game where UNH had their most dangerous forward DQ'ed relatively early in the game - for a second straight night BTW - which led to a BU equalizing goal, followed by a would-be UNH go-ahead goal that was chalked off, and concluding with BU getting a go-ahead goal late in the second period, followed by (predictable?) whistle-swallowing in the 3rd period that had UNH head coach Mike Souza blowing a gasket at least once … it just had a *funky* feel about it.

    Again, remember, UNH and BU entered the weekend even in the standings, with BU having been the "victims" of the double OT questionable call to lose in the Beanpot Finals. I will concede, as far as "motives", I'm not sure anything we've come up with here so far is a smoking gun that gets us beyond "conspiracy theory" territory. It's one of the reasons I waited to post this until today. Was HEA looking to "protect its gate" at the HE Tourney next month by helping BU out a bit … did the way BU lost the previous Monday play a role in things? It seems weird that the league might view a "BC guy" as someone to smooth things over with BU here … but then again, why does HEA keep the aforementioned "BC guy" in its mix of available on-ice officials, when it might be more prudent from a league standpoint to avoid even the slightest perception of putting their thumbs on the scale???



    So, there it is. Many thanks to our source(s) for the lead. If nothing else, a moment of transparency.
    "All politics is local." Tip O'Neill circa 1980
    UNH Hockey: You can check out any time you like but you can never leave!

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: WIS Productions Presents ... The Effingwoods Hockey Almanac

      Originally posted by e.cat View Post
      "All politics is local." Tip O'Neill circa 1980
      Wondering what games Shea will be assigned to this weekend ...
      Sworn Enemy of the Perpetually Offended
      Montreal Expos Forever ...

      Comment


      • #18
        Originally posted by Chuck Murray View Post
        Wondering what games Shea will be assigned to this weekend ...
        Two minutes for too many refs on the ice;-)
        UNH Hockey: You can check out any time you like but you can never leave!

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: WIS Productions Presents ... The Effingwoods Hockey Almanac

          Originally posted by Chuck Murray View Post
          Wondering what games Shea will be assigned to this weekend ...
          Put him on the BC v NU game.... Oh, wait...
          Last edited by HockeyRef; 02-21-2020, 01:49 PM.
          Here we go 'Cats!!

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: WIS Productions Presents ... The Effingwoods Hockey Almanac

            Originally posted by e.cat View Post
            Two minutes for too many refs on the ice;-)
            Looks to me like HEA's Boston-centric "old boys network". Wonder what the new commish thinks?

            Maybe Huddleston or Umile are up for reffing a few games, as long as they're not UNH games?

            Sworn Enemy of the Perpetually Offended
            Montreal Expos Forever ...

            Comment


            • #21
              Originally posted by Chuck Murray View Post
              Looks to me like HEA's Boston-centric "old boys network". Wonder what the new commish thinks?

              Maybe Huddleston or Umile are up for reffing a few games, as long as they're not UNH games?

              I hate to be the one that blames the refs for a loss. Losing to BU on questionable call/s doesn't help the all time series numbers with BU though. BU owns UNH like UNH owns UVM over the years!
              UNH Hockey: You can check out any time you like but you can never leave!

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: WIS Productions Presents ... The Effingwoods Hockey Almanac

                Of course, guess who one of the referees for tonight’s BU at UConn game is?

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: WIS Productions Presents ... The Effingwoods Hockey Almanac

                  Originally posted by chickod View Post
                  Of course, guess who one of the referees for tonight’s BU at UConn game is?
                  I see … Shea and Gravallese, the Chancellor and the Paperhanger. Talk about an odd couple ...
                  Sworn Enemy of the Perpetually Offended
                  Montreal Expos Forever ...

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: WIS Productions Presents ... The Effingwoods Hockey Almanac

                    Couple of points of interest regarding Hockey East officials' assignments last evening …

                    * Kevin "The Chancellor" Shea assigned to Merrimack for the Warriors' 3-2 victory over the Friars;
                    * Marty Hughes (name sound familiar?) officiated the 6-1 UConn victory over BU, a night after Chancellor Shea had officiated the first game of the Huskies' two-game sweep of the Terriers

                    Again, to be thrown in casually under the "For What It's Worth" category … UConn Men's Hockey Head Coach Mike "Luce Canaan" Cavanaugh was an assistant at Boston College for Jerry York from 1995-2013. Marty Hughes (see links below) was a 4 year player at BC who played his entire career under Luce at The Heights, and is now a Hockey East on-ice official. And Luce's time at The Heights overlapped for almost a decade with that of another HEA on-ice official, Chancellor Shea of Boston College.

                    http://hockeyphotography.photoshelte...0005N20DK8lbsI

                    https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/....php?pid=35508

                    https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/....php?pid=48539

                    https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/bcnews/cam...president.html

                    I know, I know … just weird coincidences, right? Nothing to see here, move along, pay no attention …

                    … but there's at least one more piece of the puzzle to be turned over. I'll get to that sometime this week.
                    Sworn Enemy of the Perpetually Offended
                    Montreal Expos Forever ...

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: WIS Productions Presents ... The Effingwoods Hockey Almanac

                      So with two guys with deep Boston College ties like "The Chancellor" (Shea) and "The Champ" (Hughes) part of the active HEA on-ice officiating rotation, one might wonder who is in charge of HEA on-ice officials and officiating assignments?



                      Stay tuned for the next installment in what almost feels like "Hockey East - Deep State Operatives".
                      Sworn Enemy of the Perpetually Offended
                      Montreal Expos Forever ...

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Originally posted by Chuck Murray View Post
                        So with two guys with deep Boston College ties like "The Chancellor" (Shea) and "The Champ" (Hughes) part of the active HEA on-ice officiating rotation, one might wonder who is in charge of HEA on-ice officials and officiating assignments?



                        Stay tuned for the next installment in what almost feels like "Hockey East - Deep State Operatives".
                        Drain the swamp
                        UNH Hockey: You can check out any time you like but you can never leave!

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: WIS Productions Presents ... The Effingwoods Hockey Almanac

                          Meet Dave Lezenski ...

                          You may say, "Who the heck is Dave Lezenski?" Good question. Dave Lezenski's full-time job is apparently as Director of Athletics with the Lowell (MA) Public School System, which is described as the fourth largest public school system in the Commonwealth of MA, and includes the second largest public high school east of the Mississippi. Before that, Lezemski held a similar position with the neighboring community of Billerica MA, and he's also active in the MIAA where he's active on the District A Athletic Committee:

                          http://www.hockeyeastonline.com/pdf/web1617/wStaff.pdf

                          https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-lezenski-88aa3b159/

                          http://www.miaa.net/contentm/easy_pa...38&menu_id=142

                          You may also have noticed in perusing the above links that Dave Lezenski is also an administrator and the Supervisor of Officials for Hockey East. He's been in that capacity since being initially hired in 2007 as the Supervisor of Officials for the Women's side of Hockey East. To be fair here, there is no specific indication in his bios that Lezenski was named Men's Supervisor of Officials at any point, but it's worth noting that he is now listed as HEA's only "Supervisor of Officials" on their website, so it would seem likely he took on the Men's side of the job at some point over these last dozen or so years. There's no one else listed in that position.

                          Oh … and one final thing. Although it's not mentioned in any of the other links above, you will note that Dave Lezenski did go to college at some point, before he turned his attentions to the world of officiating. It's tacked on at the very end of his HEA bio on this version of it, on an HEA webpage, right after an equally brief mention of his HS prep hockey background at St. John's Prep.

                          http://www.hockeyeastonline.com/wome...east-staff.php

                          Yup. Dave Lezenski, to absolutely no one's surprise by this stage of the story, was also a BC guy.

                          I could also throw in the Associate Commissioner/Director of Communications, and the Director of Corporate Sales while I'm at it. But this story began as an officiating-focused story. I guess the fact that it's only gotten "swampier" as it's gone along shouldn't be that surprising. But it is what it is.

                          And if nothing else, more folks have the benefit of added transparency into how things run in Hockey East.

                          Many thanks to the folks who were so kind as to get me started, and point me in the right directions.
                          Sworn Enemy of the Perpetually Offended
                          Montreal Expos Forever ...

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: WIS Productions Presents ... The Effingwoods Hockey Almanac

                            I think that this thread puts the backburnered WIS Once Upon a Time in Hockey East thread in better perspective.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: WIS Productions Presents ... The Effingwoods Hockey Almanac

                              LAWRENCE (WIS) - Long-time UNH Assistant AD and incoming HEA Commissioner Steve Metcalf announced Friday that "things will be different" when he ascends to the top role in the 35 yr.. old league. Metcalf was recently named as the new HEA commissioner after a nationwide search, and will replace long-standing current HEA Commissioner Joe "Buttons" Bertagna, who received a vote of no confidence last year from the collective HEA member schools. The transition is expected to take place on completion of the upcoming NCAA Division 1 hockey season, or whenever Boston College is eliminated from the D-1 tourney, whichever comes first.

                              Speaking at a sparsely attended news conference Friday afternoon at Salvatore's Restaurant & Riverwalk, along the banks of the scenic Merrimack Canal River, Metcalf announced that his first move would be to relocate the league HQ from its current location in Wakefield MA to currently vacant space along Lawrence's vibrant Riverwalk development. "Lakeside Office Park might be more convenient for certain folks" Metcalf began, "but it's kind of dumpy and old and tired-looking, and it's incredibly tough to get access to for most folks who don't have the luxury of living in Reading, Wakefield or Stoneham. Plus, the traffic situation is a bear pretty much any time that's important, seeing that it's a couple of miles away from the intersection of two major interstate highways. And while it's been a great opportunity for league personnel to buddy-up with Dr. Kelly and The Maids over the years, sometimes we've got to think outside the box for the betterment of the league as a whole".

                              When questioned about the league's new HQ also being located a barely couple of miles away from the intersection of two major interstates, Metcalf pointed out that "it's a fine line" between convenience to member schools and employees, and keeping folks in situ with minimal disruptions to their lives. "We've looked at travel times to the various member schools from the old site, and from the new site. Of the current 11 Men's members - and 12 members overall - only three will be spending more time reaching our new HQ. It's closer for everyone else." The new commish also lauded food and entertainment options in Lawrence, stating "Sal's is way better than Fudd's, and both places have Bertucci's nearby as standby options." When he was questioned by the Effingwoods Hockey Almanac reporter on whether his wife's job at nearby Merrimack College played any role in new HQ site selection, Metcalf dismissed it as "nothing more than speculation by the usual yahoo homer conspiracy theorists inside Route 128".

                              In concluding his inaugural press conference, Metcalf offered brief comments on a wide range of topics, including whether or not he would be forced to step down as UNH's Assistant AD ("We're looking into that with our lawyers"), whether the league would be expanding back to 12 members anytime soon ("I wouldn't rule out anything, including annexation of the ECAC, if necessary"), but he refused any comment regarding the recent EHA expose regarding some of the league's curious staffing and assignment decisions for the league's on-ice officials, or on the futures of HEA Supervisors of Officials Dan Schachte and Dave Lezenski. "I'm aware of the work EHA has been doing, but we'll get to that in due course." Metcalf ended the conference abruptly at that point, and was last seen speeding down Route 114 eastbound with a dozen fresh-cut roses and a box of chocolates in tow.
                              Sworn Enemy of the Perpetually Offended
                              Montreal Expos Forever ...

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: WIS Productions Presents ... The Effingwoods Hockey Almanac

                                Originally posted by Snively65 View Post
                                I think that this thread puts the backburnered WIS Once Upon a Time in Hockey East thread in better perspective.
                                We'll be revisiting that in about 30 days' time, Snives. This time I'll even leave enough time to finish it.
                                Sworn Enemy of the Perpetually Offended
                                Montreal Expos Forever ...

                                Comment

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