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

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

umhockey91 said:
I'd love to see Albany and Stony Brook add hockey. Would be great to get HE exposure in the Capital District as well as out on LI.
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If we're talking about NY, I'd much rather see Syracuse. Already with a women's program plus a sizeable fan base and alums spread throughout the northeast. (Not holding my breath.)
 
Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

I was afraid HEA would go this route. Disappointing. Feels like a parochial hire. I don't get a sense that this will help address some of the issues (officiating, marketing, attendance) that the conference has been plagued with.
 
Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Nothing will make BC fans happy unless they get an invite from Big Ten hockey.:rolleyes:
 
Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

LFofF said:
I was afraid HEA would go this route. Disappointing. Feels like a parochial hire. I don't get a sense that this will help address some of the issues (officiating, marketing, attendance) that the conference has been plagued with.
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Attendance and TV ratings are down throughout sports....it is a change in the culture.
 
Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Two questions for a curious outsider out west:

1: Why is this viewed as an unoriginal/status quo hire? Was there a more aggressive person you would’ve preferred?

2: I’m eternally curious about people speculating about new D-I programs, and whether there’s any actual meat on the bones of said speculation (rarely) or if it’s just a guy on the Internet thinking “hey, we have other America East and/or NE state flagship school we could have, why not them?”. Like… has anyone at URI, Stony Brook or Albany ever actually done anything to fuel the rumors? Do their club teams draw more than 1000/game? Is there even a realistic arena in play for any of them?
 
Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
Two questions for a curious outsider out west:

1: Why is this viewed as an unoriginal/status quo hire? Was there a more aggressive person you would’ve preferred?

2: I’m eternally curious about people speculating about new D-I programs, and whether there’s any actual meat on the bones of said speculation (rarely) or if it’s just a guy on the Internet thinking “hey, we have other America East and/or NE state flagship school we could have, why not them?”. Like… has anyone at URI, Stony Brook or Albany ever actually done anything to fuel the rumors? Do their club teams draw more than 1000/game? Is there even a realistic arena in play for any of them?
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URI's home rink holds 2,500 and on campus near the Basketball arena. It isn't like HOCKEY east ready with amenities but is pretty nice for a club rink.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_R._Boss_Arena#/media/File:Brad_Boss_Arena.jpg
 
LFofF said:
I was afraid HEA would go this route. Disappointing. Feels like a parochial hire. I don't get a sense that this will help address some of the issues (officiating, marketing, attendance) that the conference has been plagued with.
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There is no way to correct the issue of attendance, either at individual schools or the tournament. Except for a few outliers (like UMass), attendance has taken a hit across hockey. Last year’s FF in Buffalo was the first in my memory (going back to 1992 and except for the Ford Field fiasco) that was not sold out. Attendance has taken a nosedive at BU, BC, UNH, and Maine. On top of that, I doubt that there will be a NESN contract ever again. Schools are now paying to get their games on NESN, not the other way around, so why should NESN pay production costs?

The only thing I’ll say in Metcalf’s favor is that, in my limited exposure to him at UNH, he comes across as a no nonsense guy. And the fact that he has been an assistant AD all these years at least gives him the outsiders perspective of Hockey East. Now he’ll be on the inside and perhaps he’ll be able to convey to his peers that changing things to their liking is not as easy as they think it should be.
 
Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Greg Ambrose said:
There is no way to correct the issue of attendance, either at individual schools or the tournament. Except for a few outliers (like UMass), attendance has taken a hit across hockey. Last year’s FF in Buffalo was the first in my memory (going back to 1992 and except for the Ford Field fiasco) that was not sold out. Attendance has taken a nosedive at BU, BC, UNH, and Maine. On top of that, I doubt that there will be a NESN contract ever again. Schools are now paying to get their games on NESN, not the other way around, so why should NESN pay production costs?
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This is correct...NESN has no reason to do any production anymore with these schools paying for everything!
 
Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

A guy who has been at UNH forever, during Bertagna's tenure, is going to be drastically different? I am skeptical but we'll see if he brings anything new to the table.
 
Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

J.D. said:
A guy who has been at UNH forever, during Bertagna's tenure, is going to be drastically different? I am skeptical but we'll see if he brings anything new to the table.
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I don't think Metcalf has worked for anyone besides UNH in his adult life.
 
Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

J.D. said:
A guy who has been at UNH forever, during Bertagna's tenure, is going to be drastically different? I am skeptical but we'll see if he brings anything new to the table.
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I wouldn't know the man if we bumped up against each other at the Black Rose. But at least he knows hockey and his chairmanship of the D1 Committee carries some weight. So I'm offering my congratulations and best wishes. And yeah, I'm thanking Joe for his tenure too.
 
Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
Like… has anyone at URI, Stony Brook or Albany ever actually done anything to fuel the rumors? Do their club teams draw more than 1000/game? Is there even a realistic arena in play for any of them?
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I live in Albany and have heard absolutely nothing about DI hockey from UAlbany, or any SUNY school for that matter. I doubt Albany sees value in hockey--given two other DI hockey programs within a 15 minute drive from campus (Union and RPI)--over trying to build more successful basketball and football programs, where the money is locally. Hockey is a niche sport, whether we like it or not; another Albany area DI school, Siena, usually draws a larger crowd for a regular season basketball game at the Times Union Center than the Mayor's Cup hockey game between RPI and Union at the same venue.
 
Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

BC/HE said:
Only other prominent schools that fit the footprint are of course those other 4 already mentioned, RPI, Holy Cross, URI and Quinnipiac. But how about the possibility of a D1 program in Hockey for MIT, Brandeis, Tufts or Clark. All top 100 Universities that could use a name brand sport besides swimming or track and field.
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RPI is already accused of not investing in its hockey programs as it is.

Zero chance of the Division III schools mentioned unless a huge donor materializes. Just not the right fiscal environment for small private schools to go Division I at this time. I think MIT has no interest in Division I sports and seems very content competing in the NEWMAC. Plus I don't think Tufts would want to leave NESCAC, as it surely would be forced to do if it elevated hockey to Division I hockey (see Union's exit from NESCAC many years ago).
 
Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Split-N said:
If we're talking about NY, I'd much rather see Syracuse. Already with a women's program plus a sizeable fan base and alums spread throughout the northeast. (Not holding my breath.)
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Adding a men's hockey team at Syracuse will create a Title IX issue requiring the addition of another women's sport, or cutting another men's sport. Plus, I think the word on the street is that Syracuse is more interesting in becoming better at football than in adding new sports.

Edit: Syracuse is also the only ACC team without a baseball program. Not sure how adding a sport outside of baseball would go over with the ACC.
 
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Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Only way Holy Cross gets men's team in is if they commit to a new rink. Don't see anyway HE would let them in with the idea of playing at DCU center. Crowds would be abysmal for that size building.
 
DavidNardolillo said:
I live in Albany and have heard absolutely nothing about DI hockey from UAlbany, or any SUNY school for that matter. I doubt Albany sees value in hockey--given two other DI hockey programs within a 15 minute drive from campus (Union and RPI)--over trying to build more successful basketball and football programs, where the money is locally. Hockey is a niche sport, whether we like it or not; another Albany area DI school, Siena, usually draws a larger crowd for a regular season basketball game at the Times Union Center than the Mayor's Cup hockey game between RPI and Union at the same venue.
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This is about what I expected the answer to be.
 
Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

One thing I have always kinda liked in the ECAC is the whole travel partner thing. If Sacred Heart is currently the most logical choice to be 12th team, you could have:

Maine-UNH
UVM-UMass
UML-MC
UConn-SH
PC-BC
BU-NU

Longest trip would be roughly 3h 10m for both the Maine/UNH and UVM/UMass combos. Longest trip between travel partners in ECAC is 2h 25m between Quinnipiac and Princeton.

Would probably never happen when you factor in arena availability but if 2:25 is doable in ECAC, 3:10 wouldn't seem impossible.
 
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