Sports writer - Grant writer
When you’re a professional athlete, it can be really difficult to get excited about promotional videos. Especially videos that few fans in attendance will pay attention to (though they should.)
In today’s installment of “Did you just roll out of bed or are you making a promotional video?”, former Boston College sneaky forward Nathan Gerbe stars alongside fellow Buffalo Sabres player Mike Weber to promote the team’s Green Team:
It’s a football-less Sunday in New England. The New England Patriots are on a bye week, and thus Boston sports fans are looking for something to fill their Sunday. Looking for the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins to fill the void? They’re off today, having played the San Jose Sharks Saturday night.
Why, for the most part, is the New England college hockey scene also quiet today? Why not take advantage of the region being sportless* for the day and showcase some early season action?
Even Boston College, who have created quite the Sunday afternoon game niche at Conte Forum over the past few years, is off today. The only game today is Minnesota hosting Vermont, as the Catamounts try to avoid getting offensively overpowered like they were Friday night. (Dartmouth is hosting Norwich in an exhibition at 7pm, but that doesn’t count.)
The excuse that college hockey schedules are set in a year in advance and thus are inflexible is a weak one. Dates and times are changed several times during the summer and even during the season. A month before this season started, a few games were moved after the second edition of Frozen Fenway was announced. Times are changed during the season to take postseason play by professional teams into account. And if a television broadcast opportunity becomes available, some games will move times to accommodate that.
So the powers that be within Hockey East didn’t take a gander at the NFL and NHL schedules when making this season’s final slate and see a gaping open Sunday? Why not move Boston College’s league tilt against Northeastern from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon? Both the NFL and NHL schedules were known far enough in advance that the change could have been made before tickets were printed and team training schedules were set. Given the Eagles and Huskies proximity to each other, no travel would have to be accounted for. And instead of NESN filling time by broadcasting Fox Sports North’s feed of the Minnesota-Vermont game, they could broadcast a league game between two teams that would draw much higher ratings. (And they could show local commercials, a revenue source they miss out when they simulcast from another channel.)
If Hockey East wants to further promote the idea that they are the “premiere” college hockey league (and the recent addition of Notre Dame was made with that in mind), they need to begin looking for opportunities to expose their sport to new audiences. Waiting for February to catch casual fans with the Beanpot isn’t enough. Channel hopping casual fans could be lured in this afternoon and hooked in for the rest of the season.
The league missed the boat by not having a league game on a Patriots-free Sunday. If they want to grab any more of the very saturated New England sports market, they need to start making the most of rare empty spaces in the seemingly endless sports cycle and promote college hockey in them.
* Sportless – A word I made up. Definition: being without sports. Like being homeless, just must less dire.
In 2010, BU and BC took center stage in the first Frozen Fenway. (Photo by Kat)
On Friday afternoon, Fenway Park and Hockey East announced the second edition of Frozen Fenway, to be held on January 7, 2012. The outdoor game will feature a men’s hockey doubleheader, with UMass Amherst facing off against University of Vermont and the University of New Hampshire versus the University of Maine.
The game is being sponsored by Hockey East – who owns the event, and thus can decide its participants – and is being heavily bankrolled by Fenway Sports Group. The hope is that the event will bring out crowds of fans from the schools and their alumni bases in Boston.
Hockey East and it’s commissioner Joe Bertagna were eager to schedule up another outdoor game given the popularity of the 2010 edition, which features Boston University and Boston College. But the league wanted to give other non-Boston based schools a chance. Bertanga made that clear in his Friday press conferernce remarks. As reported by BostoInnovation’s Ryan Durling:
“(Bertanga) also acknowledged how generous a gesture it was for FSM to pick up the cost of the event. ‘It’s a bit of a risk to take up the cost, so we really appreciated that. The support from the mayor helped to push it along, too – the game between BU and BC is kind of old news, but bringing four teams from outside of Boston emphasizes our New England roots,’ the commissioner said.”
I have three quick issues with this statement by Hockey East’s commissioner, and the Frozen Fenway 2 in general:
Last I checked, the last two teams to win national championships from the conference were BU and BC. I don’t think any game between two of the best programs in the last decade of college hockey is ever “old news.” Especially when both teams sold out a freezing cold Fenway nearly two years ago, and when they play each other inthe Beanpot, they sell out the Garden, and when they play in their respective home venues, they sell out their venues no matter how awful either’s season is.
You’re taking a giant risk having this game feature teams from outside of Boston. Sure, their fan bases within Boston are relatively strong. However, you’re playing with fire – or more accurately, ice – here. Weather in January is unpredictable, and could impact the travel of those Maine, UNH, UMass and Vermont diehards who will get to those sellout numbers. At least with BU and BC, they have enough fans that can walk or take public transportation to Fenway to fill it.
Then there is the issue of Fenway Sports Group funding Frozen Fenway 2, and not including BC. Fenway Sports Group and the Eagles are joined at the hip. They’re going to have a college hockey event at Fenway Park and not include their prime collegiate partner?
Finally, by having Frozen Fenway 2 consist of two men’s Hockey East games, you run into marginal problems of inequity. Frozen Fenway’s first edition featured a women’s game pitting Northeastern versus UNH. This edition has no women’s component mentioned. The women’s game might not sell tickets, but it’ll never sell if you don’t give it the opportunity to. Plus, you legitimately have more legitimate women’s hockey stars now within Hockey East, players with a bit more name recognition than the league had pre-2010 Olympics. It’s worth a shot, and will save you some angered complaints from Title IX advocates. (Who knows – a women’s hockey game may be in the works and we just don’t know it.)
Vinny Saponari in a March 2010 game against Merrimack College. Photo: Flickr user seriouslysilly (Some Rights Reserved)
The story of the day amongst BU hockey fans was the reported Boston College transfer application rejection by dismissed Terrier forward Vinny Saponari. The rumor had been lurking amongst those close to Boston area college hockey for a few weeks, and the story broke for good when US Hockey Report (aka, USHR, a subscription site that reports on junior, youth and college hockey) posted a piece this morning quoting Saponari’s USHL head coach.
Saponari’s current coach with the USHL Dubuque Fighting Saints, Jim Montgomery, is the only interview in USHR’s brief report, which then spurred on reports by the Eagle Tribune’s Mike McMahon, BostonSportsU18 and the Daily Free Press’s Boston Hockey Blog. The Boston Hockey Blog tried to get a quote with Saponari, but “a call and text were not returned.” Word had spread outside of the USHR report – two individuals mentioned to me that area coaches had just started being open about the news last evening, and the news spread like wild fire through the expanding, but still very small, world of hockey.
As the news was circulating on Twitter, a few folks asked within social media, “Well, who are we all to be talking about a pretty embarrassing and private matter for this hockey player? Why is Saponari’s rejection news?”
There is no question to me that this is news – Saponari’s initial dismissal from BU was very public, as the Terrier program had to give reason for his absence in the then upcoming season, and he decided to engage on interviews on the subject. His decision to subsequently transfer to BC, BU’s biggest hockey rival, was made public on his own Facebook page and a few media sources.
So Saponari’s rejection by BC was going to become public whether he liked it or not. For better or worse, his own statements on the matter earlier this fall made us all expect to see him on the Conte Forum ice come next September. Because of the level of expectation already prepared, the college hockey watching public would find out about the rejection eventually. In hindsight, Saponari, his family and his “family advisors” should have kept word of his desire to transfer down Comm Ave quiet until all the i’s were dotted, t’s were crossed, and transcripts approved.
But where the critics of the publicity of Saponari’s denial may have a legitimate point is that the only on-the-record source through this entire story has been the player’s own USHL coach. Was it really appropriate for Montgomery to be so forthcoming with this news with USHR in the first place? Was it his place to do so? Was he representing the family, and if so, should he or the USHR author been more explicit in saying so?
On a much larger level, if a coach is part educator, part advisor, part mentor, and part counselor, shouldn’t he uphold a certain level of confidentiality?
I’m not defending Saponari in any way (if I don’t have anything nice to say, I’m not going to say anything at all), but didn’t he deserve a tad more from Montgomery? Should USHR have looked for a quote from Saponari or his family? If Montgomery was acting on their behalf, shouldn’t that have been more explicit?
What do you think?
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