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.