The 2009 Hockey east media day was held at the Legends Restaurant in the TD Garden Friday. This gives anybody invited a chance to gather media guides, lunch and information about each team in the conference this upcoming season. It was a very casual situation as the coached and players of all teams were happy to talk to reporters, and describe their team’s expectations and plans for the upcoming season.
A common theme of the events that afternoon seemed to be the UMass Lowell River Hawks hockey team. The ‘Hawks were the talk of Hockey East after their successful season last year, and bringing back 21 players for this upcoming season.
Reporters were given the chance to meet with players and coaches from all of the Men’s hockey teams, and several Women’s hockey teams in Hockey East. During this time ‘Hawks head coach Blaise MacDonald always had a swarm of reporters around him. Coach MacDonald was constantly asked about the high expectations for the team and how they planned to handle the pressure this upcoming season.
After lunch the announcement was made as to where each team was ranked in the Coach’s Polls. Boston University received six of the ten possible first place votes from the coaches of Hockey East. Those votes along with their 84 total points give the Terriers the top ranking in Hockey East.
The other four remaining vote went to UML and Boston College, who each received two. The ‘Hawks earned the second place ranking because they received 79 points compared to the 76 points for Boston College.
Commissioner of Hockey East, Joe Bertagna, pointed out to those in attendance that the River Hawks will not be able to sneak up on any teams this season. He also explained how this will be an interesting season to see if the ‘Hawks can live up to the expectations that many experts have for them.
The hockey team was not the only part of UMass Lowell that received honor and recognition during media day. Bob Ellis received the Joe Concannon Hockey east Media Award. Ellis was recognized for his years as the play-by-play commentator for UMass Lowell Hockey. This will be the 26th season which Ellis will call the games for the ‘Hawks.
Not even a faulty microphone could prevent Ellis from giving a great speech thanking many who helped him over the course of his career. Ellis described how radio was the cause of his passion for hockey as he used to listen to Rangers games over the radio.
After discussing how he believes that Hockey east is the best conference in the league Ellis concluded his speech with a phrase that will be heard constantly on campus, go River Hawks.
Even though there has not been a regular season game played, it is clear that there is a lot of focus on UML this season. From the ice to the booth the theme of this year’s media day was UMass Lowell.
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