BU coach rips major junior hockey

There was an extremely interesting development involving major junior hockey on Thursday.
In case you missed it, this release, which originated with College Hockey News, was posted on the BCHL’s website:
WAKEFIELD, Mass. — Hockey East and New England Sports Network (NESN) have reached an agreement with Rogers Sportsnet in Canada to air conference games for the rest of the season, including the Hockey East tournament.
"This is a terrific development for our league and we appreciate NESN’s efforts to make this happen," said Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna. "Perhaps a young Canadian hockey player will watch these games and proudly don a Hockey East jersey somewhere down the line."
Boston University coach Jack Parker said the move comes at an opportune time for the sport.
"We’re in a battle with Major Junior A for seven or eight years. Frankly, we’ve been losing that battle because the NCAA kind of ties our hands as to when we can talk to kids and how we can market our product," Parker said. "(Major Junior) has gone out of their way to attack college hockey and destroy our pipelines. They have done it in a legislative way and a marketing way. They don’t want kids playing Tier 2 Hockey unless they don’t want them.
"We have a much better product on the ice and in the classroom. And yet we’re not winning that battle sometimes because kids don’t know about us at 16. When they see us on TV across Canada they think ‘Boy, that looks like something I might want to save myself for. Why would I want to play one game in Major Junior A and then get sent down when I could keep my eligibility and play (in college)’."
Sportsnet’s coverage will kickoff on Feb. 20 with Boston College at UNH live on Sportsnet East and Sportsnet Ontario. The following week, Massachusetts hosts Boston University on Feb. 27 that will also air live on Sportsnet East and Sportsnet Ontario.
"Sportsnet is pleased to take the plunge to broadcast NCAA Hockey. We remain optimistic that the level and quality of hockey shall resonate with our audience," said Dave Akande, VP of Content at Rogers Sportsnet.
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What makes this all so interesting, other than BU head coach Jack Parker’s obvious attempt to start a war of words with someone, is that Rogers Sportsnet and the Canadian Hockey League are business partners. Sportsnet carries major junior regular-season and playoff games, and also holds the TV rights to the MasterCard Memorial Cup, from start to finish. (By the way, perhaps someone will explain to Mr. Parker that there is major junior and there is junior A, but there isn’t any such monster as major junior A.)
All of which makes me think that when CHL boss David Branch got wind of Parker’s comments, he will have been on the phone to Sportsnet headquarters.
The agreement with Hockey East, at least in the early days, doesn’t appear to call for any games on Sportsnet Pacific. Which is too bad, because there are a whole lot of players out there from B.C.
Interesting, too, is that a similar release at hockeyeastonline.com doesn’t include any of Parker’s remarks. It also points out that some of the games will be televised on a delayed basis, and it actually mentions Sportsnet Pacific:
“The 25th annual Hockey East Tournament first semifinal at 5 p.m. will be broadcast live by Sports West and Sportsnet Pacific and the second semifinal at 8 p.m. will be aired live on Sportsnet East, Ontario and Pacific. The 25th Hockey East Championship Game will also be aired tape delayed throughout Canada on Sunday morning.”