I’m a huge basketball fan. I admit that. As a kid, it was my favorite sport to play. And being a Celtics fan, it was always a treat to watch back then, too. I was lucky to attend Jacksonville University during its basketball hey-day watching Artis Gilmore play Coach Wooden’s UCLA Bruins for the NCAA Championship. I was also fortunate to become the head basketball coach at my high school for a number of years. So, as I write about basketball and hockey, there is indeed a bias.

However, at one time, hockey was an important part of my sports-life. No, I didn’t play, but like many New Englanders in the mid-60’s, I became transfixed on the sport thanks to an 18-year-old kid named Bobby Orr. I’m sure antenna sales in New England hit an all-time high in 1966. They were on every home’s roof so we could watch the Bruins and their young phenomenon. (You younger people – ask your parents what an antenna is.)

My enjoyment of watching hockey, especially playoff hockey, was so intense that in 1972 while in Jacksonville, Florida, a few college buddies and I drove to Daytona Beach to find a bar so we could watch the Bruins play the Rangers in the playoffs (because the local Jacksonville station wasn’t showing it). Now, the one-hour plus drive south was no big deal, but try walking into a Daytona Beach bar in 1972 and convincing them to put on a hockey game! Know what I mean? It was one of my greatest college accomplishments.

So, what’s my point? It’s this … what the hell has happened to hockey? I no longer watch the Bruins – and, I couldn’t even tell you who’s in the NHL Playoffs. To be honest, I’m not a big regular-season NBA fan either, but I watch as many NBA Playoff games as I can.

Does the NHL need new leadership? Has the game been too diluted with teams in cities that are not hockey towns? Did the new rules make the game too boring?

I hope you die-hard hockey fans can enlighten me. What went wrong and what needs to be done to bring it back?

Or, is it too late?