Bertagna’s 15 years as the commissioner of the ECAC are a big part of his legacy, but he’s done much more to earn this prestigious honor.

He has more than 40 years of being a hockey administrator — including a 23-run as the commissioner of Hockey East that ended in 2020 — and 50 years running a goaltending school, with additional stints coaching netminders for the Boston Bruins and the 1994 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team.

Additionally, Bertagna was instrumental in getting women’s hockey organized at the collegiate level, becoming the first coach at his alma mater of Harvard when he helped launch the women’s program in 1977. He also has been the executive director of the American Hockey Coaches Association since the position was created in 1991 and is in his final season in that role.

Ben Smith, who coached the U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team to the inaugural Olympic gold medal for women’s hockey in 1998, often gets coffee with Bertagna as the two live in Gloucester, Massachusetts. While citing Bertagna’s effort to grow women’s hockey from its infancy, Smith said his friend’s personality is what makes him so effective in his many roles.

“He's extremely bright and he's got a sense of humor that you better be on your toes for because he can throw a zinger at somebody that a lot of times just goes right over people's heads,” Smith said with a chuckle. “A great guy to sit down and have a cup of coffee with or have a beer with. You know, it's one of the reasons why the guys play senior hockey. Hockey is fun, but the banter afterward really is the thing that brings the camaraderie and keeps the hockey juices flowing, and Joe would always be at the center of that group.”

Even with that sense of humor, Bertagna has never been afraid to see an issue for what it is.

“He's genuine. He is who he is,” Hagwell said. “Knowing him and being in the hockey world, my experience with him has always been [that] he does what's best for the sport, not for Joe Bertagna because Joe Bertagna is going to get something out of it.”

Those around him know what Bertagna has done for the sport of hockey — and those who don’t have probably been touched in some fashion by something he has done. 

That makes this honor perfect for him.

“It's a great award and the award is being enhanced by bestowing it on Joe because he's the essence of what people in hockey are trying to promote in that regard,” Smith concluded. “Joe is more than deserving and has really carved out a wonderful niche in the game of hockey from coast to coast.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.