Color guy has colorful tales

He sells insurance in Switzerland for a living, and he is a hockey broadcaster. The two professions, Marco Baron has learned, can make for long days and some uneasy moments.

''Back home in Ticino [Switzerland's Italian-speaking region], I have to watch what I say when I'm on TV," said Baron, the former Bruins netminder who is in Turin as color commentator for Swiss television's Italian-speaking feed from Olympus. ''I'll be working a game between two Swiss teams, and the fans are so passionate. If I've been too critical about one team one night, and the next morning my client is a fan of that team, well forget that, I'm out of luck with that guy. No sale."

Baron, who will turn 47 in April, has been out of the Hub of Hockey for nearly a quarter-century. The 99th pick in the 1979 draft, he played his first game in Black and Gold as a 20-year-old, a wide-eyed kid from Montreal. During Baron's brief stay in the early '80s, the Bruins were perennial playoff contenders, with veterans Wayne Cashman and Terry O'Reilly pillars of the locker room and shepherds of a proud tradition.

''I played on lots of teams, as a kid, then as a pro, and I help coach a junior team now in Switzerland," said Baron, his long hair of the post-disco era having yielded to a buzz cut dappled with gray. ''The thing that made Boston so special -- playing for the Bruins, I mean -- is that guys like Cash and Taz made it feel like family. It was a special place because they made it that way."

Baron, whose spoked-B days were spent primarly as a backup, first to Rogie Vachon and then Pete Peeters, recalled some of that family spirit cutting through the tension that followed a tough loss in Calgary one night. Gerry Cheevers was the coach, and the game had been in the downsized Calgary Stampede Corral, the old barn where the Flames first played after moving from Atlanta.

Cheevers, normally easygoing, was peeved after the loss. When the last player filed onto the team bus, Baron recalled, Cheevers got up from his front seat and doused any hopes of his charges enjoying a night on the town.

''Basically, he wanted everyone back at the hotel, early curfew, no partying, nothing," said Baron. ''And he said, 'When you get on the bus in the morning, I don't want to see any bleary eyes.' "

Cashman, then the team captain, popped up from his seat near the rear of the bus.

''And I'll never forget it," said Baron. ''Cash didn't miss a beat, saying, 'Everyone in the lobby as soon as we get back to the hotel. We're drinking all night and I'm buying everyone sunglasses.' "

Now that, folks, is your grandfather's NHL. Baron would have loved to stick around for years, but a dazzling playoff performance by Mike Moffat in the spring of 1983 all but punched Baron's ticket out of town. He played 21 games with the Kings the following season and wrapped up his NHL run with a single game for the Oilers in 1984-85. The next season he headed for Switzerland, and a short tour with Ambri Piotta, and he has essentially remained in Ticino ever since.

''It has been an interesting life -- a great life," said Baron, who will return to Montreal briefly this summer, his first visit since the early '90s, to visit his parents. ''I remember telling my father when I first got to Ambri-Piotta, 'Dad, it's driving me crazy, everything is so slow here -- even the flies are slow.' But when you're here, and live it, you begin to appreciate Europe and the customs. It's slow, but it's good, especially for raising kids.

''But it took time to adjust. I don't know how long exactly, but I remember how strange it was for me at first to watch a Clint Eastwood movie and hear him speaking Italian. The day finally came when it sounded weird to hear Clint Eastwood speak English."

Born and raised in Montreal, Baron grew up speaking Italian, the first language of his parents, as well as French and English. All his broadcasting work in Switzerland is in Italian, but he is also a regular guest for Swiss games that are aired in the country's French region to the west.

For about five years after retiring, Baron operated a gym near his current home in Bellynzona, then made the switch to selling insurance and later began talking hockey for a living.

''The Swiss fans, you might be surprised, they can be crazy," said Baron, noting the rabid fanaticism when Ambri-Piotta and Lugano square off in what is called a ''derby," a game between rivals from the same area. ''I'm talking huge fights after the game, out in the parking lots where fans of the visiting team board their buses home. It's a lot of rocks, blood, broken bones, huge fights."

Baron is a media workhorse at the Olympics. He handled commentating duties Friday for the US-Sweden women's game, and was back at the crosstown rink yesterday for a pair of men's games, Canada-Switzerland and US-Slovakia. He can effortlessly switch gears in three languages.

''I'm sort of the Don Cherry of Swiss television," said Baron, offering a wink and self-deprecating roll of the eyes.

Business plan needs some work

The qualifying round of the men's Olympic tournament wraps up Tuesday, and the eight teams to make the playoff round all will be back on the ice Wednesday for the quarterfinals.

Is this any way to run a tournament?

Well, to allow NHL players more time to breathe (and perhaps avoid injury), the league would have to shut down for a few more days, and it would mean stretching the schedule out a little more, October-April, or cutting back on the number of regular-season games -- perhaps to the 78 that were last in vogue in 1973-74.

Before going to a capped NHL world, deleting four games from the regular-season universe had been considered heresy by both sides. But now, when the guiding light in the game's growth, and pay, is gross annual revenue, dropping back to a 78-game schedule once every four years barely would amount to pocket change.

Some 150 NHLers were called to Olympus. For the most part, they arrived jet-lagged and bedraggled. Most of them will be bushed upon reporting back to work in North America. Some (Dominik Hasek and Patrik Elias) already have departed Olympus because of injury, which no doubt will fuel a discussion about whether the NHL should participate in the Games at all (the league has not committed beyond 2010).

The advice here is to not abandon ship. The world exposure -- broadcasts available to a potential 3 billion viewers -- is great for the NHL. The more intriguing discussion should be about ultimately adding a European division to the top pro league in the world.

Before that, though, the Lords of the Boards should rethink how they conduct business in an Olympic year. Why not allow the working help time to travel, bond with new teammates, and ultimately show the world their best game?

Etc.

The World Cup, grandson of the Canada Cup, was last seen in September 2004, on the eve of the lockout -- and it appears it could be the last we see of it. According to Ted Saskin, executive director of the NHL Players Association, there isn't much appetite on the part of the union to stage the tournament again soon, if at all. Meanwhile, Bill Daly, top aide to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, said Friday the league would like to have World Cup as a regular menu item. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The players say no, while the owners keep it on their wish list. Seven months after the ratification of the new collective bargaining agreement, the first subtle vibe of discord. In the ever-changing world of hockey, there's some solace in that.

By the end of the week, Dominik Hasek, with yet another groin-related injury, was headed back from Turin to Ottawa to confer with Senators doctors. Before the Olympic break, speculation had the Senators making a deadline play for Olli Jokinen, Florida's top scorer. But if Hasek is shelved, or even questionable, they will have to deal for a backstop; Ray Emery clearly is not ready for A-list work. How ironic if the Senators have to call the Blues to swing a deal for Patrick Lalime, whom Ottawa dealt to St. Louis in June 2004. Lalime, in four failed playoff seasons with the Blues, went a very mediocre 21-20, but did squeeze out a minuscule 1.77 goals-against mark in those 41 appearances.

The NHL's Olympic roster freeze ends a week from tomorrow, leaving all clubs just a week and a half to finalize any deals before the March 9 deadline. All clubs can resume skating again this Wednesday, at which time Wayne Cashman will be in charge of the Bruins while head coach Mike Sullivan continues to aid Peter Laviolette behind the US bench in Turin. The media focus Wednesday in Boston will be on goaltending, specifically the status of Hannu Toivonen's sprained ankle. Even during the Olympic break, rumors have persisted that netminder Andrew Raycroft could be on the move. But if Toivonen's ankle isn't much improved, the odds are next to nil that GM Mike O'Connell will deal Raycroft.

Another ex-Bruin of the early 1980s, Peter McNab, is in Turin as part of NBC's hockey commentating crew. He said he couldn't remember the bus incident in Calgary that Marco Baron recalled, but he said, ''Sure sounds like Cash to me." McNab said some of the more vivid recollections he has of Boston were the times when then-general manager Harry Sinden would shake down the thunder on forays to the dressing room from his luxury box high up in the old Garden. ''He'd start off slowly, addressing what he didn't like in general about the team's play," recalled McNab, wincing. ''Then he'd go at individual guys, and everyone was subjected to it -- even Brad Park and Jean Ratelle. But he'd get to those guys early, because, heck, they didn't do much wrong. What you lived in fear of, and I mean fear, was being last on Harry's list. You'd sit there with your head down, hoping to hear your name early -- and it just got worse and worse as the names ticked off and you weren't called. He did it once a year, twice at most. And I bet I was the last guy, oh, four times. He would just blister me. And it was so bad, when it was over, it wasn't even like guys in the room could offer you any solace. They just sort of wanted to stay away. I don't know, maybe they were afraid they'd catch something."

The Islanders have yet to make a hire to take over Mike Milbury's GM duties. Ex-Islander Brent Sutter, a highly successful GM and coach in the Western Hockey League, could be the best fit, but those who know Sutter well remain skeptical that he'll give up his sweetheart deal in Red Deer, Alberta. Two sources last week projected ex-San Jose GM Dean Lombardi as the heir apparent in Uniondale. According to one of the sources, Lombardi, now a scout for Philadelphia, isn't expected to be granted permission to talk with the Islanders until after the March 9 trade deadline.

Chances are, if you're a Bruins fan, you've had no trouble spotting Bill Guerin in that No. 13 USA sweater. The 35-year-old Bay Stater, struggling through a frustrating NHL season with Dallas, is playing at Olympus for a third time. It might take a sharper eye to ID the No. 13 in Latvia's lineup. The 34-year-old forward is Grigorijs Pantelejevs -- better known as Grigori Panteleev to Bostonians. He was a '92 Bruins draft pick, No. 136 overall, and played 50 games for the Bruins before being released in 1995. He spent four years in the Islanders system, but since has been in Europe, playing for a different club every year, in Germany, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, and Switzerland again.

The seventh Bruins Charity Auction will be held March 5 from 5-8 p.m. at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge. Loads of good items, many of them unique. Tickets: $100 each. For more information: 617-624-1923, or log on to bostonbruins.com.

Kevin Paul Dupont's e-mail address is dupont@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.