NBS Sports producer Sam Flood ‘83 is working on hockey broadcasts.

Beginning tomorrow, though, there will be a new factor in the mix - one with national reach and a much lower channel number than OLN - and those involved are as excited about it as jaded TV types get.

NBC producer Sam Flood knows all about the 40-year, mostly failed history of hockey on network TV. But he is a true believer, the son of a hockey coach and a former captain at Williams College.

Asked whether he knows hockey better than any previous network executive, Flood said: “I don’t know, but I figure I have had a lot of time training. My whole youth was playing the damn game and now I get to do it after doing all the other sports.”

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Speaking of history, might NBC revive the most infamous symbol of its last try at regular-season hockey, which ended in 1975? That would be Peter Puck, the cartoon that debuted in 1973 and explained the game between periods.

“That’s top secret,” Flood said. “If I told you, I would have to shoot you.”

Don’t shoot the messenger.