Good morning!
Don’t count out the UMass hockey team because it’s 9-9 and out of the Top 20. Last year at Christmas the Minutemen were 8-8-2 and nearly beat the eventual NCAA champion Western Michigan in the NCAA regional finals.
Granted it could also be a repeat of the 2022-23 season when it was 13-17-5, but coach Greg Carvel said this week, “This team, like last year’s, will keep finding new levels throughout the second half.”
Carvel needs those “new levels” because four players don’t make a team, not in hockey. Vaclav Nestrasil and Jack Musa have scored the bulk of the goals — 18 of 50 — and defensemen Larry Keenan and Francesco Dell’Elce have averaged over 23 minutes of ice time. “I expected us to be much better defensively than we currently are,” he emailed this week. “[Goalie Michael] Hrabal and our back end can definitely give us more.”
The 20-year-old Hrabal was a second round draft pick but has let in softies such as the overtime goal to Northeastern on Saturday and the five goals he allowed on 14 shots against Army. Consequently he’s gone into the break tied for 54th with an .897 save percentage.
UMass would be deeper in the hole if not for backup goalie Jackson Irving whose .934 save percentage is seventh-best in Division I. The Newbury native and Cushing Academy grad backstopped shutouts against Northeastern on Sunday and Maine on Nov. 7 en route to stopping 37 shots in both games.
The real problem quite simply is they can’t put the puck in the net. The College Hockey News reports that UMass is 14th in shots but 44th in converting those shots into goals. They need shooters who can tweak the twine. Nestrasil was taken 25th overall by the Blackhawks on the strength of his scoring ability, and Matthew Wilde had 37 goals in two seasons at RIT.
Last weekend Carvel moved Wilde onto the first line with Musa and Nestrasil and put Mikey DeAngelo on the third line between Bo Cosman and Lukas Klecka. It worked when DeAngelo scored Sunday’s game winner on a nifty pass from Klecka.
“You’re going to see guys get a lot better,” Carvel promised on WHMP’s postgame show.
It was DeAngelo’s third goal in five games, and he could be the late bloomer the Minutemen need. Last year Cole O’Hara scored 15 of his 22 goals after the Christmas break to help key a 12-5-5 run. Afterward he signed a two-year deal with the Nashville Predators for $1.72 million and at this writing had five goals and nine assists in 17 games for Nashville’s AHL affiliate in Milwaukee.
Recently on prostockhockey.com O’Hara wrote about what it takes to play for money, and the role UMass had in helping him turn pro. “Everyone preaches ‘team first’ and that’s absolutely true [but] at a certain level hockey becomes a business and every player is competing for the same limited opportunities. This includes ice time, special teams, and the coaches’ trust.
“At UMass, the coaches would challenge us to keep pushing forward. They got the best out of me. They made me earn every opportunity and constantly challenged me to push myself. ‘You get what you deserve’ was [their] slogan and it forced me to always want more. Nothing in hockey is given to you. You have to go out and earn it.”
Will the Minutemen have earned a tournament berth come March? Next month they play four games in nine days against Merrimack and UVM, and that’s when we’ll know if this team is the hunter or hunted.
****
If a tree falls in the woods and nobody’s around to hear it does it make a sound? The same goes for local high school sports — if a ball falls through the hoop will anybody know if nobody’s there to report it? The Recorder does its part, and so does 95.3 FM which kicks off its winter sports schedule next week.
The first of its 25 broadcasts will be Monday in the Powertown, where Turners Falls High School hosts Mohawk Trail. Bear Country sports director Jeff Tirrell said the game’s important because “The Warriors have brought back their boys program for the first time since the 2022-23.”
Tirrell and his longtime sidekick Shawn “Hubie” Hubert will call the games and veteran play-by-play man George Miller will come off the bench. “George will be doing select games while I deal with health issues,” said Tirrell. “It’s great that George has agreed to do this. I just can’t carry the usual inventory that I have in the past.”
****
The Red Sox blew it by not signing Pete Alonso who’s played in every game but eight the past three seasons and is more than halfway to 500 home runs after just seven years in the bigs.
Alonso signed with the Orioles for five years and $155 million, one million per year more than what Kyle Schwarber signed for with Philadelphia earlier in the week.
The Red Sox reportedly offered Alonso $85 million for three years plus an option year, prompting vitriolic feedback from Red Sox Nation. “John Henry’s a two-faced bum who got significantly outbid by the Baltimore Freakin’ Orioles for the only real bat that was left on the market,” said Dan in Canton on Felger & Mazz. “He’s a money-sucking vampire.”
The Red Sox will stick with Triston Casas who’s missed 262 games in three years and has 45 career home runs. Casas was batting .182 when he blew out his knee last May.
While we’re at it, StatMuse reports that Alonso is 17-for-66 (.258) with four home runs and six RBIs against the Red Sox.
****
Rick Kostanski wrote to explain how NFL Hall of Famer Andy Robustelli wound up owning a grinder shop between Route 2 and the Connecticut River in Gill. “Our teacher and coach Jack Bassett was schoolmates with Andy at Arnold College (now the University of Bridgeport) and invited him here to visit. He liked our area so much he bought the place in Riverside.
Kostanski said that as a token of their friendship, Robustelli gave Bassett a football that was signed by every member of the 1956 NFL championship team. “He kept it in his living room,” said Kostanski. “It was his pride and joy.”
****
After Lane Kiffin agreed to coach the LSU football team, Louisiana congressman Steve Scalise came on the Ruthless podcast to talk about his college days in Baton Rouge. “Not only did I graduate from LSU, I lived in Tiger Stadium. The north side used to be a dormitory, and right across the street was Mike the Tiger’s cage and at seven each morning I’d be woken up by this loud growl of a tiger, a real tiger. Mike the Tiger was my wakeup call.”
****
Former Green Bay veep Andrew Brandt appeared on Ross Tucker’s podcast to talk about the current state of college football. “College players have better rights than NFL players,” said Brandt. “They don’t make as much money, but they have free agency every year. How do schools prepare for it, fight against it and create a roster? The pendulum has swung too far.”
****
SQUIBBERS: The radio voice of the Red Sox Will Flemming has quit Twitter (now X). “So toxic and negative it’s really not worth engaging,” Flemming said of the “smack in the chat” as Mark Halperin calls it. … The undefeated Dartmouth hockey team will be seeking its 12th straight win tomorrow at UNH provided it won last night’s home game against Army. Three Massachusetts residents are on the Big Green’s roster, CJ Foley of Hanover, Matt Fusco of Westwood and Tim Busconi of Milton. … Now that Mets owner Steve Cohen’s application for a casino license has been approved, the Post’s Phil Mushnick says the team’s new slogan will be “Let’s go Debts!” …… The Texas women’s hoops team was favored 55.5 points to beat UT Rio Grande on Wednesday. The halftime score was 70-20, and the final was 110-45. … Yankees GM Brian Cashman confirmed to the N.Y. Post’s Greg Joyce that Red Sox pitcher Sonny Gray couldn’t stand playing in New York. “He told me he never wanted to be here, [that] he hates New York, this is the worst place, he just sits in his hotel room.” …
UMass men’s hoops is 7-3 and moving up in the Pomeroy Ratings. Fresh off Wednesday’s two-point win against BC the Minutemen are 175th. The top team in the MAC is Akron which is 8-2 and rated 55th … Miami-Ohio has the second-best free throw shooting percentage in Division I (81.5 percent). Pepperdine leads at 82.5 percent, UMass is 333rd at 64.2 percent and Syracuse is 365th and last at 57.3 percent. … Mike Yastrzemski inked a two year, $23 million deal with the Braves this week. Grandpa Carl made $1.96 million in 23 years, according to baseball-reference. … Tom Murphy passes along wise advice from the late Andy Rooney: Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.