Good morning!
It’s not easy being a sportswriter. Nowadays everything is hush hush. Getting answers to minor inquiries becomes a mountainous challenge.
Last winter while doing a ‘where are they now’ update on former UMass hockey players, goaltender Filip Lindberg was off the radar. The 23-year-old Finn was drafted by the Minnesota Wild after his freshman year and helped backstop UMass to the 2021 national title. Their rights to his services expired a year ago and he signed a free agent contract with the Penguins. They sent him to their AHL team in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
In October, Lindberg was named the AHL’s Goaltender of the Month but on Nov. 12 he was helped off the ice in the second period of a 2-1 win against Charlotte. In March, I called Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and the robo-operator connected me with Christina in merchandise (my only option). She transferred me to Nick Hart, the team’s broadcaster and PR director. When he didn’t answer she took my name and number. “He’s a real nice guy, he’ll call you right back.”
Hart never returned my call so I contacted the Pittsburgh Penguins and asked the operator to be transferred to the PR department. “What does this regard?” she asked.
When she learned I was a sports columnist from Western Mass. and wanted to know Lindberg’s whereabouts she said, “We request that you send us an email and someone will call you back.”
No thanks, I’ll call the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Established in 1827, the venerable broadsheet serves western Pennsylvania, but its daily circulation had dropped to under 100,000 and today only publishes on Thursdays and Sundays. The operator gave me the direct line for sports and guess what? Nobody answered.
This week I got the skinny that Lindberg had ankle surgery in February and had recovered in time for training camp. On Tuesday he was on the bench for the Pens’ 3-2 exhibition win at Detroit but will start the season in Scranton. “I’m excited my ankle is working like it should now,” he told the Post-Gazette’s Matt Vensel.
It’s good to know that Lindberg’s healthy, but would it really have been so hard to tell me his status last winter? The safety of the free world wasn’t at stake, but don’t try telling that to sports information departments across the country.
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Nothing new with UMass football, just the usual 1-4 start. Their starting quarterback can run but can’t throw and their two best running backs are hurt. But the penalties are what really hurt.
An undisciplined team is a badly coached team, and UMass is the fifth-most penalized team in the FBS, flagged 46 times compared to 31 through five games a year ago under Walt Bell.
Last week in Ypsilanti they led 13-0 at halftime and EMU coach Chris Creighton — a dead ringer for Mike Pence — was gift-wrapping the game to them. UMass returned the present in the second half. The Minutemen were flagged for pass interference, holding, a personal foul, false start — you name it they did it 11 times in all for 100 yards. The infractions got EMU back into the game and they won, 20-13.
Today’s game against Liberty is another of those ridiculous 3:30 p.m. kickoffs, decided by an administration that still thinks the Boston alumni will come to tailgate and watch UMass get blown out. Liberty is a 26 1/2-point favorite and UMass is 21-96 since AD John McCutcheon and Chancellor Robert Holub conspired to send them up Cemetery Ridge.
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Aaron Judge didn’t play on Wednesday, but would’ve needed to go 4-for-4 to boost his average from .311 to .315 and tie Luis Arraez for the batting title. Manager Rocco Baldelli protected Arraez down the stretch by sitting him three of the last six games. He played Wednesday, had one hit in two plate appearances and finished at .316.
Xander Bogaerts went 2-for-3 and finished at .307, the only Red Sox hitter to break .300.
In 1941, Ted Williams was batting .39955 going into the last two games, a doubleheader at Philadelphia. Rounded off he’d be hitting .400, but Williams said, “If I’m going to be a .400 hitter, I want more than my toenails on the line.”
The Kid played in both games, went 6-for-8 and finished at .406.
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The UMass hockey season starts tonight against AIC at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. Tickets are $12 and it’s $2 beer night till the end of the first period. Michigan State transfer Josh Nodler will center the first line and replace Garrett Wait, who suffered what was likely a career-ending knee injury last spring.
UMass coach Greg Carvel said he wants to see more offense out of senior Eric Faith who scored 73 points in 64 games in juniors — “He has it in him” — but he’s mum on the new goalie. Arizona State transfer Cole Brady comes in after a brief stint at Arizona State.
“Too early to say on Cole Brady. I can’t really judge goalies until they get into the heat of the battle in games,” said Carvel.
The true measure of a goalie is his save percentage. Last year Northeastern’s Devon Levi posted a .952 to lead the NCAA, and Quinnipiac’s Yaniv Perets was next at .939. In three seasons at UMass, Filip Lindberg’s was .937.
According to hockeydb.com, Brady’s save percentage was .910 in his only 13 games at ASU. At Fargo of the USHL it was .903, and at Janesville of NAHL it was .912. Let’s hope that as Toot Cahoon liked to say, Cole Brady has a big upside.
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Doug McCloud was coaching like it was Super Bowl Sunday. His Mohawk junior varsity had given up a late touchdown to Eaglebrook’s Ryan Sims and the teams were tied, 6-6. The clock was winding down and McCloud had drained all five timeouts. “Spike it! Spike it! Aw, skip it!”
Afterward he posed for a photo with one of his players, Truman Long.
“You love it, don’t you?” I said.
“I do love it. I absolutely love it.”
Schools need more coaches like Doug McCloud.
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On a cold, wet Tuesday afternoon at Citi Field, Nationals pitcher Cory Abbott threw a pitch over Pete Alonso’s head with a runner on first base. “It got stuck in the net and a fan dislodged it,” said Mets radio voice Wayne Randazzo, “so he got a souvenir and (catcher) Riley Adams had no idea. He was searching all over the place.”
The Mets are punchless without Starling Marte who’s truly the straw that stirs the drink in the Mets lineup. Marte’s been out since he was hit in the hand by a pitch on Sept. 6, “and it’s a Hail Mary he’ll be back for the playoffs,” said Randazzo.
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SQUIBBERS: Being a Chicago Bears fan has been tough since 2017 when they took Mitch Trubisky with the second overall pick and left Pat Mahomes on the board. .… Registration is open for the Hot Chocolate Run on Dec. 4 in Northampton. The 5K event drew over 1,000 participants last year and is sponsored by Safe Passage to help support domestic abuse survivors. Go to hotchocolaterun@safepass.org for more info. … Former pitcher Jeff Nelson filled in for Suzyn Waldman while she was off for Yom Kippur. … During his run past the 700 mark, Albert Pujols belted 17 home runs in his last 135 at-bats. … Eli Manning’s long hair and makeup didn’t fool Penn State coach James Franklin. Manning posed as a walk-on named Chad Powers for his show “Eli’s Places” on ESPN-Plus. …. Red Sox third baseman Yolmer Sanchez wins the dubious achievement award for pitching the last inning of the 28-5 debacle against Toronto on July 22. … At approximately 7:20 p.m. on Wednesday, 33-year-old journeyman left fielder Abraham Almonte struck out looking to be the last Red Sox batter of an entirely forgettable season. …. The heart says Cleveland, the head says the Dodgers in six. … Watch out UMass, UConn snapped its 18-game losing streak against FBS teams last Saturday, beating heavily-favored Fresno State 19-14. Sophomore Devontae Houston rushed for 105 yards and QB Zion Turner played with hair on fire. … The Penguins’ farm team reminded me of a Sopranos episode when one mobster picked up another at the Newark Airport. “How was Boston?” he asked. “Like Scranton,” answered the goodfella, “with clams.”
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for four decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com