We Are Crusaders

Flannery ejection

2008-12-23T15:42:00.004-05:00

If you read this blog, you probably also read Crossports, and saw the poll regarding the greatest moment in Hart Center history. Naturally, this comes after a previous thread, maybe this summer, on the "most memorable" moments in Hart Center history. Crossports is nothing if not for recycled topics.

In case you're wondering, I voted for the March 14, 2003 PL Championship game vs. American. Without a doubt, the most electric I've ever seen the Hart. I loved the Navy game in 2001, and the mid-year win against AU in 2003 (Cresnik missed three at buzzer), but walking into the gym for the 2003 PL Final was simply amazing.

Nice of Holty to include in the poll Bucknell coach Pat Flannery's ejection on January 18, 2008. I wish I was there, but could only watch from afar on ESPU. Here are a few TV pics to remind you of that day. BTW, that's a bloodied and bruised Andrew Keister asking, "What's going on?" as the crowd roared watching Flannery's meltdown.

Job hunting!

2008-12-23T15:29:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to you! I know a few of you still check in here every so often. It's been a disappointing start to the men's and women's basketball campaigns. The ladies are 1-9? What the heck is up with that?

While those teams are hot topics on Crossports, I've been busy preparing for a job hunt. After relocating here in September of 2007, I was impacted by my company's November reduction-in-force. It was shocking, and unfortunately, opportunities here seem to be few and far between. However, I have no plans to move, so the job search is on here in the Triangle. If you happen to learn of mainframe application development opportunities here (COBOL, JCL, DB2, MVS, CICS), or have IT contacts here, please drop me a line at jstrack59 at yahoo. Thanks to those of you who've already contacted me. I greatly appreciate it!

MS Ride!

2008-09-16T20:08:00.006-04:00

Hi everyone! In June, I signed up to participate in the National MS Society's Bike MS event, which occurred this past weekend near the coast in New Bern, NC. I'm new to cycling (just started in late spring), so I was very excited to contribute to a great cause and to participate in such a challenging event.

I pledged to ride at 75 miles on Day One and another 30 miles on Day Two. I ended up riding a "century" on Day One, one hundred miles in low 90's temperatures and high humidity, and 30 more miles the next day. It was grueling at times, but completely worth it. A great experience, and I'm already looking forward to next year and more miles!

We had a wonderful team of 70 riders from my company's NC office. A truly great group of people.

The goal of this year's tour was to raise $1.6 million for MS research, programs, services, and advocacy for the 4,300 people living with MS in Eastern North Carolina. Thanks to all of you who joined me in supporting this great cause by making a contribution toward my fundraising efforts.

Jon

Lucky Strike Convention

2008-07-30T23:54:00.009-04:00

From Ralph Willard's blog comes this priceless line:

As soon as I open the door I feel like I am at a Lucky Strike convention. Everything smells of tobacco including the pillows. The perfect end to another travel debacle.

I couldn't help but think of my new town, with its Lucky Strike tower and smokestack...

Photos taken in May 2007 at the magnificently redeveloped American Tobacco complex here in Durham. I love walking or bicycling through there. (Actually the pics were taken the same evening I met Coach Vaas).

And since Coach Willard mentioned the smell of tobacco, the locals here say that up until about 10 years ago, the air in the evening in downtown Durham would smell like tobacco (not cigarettes). I find that oddly charming. I would've liked to experience that, in a way.

Blog Update - Finally!

2008-06-29T21:41:00.003-04:00

Is anyone still reading this? Here's the brief update: I was able to sell my Worcester townhome in ten days (in a down market!), and moved to Durham in September of 2007. I've been here for over nine months, and I love it! I bought an old house in an established neighborhood here in Durham. Things are going very well. Durham's a wonderful, interesting place to live.

I've taken up cycling in recent months. In March, I owned zero bicycles. I now have two. I use my hybrid bike for some of my around-town transportation, leisure riding down the American Tobacco Trail greenway on weekends, as well as the occasional bike commute to work. I've ridden it the two miles from my house down to the DBAP for Durham Bulls games. I also bought a used road bike, and plan to ramp up my longer-distance riding in preparation for a charity ride this September.

I must say I'm becoming a fan of the Bulls. Games at DBAP are entertaining, although from many observations, not as organic an experience as at the the old ballpark featured in the movie "Bull Durham." You can read more about Durham's baseball history and the old DAP here (a wonderful blog - about as prolific and visually stunning as blogs come).

Also, the Bulls are the farm team for the red-hot Rays, who just happen to have two of my Scoresheet league starters in their rotation. So although my roots are with the Red Sox, I'm really enjoying what the Rays are bringing to the table this season!

What's the future of this blog? I can't answer that. I really hate to make the final announcement that I'm finished with it, because I may post things here on occasion. Right now, it's back-burner for me. Check in every couple of months and see if there's any new content. Obviously, being away from Worcester, I've lost the closeness with the HC teams and access to all the little things I might hear or see that helped inspire my blog posts.

So after a year's break, let's just see what happens, okay? Hope everyone's doing well and enjoying their summer!

Heading South

2007-06-25T20:00:00.000-04:00

It's official, I'm moving to North Carolina this year! I have to be there by mid-December or so, but I'd like to see the relocation happen sooner than that. I'll be putting my property on the market in the next couple of weeks, and the rollercoaster ride will begin (if it hasn't already)!

Durham, NC

2007-06-03T10:32:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I haven't posted anything here since March. No season recap or review of my preseason predictions, no pics from my trip to Columbus, and no comments on hockey or baseball. As stated before, the blog has taken a back seat as I've been focusing on some other things.

As some of you know, one of those other things is a possible relocation to North Carolina. In November, my employer informed us that they are planning an expansion in the Raleigh-Durham area, specifically in the Research Triangle Park. They are not moving jobs, but they were looking for volunteers to relocate. I would keep my same job through this move, but would be working in NC instead of MA.

My situation with them is complicated because I'm not considered a "full-time" employee. I'll spare you the details, but since November I've been working with my employer to determine the parameters and implications of a possible relocation by me. Finally, in recent weeks, I've received some answers (some good, some not so good, but at least things are moving in a positive direction). At this point, I'm not certain to relocate, but I will probably know for sure within a month.

When told I'm thinking of moving to NC, one of the first questions people ask me is, "Have you visited the area?" Well, actually I hadn't. Even with months and months of research, there was no way I could commit to a relocation with my employer without having seen the area in person and spent some time there. Over Memorial Day weekend, I visited the Raleigh-Durham area for four days and four nights. It was a productive, enlightening visit for me, very interesting in many ways. After some initial disappointment with the area, I was fairly excited by the end of my trip.

Over the same weekend, a co-worker of mine was on a house-hunting trip there with her kids. I had my own agenda during each day, and she had hers, but each night we'd all get together for dinner and a recap of the day's events. She flew back a day earlier than me, so I had my fourth evening to myself. I'm a baseball nut, so I decided to check out the Durham Bulls, the AAA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

As I was approaching the the Bulls ticket window, I recognized a face. It was a man, probably in his fifties, with his family. I looked once, twice, and then a third time. Who was this guy? It finally hit me, but I wasn't 100% sure. I walked closer to him and said, "Excuse me" to try and get his attention. No answer. He probably didn't hear me amongst the general pre-game din outside the park. I'll try once more, I told myself. "Excuse me..." I got his attention this time. "Are you Peter Vaas?" He had this incredulous look on his face, probably shocked that some stranger recognized him, but yes, it was him. "Hi Coach, I'm Jon (last name here), Holy Cross Class of '94. You were coaching at Holy Cross when I was a student there."

It was evident to me that Holy Cross is still something of a pain point for him, but he was very pleasant nonetheless. He introduced me to his wife and two college-aged daughters (one attends St. Mary's College in South Bend, the other will be a senior at Notre Dame this fall). After several minutes of smalltalk, including me explaining why I was in Durham, and him explaining the same (I'd forgotten that he is now coaching at Duke), we finally got in line for tickets to the game. He bought my ticket! We all sat together at the game and had a nice time. I sort of made up for the ticket by buying his wife a lemonade, which cost almost as much as the very reasonable tickets.

Coach seemed to be doing well. His wife said the family enjoyed their time in Europe, especially Barcelona. They've bought a house in a nice new subdivision just north of the most-populated downtown neighborhoods in Durham. It's just minutes from Duke. Mrs. Vaas said she hopes I'll relocate so she'll have someone to sit with at Duke football games! She might be getting a little ahead of herself, but it's good to know that if I do end up there, I'll have some new friends in the area.

By the way, the Bulls have a beautiful new park in downtown Durham, surrounded by a redeveloped American Tobacco District, full of brick walkways, waterways, patches of greenery, a block of bars and restaurants, and additional space for mixed-use commercial, retail and residential. A nearby warehouse district is also clearly on the upswing. Worcester talks about this kind of downtown redevelopment, and perhaps they'll attain it via CitySquare, but in my opinion they can only dream about enacting the changes that Durham, a city only 30,000 people larger than Worcester, has already achieved.

Oh yeah, the Bulls lost, 2-0, to the Ottawa Lynx, the Phillies' AAA affiliate. Lefty prospect J.P. Howell pitched for the Bulls. He has good stuff but was wild on this night, hitting three batters. Outfield prospect Joel Guzman has an athletic frame, but lacks polish at the plate. I think he has a long way to go. Justin Ruggiano could have a future as a spare outfielder. No one on the Lynx particularly stood out to me.

CHAMPIONS!

2007-03-09T23:36:00.000-05:00

It doesn't get much sweeter than this week at the Hart!

The camaraderie, the respect, the excitement, the passion, the caring, the drama.

The downs and the ups. The big things and the little things.

Three days, two teams, two league championships!

Bucknell coming from 19 points down to tie the game, and Holy Cross going 16-16 from the free throw line late to withstand the challenge.

The Holy Cross women storming back from a halftime deficit, controlling play in the second half, making big shots, and rebounding, in multiple senses of the word.

Big Tim talking with his pal Chris McNaughton after Chris's last collegiate game.

Shaking Torey Thomas's hand. Torey, you are the man.

Women's team manager A.J. Noto getting pulled into the "Team Captain" trophy photo, with Ashley Brennan-McBride, Brittany Keil, Kaitlin Foley, and Coach Gibbons.

John Griffin hitting two ridiculous late threes.

Pat Flannery melting down and yelling at Bill Gibbons, Sr. at the scorers table on his way to the locker room at the end of the first half.

Pat Doherty knocking down a sweet, smooth trey in the first half.

The men's team painting their chests and faces, spelling out "CRUSADERS!", starting the wave, and doing the Tone Dance during the women's game.

The buzzer sounding on the women's game, signaling victory, a league championship from the depths, overcoming injuries to Laura Aloisi, Jessica Pearson and Brittany Keil, and and a 1-4 start to the league season. The definition of resilience.

Talking with Kyle Cruze's parents again, after meeting them at Bucknell last season.

Bethany O'Dell. Fearless, tough as nails, and those deadly threes.

Brianna McFadden. Patient execution, quiet confidence and leadership.

Christy Cushnie. Aggressive, confident, energetic team player.

Dot Willard, ninety minutes after the men's game, enjoying time with her grandchildren.

Chatting with HoopTime.

Meeting Eric Meister's sister, who said Eric is greatly enjoying his Holy Cross experience.

Coach Bill Gibbons dressing as the Crusader, and during an early TV timeout of the men's game, climbing a stepladder situated near the HC band, taking off the Crusader helmet revealing himself wearing his team's cut basketball net around his neck, and leading the crowd in a chant of "Beat Bucknell!"

Ralph Willard, his turn arriving to cut down the net, not doing so until Keith and Torey joined him on the ladder.

This is Holy Cross. This is Holy Cross Basketball. I love these teams. The coaches, players and their families, and of course, my fellow fans, make it a special experience. We are blessed to have Bill Gibbons and Ralph Willard leading the hoops players on campus, establishing the atmospheres and winning traditions they have, and attracting quality players and people. No, things aren't always perfect. But for three days, they have been. And for that, I'm exceedingly grateful and proud to be an alumnus of the College of the Holy Cross.

(First two photos courtesy the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.)

Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T22:36:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

In other news, I'm going to be cutting back on my blogging. This is a tough decision, as I enjoy posting here and had a recent resurgence, but I have to focus some of my spare time on other things. Not sure when I'll be back to regular posting (it may be a while) but I hope to get back to it, eventually.

Thanks for reading.

Predictions - Men's Basketball

2006-11-11T10:32:00.000-05:00

Already posted these on Crossports, but we'll post 'em again here. It'll be easier to dust them off and dig them out of the archives here when the season is over!

Game-by-Game predictions:
Sun 11/12/06 H Fairfield WIN
Wed 11/15/06 H Hampton WIN
Sat 11/18/06 H Siena LOSS
Tue 11/21/06 A Harvard WIN
Sat 11/25/06 H Wm & Mary WIN
Mon 11/27/06 A Syracuse LOSS
Wed 11/29/06 A Yale WIN
Sat 12/02/06 A Dayton LOSS
Wed 12/06/06 A Duke LOSS
Tue 12/19/06 A Providence WIN
Thu 12/21/06 H G Mason LOSS
Thu 12/28/06 A La Salle LOSS
Fri 12/29/06 N Niagara WIN
Sat 12/30/06 N Delaware WIN
Wed 01/03/07 A B U WIN
Sat 01/06/07 A Lafayette * WIN
Tue 01/09/07 H Army * WIN
Fri 01/12/07 H Bucknell * LOSS
Wed 01/17/07 H Navy * WIN
Sat 01/20/07 A American * LOSS
Tue 01/23/07 A Colgate * LOSS
Fri 01/26/07 H Lehigh * WIN
Wed 01/31/07 H American * WIN
Sat 02/03/07 H Lafayette * WIN
Tue 02/06/07 A Army * WIN
Fri 02/09/07 A Bucknell * WIN
Wed 02/14/07 A Navy * WIN
Sat 02/17/07 A ESPN BBuster WIN
Wed 02/21/07 H Colgate * WIN
Sun 02/25/07 A Lehigh * WIN
Wed 02/28/07 Patriot League Quarterfinals WIN
Sun 03/04/07 Patriot League Semifinals WIN
Fri 03/09/07 Patriot League Championship Game WIN

That's 21-9, 3-0 PLT, and I'll say 1-1 NCAA. They bring a 9-game winning streak into the PL Tourney and 12-game streak into the NCAA's. I'd like to think I'm being conservative here, especially with a couple of the OOC games and one of the league games.

Patriot League First-Team:
Keith Simmons, G, HC
Tim Clifford, C, HC
Brayden Billbe, C, AU
Jose Olivero, G, Lehigh
Chris McNaughton, C, BU

And we'll predict the POY here: Keith Simmons, HC

A few other players we think are worth keeping an eye on:
Jordan Nichols, F, AU
Rob Thomas, G, BU
Andrew Brown, G, LAF
Kaleo Kina, G, Navy
Pat Doherty, G, HC (duh!)

Also looking forward to seeing what guys like Matt Bell, Greg Sprink, and Derrick Mercer will do this year.

Men's Hoops Opener!

2006-11-11T10:24:00.000-05:00

Beat Fairfield on Sunday! Have a great year, guys.

Football vs. Colgate

2006-11-11T10:16:00.000-05:00

The final regular season game has arrived. T&G reporter Jennifer Toland has predicted a victory for Holy Cross today. I'm a little worried about that, as her record in picking the close-call PL games hasn't been good this season. She did correctly predict that Bucknell would lose to Holy Cross last week, but I don't think that was a tough call.

Anyway, best of luck to the Crusaders today. As many have said, these seniors have endured a lot, with the loss of Coach Allen and the subsequent transition, but they should be incredibly proud of their gains. 1-11 in 2003, 3-8 in 2004, 6-5 in 2005, and at least seven wins in 2006. We're hoping for 8 wins and maybe more!

Beat 'gate!

Women's Hoops Opener!

2006-11-10T00:59:00.000-05:00

Continuing our tradition, we're posting the opening game starters. Good luck to the women's basketball team this season!

Posters I've met

2006-11-10T00:42:00.000-05:00

I sorted the Crossports memberlist by posts, and here are the top 90 (as of a couple of days ago).

The posters I've met are in bold. I'm not trying by any means to say I know everyone (I counted 26 of the 90 in bold), but it's a credit to Crossports and its moderator that we have a forum to discuss HC athletics, which enables us to meet and hang out with other Crusader fans. Seriously, can you imagine if we didn't have the Crossports message board? Thank you Crossports!

hchoops
sader1970
KY Crusader 75
CHC8485
NTKHC64
HC1843
Sons of Spitler
Rick
newtimholycross
pitt65
Root
nhteamer
Ray
lou
Jon
purplehaze
JRGNYR
TheYouk
Non Alum Dave
bison137
Chu Chu
hcnj
Sader81
hcbballfan
Wheeler
dadominate
Sader03
Sader Fan
Gate Raider
Class of 83
colgate13
HCCT
breezy
bikeman
jmw
GOPURPLE97
BeatBC
PatriotFan
Another65er
HC93
HC62
Purple71
crusader1970
Matunuck
Ignatius Loyola
TS1970
JoeHC
eric...
HC13
boxman37
Jet - 99% sure
Cross19
CL Metsfan
germ75
cf rivals
MHMD05
Tom
Zipp
HC92 - I can put 2 and 2 together
HC89
BBFAN
Hoop Time
1saderfan353
WCHC Sports
Fred
HC_01
HCFAN
PROTON
MHMD
purple1
saderman
laxfan
pittman
sader08
hc69
CROSSPORTS
HChockeyalum
purplepower
RGS318
HCAlum2000
baseball fan
JDAllston
Hcbball99
HC03
JS
unwired
mattb
td128
LindenLane
Class1996

There are a handful of others on this list I've figured out (by face) but haven't officially met, or haven't met in the context of Crossports and their posting name. And there are others I've met who are not in the top 90 posters, like Jim (appreciate you reading!) and TheRevHC. Look forward to meeting many more.

And this "top 90 posters" list does raise some questions. For instance, if you add up the posts for all the iterations of MHMD, how high would he rank? And how the heck has bison137 surged into the top20? Dave, fend him off!

New Hockey Column

2006-11-10T00:29:00.000-05:00

Telegram & Gazette correspondent Steve Kendall has a new hockey column that will appear on Mondays, bi-weekly. I have to believe HC's win over Minnesota provided some of the impetus for this column. Look for Holy Cross to be covered extensively in his column.

This week's column contains an update on former Crusader hero Tyler McGregor, whose whereabouts were last unknown by the hockey fans on Crossports. Kendall reports that McGregor is playing in the Central Hockey League, as a Memphis RiverKings teammate to former HC goalie Ben Conway. Marc Bianchi is also in the CHL, with the Lubbock Cotton Kings. Does every team have "Kings" in its name?

Must-Read HC Articles

2006-11-09T23:57:00.000-05:00

Last weekend's Sunday Telegram contained a ton of Holy Cross content. Paul Jarvey wrote an excellent front-page feature. Also, there were the football and hockey game recaps, along with season previews for the men's and women's basketball teams.

Here are a couple of the articles, which I don't remember seeing linked by anyone over on Crossports. Read 'em before they get archived by the T&G!

First up is a heartwarming story by Sports columnist Paul Jarvey, on senior lineman Matt Lemire and his family. Matt's mom is battling lupus.

Next is the women's hoops preview, featuring an ecstatic Brittany Keil, taking a break from her basket-weaving classes.
Coach Gibbons is always good for some quotes, and this article is no exception. A nice story on Brittany.

I couldn't find the link to Jennifer Toland's men's hoops preview, but it was a very good article. Torey and Keith spoke about their bond, and how Keith does the cooking and cleaning in their student apartment. Keith also recently made his "famous beef enchiladas" for the team. Simmons also discussed the frustrations and limitations of his cramping last season. "I'd cramp up when I tried to be explosive," he said.

Torey Thomas closed the story with this gem regarding being a captain: "I relish the responsibility because not everyone's a leader, not everyone's called on to be a leader. It's prestigious, but it's not just because of a title. It's because you have more to give to other people. When you have more to give to other people, you can be successful. If you lead right, with a keen eye and good discretion, you can make something ordinary become something special."

Pearl of Wisdom #23

2006-11-09T23:14:00.000-05:00

"He's an excellent defensive player, but he also adds a lot to our offense. He made the big play last night and had another great game today. He not only scored those goals, but he also broke the puck out well and did the things we expect from him on the ice."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Steve Kendall's game story in the November 5, 2006 edition of the Sunday Telegram, talking about senior defenseman Jon Landry's outstanding play (including a hat trick) as Holy Cross completed the weekend sweep of Canisius with a 6-3 victory at the Hart.

Does Steve Kendall know we're "24" fans? He led his story by comparing Landry to Jack Bauer. We know you were throwing us a bone, Steve. You've seen THIS, right?

Pearl of Wisdom #22

2006-11-09T23:07:00.000-05:00

"You have to be able to kill penalties consistently to have success. It's not a glamorous job - getting hit in the gut with a 90 mile-an-hour slapshot isn't fun - but it's incredibly important."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Steve Kendall's game story in last Saturday's Telegram & Gazette, discussing his team's three big penalty kills in the third period of the 5-4 HC win over Canisius at the Hart Center.

Asleep in the street

2006-11-09T23:02:00.000-05:00

Here's something you don't see every day. This woman was intoxicated and fell asleep during the Wednesday morning rush hour in the middle of Worcester's most notorious intersection, Kelley Square.

She was taken away by police and brought to the PIP shelter (People in Peril).

Family Weekend Losing Streak

2006-10-29T21:31:00.000-05:00

The HC football team hasn't won on Family Weekend since 2001. Consequently, the Dr. Edward N. Anderson Award has been presented to an opposing player each year since.

This year, the Holy Cross Club of Greater Worcester presented the Anderson Award, given annually to the outstanding player in the Family Weekend football game, to running back Marques Thompson of Lehigh. According to HCCGW president Dave Mahaney, Thompson "received 15 of the 16 sportswriters first place votes, was very humble and thanked the Club for the handsome trophy."

Thompson ran up 141 yards on 30 carries against the Crusaders, and was a pretty obvious choice in this fan's opinion.

The previous four winners of the award were Jermaine Pugh of Lehigh, Charlie Rittgers of Dartmouth, Daris Wilson of Bucknell, and last year, Jordan Scott of Colgate.

So we can add Thompson to the list of humble winners. Not all (*cough* Bison *cough*) of the award winners have been gracious in their acceptance of the trophy!

The People Under the Stands

2006-10-29T00:52:00.000-04:00

Either my freshman or sophomore year, Kimball Theater at Holy Cross showed the mediocre Wes Craven horror flick, The People Under the Stairs. I guess it wasn't so bad to be deemed "forgettable," since I do remember watching it there!

Well yesterday, it was The People Under the Stands. With 36 seconds to go in the first half of Lehigh's 28-14 win over HC, lightning was visible in the immediate area, and fans scattered out of the stands like rats, very quickly, and most gathered under the home grandstand for the next 45 minutes.

So who'd we see under the stands, anyway? Pretty much the same people who were in the stands to begin with, except you could actually recognize them without the big hats, ponchos and umbrellas.

We saw parents of football players. We saw many of the regular football diehard fans. We chatted with "Crossports" himself. We also saw Steve Silva.

CBS4/WBZ-TV anchor Scott Wahle was there, too. Found out he's a Holy Cross parent, and according to the HC Online Directory, his wife is a member of the Class of 1978. I didn't know Scott was another Boston TV personality with a connection to Holy Cross, joining former WCVB Channel 5 executive Paul LaCamera '64, along with current CBS4 colleagues Joe Bergantino '73 and Joe Shortsleeve '79. I'm sure there are others. Please drop a comment if you know of more!

I guess some would consider Dan Shaughnessy '75 a Boston TV personality, and maybe also current Celtics color analyst Tommy Heinsohn '56, but I'm thinking more of TV news anchors, reporters, and execs.

Toland Football Picks

2006-10-29T00:28:00.000-04:00

Telegram & Gazette reporter Jennifer Toland predicts the area college football results each week. She correctly predicted Holy Cross wins over Georgetown, Marist, Fordham and Dartmouth, and the losses to Northeastern and Harvard. But more recently, she incorrectly predicted losses to Brown and Lafayette, skeptical over the strength of Holy Cross.

This week, our Crusaders had apparently won her over, as she thought HC would beat Lehigh, 17-13. Oops! Well, it was a tough call. I wasn't convinced HC would win the game, especially as the rainy weather forecast became evident.

We like Jen, and she's been more right than wrong this year in general, but she's missed on the three "toss-up" games (Brown, Lafayette, Lehigh). "We Are Crusaders" predicts Jen Toland predicts a win over Bucknell this week. And hopefully she'll predict a loss in the season finale at Colgate, giving her an o-fer on the "tough call" games!

Pearl of Wisdom #21

2006-10-29T00:08:00.000-04:00

"We couldn't get the puck up the ice, be it five-on-five or five-on-four. We just kept fumbling the puck. I don't know, a bad night I guess. We worked really hard to establish the puck on a power play - and once we get set up, we're moving pretty good - we're going to start moving it over and the puck's flipping over the guy's stick or he's fumbling the pass. Different things were occurring out there. With the quality of defensemen we have, that can't happen in a game like this and expect to win."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Jen Toland's game story in Saturday's T&G, after Holy Cross lost a very winnable game to Yale, 2-1.

Coach Pearl didn't hold back in discussing his team's mistakes. In talking about going one-for-ten on the power play, Pearl said, "we were acting like the thing was a hand grenade instead of a puck."

I have to say, I'm not used to reading quotes like these. Stay candid, Coach, but hopefully the team will get its consistency so you don't have to describe your team's play this way!

Mike Pedone Lookalike

2006-10-28T23:58:00.001-04:00

Thought of this while watching the Tigers lose the World Series to the Cardinals on Friday night.

Former Cardinals and Phillies and current Tigers infielder Placido Polanco on the left, and Assistant Head Football Coach and Offensive Line Coach Mike Pedone on the right.

I don't think this comp came out as well as I envisioned it. Maybe it works better with Polanco's Phillies picture?

Will Venable Update

2006-10-28T23:53:00.000-04:00

Since the now-archived Will Venable thread on Crossports received more interest than I expected, we're posting an update here. A former Princeton hoops player, Will is a San Diego Padres prospect and is currently playing in the revived Hawaii Winter Baseball League, for the West Oahu CaneFires. Venable is an outfielder and has played in ten games. He's compiled a 286/348/405/753 stat line (AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS), which isn't anything special by MLB comparison, but is much better than his team's total of 233/325/347/672.

He is among the league leaders in Batting and Doubles. We'll try to keep tabs on his progress.

Jessica Savitch

2006-10-28T23:42:00.000-04:00

I'm not a YouTube addict (really, I swear!) but it's amazing what you can find there. Something got me thinking about the famous NBC News update where anchor Jessica Savitch went on the air while under the influence of drugs. I searched and found the clip, although 19 seconds have been edited out. (Interestingly, the YouTube clip linked at the end of this Savitch bio has been pulled.)

She was a talented anchor considered a "superstar," but she battled personal demons which affected her career. Her story is kind of fascinating, and sad, and this clip is eerily fascinating, and sad. Savitch died tragically in a car accident, unrelated to her drug use, a few weeks after her infamous broadcast. She was the subject of a Lifetime movie in 1995.

More Blog Stuff

2006-10-28T23:12:00.000-04:00

As mentioned in this post, we upgraded the blog last week. Specifically, we transferred over to "Blogger in Beta." There's some new behind-the-scenes techie stuff which simplifies things when making future layout changes to the blog. It's more flexible, and many of the upgrades should be invisible to the reader.

But some of the changes are visible to the reader. I already talked about how I can "label" my posts. Another thing I like is the way they added flexibility to the blog archives. Before, you could click on a month and it would display all my posts for that month. You can still do that, but now, by clicking on the little arrow next to each month, you can "preview" the month by seeing the titles of all my posts for that month. And you can then target a specific post. I really like that!

Am I just a little too interested in this? Yeah, probably, but it's sort of given me a second wind as far as this blog is concerned. And the original version of Blogger has had a bunch of outages this week, so I'm glad I switched to the new beta version!

Hamilton adjusting

2006-10-25T23:24:00.000-04:00

Nice job by Jen Toland, who snagged a quote, albeit short and sweet, from Kevin Hamilton. In her "Colleges" column in today's Telegram & Gazette, Toland reported that Kevin "checked in this week from Poland, where he is playing for the Polpak Swiecie team. Hamilton said things are going well and that he is playing point guard. 'It's a little different from school,' Hamilton said, 'but I am adjusting'".

So Poland's "a little different" than Mount St. James? SHOCKING! Seriously, we were big fans of KHam from day one, and wish him the best.

Also of HC note in her column, Jen writes that "former Holy Cross sports information director Gregg Burke has been appointed interim director of athletics at Rhode Island. He had served as acting AD since May, after Tom McElroy resigned."

Pearl of Wisdom #20

2006-10-25T23:05:00.000-04:00

"(After the loss to Mercyhurst Saturday) we talked about simplifying our game and not making the types of mistakes we were making. We just want to make simple plays and do the things you do when you have a third-period lead, like getting the puck deep and making plays."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Steve Kendall's game story in the Wednesday, October 25 edition of the Telegram & Gazette, after Holy Cross held on in the third period to defeat Merrimack, 2-1, in a big early-season non-conference victory. A great outing for goalie Ian Dams!

Fittest College Campuses

2006-10-23T23:01:00.000-04:00

I heard about this story over the weekend, when Boston TV mentioned Boston College being in the top five, but only today did I see the entire list of Men's Fitness magazine's top 25 fittest college campuses.

Two PL schools made the top 25, with Colgate coming in at #2 and Lafayette at #17. Associate member Georgetown is listed at #18.

And how 'bout those Banana Slugs slotting in at #13! Slug references on back-to-back days! I hear a "blog label" coming! (Sorry, should've issued a geek alert.)

The list:
1. Dickinson College
2. Colgate University
3. Boston College
4. Wheaton College (Illinois)
5. University of Vermont
6. Gustavus Adolphus College
7. Grove City College
8. Texas Christian University
9. Baylor University
10. University of Richmond
11. University of Virginia
12. University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse
13. University of California-Santa Cruz
14. Washington & Jefferson College
15. Albertson College of Idaho
16. Santa Clara University
17. Lafayette College
18. Georgetown University
19. Roanoke College
20. California Institute of Technology
21. Virginia Tech
22. University of Denver
23. Ithaca College
24. University of Mary Washington
25. Gonzaga University

I've never heard of the schools listed at numbers 6, 7 and 24. Gustavus Adolphus? Am I alone?

Geico

2006-10-23T22:56:00.000-04:00

This commercial has been out for a while, but for some reason I can't get the jingle out of my head today! The brilliance of Burt Bacharach, even in a parody.

Blog Updates

2006-10-22T23:36:00.000-04:00

I'm working on some changes to the blog. My main goal was to make it easier to track posts by topic without having to scroll through the archives.

Of course, you can search my blog by typing your search word(s) into the box at the very top of this page and clicking the "Search this blog" button.

But better than that, Blogger has introduced "labels," which means I can tag a post and file it under various topics. And you can click that label and find all my posts on that topic. So it'll be a piece of cake to find all the "Pearls of Wisdom," for instance! All the labels are listed alphabetically on the right side of the page.

I held off on these changes for a little while, but today I decided to take the plunge. I'm excited about being able to label my posts, but unfortunately, my cool "We Are Crusaders" logo has been sacrificed in the process. Actually, it's been moved from the top of the blog to the bottom, and I have to figure out how to integrate it back at the top as my main title logo. That's for another day.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy the upgrades. I'm still tweaking things here and there. And don't be afraid to write comments!

Neutral Site?

2006-10-22T16:40:00.000-04:00

We're not necessarily advocating for this, but when was the last time Holy Cross played a football game at a neutral location?

Actually, we have the answer. It was 11 seasons ago, on October 28, 1995. Holy Cross travelled to Bermuda to take on Fordham.

Prior to that, in 1991, HC played its penultimate game of that season in Limerick, Ireland, also against the Rams.

Are these "exotic" locations any different than heading to San Diego or south Florida a few years ago? Would it benefit Holy Cross to seek a game outside the States in coming years?

Banana Slug connection

2006-10-22T16:29:00.000-04:00

Who knew? Holy Cross Football has a connection to the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs! Yes, the same Slugs made famous by a T-shirt worn by John Travolta's character Vincent Vega in the 1994 Tarantino classic, Pulp Fiction.

These are the things you discover when picking up and getting sucked into the annual football media guide. According to the guide, senior DB Marc Crosby's "brother, Michael, played basketball at the University of California-Santa Cruz."

Career Day for Dom

2006-10-22T16:10:00.000-04:00

What a day for the emerging star, sophomore QB Dominic Randolph! In the impressive 38-28 Crusader victory at Lafayette, Dom set personal highs with 4 touchdown passes, 352 passing yards, and 34 completions (34 of 46). The 34 completions broke Brian Hall's school record of 32 completions from Holy Cross's 63-53 win over Lafayette in a wild game in 2001. Some Leopard symmetry, perhaps?

Incidentally, that Brian Hall game was the last time a HC player won the Dr. Eddie Anderson Family Weekend MVP trophy, presented by the Holy Cross Club of Greater Worcester. It's been five years. The upcoming Lehigh game would be the perfect time to break the streak of visiting players taking home that trophy on Family Weekend!

All the single-game and year-to-date Dom Randolph numbers make you wonder if he's on his way to eventually entrenching himself among the QB greats who dominate the HC record book: guys like Wiley, Ciaccio, O'Neil and Hall, with the occasional Muldoon, McCarthy and Stapp thrown in for good measure.

We'd love to see it happen. The man can play.

Idiot poster

2006-10-22T16:01:00.000-04:00

This probably falls in the category of "You shouldn't dignify this with a response," but it irks me that an idiot poster on Crossports can say "fags" and actually have other posters DEFEND his comments! What the heck is this? You can bet your behind that if the poster had said the "n" word instead of "fags," the thread would be gone and the poster permanently banned.

I don't care if he was trying to make a joke. He lost me at "fags."

And as for the thread itself, we get it, Ed Walsh '69 is a great guy and Donna Hanover is a "witch." The thread had gone on too long before our enlightened poster reacted terribly to sader1970's clever response to his misuse of "alumna." Thankfully, some posters rightfully wanted to kill the thread, and hopefully it's permanently dead. But I sort of doubt it.

Pearl of Wisdom #19

2006-10-15T19:40:00.000-04:00

"It was an unbelievable accomplishment, but the best thing we can do is cut off last year and move on. Last year is last year. This year is this year."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Jen Toland's season preview in Friday's Telegram & Gazette, discussing the hockey team's incredible and dramatic 27-10-2 season last year.

Unfortunately, the Crusaders twice blew three-goal leads last night at Niagara, losing 5-4 in the 2006-07 season opener. With the loss of experienced seniors Tony Quesada and Ben Conway, goaltending figured to be a critical factor this year. But a quick glance at the box score makes it seem we can't pin this loss on young goaltender Ian Dams. There will be some bumps this year, for sure, but with Coach Pearl at the helm, leading Bubba Sixsmith (below) and a steady crop of talented players, it should be an entertaining season.

Quick thoughts on the football team

2006-10-15T19:16:00.000-04:00

So it wasn't the prettiest of wins. But HC won the game in overtime at Dartmouth yesterday, and is now 5-2 on the season. Yes, I realize the five wins haven't come against traditional 1-AA powers. But two of them have come against Ivy League opponents, and the two losses were competitive.

I expected this season to be a step back from last year. They graduated many seniors on offense, and I thought the Crusaders would struggle this year. Looks like I was wrong! And I'm happy with that! Two years ago, HC was getting pummeled in the second half of games, even as the first halves were tightly contested. Last year, HC went 6-5 and had some tough 4th quarters. Look at the Delaware game as an example. HC was losing 21-17 after three, and got trounced in the fourth, eventually losing 35-23.

This year, Holy Cross has had some late-game fades, but they're hanging on to win! The conclusion? Depth. The gradual increase in depth from two seasons ago is paying dividends. If this trend continues next year, I expect we won't see the late fades at all. Coach Tom Gilmore has turned this team around. He's acquiring the right pieces, and I'm excited about the coming years! I don't know how he got a talent like Aaron Jones to commit to HC instead of Lehigh, but whatever he said, it worked. Holy Cross football is finally on its way back to glory. Let's win these last four games!

Coach Pearl - Back Again!

2006-10-15T19:01:00.000-04:00

After a close call with Milton Academy a few years ago, men's hockey coach Paul Pearl re-signed with Holy Cross this offseason, and is back on the hill for the foreseeable future. We're ecstatic about that! We've previously posted our thoughts about Coach Pearl and his place here at Holy Cross. Our opinion hasn't changed since then. Good luck to Coach Pearl and the entire hockey team as they begin their AHA title defense!

The photos above and below accompanied Jennifer Toland's T&G feature article on Coach Pearl from the Wednesday of NCAA week last spring.

More Fordham pics

2006-10-15T18:34:00.000-04:00

Special thanks to a friend of ours from the Holy Cross Class of 1970, who sent these Homecoming day photos to us the old-fashioned way - via postal mail!

First up is a picture featuring a few of our hoops players. Left to right, it's sophomore Pat Doherty and frosh Zach Paterick and Adam May going up for a bomb on the baseball field, prior to the game. IIRC, the pass was tossed by Greg McCarthy. Or maybe it was Lawrence Dixon. On crutches. Or not. Honestly, I don't remember who threw that particular pass, but several of the younger guys were having fun throwing the ball around. Pat looked fine, I think! I'd say it was a good thing Coach Willard wasn't around to see these guys horsing around, except he was standing nearby watching them!

Another one of Dave and yours truly, tailgating prior to the game:

Finally, a couple shots of the actual game, taken from the Fordham side of the bleachers. HC on offense, then on defense. Expand to your heart's delight - you might be able to pick yourself out on the other side of the stands.

New Mascot - Named?

2006-10-03T23:29:00.000-04:00

Holy Cross unveiled its new mascot this week. Mr. Mascot is seeking a name. In this Crossports thread, our friend CHC8485 suggested "Benny" and "Iggy" among other names. pitt65 went with "Rick," which had us chuckling. We actually sort of like "Iggy" as a mascot name, but we're not sure it fits the look of this Crusader.

So here's a suggestion, one that came to us last night: "Joe Knight"

Yep, it just works.

And is this guy available to wear the suit?

Fordham pics

2006-10-01T15:05:00.000-04:00

We're guessing sader1970 sent these photos to Crossports for posting over there, but we received them, too, and figured we'd post them here! Not sure who made the ESPNU sign (it was passed to us by some nearby football family members who had similar signs), but it looks sharp.

Holy Cross won the game, 28-21! Here are three pictures from the day:

sader1970 and his wife, along with their niece on the left, and footballwoman75 (frosh gridder Don Matheney's girlfriend) on the right:

"We Are Crusaders" blogger Jon, with footballwoman75:

Non Alum Dave (fresh off his morning visit to the Hart Center) and Jon, on the 50-yard line:

CROSS77 Stayed

2006-10-01T14:54:00.000-04:00

Thanks to hchoops for taking the opportunity in this thread on Crossports to follow up on our inquiry below. CROSS77 answered the question - turns out he stayed on campus, and in the following weeks attended the NU and Harvard games.

Hope you're enjoying your time on campus so far! And thanks, 'hoops!

CROSS77, did you stay or go?

2006-09-12T23:29:00.000-04:00

I don't know what reminded me of this. Remember incoming freshman CROSS77, hailing from Nebraska, posting in this thread over on Crossports asking for advice about staying on campus or traveling to Georgetown his first weekend at college?

"We Are Crusaders" wants to know the outcome! Did you stay on campus, or did you visit your friends down in D.C.? I didn't chime in on that thread, but I thought he should stay at Holy Cross. I have great memories of my first days on the hill, and I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else.

Incidentally, we're also curious about the "77" part of his posting name, because it's pretty confusing given all the names like HC62, Sader81, sader1970 and sader1998. Number implies grad year, for the most part. Sometimes it's year of birth, but he wasn't born in 1977. Maybe it's a uniform number?

Delaware Football Pics, 2005

2006-09-12T22:58:00.000-04:00

I could've sworn I posted my photos from the Holy Cross game at Delaware held September 24, 2005, but as I'm in catchup mode here, I went through the archives and couldn't find any pics from that game. Delaware won that game 35-23, but Holy Cross made them work for it. It was 7-7 at the half.

I had fun at that game. It was also "Band Day," so after the game we were treated to a show by area high school bands and the UD band. Good times at Tubby Raymond Field.

There's nothing overwhelming here, but it's interesting to see the excitement of the player intros for the Delaware team, along with the stat progression in the last quarter of the game (seen on the scoreboard with a breakdown in passing, rushing, and total yards). Specifically, UD ran for 94 yards in the 4th quarter, Holy Cross only 18.

The first four pics were taken during pre-game. And how can I forget, the fifth photo features Holy Cross basketball center Tim Clifford on the very right, wearing his homemade hat with the Steve Silva cutout. Gotta give Tim credit, he stuck it out and wore his hat long after his buddies discarded theirs.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

I didn't want to dwell, but...

2006-09-12T22:10:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I know. I said in my previous post that I didn't want to dwell on the events of 9/11. But with the 5th anniversary, I've been thinking a lot about that day and the subsequent weeks. It sticks with me. And I don't think that's a bad thing.

For the music fans out there, here are a couple videos I found that remind me of the days and weeks following 9/11.

The first one is a video of Bruce Springsteen singing his powerful song, "My City of Ruins." This version is actually a live duet with Sam Moore of "Sam & Dave" fame. There are other versions on YouTube (including some post-Katrina versions, another event for which this song became an anthem), but I like the raw energy and soul displayed here.

The entire Springsteen album, "The Rising," draws from 9/11, and it's one heck of an album. This song in particular, for me, simultaneously captures the anguish and the hope of the days following the tragedy. Sam Moore and Bruce Springsteen, Asbury Convention Hall, 12/7/2003:

Another video I'll always associate with 9/11 is Maxwell's "Lifetime." After the 11th, MTV halted regular programming for a few weeks, and returned to its roots by almost exclusively airing music videos. One video in heavy rotation was this great neo-soul song from Maxwell. I don't know if it's the song's slow groove, thoughtful and optimistic lyrics, or the video's blurred images of NYC, but this one made an impression. I always think of the strange tepidity of September 2001 when I hear or see it. A favorite of mine.

Five Years

2006-09-10T20:12:00.000-04:00

Among the thousands killed in the attacks of September 11, 2001 was my Holy Cross classmate Todd Isaac. Todd was working for Cantor Fitzgerald in the North Tower of the WTC. I wasn't really friends with Todd, mainly because he was a Wheeler kid and I was a Mulledy kid, and those paths didn't cross very often. But I was introduced to him at one point freshman year, and he was as nice as they come. After that, whenever we saw each other on campus, he always had that smile and a friendly "Hi Jon!" He was a genuine, good guy.

Todd played basketball at HC during our sophomore year. I'm almost positive he was a walk-on that year. Maybe someone could confirm this. John Young and Reece Horton were the other players from my class, and they lettered all four years they were at HC.

I don't want to dwell on 9/11, as the whole event conjures up all kinds of memories and emotions for people. But every so often I think of Todd, and I can't even imagine what he must've endured up in that tower. Rest in peace, bud.

Random Sader Spottings

2006-09-10T19:39:00.000-04:00

If I randomly bump into a current or former Holy Cross athlete around town (I'm not counting sightings on campus), should I post it here? I thought it would be kind of funny, but then I started to think I'd become the "Crusaderazzi" and I don't think that's an objective of this blog. I'm not snapping photos or anything, and I guess I thought it might be interesting to mention seeing these folks as they go about their lives, but you could certainly argue it's an invasion of their privacy.

For instance, a few years ago I was grocery shopping at my local Stop&Shop in Worcester, and the next thing I know, I spot Neil Fingleton (he was on HC's roster at the time) in the deoderant aisle. I know, it's personal and all that. But it was funny just the same. It was strange seeing this 7'6" guy by himself at Stop&Shop trying to find some toiletry item. The store employees and other customers were in awe of him. When I checked out, the cashier said "I wonder if he plays basketball," and of course I provided her the details.

And no, I didn't talk to Neil that day. It just didn't seem right. "Hey Neil, what's up? I'm Jon, and I'm a season-ticket holder at Holy Cross. Say, are you going to go with the Right Guard or the Old Spice High Endurance?"

No, thank you.

I bring this up because today I was at the gas station, and I looked up and a few cars over was a former HC women's basketball player. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to say hello. She didn't see me (I don't think), plus I was almost finished filling up, and there was a line.

Are these sightings worth posting? What if she had a blog? How would I feel about her posting that she saw "Jon" at the gas station? I'm probably blowing it out of proportion by doing this big writeup as opposed to a short-and-sweet post saying "Random Sader Spotting #2: 9/10/06, 'Player X' spotted at gas station on Grafton Street".

And feel free to guess the player. The prize for the correct guess is four straight trips to the NCAA tournament.

Colin Comp #6

2006-09-10T19:13:00.000-04:00

I might as well start counting these, sort of like the Pearls of Wisdom, right? This is our 6th suggestion for a lookalike for now-sophomore Crusader hoopster Colin Cunningham. A classmate of mine suggested this one to me months ago, but I didn't get around to posting it back then.

Vietnam-era John Kerry. Not too bad, 'eh?

In case you need a refresher, you can find the Ricky Nelson comp here, the Robbie Benson and Andy Kaufman comps here, and the Vinnie Barbarino and Dan Abrams comps here. And let's keep them coming!

As an aside, Colin strikes me as the men's basketball team "social director." Maybe Torey's occupied that role to some degree the last few years, but Colin is next in line. He's going to end up being the guy that figures out what the team's going to do after practice when they're on break, what movie they're going to watch while they're on the road, etc. Yesterday, Colin was sporting the aviator glasses and working the tunes during the basketball team's tailgate on the baseball field. You can tell he likes his music - Motown, Prince ("Kiss"), you name it. He seems to have a great personality and he'll be fun to watch, both on and off the court, while he's at Holy Cross.

Another HC Clip

2006-09-10T19:04:00.000-04:00

This one isn't sports-related, but I thought it was sort of interesting nevertheless. Someone shot video at this year's Commencement ceremony at the College and posted it to the web. The lyrics in the background song aren't 100% clean, but it's not a vulgar song in my opinion. Sounds like the Fugees.

HC Hockey Video

2006-09-10T19:00:00.000-04:00

Here's a YouTube video of the HC hockey team's AHA title game victory over Bentley from this past spring. This win sent them on to the NCAA's where history was made! (That just doesn't get old.)

Begging for a Caption

2006-07-13T22:40:00.000-04:00

Props to Non Alum Dave, who easily identified everyone (save the managers) in the 1993-94 men's basketball team photo. Dave, I forgot to tell you there was a prize. You win a trip to Texas to go fly-fishing with Nate Lufkin! Get your waders ready! Click on the b**bies for more details (haha).

Okay, time for something a little different. I'm not going to call this an official "Caption Contest," but you have to wonder what was going through Ralph's head at this moment. I believe this photo is from the HC-Kansas NCAA tournament game from 2002. It's Classic Ralph Willard.

Friday Trivia?

2006-06-29T22:33:00.000-04:00

Is my hiatus over? Technically, yes, but I have no idea how frequently I'll be updating the blog this summer. That was a two-and-a-half month break! I hate to say it, but I was probably spending more time on the blog than I should've been, and frankly I haven't missed it that much.

That said, I'll try to post updates more than once every three months! So here's a little something for the Crusader fans out there who are still reading "We Are Crusaders." (And thanks for sticking with me!)

Since "Friday Trivia" has been popular over at Crossports, here's some trivia of my own: Name the year of this photo, along with the coaches and players. I don't think I can identify everyone, so your assistance is needed! (The photo contains a dead giveaway on the year.)

Click on the photo to expand it. Then you may be able to expand it further by putting your mouse over the photo and clicking on the "expand" arrow that shows up on the bottom right corner of the photo.

Happy Easter!

2006-04-15T15:56:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter Sunday.

Introducing Adam May

2006-04-15T15:23:00.000-04:00

Here's Holy Cross incoming recruit Adam May:

Oh wait, that's not Adam, that's Chris Potter. I got confused. Here's the real Ohio All-Star, Adam May:

I have to admit, based on everything I've heard and read, I wish I saw Potter play. Some of his numbers are astounding:

Tied with NBA Hall-of-Famer Tommy Heinsohn for 5th in career scoring
Third in career rebounds (1019) behind Heinsohn and Togo Palazzi
Fourth in career assists (470), slotting in between Roger Breslin (475) and Dwight Pernell (430)
Most assists in a Hart Center game (16 vs. Iona, 12/7/1977). Wow, that's amazing. HC was ranked at the time, 15th in the country, and stomped Iona 105-83.
Third in single-season FG%, .591 in 1978-1979

Maggie Dixon: 1977-2006

2006-04-15T15:13:00.000-04:00

A little over a week ago, and about a month shy of her 29th birthday, we lost Maggie Dixon. The sudden passing of Coach Dixon, who led the Army women's basketball team to their first Patriot League title, has been well-documented. But we haven't been able to do much blogging lately, and wanted to post a little something in her honor.

We'll remember watching her enthusiasm at the Hart Center, as she guided her visiting team to a regular-season victory over the Crusaders. We'll remember commenting about her bright future as a head coach. We'll remember watching her on CSTV, as her team captured the PL title and she was taken off the court on the shoulders of cadets. We'll miss her.

Victory

2006-03-25T14:07:00.000-05:00

A few player quotes from Rich Garven's game story and sidebar stories in today's T&G:

Tony Quesada:
"This is the best day of my life."

"I feel like I didn’t have my best game or that I was challenged as much as I expected coming into tonight. Going against a team with all that offensive firepower, I expected I would have to make a ton of stops. I just felt like I made normal saves. They weren’t desperate ones where you’re diving around."

"We’re definitely enjoying the moment right now. But we’ll wake up in the morning and be focused on the next game. That’s what we’re here for, to win hockey games."

Tyler McGregor:
"We came in confident. It was confidence in our system and confidence in what we do."

"I just shot it on instinct. I saw it go pretty much right in the middle of the net. When you get a chance like that you don’t want to screw it up."

"I saw everyone coming over, and I was just hoping I didn't get killed." - This quote is not from the T&G, but is taken from the post-game press conference, where McGregor was asked about his team's reaction after he scored the winning goal.

Updates since last night:
We posted last evening, soon after the game, and offered our thoughts on the "Save of the night" and "Goal of the night." Today's paper has this to say about that critical Quesada save:

With 4:52 to go, a screened Quesada made a tremendous glove save on a blistering shot by Andy Sertich, who cut loose from the left circle. Quesada then stopped four shots in the final two minutes as the Golden Gophers swarmed the Holy Cross zone.

Not only was Tony screened by Gophers, but there was a lot of traffic from both teams in front of him at the time. How he spotted that puck is beyond me.

As for the McGregor goal in the second period, it came in the midst of a scoring flurry in the middle of the period, but only half-a-minute after Minnesota scored a short-handed goal to tie the game at 1. The McGregor one-timer was a quick response, putting Holy Cross ahead, and showed this fan that Holy Cross was in this one for real.

Pearl of Wisdom #18

2006-03-25T13:58:00.000-05:00

"Good players have puck luck."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Rich Garven's game story in today's Telegram & Gazette, referring to Tyler McGregor and the winning goal in overtime, as Holy Cross defeated Minnesota 4-3 in the first round of the NCAA Hockey Tournament.

By the way, kudos to the T&G for sending Garven to North Dakota for coverage of the tournament. I would've been surprised if the newspaper hadn't sent a reporter, but nevertheless, it's been fun reading the daily features and notes columns the past several days.

Pearl of Wisdom #17

2006-03-25T13:48:00.000-05:00

"I think the thing I like the most is the relationship with the kids, that and the challenge of getting good players. I like working here - and I know this may sound corny - because I went here and I really believe in Holy Cross as a school. The Jesuits do a great job and I like the whole spiritual aspect of the place. I just think this is the right spot for someone to go to college. That makes it easy to be here. I like the work environment. There are a lot of good coaches and people to learn from here. I like being a college hockey coach, but no, I did not envision this at all. It's been really neat."

-Coach Paul Pearl, in another quote from Jen Toland's feature story in Wednesday's Telegram & Gazette. And it may be the quote of the year.

I think we've said it before, but we're lucky to have Coach Pearl leading the team here at Holy Cross. He understands the limitations and the advantages that Holy Cross may offer a recruit. There's a special story at Holy Cross, and Pearl gets it. We sincerely hope that Coach enjoys it here enough to stay on for many years to come!

Pearl of Wisdom #16

2006-03-25T13:41:00.000-05:00

"We're not North Dakota and we're not Minnesota, but we want our guys to act like it is and to buy into the program, and I know they do. There's no evading the academic rigors here, but the second thing in their lives is hockey and training for hockey. They've bought into our picture of 'We want Holy Cross hockey to be this,' and they know it's not going to happen just by saying it. It's going to happen with hard work and they've done all the work."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Jen Toland's excellent feature story on the coach, which ran in the Telegram & Gazette of this Wednesday, March 22.

Pearl of Wisdom #15

2006-03-25T13:33:00.000-05:00

"We're very excited to play Minnesota. They obviously have a great program and it will be a great challenge for our program to go match up against theirs. They're really fast and they have excellent special teams. It will be a formidable opponent. We're going to have to play really good defense against them and be opportunistic on our chances that we get. We'll go in there and play them hard and see that we can do."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Jen Toland's "selection show" story in Monday's Telegram & Gazette.

Play hard they did. We fell behind on our "Pearls of Wisdom" after Holy Cross clinched the number one seed for the AHA tournament, so in recognition of the team's unbelievable victory last night, we're trying to catch up on a couple of Coach Pearl's comments from the past week.

Sweetness

2006-03-24T22:56:00.000-05:00

Holy Cross Wins!

Wow, what a game. Holy Cross just pulled off what many hockey analysts are calling the biggest upset in NCAA tournament history! And others are removing the "tournament" qualifier, suggesting it's the biggest upset in the history of college hockey. Holy Cow? Holy Cross!

I'm thrilled for Coach Paul Pearl and his excellent squad of skaters. They're great guys, they work hard, and they deserve this win! Tyler, Bubba, Sean, Tony, Marty, Jon, Blair, Pierre, Dale, Cal, Tanner, Marc, Ben and everyone else - thanks for a terrific season - and it's not over yet! You've made Crusader Nation proud!

Goal of the night: The sweet, sweet goal by Holy Cross senior Tyler McGregor in the second period, off the slick cross-ice assist from Bubba Sixsmith, putting HC up 2-1 while on a two-man advantage. That goal was a thing of beauty! Of course, the game-winner was thrilling and dramatic, but that second goal was pure execution. It was outstanding, and set the tone that Holy Cross was outplaying those Gophers.

Save of the night: Tony Q's awesome glove save late in the third period, preserving a 3-3 tie. Wow.

Key to the game: Holy Cross's penalty kill. This was all the announcers could talk about, and it was a big topic on the local Fox Sports Network affiliate's lengthy post-game coverage. Even the Gophers players pointed to the HC penalty kill as a critical factor in their team's loss.

By the way, FSN-North was set up at UND with a remote set, an anchor with two analysts, plus an "outside the locker room" reporter, all in coverage of their Golden Gophers. Needless to say, it was quite enjoyable watching them as they analyzed the game and interviewed Gopher coaches and players after the game. They also threw in some post-game press conference clips of Tyler McGregor and Tony Quesada. Good stuff! Their coverage was excellent, though, considering it's college hockey. It makes you realize the enormity of Minnesota hockey as a sports presence in that market. The post-game production was similar to what you'd see from Fox Sports New England for a Patriots playoff game.

This win was tremendous. At least one of our fans seems to have had a premonition that this was in the cards. See the comment left for this "We Are Crusaders" post from February. "This year's team is on the cusp of greatness." Well, cusp no more. Greatness achieved!

So it's on to the final eight. Good luck Saturday night!

HOLY CROSS 4, MINNESOTA 3: Biggest Holy Cross Victory in Over Fifty Years!

HC to play Duke next year

2006-03-11T17:45:00.000-05:00

The "We Are Crusaders" news bureau has learned that the Holy Cross men's basketball team will play Duke University in the 2006-2007 season. The game will be played at Duke. In case anyone's wondering, we didn't hear this from anyone directly affiliated with the HC Athletic Department, but we trust our sources, and were told we can "take it to the bank." Woohoo!

Hope Doesn't Float

2006-03-11T17:01:00.000-05:00

Ok, so maybe hope isn't enough. Execution, luck, and other factors are at play. I'm back home from my second Bucknell road trip in the last two months, and once again, the good guys lost to the Bison. Fun trip, though. I'm glad I went. Holy Cross played tough, as they have all year, and KHam had a phenomenal game. He gets praised (and occasionally attacked) on Crossports, but the praise isn't enough. He's awesome, and came to play yesterday. Thanks, Kevin, for showing your teammates what it means to play Holy Cross basketball. You'll be missed.

We arrived at BU around 2:30pm. As I've told a few people, the Bucknell campus smells like money, but yesterday, it smelled like cows. Seriously. We picked up our tickets at Will Call and made our way into Sojka. I was expecting a pumped-and-jacked crowd, something reminiscent of the Hart Center for the PL championship game against American in 2003, but that's not what we found. Less than two hours before the game, Hart was packed and LOUD that year. Yesterday at Sojka, less than two hours before the game, the place was empty and quiet. Disappointing (although I thought it was a good sign for Holy Cross). Fans gradually trickled in, and by 4pm, there was a decent contingent of orange shirts. By 4:15, it was finally beginning to feel like a championship game - a whole 15 minutes before the previously announced start time! (I found out around 4 or 4:15 that the start time had been pushed back to 4:45.)

Oh, here's something for you: You want contrived? The Sojka PA guy had a countdown to the live national telecast, starting at 10 seconds out. So when ESPN2 cut into Sojka, those of you watching at home heard a crowd that was about 5 times louder than it was only 10 seconds before. Hart has never needed that kind of ridiculous countdown for a PL championship telecast. What would be next, rally monkeys on the main scoreboard? We wouldn't have heard the PA anyway at Hart, with the crowds as loud as they were! (Or maybe that's an indictment of Hart's PA system. But that's not what I'm getting at.)

We had dinner in Scranton after the game. We ate at Stirna's, which has in recent years become a shrine to Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara. As luck would have it, we arrived at Stirna's with less than a minute left in the Syracuse-Georgetown Big East Semifinal game. The place was going crazy, although it wasn't as jam-packed as you might expect. Next year, we're lobbying for that restaurant to convert over to Pat Doherty. It's not as if the Doherty family doesn't have a presence in Scranton: Pat's uncle is the mayor!

Hope wasn't enough for the men's hoops team, and it wasn't enough for the ladies either. I watched that game on CSTV and it looked like a tremendous atmosphere. Our team had an excellent shot at stealing a PL title from the top-seeded squad from Army, but instead, a last-minute steal turned the game for the Black Knights. Jess Conte, I'll miss watching you. Thanks for everything you've brought to the program. And thanks to the rest of the graduating seniors on both the women's and men's side: Shannon Bush, Sarah Placek and Kevin Hyland. Enjoy the rest of your senior year at the Cross!

Hope

2006-03-07T18:51:00.000-05:00

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

-Andy Dufresne, in his letter to Red, from The Shawshank Redemption.

HC Hoops Teams Advance!

2006-03-05T17:18:00.000-05:00

Is there any time of year more fun than this? The Holy Cross men's and women's hoops teams won their quarterfinal and semifinal conference playoff games, and are advancing to their respective championship games!

The ladies play Wednesday night at Army. The men take on the Bison of Bucknell on Friday afternoon down in Lewisburg. I'll be headed to Lewisburg for the men's game, but can't attend the ladies' game Wednesday. Let's knock off those number one seeds!

Line of the Day

2006-03-05T17:08:00.000-05:00

T&G sports columnist Paul Jarvey has the best line of the day, in his column in today's Sunday Telegram. Jarvey's column focused on the fine play of point guard Laura Aloisi in Saturday's PL semifinal win over the Bucknell Bison. Jarvey wrote:

Gibbons said the way she soared for the ball in traffic reminded him of the over-the-rim rebounding of Keith Simmons of the HC men's team. Did we mention that the coach sometimes gets carried away?

Pearl of Wisdom #14

2006-03-05T17:00:00.000-05:00

"At the beginning of the year we set some goals, and we can check three off now. Now we need to start working toward goal four, which is to win the playoffs. It won't be easy - there are no easy games in this conference."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Steve Kendall's game story in today's Sunday Telegram, after Pierre Napert-Frenette scored the winning goal with a minute left in Saturday night's 3-2 win over Bentley, clinching first-place in Atlantic Hockey. The #1 seed Crusaders kick off their playoffs with a home game against AIC on Saturday at 7pm. Go Cross!

Women's Basketball Playoffs On Tap

2006-02-26T21:34:00.000-05:00

The HC women's basketball team backed into the number two spot in the Patriot League standings, and will host one-half of the PL tournament which begins Thursday. Bucknell and Lehigh face off in the first quarterfinal game at 5:30pm, with the Crusaders and the AU Eagles matching up at 8pm.

A few folks over on Crossports are wondering why the HC women's team doesn't get more attention from the board's registered posters. That question gets kicked around every so often. My answer, for this year, at least, is pretty simple: This season's version of the Crusaders isn't much fun to watch.

Maybe I just miss those breathtaking Maggie Fontana passes, or the all-around post play of Lisa Andrews. But it's more than that. Seniors Shannon Bush, Jess Conte, and Sarah Placek are shooting a combined 36.1% from the field, and an even worse 31.5% on three-pointers. I love Conte, but her shooting this year has been disappointing.

Shannon Bush has the worst percentages of the senior tri-captains. She's at 34.9% from the field, and a terrible 28.5% from three. Shooting that poorly from three-land is one thing, but taking almost half your shots (actually 46.3%) from behind-the-arc, while shooting that poorly, simply isn't smart. Neither is the fact that she's taken the second-most shots on the team, only 21 behind the 54% shooting and breakout junior center Kaitlin Foley who's taken 302 shots on the season.

The much-maligned Sarah Placek, not a fan favorite, actually has the best percentages of the three seniors. The headline for the game story in today's Sunday Telegram was "Unlikely milestone," in reference to Placek's reaching 1000 career points. Congratulations to her on that achievement! Her pull-up 12-foot jumper is deadly. Yet according to the article in today's paper, she has the lowest career scoring average (8.8) of the 22 members of the HC women's 1000-point club. Longevity doesn't preclude mediocrity.

It probably seems like I'm trashing this year's seniors. That's not my intention. They play hard, and I've heard excellent things about them off-the-court. I'm absolutely sure they represent Holy Cross as well as any students. However, poor decision-making and less-than-stellar shooting have added up to a mediocre season for this season's Crusaders. Add in Keil's lack of development (her junior year is almost over - let's face it, she hasn't met expectations), and Ashley McLaughlin's awful sophomore season, and what are the positives to continuously rave about?

Aloisi and Foley salvaged the year, in this fan's opinion. I've been a season-ticket holder for a few years, and I haven't seen a player make offseason progress like Foley did this year. She made astounding improvements, and she's capable of having a dominant senior year. Aloisi has been very good through the PL schedule, and seems to be back to 100% after her injury-filled freshman campaign. She's still improving.

Prospects for the PL tournament? I'm not sure. I've said all along that Bucknell would be trouble in the tournament. If they beat Lehigh, and HC beats AU, then we'll have another tough HC-BU women's game on hand for Saturday afternoon. Obviously I hope HC wins their games this weekend, but following this season's pattern, nothing will be easy. Good luck, ladies.

Pearl of Wisdom #13

2006-02-26T21:16:00.000-05:00

"You don't go through a long season like this without a few ups-and-downs. This was a tough loss, no question, but we have shown the ability to bounce back from tough games like this very well."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Steve Kendall's game report in Saturday's Telegram & Gazette, after his team's excruciating 4-3 loss to Sacred Heart, as the Crusaders lost with less than 4 seconds left in overtime after rallying back from a 3-0 first period deficit.

After HC's eight-game winning streak was snapped by Canisius two weeks ago, I had an inkling that our guys might've peaked too early. But they bounced back with a win and tie against Mercyhurst, and things were looking good. This weekend's sweep by Sacred Heart was surprising, and has resulted in a logjam at the top of the AHA standings, with HC and SH tied for first, with the 'hurst a point back. A critical weekend awaits!

A New Lookalike

2006-02-16T00:33:00.000-05:00

We'll put aside the Colin Cunningham lookalike quest, for the moment at least. (We're not finished with that, as we did receive another possibility for him via email.)

But here's a new one for y'all. One of these guys coaches the Holy Cross men's hockey team. The other is a television and movie actor, starring in such flicks as Toy Soldiers, Rudy, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and now appearing as the somewhat annoying and conveniently-quick-to-recover-from-a-mugging Lynn McGill on "24".

Paul Pearl and Sean Astin.

Pearl of Wisdom #12

2006-02-16T00:24:00.000-05:00

"Hopefully, lesson learned tonight. We bury it and now have our season in front of us. The three goals were just inexcusable. We don't clear the puck while a man was down on the first, two guys collide on a line change on the second goal and on the third we try to be cute instead of getting the puck into their zone."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Rich Garven's game story in the February 12 Sunday Telegram, after a disappointing 3-1 loss to Canisius by his hockey team. The Crusaders were 0-4 on the power play, and the loss broke an eight-game winning streak.

"It must be the stick"

2006-02-11T09:04:00.000-05:00

In his story of the Crusaders' victory over Canisius, Rich Garven of the T&G follows his Paul Pearl quote with this nugget regarding senior Tyler McGregor:

McGregor, though, has made it look easy as he has piled up points over the last month. It’s not the shoes, so it must be the stick.

The 5-foot-10, 200-pound Canadian is the only Crusader using a wooden stick. The rest of his teammates have opted for the uber-popular one-piece composite models.

“A one-piece is good for your shot,” Pearl admitted, “but you don’t feel the puck.”

It's working for Ty. For the season, he has 21 goals (matches career high) and 38 points (new high). Keep it going!

Pearl of Wisdom #11

2006-02-11T08:49:00.000-05:00

"I think we've got enough older guys that they know how it works. There isn't an easy point to be had in this league."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Rich Garven's game story in the Telegram & Gazette of Saturday, February 11, after his team's 8th straight victory, a 5-2 win over Canisius at the Hart Center.

Garven writes that the club is "confident," but Coach Pearl thinks the team has the leadership to avoid becoming cocky. A commenter to a previous "Pearl of Wisdom" seems to agree. I agree, too.

The Many Poses of Kyle Cruze

2006-02-11T08:39:00.000-05:00

The top photo is from this year's Men's Basketball media guide. The second photo is scanned in from Thursday's T&G. They look like they could've been taken in quick sequence, don't you think?

Pearl of Wisdom #10

2006-02-09T00:05:00.000-05:00

"If we start enjoying what we've done now, we won't enjoy the rest of the season. We've put ourselves in great position, but we can't kick back now. We have to take advantage of what we've done."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Jen Toland's "Colleges" column in Wednesday's Telegram & Gazette. Toland also reported that the lineup change that triggered the team's recent hot streak was suggested by assistant coach Kyle Wallack.

As Toland writes, the team has been very consistent this season:

HC’s penalty-kill percentage (90.6, second in the country) and power-play conversion percentage (21.8, fourth) are also good, and consistency has probably been the biggest key to the Crusaders’ success. They have not lost back-to-back games this year.

Whatever Happened To...

2006-02-08T23:54:00.000-05:00

"We Are Crusaders" wonders about these former regular or occasional Crossports posters:

chiefbeef (where are our Big Pat updates?)
Jimbo (and did he ever fight MHMD outside the entrance to Hart?)
Brian F. (I think I know where he is, geographically, but wonder why such a devout HC basketball fan completely abandoned the message board)
Hart Neighbor
oldtimer
Merritt Traveler
Spitler Fan (perhaps now posting under another name?)
That interloper who claimed he attended Harvard, and caused a stir whenever he posted. I don't recall the posting name, but I know some of my readers will remember it.

And why hasn't MHMD05 morphed into MHMD06?

Look-alike Catchup

2006-02-06T00:43:00.000-05:00

It's been almost two months since we've posted an update on the Colin Cunningham lookalike topic. Colin's production on the court has tailed off, but that's not going to stop us from continuing to search for that certain famous person whom Colin resembles the most.

Per reader request, we're posting the side-by-side of Colin and 50's television and radio star Ricky Nelson. This is another one of which I had my doubts, but I must agree with sader1970 that there is a resemblance between Nelson and our favorite bushy-haired frosh from Memphis.

Pearl of Wisdom #9

2006-02-06T00:31:00.000-05:00

"We've been playing solid hockey, and I think this weekend what we did better than last weekend is to play better team defense. We're doing a good job of keeping teams wide and clearing the rebounds. Obviously, Tony is doing a really good job on that first shot."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Rich Garven's story in the February 5 edition of the Sunday Telegram, on his red-hot team's 4-1 victory over Bentley at the Hart Center on Saturday.

The win completed a weekend sweep for the Crusaders. The men's hockey team has surged to first place, and holds a record of 19-6-1, and 15-4-1 in league play. They've won seven games in a row, and nine out of ten. Do you think Coach Pearl's comment about "playing solid hockey" is a bit of an understatement?

Good Day, Bad Day

2006-02-06T00:05:00.000-05:00

The Holy Cross basketball teams split their doubleheader with the Leopards of Lafayette College on Saturday afternoon, but the real story of the day was the bus accident involving the men's basketball team as they made their way home to Worcester. No passengers on the HC charter were injured, but tragically, two teenagers in another car were killed. We send our thoughts and prayers to everyone involved.

As for the games, the men had a nice comeback as they overcame a halftime deficit, and came away from Easton with a 77-61 win, improving to 6-2 in PL play.

The Crusader women suffered a devastating 54-49 defeat. Once again, the ladies shot poorly, going for 31.3% from the field, 20% from three-land, and 37.5% from the stripe. Holy Cross will need a near-miracle to achieve a 17th 20-win season for head coach Bill Gibbons: They'll have to win the rest of their league games, win the PL tourney, and win their first-round game in the NCAA tournament.

So we're looking at a win total short of twenty, but that aside, the team can still make the NCAAs. The next two games are critical tests. In this opinion, this Saturday's matchup against the talented, young squad from Bucknell will be the game of the week for the women's team. It should make for an outstanding doubleheader at Hart!

Pearl of Wisdom #8

2006-02-05T23:57:00.000-05:00

"They're physical, and we're probably smaller and quicker, and I'm happy with how gritty we played. You have to be ready to play all challenges. You can't always play your game. It's nice to play someone else's game and still be able to win."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Jen Toland's game story in Saturday's Telegram & Gazette, after his team's 2-1 win at Bentley. The win moved the Holy Cross men's hockey team into sole possession of first place in Atlantic Hockey. The win was the seventh in a row for senior goalie Tony Quesada.

Pearl of Wisdom #7

2006-02-05T23:41:00.000-05:00

"We were getting a little stale five-on-five, and it reinvigorated our power play, too. These guys have been playing together for two years, so we tried a different grouping, just shifting people around. It's worked. It's worked really well."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Jen Toland's game story in the Telegram & Gazette of Saturday, February 4, discussing his lineup change of five games ago. Pearl moved talented sophomore Dale Reinhardt to the second line, joining Tyler McGregor and Blair Bartlett. Pierre Napert-Frenette was swapped to the first line, joining Bubba Sixsmith and Sean Nappo. So far, Coach Pearl is looking like a genious with that change!

Joe Knight Apologist?

2006-01-29T19:10:00.000-05:00

Has Holy Cross play-by-play man Bob Fouracre emerged as an unlikely apologist for Lehigh University senior Joe Knight? Twice during last night's WTAG broadcast of HC's tough loss to Lehigh, Fouracre ranted on about how "poor Joe Knight" was a victim of a "screw up" by the Lehigh athletic administration.

Knight, of course, missed the first half of his senior season because of eligibility questions surrounding his transfer from High Point to Lehigh, with a questionable stop at a Texas CC along the way. And I'll admit that the incompetence in Lehigh's AD in this case is glaring and unacceptable.

Maybe Fouracre read Tom Housenick's story blasting the officials at Lehigh. It's a worthy read, and a contrast to the Lehigh U. defenders out there.

But Bob, "poor Joe Knight?" Call me a PL elitist. I don't care. I'm not willing to absolve Knight of guilt in this matter. He had to know what he was getting into when he began his journey after High Point. If he wasn't a hoops player, there's no chance he'd be matriculating at Lehigh. None. So can we please stop with the Joe Knight pity parties? Thank you.

And for the record, Bob, there's no "Fisher" or "Gilliam" on the Lehigh men's hoops roster. I'm guessing you meant Fischman and Gilfillan. And Joe Knight didn't play at Delaware prior to arriving at Lehigh, even thought you stated that about three times. It's okay, everyone has an off day now and again.

Pearl of Wisdom #6

2006-01-29T18:11:00.000-05:00

"That was one of the best periods we've played all season. Two mistakes (two goals allowed). I told them to just keep working hard and continue to do what we do."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from the January 29 edition of the Sunday Telegram, describing the first period of Holy Cross' 5-2 victory over AIC at the Hart Center on Saturday.

The men's hockey team now holds a record of 17-6-1, and 13-4-1 in the AHA. Linemates Blair Bartlett, Tyler McGregor and Dale Reinhardt are playing very well. Keep it up, guys, and Go Cross!

Trivial Pursuit

2006-01-29T17:49:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, I was playing "Trivial Pursuit: 20th Anniversary Edition" with some friends, and the following question came up:

What New Jersey university's basketball players sued their coaches for forcing them to run wind sprints in the nude?

The answer, of course, is Rutgers University. And there's a Holy Cross connection, as former HC center, 2001 PL tournament MVP and shot-blocker extraordinaire Josh Sankes was a player at Rutgers while that was going on. Josh subsequently transferred to Holy Cross.

I can't recall, though, if Josh was part of the lawsuit against the Rutgers coaches. I'm pretty sure he was forced to run nude, but for some reason, I don't think he was part of a lawsuit. I'm not sure, though. If someone out there remembers more details of Josh's involvement in this, please leave a comment.

And no, I wasn't fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of that trivia question!

Trains in Scranton

2006-01-29T17:20:00.000-05:00

If you're reading this blog, chances are you also read Annie's "Sader Hoops" column on Crossports. Annie, her father, and I went to Bucknell two weeks ago for the HC basketball doubleheader. The men lost, and the ride home was awful, so it turned out that a highlight of the trip was a visit to downtown Scranton on the morning of the basketball games.

Annie said this in her column:

On Saturday morning, I woke up around 8:30 ish, early for a Saturday…too early, so I could go into downtown Scranton to see a train. We met up with my Dad’s classmate, Dominic Keating, who is an avid train lover. After we took pictures in front of the train and received a mini lecture, we went up onto this bridge and watched the train pass underneath us. Well, this was something because the noise was unbelievably loud. The train station is right near a mall, so the noise from the train just bounced off the surrounding walls. So loud, it was awesome.

I have to concur with Annie. It was an amazing show, a real treat, and one of those unique travel experiences you'll never forget.

Some background: It was a gray, dreary morning, and this old-time steam engine was making its once-a-year round trip from the Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, southeast to Tobyhanna, PA (where they have a traditional Ice Harvest festival).

Here's Annie's outstanding photo of the train departing Steamtown. This photo captures the gray weather along with the working-class feel of Scranton, PA. The photo is included along with her game photos, linked off her column, but I wanted to post the picture here because my pictures of this are still in my camera. (No, I haven't gone digital yet.)

Mr. Ed Skinner

2006-01-22T21:01:00.000-05:00

A coach is a coach, of course, of course,

And no one can whine like this coach of course

That is, of course, because the coach is the famous Mr. Ed.

WoMag found this blog!

2006-01-20T23:59:00.000-05:00

We made the newspaper! No, not the T&G. It's the local alternative weekly, Worcester Magazine. Veteran Crossports readers will recall that WoMag published a cover story on Holy Cross football, entitled "Goodbye, Glory Days" in its November 13-19, 2003 issue. WoMag, meet Tom Gilmore.

Anyway, I discovered during a phone call this evening that there was some "big news" relating to yours truly. How big could it be if I didn't know it myself? Well, we're excited to report that WoMag has listed us in this week's edition of its Blog Log. They picked up our "Ice Storm" post which detailed my harrowing journey home from Bucknell to Worcester.

Maybe this news isn't at the same level as knowing Kevin Bettencourt is reading your blog (or more accurately, Boxman's Blog), but it's still pretty cool. I haven't seen the print edition yet, but hope to pick up a copy tomorrow. To any readers who've surfed over here after reading about us in WoMag, welcome aboard!

Pearl of Wisdom #5

2006-01-20T23:24:00.000-05:00

"No question - that was a turning point for us. Then he comes back a couple minutes later and scores, which was only fitting."

-Coach Paul Pearl, from Telegram & Gazette of Friday, Jan. 20, discussing the outstanding play of senior forward Blair Bartlett in Thursday's 5-2 victory over the UConn Huskies at the Hart Center.

According to Bill Ballou's game story, the Crusaders held a 3-0 lead late in the second period when the Huskies gained a two-man advantage:

Bartlett controlled the puck along the right boards and took off in the direction of the UConn net. Normally, the plan on a two-man disadvantage is just to clear the puck and get ready for the next assault, but Bartlett kept going, checked only by a tired Connecticut defender. He finally got off a couple of shots on Huskies’ goalie Brad Smith, who stopped them both, but was able to draw a charging penalty in the process.

That took the life out of the Connecticut power play and less than two minutes later, Bartlett made it 4-0 with a goal from a bad angle on the right side.

Good hustle, Blair. And congrats to Coach Pearl on his 167th career win at Holy Cross, tying current women's coach Peter Van Buskirk for first on the school's all-time men's hockey win list.

Like Crossports poster "Ignatius Loyola," I also heard the HC score announced on WEEI's "Sports Flash" updates last night. I'll admit, I haven't listened much to Boston's top-rated sports radio station recently, as my iPod has greatly altered my radio listening habits. But I used to listen almost every night (yeah, I put up with Ted Sarandis), and I never heard a Holy Cross hockey score reported. So what if it was the only Division One hockey game played last night in the nation. WEEI didn't have to report the score. They did, though, and that has to be considered progress.

Sojka Pavilion

2006-01-15T19:10:00.000-05:00

I already posted a few of my thoughts on the men's loss to Bucknell in this thread on Crossports, and the women's win in this thread, so I'm not going to duplicate that here.

Instead I'll talk a little about Bucknell University's gorgeous new Langone Athletics and Recreation Center, which includes Sojka Pavilion. The Langone Center has in its center the Kinney Natatorium (featuring an Olympic-size swimming pool), abutted on one side by a fitness center, and on the other side by the basketball court. Floor-to-ceiling windows are prominent throughout Langone. Sojka's concourse overlooks the swimming pool. Across the pool, the two-story fitness center has a wall of windows, also overlooking the pool.

After the men's basketball game, the BU players held an autograph session for the fans. The players' tables were situated in the aisle atop the bleachers in the natatorium, just through the glass in Sojka's concourse. I briefly considered making my way thought the autograph line, while killing time before the women's game, but thought better of it. Maybe that was a mistake. I probably missed out on some prime autograph opportunities:

"To Boxman, thanks for the continued support, your friend John Griffin"
"To Kevin Hamilton, HC made the right decision, Kevin Bettencourt"
"To Bob, it's McNAWton, not McNORton, from Chris"

Overall, it was a fun road trip. The men's game was disappointing, and the ride home was difficult to say the least, but it was fun being there. I also had a chance to talk to Hoop Time for ten or fifteen minutes before the game. I told him that if I'd known further in advance, I would have brought him a HC hat from the bookstore, but he said he purchased one, albeit navy blue, from the link someone provided on Crossports. He may have been fibbing, but I don't think so. He also seemed unaware of this blog - maybe I need to order some free "We Are Crusaders" business cards to hand out to people?

Ice Storm

2006-01-15T18:42:00.000-05:00

The things we do for Holy Cross Athletics.

We drove down to Scranton, PA on Friday evening, through patches of dense fog. Little did I know that those foggy conditions would pale in comparison to the conditions I'd face on my return home Saturday night.

In hindsight, the smart play would've been to stay in PA another night. But I wanted to be home on Sunday. We figured I could "get ahead" of the slick road conditions. So after picking up my car in Scranton, I headed east on I-84 through blustery, snowy conditions. The conditions were dreadful, just terrible. The cold front generated a blast of heavy wintry precipitation, and lots of wind. I-84 through PA and into New York was snow-covered with white-out visibility.

Across the Hudson, pulling ahead of the cold front, the snow became sleet, and roads were no better. East of Waterbury, CT, the heavy sleet was still pounding down, but the roads had yet to deteriorate too badly. Finally, in Southington, the sleet changed to rain, and the roads were safer. Ahead of the ice and out of the woods, right? Wrong. Climbing the hills east of Hartford, the pouring rain once again turned to sleet, and the interstate slickened up. Reaching the Mass Pike in Sturbridge, it was back to rain, and the roads were fine for the remaining 20 miles or so.

Accidents? Oh, I passed plenty of them. One-car accidents. Multi-car accidents. Accidents in every state in which we drove. Around Danbury, on the westbound side, I saw a multi-car wreck that caused another multi-car wreck. Those poor drivers were speeding from rainy conditions into ice, and I wish I could've told 'em about the pileups they were heading into a half-mile ahead.

So I'm thankful to have arrived home in Worcester, safe and sound. I sincerely hope that our players, fans, and families all got home safely.

Bucknell Road Trip!

2006-01-12T23:29:00.000-05:00

I'm leaving for Lewisburg Friday afternoon! I've heard from people who've been there that Sojka is a beautiful arena, and that Bucknell has a nice campus. So it's a road trip to Bison country. I didn't make it to the PL final at Davis in 1993, and have never been to Bucknell, so this will be fun. I can't wait for the game on Saturday!

Go Crusaders! Beat the Bison! Sweep this doubleheader!

It's probably too late to ask for sign suggestions, or is it? I doubt we'll even have a sign, but it's fun to think of ideas anyway. CSTV...

Can't
Stop
Torey!
Victory awaits!

Or how about this one:

Cru-
Saders
To
Victory!

Ed SihDET versus Lew Alcindor

2006-01-12T23:13:00.000-05:00

Thanks for asking, Root. I now know how to pronounce "Siudut." Each year when I receive the hoops media guide, I ask myself, "How do you pronounce that name?" So it's good to know the answer - seriously. Only on Crossports.

And only on Crossports would a thread go from Greg McCarthy to Lew Alcindor! Talk about extremes! Ed Siudut, and many others discussed in that thread, fall somewhere in between, I suppose. Photo below courtesy the media guide.

Zach Paterick

2006-01-12T23:04:00.000-05:00

Good find by Crossports poster hchoops, who linked to a story in the St. Augustine Record. Holy Cross 6'2" recruit Zach Paterick is pictured, playing for his Nease Panthers. I registered for that newspaper back in the fall, but hadn't checked it in weeks. I'm glad I'm not the only one googling and surfing my way around the 'net, looking for possible scraps of HC-related information.

Maybe one day we'll have a "Paterick's Day" headline for a PL Championship victory!

Here's Zach:

From the Newspaper Archives

2006-01-08T21:06:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, I happened upon my small collection of newspapers and clippings, mostly kept for watershed world events or important sports milestones. It's pretty subjective, but there are some HC stories in the pile. I scanned in some of the winning Holy Cross headlines.

From the March 13, 2003 Telegram & Gazette. Maggie Fontana pours in 23 points as the HC women's team defeats Army 78-65 to win the PL championship. They advanced to face Penn State, getting crushed on Penn State's home floor (a beautiful arena, by the way.)

From the March 15, 2003 T&G. Big Pat scores 21 points and pulls down 8 boards as the Crusaders beat a steady club from American U., 72-64. American started Draughn, Cresnik, Stokes, Miles and Rodriguez, all very good PL players.

From the March 10, 2005 T&G. Seniors Caitlin Agostinacchio, Lisa Andrews and Maggie Fontana lead Holy Cross to a 79-70 victory over Colgate, capturing the Crusaders' tenth PL title and netting a 16th 20-win season for Coach Bill Gibbons.

Thanks to Non Alum Dave for providing me with this March 16, 2005 copy of the South Bend Tribune, featuring Holy Cross's most recent postseason victory, a 78-73 win over Notre Dame in the first round of the 2005 NIT. Great headline, too.

I loved the Holy Cross coverage in the South Bend Tribune that day, but there's something else that caught my attention. You know those mini-headlines, the one listed in smaller print above the name of the newspaper at the very top of the front page? Usually it says something like, "Weather: Storm Brewing Offshore /Back Page" or "Towns cry foul over budget process: B1." Well the one on the front page of this edition says, "Local: Beach Boys Surf Into Town on May 22 / B2."

Don't get me wrong. I love the Beach Boys. One of my all-time favorite groups. But things must be awfully quiet in South Bend if a Wilson-less Beach Boys tour date, two months away, gets that mini-headline on the front page!

Keeping Score

2006-01-08T20:45:00.000-05:00

Bob Fouracre. He's an institution at HC. He is Mr. Entertainment. And for sure, his continuous name mixups are part of that "entertainment."

Let's tally some of his recent misnomers:

Shannon Brush (a personal favorite)
Keith Dixon
Carl Cruze
"The freshman" (said multiple times during a broadcast of the men's basketball game at Dartmouth during the 2003-04 season. Kramer? Simmons? Thomas? Young?)
Alex Vander Bomb (destined to be a classic)
Keith Hamilton

And as of Saturday, according to Crossports poster "Root," we can add two more to the list:

Colin Cummings
Victor Valva (reminds me of a famous Seinfeld episode...Mulva?)

I'm missing some, I know. Please drop a comment if you can think of others.

Pearl of Wisdom #4

2006-01-08T20:27:00.000-05:00

"I thought Ben played a terrific game. He and Tony have been going Friday and Saturday night for a while, so it's good to see Ben step up when we need him to play more. They're a good team; Sacred Heart's as good as anyone we've played this year."

-Coach Paul Pearl, quoted in the Jan. 8 Sunday Telegram, after his team's 3-2 win over the SH Pioneers at the Hart Center Saturday evening.

That was Pearl's only quote in the game story. Tony Quesada was scratched with an illness, but is expected back for the next game (Army, on Friday).

I met senior goalie Ben Conway over a year ago, and had a chance to hang out with him for a while. I was very impressed with him. He was personable, thoughtful, goal-oriented (no pun intended - obviously!), and overall, the kind of student-athlete of whom we can be proud. He has a direction in his life and a good head on his shoulders. I've rooted for him ever since I met him, and I'm happy to see him having a great senior season.

11 points not the fewest

2006-01-04T23:18:00.000-05:00

In a recent post on his informative site, Hoop Time wondered if the 11 points given up by HC in the first half at Northeastern were the fewest HC has allowed in a half.

The answer is no. In the homecoming game of Feb. 7, 2004, Holy Cross held Army (surprise!) to 10 points in the first half of a 78-38 win. And if memory serves, discussion on Crossports at the time revealed that the ten points were not the fewest ever allowed by HC in one half of play, but it was the lowest total in something like 60 or 70 years.

Here's scoreboard proof. The above photo was taken at halftime. (The time shown is the time remaining in the intermission.)

And here are a few more of my photos from that game. Some of these are still displayed on one of the "Fan Photos" pages on Crossports:

Pre-game team huddle. Josh Kramer is the player sporting the headband. Josiah "Joe" Young is on the left in the second huddle picture.

Halftime sumo wrestlers. This entertaining feature lasted about three games that season.

John Hurley showing his free-throw shooting "form."

Hurley was awarded the Holy Cross Club of Greater Worcester Homecoming MVP trophy. Frank Mastrandrea is snapping the photo from the front, yours truly from the back, and poster "Tom" is presenting the trophy to John.

Congrats Bob Foley!

2006-01-04T23:02:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to St. John's High (Shrewsbury, MA) basketball coach Bob Foley, who recently became New England's all-time winningest coach! Foley, from the Holy Cross Class of 1963, passed Durfee High coach Skip Karam, and as of Monday had 660 high school wins to his credit.

Bob Foley played basketball at Holy Cross, and was a co-captain his senior year. Incidentally, his senior-year squad stumbled down the stretch, losing six of its last eight games to finish with what had to be a disappointing 16-9 record, after beginning the year 14-3. This is just something I noticed while perusing the media guide. I don't mean to diminish Coach Foley's recent accomplishments.

And I should probably mention that Coach Foley is known to me as "Mr. Foley" because he was my history teacher my junior year at St. John's High. He's a regular attendee at the Hart, sitting under the hoop closest to the HC bench.

"I don't mind getting poked"

2006-01-01T07:59:00.000-05:00

Following up my previous post about the T&G, I won't post the full game story from the men's basketball victory at Northeastern. But there were some quotes too good to pass up. From the Saturday, December 31 edition of the T&G:

“I’ve been on four Holy Cross teams, and I’ve never seen a team that paid so little attention to detail as we did in the second half of that game,” Hamilton said. “And me and (senior co-captain) Kevin Hyland were the biggest culprits. The last two days we punished ourselves. We ran. We did extra conditioning work. We had to punish ourselves after giving that kind of effort.” The Crusaders also made a vow to coach Ralph Willard that they would hold their next opponent to less than 40 percent shooting. George Mason connected on 55 percent of its shots.
Simmons spent yesterday morning in the hospital receiving intravenous fluids. “I don’t mind getting poked,” Simmons said. “(Intravenous fluids) is the approach they’re trying now. I’ve had one before the last three games. Today I felt good.”
Holy Cross had prepared — a lot — for Barea, who is averaging 22.8 points and 9.5 assists. “We were planning for him for the last three days,” Willard said. “We got here and found out he wasn’t playing, and we had to change our whole game plan around. But I’m happy there was no letdown.”
“This is a good step, and I’m proud of our effort,” Willard said. “We still have to get a lot better, but if we can defend like this, it will be a key to the season.”