CROSS77, did you stay or go?

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter Sunday.

Introducing Adam May

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

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

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

"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

"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

"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

"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

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

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!