Beyond the Scoresheet

falling asleep at the wheel

December 6, 2006 on 10:59 am | In analysis |

I’m more than a little tired on this morning after I got back from baseball’s winter meetings. They’re still going on, but I had to get back to work. I had a really good two-day experience, interviewing for the jobs I want and trying to help a former broadcast partner of mine land his first job. We’ll see what happens on both fronts, but we worked hard and accomplished most of our objectives (other than landing a job on the spot, obviously).

On a more local note, I hung out with Point Pleasant head coach Mike Ryan, who was really troubled about missing the Panthers’ first two games but breathed easier after their 12-2 win Monday. He said he had been the subject of an interview from a New Jersey newspaper reporter, who asked him a great but impossible to answer question: which would he rather win, a South Atlantic League championship or a Southern Blue division title? I won’t spoil the answer, but if anybody has seen the article online, please let me know so I can post a link to it. I also met, for the first time, former Paramus Catholic player Brendan Burke, now a broadcaster for the Wheeling (W.V.) Nailers in the ECHL and an aspiring baseball broadcaster as well - he worked for short-season Batavia last summer after graduating from Ithaca College in the spring.

On one more baseball note, I came across this terrific article (EDIT: link fixed) this morning. If you have ever collected baseball cards, autographs, or just been a big fan of a player, it should make you smile. I’m still waiting for an autograph from one of Walt Keiper’s younger brothers from when I was an autograph hound.

Getting back to hockey, you may have noticed I am only posting scores I get from emails or other reliable sources (aka NOT the NJO forum). We’ll see how long this lasts, but you can make life a lot easier by emailing those scores in before or after you post on the forum. Just try to include some relevant details so I know it’s not a phony score (it does happen). As of 3 pm CDT this afternoon, I am missing the following scores: Paul VI-Rumson and Parsippany-Morristown. As always, jty [at] njhockey.org will suffice. And I really do appreciate everybody who has already been sending me scores, especially other journalists and many coaches.

I also wanted to touch on the high-flyin’ Robbinsville Ravens, who won the first varsity game they ever played earlier this week with a dramatic 7-6 win over Hamilton. Head coach Dan Bergan had this to say in an email after his team killed off a six-on-four situation over the final 1:36:
“The kids hit the ice like they won the Stanley Cup. Surreal.
Best part of the game? Matt Hamilton, the Hamilton coach, showed so much class … genuinely congratulating my players because he knew it was a special, historical moment for them and that it was bigger than the W or L. Total class and what this sport is really about.”

I can’t say it much better than that, so let’s close on that note. Enjoy the games!