CBSSports.com senior writer Jeff Goodman was among the national writers in attendance at Tuesday's 80-73 win over Xavier and was more than impressed with how the Minutemen program has progressed during the tenure of head coach Derek Kellogg. He writes in his column about the importance of Chaz Williams to the UMass program.
Chaz Williams led four Minutemen in double figures with his outstanding 29-point, nine-assist effort in Tuesday's big win over Xavier. Next up is a tough road game at Dayton on Saturday night at 6 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network. So while the team rests up for that one, here are a few recaps and sidebars about last night's game.
An all-around effort paced by Will Manny's three goals and career-high four assists gave the No. 11 UMass men's lacrosse team an 11-9 win over No. 12 Bucknell on Saturday in the Garber Field home opener.
CBS3 Highlights:
UMass Highlights:
Postgame Interviews:
Terrell Vinson's shot at the buzzer was ruled a two-pointer handing the UMass men's basketball team a 72-71 loss to La Salle on Saturday night breaking the Minutemen's 12-game home win streak.
CBS3 Highlights:
Postgame Press Conference:
The UMass hockey team was able to bounce back from a tough loss on Friday night to pull out a 4-1 win at No. 11 Maine on Saturday keeping their playoff hopes alive.
Watch UMass head basketball coach Derek Kellogg on the Tim Brando Show this morning at 11:10 am. The show is simulcast on CBS College Sports: DIRECTV Ch. 613; DISH Ch. 162; Comcast 261 & 856-HD.
Congratulations to UMass baseball alum Mike Donato on being named the head baseball coach at Springfield Central High School. The following is from the East Hartford Gazette:
East Hartford's Michael Donato was recently named head varsity baseball coach at Springfield Central High School in MA.
After graduating East Hartford High School in 2006 where he was a standout student/athlete for coach Mike McDermott's successful Hornet teams and captain for Dan Lawrence's football team, Michael went on to UMass where enjoyed success on and off the field. He was a four year starter and senior captain for coach Mike Stone's Minutemen. While at UMass he was named to the Atlantic 10 All conference first team, A-10 All- Academic team and Lowe's Senior Class All-American Team.
Michael received his bachelor's degree in history and a master's degree in education from UMass. He is currently employed as a social studies teacher at Springfield's South End Middle School.
Dick Baker has his weekly column "UMass hockey: A Baker's Dozen of thoughts for the week" on MassLive.com today. Check it out.
Check out this feature on former Minuteman Jonathan Quick from The Fourth Period Magazine:
Next time you're at a casino, here's a reason to play the long shot and put a few dollars down on 32 on the roulette wheel.
Emerging from the nuclear winter that was the NHL lockout, the league conducted their first Entry Draft a few weeks after returning to normalcy in Canada's national capital of Ottawa, Ontario.
Unlike the usual custom of showcasing the restocking of the NHL shelves, the draft was conducted out of the public's purview at the Westin Hotel; ironically the same venue where an international media gathering interviewed some of the same selections six and a half years later about their All Star weekend experience.
Though 2005 was the year Sidney Crosby matriculated to the NHL, other than his pre-determined selection there was zero fanfare that accompanied other first round selections like Bobby Ryan and Anze Kopitar. The latter was likely the finest selection of then-GM Dave Taylor's career, a wunderkind out of Slovenia, not Slovakia or Czechoslovakia.
Kopitar had the benefit of playing two seasons in the Swedish Elite League and although he came from a small country without a hockey legacy, he arrived on the Pacific shores already a man and showed it in his first rookie and then NHL training camp. Anze never spent a day in the North American minor leagues and has become a two time All Star and a vital cog in the Kings' championship hopes.
When one scrolls down the list of Los Angeles selections post-Kopitar that year, the record wasn't pretty. There's T.J. Fast and Dany Roussin, best known for scoring a bushel full of goals on Crosby's line for the Rimouski Quebec junior major team. Roussin's failure at the highest level of hockey is a minor footnote to number 87's greatness and furthers the argument that I could pot double digit markers on if placed on his flank.
With his fourth pick in the third round, Taylor selected a player that shows although the Kings Hall of Famer may have had challenges building an organization, his eye for talent is among the keenest in the game.
At the time, Jonathan Quick was a record setting prep goaltender for Old Avon Farms School in his native Connecticut. His record was a sterling 47-3 over two seasons with his senior season being the finest. He fashioned nine shutouts in combination with a 1.14 goals-against-average and .956 save percentage with the goose egg total still a New England prep record.
Quick declined to go the professional route, preferring to enroll at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, at last check not one of the Boston area powerhouses among NCAA's sextet. Continuing the credo of low fanfare, high performance, Quick led the Minutemen to their first NCAA Ice Hockey Championship appearance in 2006 in his sophomore season. His first NCAA tournament appearance was a shutout victory over Clarkson, a 33 save affair and while a championship was too daunting a task given the lack of top talent on the team, Quick departed Amherst as the holder of numerous records that still stand.
While those numbers were impressive, to say that his future professional employers were impressed would be a bigger stretch than one of Quick's own acrobatic saves.
Read the entire feature here.
