Media splish, splash and squabble
Before taking the ice for Tuesday afternoon’s media hockey game played on a rain-swept rink at Fenway Park, NESN broadcaster Tom Caron tapped into U.S. Olympic coach Herb Brooks for inspiration prior to his pregame speech. Perhaps, after pregame warmups in this inaugural event of 2017 Capital One Frozen Fenway, Caron understood it would take a miracle for his motley crew to emerge victorious.
“This is the @#!@#$ weather hockey has ever been played in,’’ said Caron, eying puddles bigger than the ones Gene Kelly sloshed through in “Singin’ In the Rain.” “And you are the @#!@#$ group of players that has ever played. You were born to cover this game. Today, you will try to play this game. God help us all.’’
With TC’s words ringing in their ears, an inspired Team Caron lived up to expectations, falling, 6–4, to Team Bradford in a game overshadowed by controversy, as so typically occurs when you assemble a group of sportswriters and commentators all in one place.
Team Bradford broke a 4-all tie in the game’s final two minutes, but it should have been waved off according to Caron. Bradford’s team not only had seven skaters on the ice, Caron contended, it still had its goalie in net. Somehow, the bellyaching broadcaster whined, that escaped the attention of referee Chuck Napoli. “Chuck had a perfect record Tuesday,’’ Caron said of Napoli, who is a goal judge at Bruins games and was imported here for the occasion. “He didn’t blow his whistle once the entire game. He ignored our pleas and counted the goal.’’
Before the game, Caron had tweeted a picture with Napoli, suggesting they were good friends. But his comments afterward suggested that there will be no party with this Napoli.
“It’s a shame,’’ Caron said, “that such a great sporting event would be tarnished by such an egregious noncall. I told our guys to take the loss and don’t cry about the officiating, but I think a guy with Napoli’s resume and experience has to consider whether it’s time to hang up his whistle. He’s clearly lost his ability to call a game.’’
Caron admitted that in an effort to score the tying goal in the final minute, his team not only pulled its goalie for an extra skater, but he jumped on the ice, too, but TC and Co. were no equal to Team Bradford in flouting the rules, TB gleefully adding an empty-netter.
Bradford was not available for comment, evidently tied up with one of his daily two dozen media appearances. He did draw some praise from his coaching rival for the fedora he sported on the bench. “It made him look like a coach of one of the Original Six,’’ Caron said.
The rain, Caron said, proved to be a “great equalizer.”
“We had such a range of players,’’ he said, “but once the puck got stuck in a puddle, the guys who could really skate just couldn’t cut loose.’’
He lamented that Team Caron’s top player, ESPN.com’s Joe McDonald, was too unselfish, passing to players clearly inferior to him, while Danny Picard, the voice of Southie on WEEI and Bradford’s top draft pick, shot every time he touched the puck, a superior stratagem.
No play better illustrated the challenging conditions than when veteran broadcaster Butch Stearns slipped and fell face-down into a puddle. “I fell on top of him,’’ Caron said. “I thought he was going to drown.’’
The media game, fortunately for all parties involved, merely served as a prelude to a full slate of activities that will make Fenway the center of Boston’s frozen universe the next couple of weeks. The caliber of play improves dramatically Thursday night, when Army plays Bentley in an Atlantic Hockey Association clash, followed Saturday by a Hockey East double-header: BU-UMass and BC-Providence. Next week will feature high school hockey, women’s college hockey, and Division III hockey before culminating in another Hockey East double-header: Maine-UConn, UNH-Northeastern.
In the midst of all that, Caron will also return to the ice, this time skating next Wednesday for NESN against the Red Sox front office, whose roster includes club president Sam Kennedy. While the media game was for fun, Caron said, there is a clear grudge match component to the NESN-Sox game. “I have proof that Sam is trying to bring in ringers for that game,’’ Caron said. “Tell Sam we’re on to him.’’
Asked for a response, Kennedy said: “Tell Tom to go…’’ (Unfortunately, Kennedy’s voice cut out on this reporter’s tape recorder. Yeah, that’s the ticket.)
