Sheehan’s top line leads Titans to a 5-0 start
After Saunders firing, Finch club’s 10th coach in 15 years
Cohesion in high school sports is important in each season. Chemistry from year to year plays a large hand in determining the prolonged success of a program.
But in this year? Familiarity is doubly important.
In a season in which the preseason was abrupt, the regular-season schedule is slimmer and the buildup to the season was spent anxiously awaiting good news, having a cast of talented returning players makes a difference. Sheehan boys hockey is the model for this theory.
The Titans ( 5- 0) returned three of Division III’s top scorers from a year ago in Joe Romano, Anthony Romano and Luke Festa and are averaging over six goals per game in their undefeated start.
“One of the key things this year, this team, coming out of last year, was cohesive,” coach Dave Festa said. “They had a lot of good offseason workouts. This team, on and off the ice, they’re a good group of kids.”
The line of the Romano twins and Festa has totaled 49 points in five games. Joe Romano leads with eight goals. Festa has six, and Anthony Romano has five.
“I think they’ve met our expectations. We set the bar pretty high,” Dave Festa said. “The thing about that line is their maturity and their ability to elevate the play of our other players, too. We expected a lot from that line.”
The Titans have outscored opponents 33-11 in their first five games. Festa shouted out the play of juniors Brenden Hillinski and James Stratton and seniors Anthony Citro and Joseph Richo for their play, too.
Players of the week
Killian Ranger, Newington: Ranger scored two goals in a win over E.O Smith and had another two goals against Rocky Hill.
Joe Romano, Sheehan: Romano scored in all three of Sheehan’s wins last week, including two goals in a come-from-behind win against Cheshire
Owen McGoldrick, Conard: McGoldrick had two goals and three assists in a win over Enfield.
Jordan Blais, Suffield: Blais posted a hat trick in Suffield’s 5-2 win over Northeastern.
Connor Melanson, Northwest Catholic: Melanson scored twice in a 6-4 win over East Catholic.
Teams of the week
South Windsor: South Windsor keeps on winning. The Bobcats are 4-1 and beat E.O. Smith and Glastonbury last week by a combined score of 12-2.
Sheehan: The Titans are 5-0, averaging over six goals a game, and showed they can do more than just blow teams out last week in erasing a three-goal deficit to beat Cheshire 7-3 on Saturday.
Northwest Catholic: The Lions suffered their first loss of the season Feb. 13 (3-2 in overtime to Simsbury) but bounced back with wins over East Catholic and Farmington Valley.
What to watch this week
Northwest Catholic at South Windsor, Monday: In a showdown of one-loss teams, South Windsor looks to avenge its only loss of the season in a rematch with Northwest Catholic.
Conard at Wethersfield, Wednesday: Two of the CCC’s top teams face off as Owen McGoldrick leads Conardagainst Aaron CholewaandWethersfield.
Newington co- op at Hall-Southington, Wednesday: In a sport dominated by co-ops, these are two of the CCC’s best. They go head-tohead at Veterans Ice Rink in West Hartford.
MINNEAPOLIS — For the 10th time in the last 15 years, the Timberwolves have a new head coach.
Raptors assistant Chris Finch was introduced Monday as the replacement for Ryan Saunders, who was fired the night before with the team carrying the NBA’s worst record.
“We have excellent pieces in place, and I can’t wait to get to work,” Finch said in a statement distributed by the Timberwolves, before he was scheduled to meet the team in Milwaukee prior to playing there Tuesday.
President of basketball operations Gersson Rosas made the change on the bench to the 51-year-old Finch, who was in his first season with the Raptors. They worked together in Houston, where Finch was an assistant (2011-16) and Rosas was a basketball operations executive.
“He is one of the most creative basketball minds in the NBA, has success maximizing players, and I am excited to see him bring our team to the next level and beyond,” Rosas said.
Finch has 24 years of coaching experience, roughly half of that in Europe. The two-time NCAADivision III All-American at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania played for the Sheffield Sharks in the British Basketball League and later coached the same team from 1997-2003. Finch also coached Britain’s national team in the 2012 Olympics.
His domestic experience began in what is nowcalled the GLeague, winning the coach of the year award in 2010 for champion Rio Grande Valley. After his six seasons with the Rockets, Finch spent one year as an assistant for the Nuggets and three with the Pelicans. Considered one of the league’s best offensive strategists, Finch has helped coach stars such as Nikola Jokic, Zion Williamson and James Harden over his career.
Raptors coach Nick Nurse said Monday that the deal for Finch came together in about 36 hours. He knew the team’s game Sunday against the 76ers was going to be Finch’s last after only about three months with the club. Finch was hired to replace Nate Bjorkgren, who left Nurse’s staff to become the Pacers head coach this fall.
“I’ve always seen it as my job to try to get people to maximize their career ambitions,” Nurse said. “I don’t think they would be here in the first place if I didn’t really believe in them.”
The midseason move from one team’s staff to another is rare, an obvious sign that Rosas had his former colleague in mind for awhile. What’s not uncommon, though, is the Timberwolves switching head coaches amid persistent struggles.
Saunders went 43-94 after taking over on an interim basis on Jan. 6, 2019, when TomThibodeau was fired. WhenRosas was hired to run the front office four months later, he kept Saunders as the full-time coach, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, the 34-year-old Saunders never had a full season.
The injuries, trades and COVID-19 protocols that shuffled and diluted the rosters appeared to be insurmountable impediments to success for Saunders, but blown late-game leads were far too common. Even since star Karl-Anthony Towns recently returned, after recovering from COVID-19, the Timberwolves are 1-6. Their final game under Saunders was a loss to Thibodeau and the Knicks on Sunday night.
Saunders is the son of the late Flip Saunders, by far the winningest coach in team history and the only one beside Thibodeau (2018) to ever take a Timberwolves team to the playoffs. Ryan Saunders ranks seventh out of 13 on the all-time winning percentage list for the woebegone franchise, ahead of Bill Musselman, Randy Wittman, Bill Blair, Sidney Lowe, Kurt Rambis and Jimmy Rodgers.
Only Flip Saunders, whohad the job from 1995-2005 and again in the 2014-15 season, has held this position for more than three years in the 32-season history of the club.
After losing to the Knicks, before Saunders was fired, Towns told reporters he’s seeking stability for the franchise that has had little of it over three-plus decades in the league.
“I want to build my legacy here so I want to win with the Wolves, and I’m going to do everything I possibly can to keep stepby-step, brick-by-brick, building something and a culture here that’s going to stand here for a long time,” Towns said.