The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Schwartz bringing Blues to Ingalls rink
St. Louis Blues forward Jaden Schwartz who is the younger brother of former Yale hockey player Mandi Schwartz, who lost her battle with leukemia in 2011, will be helping the Yale women’s hockey team raise awareness for their “White out for Mandi.”
The Christmas tree is down and stored. Now if I can remember to stop dating my checks ‘2013’ I’ll be wholly invested in this New Year.
• The St. Louis Blues wanted to help the Yale women’s hockey team create awareness for its annual “White Out for Mandi.”
So the Blues will practice at Ingalls Rink on Jan. 24 at 3 p.m., a session open to the general public, and then stick around to watch that evening’s game against Brown.
Jaden Schwartz is a third-year forward who has emerged as one of the Blues’ top scorers. He is also the younger brother of former Yale player Mandi Schwartz, who lost her battle with leukemia in 2011. Yale has worked tirelessly to raise funds and awareness for the disease in her name.
Jaden and the Blues helped arrange the visit, which fits perfectly between their games at the Rangers and Islanders that weekend.
Donations for the Mandi Schwartz Foundation will be accepted at the practice and later at the women’s game. Mark your calendar. And wear white.
• Phoebe Staenz, a freshman forward and the leading scorer for the Yale women’s hockey team, will skate for Switzerland at the upcoming Winter Olympics.
• How much did it cost for the Yale men’s hockey team to travel to New York for Saturday’s game at Madison Square Garden? A heck of a lot more than it did 88 years ago. Yale sports publicity director Steve Conn discovered an expense voucher from the Bulldogs’ trip to play Harvard at MSG on Feb. 27, 1926. Yes, the document produced a few gems.
Roundtrip rail fare from New Haven to New York was $5.97 a man, which included luxurious Pullman seats. Twenty dinners at the Roosevelt Hotel cost $55. Total. And that figure included tip. The team took taxis from the hotel to the Garden, an overall expense of $6.85. Coach Clarence Wanamaker drove his own car. The arena really soaked him on the parking fee — a whole dollar. Yale also paid to have its skates sharpened, 12 pairs at 50 cents each.
Total expense for 20 Yale men to travel to New York City? $217.75. By comparison, one round-trip train ticket today on the Acela runs $216. Don’t hold us to it, but we’re pretty sure that figure just about covers the toll to cross the George Washington Bridge.
• Ric Flair stirred up controversy in his home state of North Carolina for giving a pep talk to the 49ers last weekend in Green Bay. Flair says he won’t attend today’s game in Charlotte in part because he received death threats. Lay off the Nature Boy, Panthers fans. It’s not real, it’s fixed. Pretty sure professional wrestling is, too. WOO!
• We’re going with the Chargers and 49ers today.
• Mark Whipple is returning to college football. The former New Haven coach, a finalist for the UConn position that went to Paul Pasqualoni three years ago, is expected to be named new head coach at UMass — the same program he led to a Division I-AA national title in 1998. Whipple’s last job was quarterbacks coach of the Cleveland Browns, and he’s been out of coaching since 2012. Former UConn and Yale assistant Don Brown, now defensive coordinator at Boston College, was also considered.
• The East Coast debut of New Haven featherweight Tramaine Williams last month in New Jersey was cancelled. The card at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City ran long, forcing promoters to clip his scheduled bout. Williams gets another chance on Jan. 25 at Madison Square Garden. He’s slated for six rounds against Jiovany Fuentes on the undercard of the Mike Garcia-Juan Carlos Burgos main event for the WBO super featherweight title.
• The most troubling issue with the Baseball Hall of Fame is the notion that there are echelons of greatness and that a faction of voters take it upon themselves to determine those levels. Listen to sportstalk radio for 10 minutes and you’ll hear that misguided concept is popular with fans as well; countless arguments this week attempting to separate firstballot guys from secondor third-ballot guys. Look, it shouldn’t be this difficult. Craig Biggio is either a Hall of Famer or he’s not. Those stats aren’t changing.
• If we had a ballot, in addition to the three voted in, it would have included Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Mike Piazza, Edgar Martinez, Curt Schilling and Tim Raines.
• The Wall Street Journal watched video of all 16 Patriots postgame press conferences and determined coach Bill Belichick smiled exactly seven times this season. And it was a story I was delighted to read. Made me feel like the father in A Christmas Story. “Now that’s real news! Not like that politics slop.”
• Can’t help but wonder if Dennis Rodman’s infatuation with Kim JongUn is merely a ploy for his personal gain. Like if he spreads it on thick enough with the Kato Kaelin bestest buddy routine, the North Korean dictator will allow him to stay rent free in the palace guest house. After all, Rodman’s nickname is “The Worm.”