Zanor column: Clark Mania comes to Mohegan, PWHL nailbiters, and other thoughts
Just thought I’d empty out my reporter’s notebook while wondering if Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes is the next Nolan Ryan …
Clark Mania
Caitlin Clark brought her star power to the Mohegan Sun on Tuesday. I haven’t seen Uncasville in a tizzy like that since I took my daughter to a Harry Styles concert a few years ago.
Clark, the basketball wunderkind from West Des Moines, Iowa, is already doing for the WNBA what Larry Bird and Magic Johnson did for the NBA. Her debut was a smashing success.
Yup, the negative nellies out there can harp on the fact that the Fever lost - they were eight-and-a-half -point underdogs - and that despite scoring a team-high 20 points, Clark also had 10 turnovers. Whatever, dude!
Clark’s first game as a pro was the most watched WNBA game in more than 20 years. It drew 2.12 million viewers on ESPN2, eclipsing the Boston Bruins-Florida Panthers Stanley Cup playoff game on ESPN (1.99 million). Do you think those 2.12 million were tuning in to see DiJonai Carrington play? Last year’s WNBA finals between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty drew an average of 728,000 viewers.
Clark is going to be her own rock and roll road show, flying on charter planes wherever the Indiana Fever play this season. The Atlanta Dream, who play in the leagues smallest arena (3,500 capacity), have moved their two games against the Fever to the 19,000 seat State Farm Arena, home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.
As the WNBA season moves forward, here are a few facts to digest:
The Fever aren’t very good. Bird took the Celtics from last to first in his NBA rookie season but that ain’t happening with the Fever. They just might get the first pick in the draft again so we can start dreaming of a Caitlin Clark-Paige Bueckers backcourt in Indianapolis.
Diana Taurasi was right. Clark is going to have growing pains. Playing against pros is not the same as throwing up 3-pointers on a Tuesday night against Rutgers in Piscataway. Most of us knew that already. Heck, Clark just played her last college game on April 7. The WNBA can be brutal for rookies, just on the fact alone that newcomers are coming off a full college season. Taurasi averaged 17 points and three assists her rookie season. Sue Bird averaged 14.4. Here’s some others: Maya Moore (13.2), Breanna Stewart (18.3), Lisa Leslie (15.9), Candace Parker (18.5) and Tamika Catchings (18.6). Taurasi, by the way, has career averages of 19.1 points, 4.3 assists, and 3.9 rebounds.
The Connecticut Sun, who have never won a WNBA championship, might not sell out another game until Clark returns on June 10.
New York Post sportswriter Steve Serby will not be in Uncasville for a Sun game anytime soon.
Three straight nailbiters
Is there anything better than Boston sweeping Montreal in a playoff series on the ice?
Boston advanced to the first ever Professional Women's Hockey League championship with a 3-0 semifinal sweep over Montreal. Boston will play Minnesota in the first Walter Cup final. The first game of the five-game series is Sunday (5 p.m.) at Umass-Lowell's Tsongas Center.
All three games in the Boston-Montreal (I wish they would add team nicknames next season) series were decided in overtime: 2-1, 2-1, and 3-2. Five of the seven games between the two teams this season went to overtime, including the longest game in PWHL history at over 111 minutes in Game 2’s triple overtime thriller.
Let’s welcome the names Susanna Tapani, Taylor Wenczkowski, and Aerin Frankel as Boston’s newest pro sports stars.
Tapani, a three-time Olympian who won a pair of Bronze medals with her native Finland, scored two of Boston’s OT goals, including the series clinching score on Tuesday. Tapani pounced on a rebound from an Alina Müller shot and scored just 1:02 into overtime for a 3-2 win.
Wenczkowski, a New Hampshire native who starred for the University of New Hampshire, scored the triple OT winner in Game 2. It was her first career PWHL goal.
“It was great. It was awesome,” Wenckowski said. “I was so happy to end it and go back to Boston with two wins.”
Wenczkowski played three seasons for the Boston Pride, helping the Pride win back-to-back Isbel Cup championships. She was the playoff MVP in 2022.
Frankel, the former Northeastern star who was one of the best goaltenders in college history, set a PWHL saves record with back-to-back 56 save performances in Games 1 and 2. She kept Boston in Game 3 after falling behind 2-0 in the second period, finishing with 32 saves.
Frankel, from Briarcliff (N.Y.), was the Hockey East Player of the Year while at Northeastern.
Here’s hoping PWHL Boston can deliver another Duck Boat championship parade to Beantown fans next week.
Trivia Time
US Olympic hockey hero Jim Craig, the Oliver Ames (Easton, Mass.) star who led Boston University to the NCAA title in 1978, was the Boston Bruins backup goaltender during the 1980-81 season. In Craig’s debut, he turned aside 20-of-22 shots and posted a 3-2 victory. What team did he defeat?
It’s Banner Time
The Eastern Connecticut Conference and Connecticut Technical Conference spring playoffs get underway this week. We’ll be keeping an eye on the Norwich Tech softball team, which is the top seed in the CTC tournament and are looking to get back to the final at Albertus Magnus College for the second straight year; the Norwich Free Academy softball team, which is hoping to get to a second straight ECC championship game after losing in the final to Waterford last May; and the Norwich Free Academy girls outdoor track and field team, which won the ECC indoor track and field title this past winter.
More: Norwich Tech boys volleyball earns first state tourney berth
Celtics dominance
Here’s a good one from our friends on X@bostonsportsinfo:
“Celtics. Conference/Division Final appearances, since 1957-1958, when the NBA went to a 7-game series.
1. Celtics 35
2. Lakers 34
.
.
30. Pelicans 0
30. Hornets 0
Pretty impressive.”
In 67 total seasons (1957-1958 on), the Boston Celtics have been to the conference finals 52.2 percent of the time. The Lakers are 50.7 percent. At No. 3 is the Golden State Warriors who are just 22.4 percent (15 of 67).
We know the Celtics and Lakers, with 17 NBA championships apiece, have dominated the league. But not that dominant. Those are crazy numbers.
The Celtics have been trying to win banner No. 18 since Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce beat the Lakers in the 2008 finals.
More: 'He checked every box': Norwich Free Academy introduces new head football coach
Trivia answer
Craig and the Bruins defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2, at the Boston Garden on Oct. 12, 1980. Wayne Cashman scored the game-winning goal, off assists from Brad Park and Bob Miller, midway through the third period.
STUCK IN THE 70s
On May 19, 1976, Carl Yastrzemski went 4-for-4 with three home runs to power the Boston Red Sox to a 9-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers before 13,252 fans at Tiger Stadium. Yaz also had four RBIs.
Jim Rice also homered, while Dwight Evans, Rick Burleson, Rick Miller and Denny Doyle each had two hits. Ferguson Jenkins scattered seven hits and struck out four in a complete game pitching win.
Willie Horton hit a home run for the Tigers.
Jimmy Zanor is a sportswriter for the Norwich Bulletin and can be reached at jzanor@norwichbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter@jzanorNB.
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Zanor column: Clark Mania comes to Mohegan, PWHL nailbiters, and other thoughts
