Confusion – and a little comedy – defined the night.
The evening started with a player skating over a microphone cord, cutting off tuxedo-wearing emcee Bob Lobel mid-sentence. It ended with media gathering underneath the stands at the Centrum.
We were asked if we were awaiting a press conference. No, we just wanted access to the locker room. Shawn Heaphy was our target. He had just completed a hat trick in a frantic finish in front of more than 10,000 fans.
Or so we thought.
“That was Walt’s goal,” Heaphy explained when asked about the equalizer with 13 seconds remaining against the Springfield Falcons as professional sports made its long-awaited return to Worcester.
That was the late Walt Poddubny, former NHL 40-goal scorer, who rallied the Worcester IceCats to a 5-5 tie in their first-ever home game on Oct. 4, 1994. I was working in radio then (WDIS in Norfolk). I still have my pocket schedule for that inaugural season.
The next winter represented a pivotal move – literally and figuratively – in my media career.
Working with play-by-play man John Wiedeman, turning dials and cuing up highlights (using reel-to-reel tape), I served as producer for IceCats games on WTAG, also providing live between-periods updates over the air.
With the TAG studio standing atop Asnebumskit Road in Paxton, and no Mass Pike exit, the drive along Route 9 through Worcester for my weekday 6 p.m.-midnight shift was painfully slow. A move to Northborough cut the commute in half and also brought a newly-launched newspaper to my mailbox: the Northborough Profile, leading to a newly-launched career as a writer.
The following summer had me “running the board” at TAG for Red Sox games (the opening guitar riff of “Found Out About You” by Gin Blossoms still reminds of the post-game show), and for programs hosted by George Brown and Jordan Levy.
On nongame nights, I was on the phone with the likes of Neil Burke, Jan McCurdy and Ernie Bardier to report on Algonquin’s Tomahawks - using a word processor, a device that met the same fate as pocket schedules, tape machines and the Profile, which soon became The Villager.
As for Poddubny, who was teammates with Hockey Hall of Famers named Gretzky, Dionne and Brodeur, and Heaphy, their circles collided in 1993. They were teammates for the Las Vegas Flash, an in-line team in Roller Hockey International (their coach was Olympic and Stanley Cup champ Ken Morrow). One of their teammates was NCAA champion and Olympic goalie Garth Snow, who scored a goal that season.
My full-circle moment is happening with my recent hire at the Telegram and Gazette after 13 years at the MetroWest Daily News. I've already completed my first assignment at Crompton Park, for a game that didn't end in a tie or involve any confusion who scored late.
You won’t hear my voice as much, but I’ll have plenty of words.
‒Contact Tim Dumas at tdumas@gannett.com. Follow him on Instagram at tdumas1 and X, formerly known as Twitter, @TDumas2112.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Writer who once produced IceCats game at WTAG returns to Worcester
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