The dues are expensive in the radio play-by-play club. There were times Alex Thomas wondered if membership would ever open for him, or if he would be better off with a 9-to-5 job.
He nearly gave up his dream before he was hired as broadcaster and jack-of-most-other-trades with the Wolf Pack in 2021, which meant longer days, interminable bus rides.
“There have been nights over the last four or five years where I’ve really enjoyed what I do in Hartford, and I wouldn’t give that up,” Thomas said, “but I wondered if that opportunity was ever going to come. You apply for some of the NHL jobs and you never hear back, and you’re not sure if you’re doing the right things, you’re not sure if that next step is ever going to happen.”
At the top level, jobs are scarce; established announcers hold on to them well past the typical retirement age. The top step is the one Thomas has been working for since he was narrating the street hockey games from his parents’ driveway in Massachusetts.
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It’s happening. Thomas has joined many of the players he’s known on the Hartford-to-Times Square Shuttle, and will call about two dozen Rangers games on ESPN New York (880 AM) and the network affiliates this season.
With Sam Rosen retiring, Kenny Albert transitioning to TV and balancing other national jobs, the Rangers occasionally move lead radio play-by-play man Alex Faust to TV and in those instances are giving Thomas, 31, a Springfield College grad, the chance to show what he can do. As they learn more about his passion and professionalism, it would be no surprise if that role expanded. Thomas debuted in Buffalo Oct. 9.
“It was a really special moment,” Thomas said, “it was probably more of an emotional day than I expected it to be.”
Thomas joined a group of young up-and-comers who brought energy to the Wolf Pack front office operations, raising attendance to 5,590 per game last season, the highest mark since 2010. Sean Dufresne will fill in for Thomas when he is off with the Rangers.
“I was really lucky, I knew what wanted to do at a young age,” Thomas said. “Five or six years old, my parents tell me all the time, they used to play street hockey out in the driveway and I would commentate those games, and here we are 25 years later doing NHL games, it was a surreal feeling for me.”
Thomas will be doing the Rangers-Islanders game on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
More for your Sunday Read.
Hurley, Izzo, coaching clinicians
UConn’s Dan Hurley considers several coaches as mentors and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo has always been near the top of the list.
“Coach Izzo has changed young men’s lives by making them into fully grown men that are ready to handle the challenges of the world,” Hurley said, “plus his teams, they play unselfish, they play physical, they defend, they share the ball, he gets the most out of his personnel. After you play his teams, everyone on your team is immediately in the ice tub because of the physicality.”
Izzo, 70. who first joined Michigan’s staff in 1983 and took over as head coach in 1995, won the championship in 2000 and has been to eight Final Fours, beating Jim Calhoun’s Huskies in 2009. Calhoun and Izzo shared a brief reunion before the Huskies and Spartans played Tuesday in the preseason game in Hartford, a 76-69 wire-to-wire UConn win.
Hurley, 52, has two NCAA titles.
“I was crazier when I was younger, too,” Izzo said. “Danny’s too young to mellow, but you’ve got to love his passion. What you’ve got to understand about guys like that is, players still want to play for him. What goes on behind the scenes that you don’t see has got to be pretty awesome. I think he coaches them hard, and he loves ’em hard, and that’s a hell of a feat. If you can coach them hard and love them hard, you’ve really got something special. I think he has that.
“Don’t get too carried away but what you see in his demeanor because those players, they play for him. They rally around him, man.”
Fred Thornhill/AP
Is UConn’s Anthony Kay, after two strong seasons in Japan, ready for an MLB comeback?
Sunday short takes
*Former UConn ace Anthony Kay, a first-round pick of the Mets in 2016, could have earned his return ticket to the big leagues, according to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman. Kay, 30, a lefty who pitched for the Mets, Blue Jays and Cubs, has really blossomed in two seasons in Japan, throwing 155 innings for Yokohama last season with a 1.74 ERA, hitting 95 MPH and getting a lot of ground balls.
*UConn women’s soccer team finished a strong regular season at 11-3-3, 7-1-2 in the Big East, and start conference tournament play on Thursday in Maryland. Like last year, they will probably have to win the four-team tournament to get into the NCAAs.
*Former UHart men’s basketball coach John Gallagher got a two-year extension from Manhattan College, according to ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, after leading the Jaspers to 17 wins in 2024-25, the program’s most since 2015.
*Anybody in New York miss Tom Thibodeau yet?
New Haven ready to jump into Division I fire with first-ever game at UConn
Last word
This will be the third week in a row a conflict with the Patriots’ game will keep the Giants game off the air in Connecticut, outside Fairfield County. You can’t fault the local stations for picking the contending Patriots if they’re forced to choose, but there must be a way for the NFL and the networks to sort things out so Giants fans, who are closely watching for development from rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, can see the games. Two words for them: Fix it.
