There’s a New Big, Big Man on Campus at UMass … But just in case you had any doubts …

- Oleg [Yevenko] is so tall, and new assistant coach Blaise MacDonald so short that MacDonald will be so far away from him that he might as well text message his instructions.

- If you watch a UMass hockey practice, the defensemen wear black jerseys, but don't worry, you really won't need a number or a jersey color to find him. He sticks out.

- "If I stand up," Cahoon said doing so holding a stick straight up. "His stick is like this ( a few head lengths over his head).

- Well, he had to be a basketball player, or he was a new UMass hockey player helping Toot address a practice of a squirt team. Trust me on this one, this guy is big.

- The Cyclops had a great club which was lying near one of the sheep pens; it was of green olive wood, and he had cut it intending to use it for a staff as soon as it should be dry. It was so huge that we could only compare it to the mast of a twenty-oared merchant vessel of large burden, and able to venture out into open sea. (We kid.)

Anyhow. What goes unmentioned is the fact that this new and more-than-slightly-out-of-place addition to the UMass squad is not what you might consider one of those “gentle giants” of lore. We’re fairly certain that any of the guys on the receiving end of those 119 or 197 regular-season penalty minutes he banked while with the USHL Fargo Force (2009-10; 2010-11 respectively) would probably be inclined to agree.

Someone looked out of place at first UMass hockey practice - Masslive.com