Wild Things infielder has particular tie to Penguins
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Wild Things infielder Carter McEacherm shared the goalie position with the Penguins’ Matt Murray when they played together in Canadian youth hockey leagues.
Carter McEachern
Like most hockey fans in Western Pennsylvania, Wild Things infielder Carter McEachern has been paying attention to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, in particular the Penguins’ second-round series against the Washington Capitals.
For the 23-year-old McEachern, that interest has much to do with him being a Canadian. He is from the hockey-crazy city of Thunder Bay, Ontario, which has produced the Stahl brothers, current NHL players Robert Bortuzzo, Patrick Sharp, Scott Laughton, Seth Jones, Connor Brown and even Hall of Famer Alex Delvecchio, among others.
There is, however, more to McEachern’s interest in hockey and the Penguins. You see, like most kids in Thunder Bay, McEachern grew up playing hockey in the youth leagues, aspiring to be an NHL player. He was a goaltender. And for years, McEachern was one of two goalies on his team.
The other goalie was Matt Murray.
Yes, that Matt Murray.
The Penguins’ Matt Murray.
Two-time Stanley Cup champion Matt Murray.
“We grew up four or five blocks apart,” McEachern explained last week at Wild Things Park. “We would hang out together. We would play basketball in the back yard, golf together, play a little baseball together.
“I played hockey with Matt Murray from the ages of 8 until 16. That included youth leagues, when we would switch out between goalie and skater because we didn’t have enough players to have one goalie on the bench. You would play goalie one game and then switch to skater the next game.
“Once we got to Triple-A, where you needed two goalies on a team, we were on the same team for four or five years. The last year we played together was with the Thunder Bay Kings, one step below junior hockey.
“He was good,” McEachern continued. “There was no doubt he had the potential to do what he is doing now. We all had aspirations of playing in the NHL, and his came to fruition. What was good for me was that he pushed me to become a better player. I hope he can say the same about me.”
So what kind of goaltender was McEachern?
“I could hold my own,” said the 6-1, 195-pound McEachern, whose youth hockey experiences included a trip to Denmark to play.
“Murray was a little bigger than I was, so I had to utilize my flexibility, doing splits and diving. I was very aggressive. I had to challenge guys.”
There were a few things that brought McEachern’s competitive hockey days to an end. Being compared to Murray was obviously one, but the others were sun and warm weather. McEachern liked them as a kid and didn’t enjoy spending his summer months in a hockey rink trying to throw his body in front of frozen rubber discs.
“I still love hockey. It’s in my blood. It’s a part of me. But I always enjoyed it for the hockey season. In the offseason, I wanted to get away from the game. I didn’t want to fully immerse myself in hockey. … In Thunder Bay, we get only two of three months of warm weather, so I would get to play only 20 or 30 baseball games a year but I loved the game.”
One summer, McEachern attended a baseball showcase in Chicago. Four months later, while he was playing junior hockey, he received a call from a baseball coach at Trinity University, an NCAA Division III school in San Antonio. The coach wanted McEachern to visit the school.
“I fell in love with the atmosphere of the small school that had a ridiculous academic reputation,” McEachern recalled. “Being a pre-med/biology student, I wouldn’t have been able to pursue that career path and play baseball or hockey at a large school.”
So McEachern packed up and headed to Texas. And during his four years at Trinity, the Tigers had remarkable success on the diamond. As a senior in 2016, McEachern helped Trinity win the Division III national title in Appleton, Wisc. He made the all-tournament team at the D-III World Series.
McEachern, a left-handed hitter, was a .300 hitter all four years at Trinity and batted .347 with 47 RBI as a third baseman during the national championship year.
“We had a senior-laden team that year,” McEachern said. “We grew together through the program.”
McEachern did not get selected in Major League Baseball’s draft in 2016, so he decided to try independent ball. He signed with the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the American Association, where he was the youngest player on the team, but appeared in only two games before being released. Last year, he played 78 games for Trios-Rivieres (pronounced Three Rivers) of the Can-Am League. As one of the youngest players in the league, McEachern batted .289 and stole 10 bases.
McEachern’s performance against older competition caught the eye of the Wild Things, who worked out a trade for him in January. He is trying to make the team as an infielder and hopes to be in the lineup when Washington opens the Frontier League season Friday at Evansville.
“I try to play the game hard-nosed,” he said. “I give it 100 percent. I’m with a team that has a winning culture and wants to win now.
“Coming to a new team beginning a new season, it’s difficult to say what exactly my role will be. Needless to say, I plan on contributing day after day to what hopes to be a run for a league championship.”