BU 3, Maine 2 (OT)

 

The unranked (for now) BU Terriers beat No. 18 Maine, 3-2, when Ryder Ritchie hit a goal 1:42 minutes into overtime tonight. 

Maine took an early lead, but BU's Jack Murtagh's tied the game at 1-1 in the second period. Maine scored again late in the period, but Cole Eiserman tied the game again in the third with his 11th goal of the season to force the overtime. Mikhail Yegorov finished the game with 28 saves in the net.

The Terriers are 13-13-2 on the season and 9-10-0 in conference play. Their 26 points ties them with UMass for fourth place in Hockey East. 

The Terriers are off tomorrow in order to prep for Monday night's Beanpot championship game against the No. 11 Boston College Eagles (15-9-1).  

Celtics 98, Heat 96

 

The Celtics debuted new center Nikola Vučević off the bench last night, but gave him over twice as many minutes playing time as starting center Luka Garca. Vučević responded to the generosity with an 11-point, 12-reboiund double double, the most rebounds in a Celtics debut since Kevin Garnett in 2007.

Even more importantly, the Celtics came back from a 22-point deficit to win tonight's game. After rallying back with a 36-15 third quarter, Boston trailed by one point with a minute and a half left in the game. Derrick White then made a 24-foot three-pointer, his fourth of the night on a dozen attempts, assisted by Vučević to give the Celtics a 98-96 lead. The Celtics held on to that razor-thin lead with three steals (Brown, White, and Vučević) a Jaylen Brown defensive rebound, a Baylor Scheierman defensive rebound, and a Derrick White blocked shot.   

Brown scored 29 points, but Pritchard had the hot hand in three-point shooting, going four-for-six on threes and scoring 24 total points. White contributed 21. Overall, the Heat led the game in three-point shooting but the Celtics had more rebounds, 50-42.

The Knicks finally lost a game last night, so the Celtics are all alone in first place in the Atlantic Division at 34-18. Unfortunately, the Knicks lost that game to the Eastern Conference leading Pistons, so the Celtics trail Detroit by 4½ in the Eastern Conference.

Sunday afternoon (12:30 pm), well before the Super Bowl, the Celtics will host the Knicks (33-19) on a nationally-televised game on ABC to settle this whole who's-the-best-in-the-Atlantic business. Watch it, and then watch the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Vermont 3, BU 0

 

The B.U. women's hockey team, fresh off a weekend sweep of Merrimack, were shut out, 3-0, in Vermont last night. 

The Catamounts scored their first goal a mere 10 seconds into the game. They scored again in the second period and then again in the third. BU's Mari Pietersen stopped 20 attempts in the net, including 12 in the third period alone.

The Terriers drop to 9-16-3 overall, and 7-10-2 in Hockey East. They're off tonight and will host Maine (10-17-3) on Saturday night.  

48 Hours to the Super Bowl

 

The New England Patriots (14-3) versus the Seattle Seahawks (14-3). 

Drake Maye (4.394 yards passing, 450 yards rushing, 31 passing TDs, 4 rushing TDs) versus Sam Darnold (4,048 yards passing, 95 yards rushing, 25 passing TDs, 0 rushing TDs). 

2015 Superb Owl XLIX rematch (New England 28, Seattle 24), ending with an infamous goal-line interception.

Get psyched.

Celtics 114, Rockets 93

 

No Vučević (yet) and no Brown but no matter - last  night, the Celtics still beat Kevin Durant and the Rockets by 21 points down in Houston and get to leave the state of Texas, 2-0, with wins over both Dallas and Houston.

With Mr. Brown our due to the lingering hamstring and knee problems he's been dealing with since sitting out the January 30th game against Sacramento, Mr. White led the team with 28 points. Pritchard was right behind him with 27 points off the bench. Scheierman (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Queta (10 points, 19 rebounds) both had double doubles, and the Celtics led the Rockets in rebounding, 57-38, and three-pointers completed, 19-11. Defensively, they kept Durant to 15 points, and he was the team leader last night.

In what's getting to be a tiresome story, the Knicks won last night too, so Boston, despite four straight wins, is still tied with New York at 33-18 for first place in the Atlantic. However, Detroit was idle so both teams move up a half game in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Celtics will return home and play Miami (27-25) on Friday night - hopefully, we'll get to see  Vučević make his debut with the C's then.

Panthers 5, Bruins 4 (SO)

 

Kryptonite is still kryptonite, and even though the Bruins went into last night's game, 32-20-4, and the Panthers, 28-24-3, Florida continues to be Boston's kryptonite team and won the match in the OT shootout, 5-4. 

Worse, a Panthers' forward hit Charlie McAvoy (BU, 2016) midway through the first period with a cheap-shot, leaping elbow to the head that forced McAvoy to leave the ice. Still wearing a full face shield from a a broken jaw he suffered in December, McAvoy returned to the game and played 22:05 more minutes.

Michael Eyssimont scored twice in that first period to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead, but the Panthers responded with three unanswered goals in the second.  Kastelic and Mittelstadt scored in the third to tie the game up, but no one scored in the OT.  Viktor Arvidsson scored a shoot-out goal in the first attempt, but was matched by a Florida goal. Fittingly, the game ended when former Bruin Brad Marchand hit a shoot-out goal on the sixth shot of the period, and Mittelstadt's last attempt was stopped.

With the shootout loss, the Bruins add a digit to the end of their season record and are now 32-20-5, fifth in the Atlantic. They're still in the running for the last Wild Card spot, four points up on the next contender, Columbus.

The Bruins, along with the rest of the NHL, will take two weeks off so players can compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. They'll return to action February 26 to play Columbus and protect their Wild Card lead.

Celtics 110, Mavericks 100

 

Before getting to the game, we first have to acknowledge that the Celtics have traded Anfernee Simons to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for veteran big man Nikola Vučević. Simons was a great asset to the Celtics this season, shooting 44%, 39.5% on threes. Thanks you for your service, Anfernee, but the Celtics most pressing need was for a big man in center, and Vučević  (6' 9", 265 lbs) fills that role. He's averaged 16.9 points per game for the Bulls this season, shooting 50.5% and 37.6% on threes. More importantly, his 9.0 rebounds per game will be useful on a team whose best rebounder, Neemias Queta, gets 8.1 and Jaylen Brown, 7.0.

Last night, Mr. Brown snagged 11 rebounds and scored 33 points against the Dallas Mavericks. Pritchard and Garza got 26 and 16 points, respectively, and Hauser and White 11 each. Garza went four-for-four on three-point shooting, but overall the team shot only 33.3% outside the line. They were outrebounded by Dallas, 49-47, but they was good enough to beat the Mavs, 110-100, even with teen sensation Cooper Flagg (36 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists).

The Knicks won last night as well, so Boston and New York remain tied, 32-18, in first place in the Atlantic The Pistons won as well, so Detroit remain 5½ games up in the Eastern Conference.

The Texas roadhouse roadtrip continues and takes the Celtics from Dallas to Houston tonight (8:00 pm), where they will face Kevin Durant and the Rockets (31-17).  

Beanpot Semifinal: BU 3, Northeastern 2 (SO)

 

The Boston University men's hockey team, the defending 2025 Beanpot champion, is heading back to the championship game after beating Northeastern, 3-2, in the semifinal last night.

Freshman Charlie Tretheway tied the game at 1-1 early in the second period and Nick Roukounakis tied it again at 202 later in the second. No one scored in the third period or in the OT,  although the Terriers' Ryder Ritchie appeared to score a goal in OT but, in a call similar to Pastrnak's apparent OT goal in Tampa Bay during the previous night's Bruins game, the goal was negated based on an interference call. 

Jack Harvey and Cole Hutson both scored in the 2-1 shootout to give the Terriers the win and an opportunity to avenge last weekend's loss to BC by facing them next Monday in the Beanpot title game. A BU win would be the second consecutive Beanpot trophy for the Terriers. First, however, they have to play No. 18 Maine (14-10-2) on Friday night.

Although BU won the shootout and will play in the Beanpot finale, the game is officially a tie since OT ended without a goal and it took a shootout to determine who will advance. Therefore, the unranked Terriers are now 12-13-2 overall and 8-10-0 in Hockey East play. 

Lightning 6, Bruins 5

 

Goalie fight! Bruin's goalie Jeremy Swayman and the Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy went at it on the center line during the second period last night on national t.v.

Swayman understandably had taken issue with a Lightning player poking a puck between his pads after a power-play shot. After the whistle blew, Swayman went after the player, tackling him on the ice and throwing punches. Charlie McAvoy (BU, 2016) and Tanner Jeannot broke it up, but then Vasilevskiy left the crease and skated down the ice into the melee. 

Swayman stripped off his helmet and gloves and met Vasilevskiy at the center line. They wrestled each other and Vasilevskiy forced Swayman to the ice before referees stepped in and broke it up. Vaseline tapped Swayman on the head as they were pulled apart and players on both benches stood and tapped their sticks on the boards out of respect for their teammates. Each goalie was given a five-minute penalty for fighting.

The Bruins had a 5-2 lead at the time of the fight, which you can say the Lightning won because they came back with three unanswered goals - two in the second and one in the third - to force OT. No one scored, allegedly, in the OT, although an apparent Pastrnak goal 22 seconds into OT was nullified due to a delayed slashing whistle against Pasta. The Lightning hit a goal in the second attempt during the shootout, Pasta missed his attempt, and that was that - Tampa Bay took a 6-5 win.

This was the first-ever outdoor NHL game in Florida - isn't technology amazing? - but big deal. 

Boston (32-20-4) is fourth in the Atlantic and fifth in the East. Their 68 points has them comfortably in the lead in the Wild Card race by seven points ahead of the first non-qualifying contender, Columbus. 

The Bruins will stay in the Sunshine State and play the Panthers on Wednesday.

Celtics 107, Bucks 79

 

The Celtics, playing without Tatum, beat the Bucks, playing without Giannis, by 28 points. Jaylen Brown scored 30 points and snagged 13 rebounds, and Anfernee Simons hit for 27 points. Between the two of them, they sank 10 of 16 three-point attempts. The Celtics out-rebounded and outshot the Bucks on threes, and gave defensive wunderkind Hugo González 17:19 minutes of playtime, during which he grabbed five rebounds and stole the ball twice. 

Mr. Brown's 22.4 shots per game is tied with Luka Dončić for most in the NBA; he trails only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (11.0) in shots made (10.8), ahead of Luka's 10.7. Brown's 29.4 points per game is third in the NBA, behind Luka and SGA.  

The Celtics remained tied with the Knicks in the Eastern Conference, 5½ back from the Pistons. The team is off to Texas for games against Dallas on Tuesday night and Houston on Wednesday night. 

BU Sweeps Merrimack, 3-0, 3-1

The BU Terriers women's hockey team completed a weekend home-and-away sweep of Merrimack. 

In North Andover on Friday night, Lola Reid and Greta Henderson scored goals in the first period and Clara Yuhn scored the third goal in the third period. Michelle Pasiechnyk made 23 saves in the net, her 22nd career shutout.

Back home this afternoon, Sydney Healey scored twice and Lexie Bertelsen scored the third goal. Mari Pietersen made 27 saves to complete the weekend sweep. Healey's 12 goals on the season is tied with Northeastern's Stryker Zablocki for best in Hockey East, and her 17 points are tied with BC's Madelyn Murphy for fifth in the conference.  

The Terriers are 9-15-3 overall and 7-9-2 in Hockey East action. BU is fifth in the Hockey East standings with 25 points. Their next game is Thursday for some reason against Vermont (12-14-4).   

BC 4, BU 1

 

As The Dude famously said in The Big Lebowski, "I hate the fucking Eagles, man!" 

The fucking Eagles beat the BU Terriers men's team last night, 4-1. Jack Harvey scored his ninth goal of the season in the third period but that was it for the Terriers, and the fucking Eagles added a late empty-netter for the final score. Mikhail Yegorov made 17 saves in the net.

The Terriers fall to 12-13-1 overall and 8-10-0 in Hockey East play. The team that was ranked No. 1 in the nation back in mid-October has fallen off the poll completely, and their 24 points puts them in fourth place in the conference standings. With their win, the 13th-ranked Eagles move into a tie with Providence for first place in the conference, seven points ahead of BU.

Whatever. The 73rd annual men's division of the Beanpot tournament begins on Monday night, and the defending champion Terriers play against Northeastern (12-12-0) at 8 p.m. Bring it on!