Assassin's Creed: Shadows

 

Neither the Celtics not the Bruins played last night, BU's hockey season is over, the Iditarod's done, and I refuse to cover preseason baseball. So with this little intermission in the sporting schedule, the Sports Desk turns things over to the Gaming Desk for today's post. Video games are e-sports, right?

Having completed full playthroughs of The Outer Worlds 2 twice last month, we've moved on to Assassin's Creed Shadows. We started the game back on February 13 and have played for some 180 hours now, yet feel like we still have a long, long way to go before completing out first playthrough.

The game is another of  the open-world style Assassin's Creed games like Origins and Odyssey, as well as the less successful Valhalla and Mirage, this one set in 16th-Century feudal Japan. Although the trademark hidden blade is still present, as well as fast-travel viewpoints, it has many differences from its predecessors. 

In all four of the previous games, your character had an eagle or some sort of other bird to scout ahead of you and give you an bird's-eye preview of what was ahead. The bird is gone in Shadows, and if you want a high-level perspective on things, you have to climb up something and see for yourself. Which isn't as easy as the previous games, where you could climb virtually any surface and parkour around. In fact, the easy scalability of any wall, cliff, or building in the earlier games was to unrealistically easy it almost broke immersion, but also gave the games some of their unique feel and character. Parkour is still an important element of Shadows, but you often can't climb straight up flat surfaces without using a grappling hook, which feels a little more realistic but takes some getting used to.

The biggest difference, though, is the task list. There isn't one. In all the previous games, you had lists of tasks, sorted as major and side quests, character quests, etc., and there was usually a graphical chart of the major enemies, usually a cabal of conspirators that you needed to assassinate. In Shadows, everything is tracked by a staggering number of those charts, all displayed on one large objective board. There are displays on the board for the primary group of bad guys, the Shinbakufu, displays for various other side-quests, displays for regions, for allies, and some that seemingly randomly appear for no discernible reason. That foe you just killed? Turns out he's member of some renegade cult, and now there's a new display on the objective board of the other ten members of the cult that you now have to hunt down. Every time I start to think I'm making progress toward beating the game, new groups will pop up on the board, indicating many more hours still ahead.

The game throws a lot of new stuff at you early in the game. Not only is there the objective board, but there are separate skill trees for each weapon, and oh, you have two separate playable characters, both of whom have separate sets of skills trees. Plus you're supposed to establish and build up a home base, and recruit and manage allies and separate scouts. It's a little overwhelming and confusing at first, but it eventually starts to make sense as you go along.     

I like the game. Overall, it prioritizes stealth more than any games since the original Assassins-vs-Templars series, and it's stunningly beautiful to look at. I had thought Ghost of Tsushima (the Ghosts games are the obvious parallels to Shadows) had set the standard for cinematic Japanese beauty, but I admit the Ubisoft, the A.C. studio, topped the Ghosts high standard. My F3 button is getting worn down from all the screenshots I keep taking. 

I appreciate many of the innovations and changes made to the games, and while I miss the eagle and the ability to climb sheer walls, I applaud the effort to do new things. My biggest complaint is that the objective board with all its lists and displays can get overwhelming and confusing - after 180 hours of play, I forget NPCs that I had met some weeks ago. "This must be the town Tagoda Matsuoka told me to visit," my character will say as we ride into some new town, but I have no idea who Tagoda Matsuoka was, why I'm was supposed to visit there, or what it is I'm supposed to be doing. It all eventually works itself out, but I feel like that amnesiac character in the film Memento with no idea of why these guys are attacking me, or am I attacking them?

As I said, I like the game. A lot. I wouldn't have stuck with it for 180 hours, I think the longest any single first playthrough has taken me in any game, if I didn't. I'm looking forward to seeing how this all works itself out.               

Timberwolves 102, Celtics 92

 

The Celtics played a pretty good first quarter and a god-awful fourth quarter, and lost (at home!) to a Minnesota team they could have/should have beaten.

Brown led all teams with 29 points and Tatum got a double double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. But the Celtics were out-rebounded by the T-wolves, 56-53, and Boston's pathetic three-point average (27.3%) resulted in only 9 threes made to Minnesota's 12. The Wolves also managed to block seven Boston shots.

With the loss, the sneaky New York Knicks inch up to within a half game of Boston in the division, and the Detroit Pistons move 4½ games ahead in the conference with 11 games left to the regular season.    

Hopefully, this loss will serve as the kick in the ass the Celtics need to bring their A game to the Garden on Wednesday, when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team with the most wins this season in the NBA, come to town. 'Cause I'm gonna tell you, if the Celtics play like they did last night, the Thunder will walk all over them. 

Bruins 4, Red Wings 2

 

David Pastrnak scored a power-play goal in the second period, assisted by McAvoy (BU, 2016) and Geekie, and then the law firm of Lindholm, Zodorov & Khusnutdinov scored three unanswered goals in the third as the mighty Boston Bruins defeated the Detroit Red Wings.

The win clears things up a little in the playoff standings as we approach the end of the regular season. With the win, Boston picks up two points on Detroit and qualify for a Wild Card berth by a three-point margin ahead of the Islanders, who lost last night to Montreal. The Bruins are tied with third-place Montreal at 86 points, but remain in fourth because of the games-played tiebreaker.      

The Toronto Maple Leafs (29-29-13) will play in the Garden on Tuesday night (7:00 pm). The Canadiens will be hosting the Carolina Hurricanes (44-19-6) that night, and a Boston win coupled with a Montreal loss will put the Bruins into third place, giving them an automatic playoff bid instead of fighting it out in the gutter with Detroit for a Wild Card berth. Go, Carolina!    

Celtics 117, Grizzlies 112

 

Somehow, I knew this was going to be a tough game, and boy was I right. It was a tight game the whole way with a lot of lead changes, but the Celtics persevered and won by five points.

Jaylen Brown led both teams with 30 points. Luka Garza added 22 off the bench, and Payton Pritchard another 19. Derrick White scored 14, Jayson Tatum 13, and Neemias Queta got the evening's double double, scoring 12 points and 11 rebounds. Overall, the Celtics outrebounded the Grizzlies, 57-35, which helped make up the difference for their poor three-point shooting (26.2%) and one dozen turnovers.

The standings remain fairly static. The Celtics (47-23) still have a game-and-a-half lead over the Knicks in the Atlantic. The Pistons have clinched their playoff berth, and Boston trails Detroit by four in the East.

There are a dozen games left to the Celtics' regular season, including a potential playoff preview next week against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who've clinched the Western Conference title and already announced that they won't be visiting the White House, thank you (good for them).  But first, the Celtics have to play the Minnesota Timberwolves (43-28) on Sunday night in the Garden. The game will be nationally televised on NBC.   

Iditarod: Blizzard at White Mountain

I thought I was done posting about this year's Iditarod. Jessie Holmes had repeated as champion, Jesse Terry got Rookie of the Year, and the remaining teams were either at or near White Mountain, the last major checkpoint before the finish line. Since my last post, six more teams crossed the finish line - rookie Sam Martin, Josi (Thyr) Shelley, Bailey Vitello, Gabe Dunham, Rohn Buser, and Chad Stoddard - for a total of 20 finishers. 

However, that's when a ground storm blew up between White Mountain and Safety, the penultimate checkpoint, with winds up to 60+ mph. Adam Lindenmuth was the last musher out of Elim on his way to White Mountain but faced a strong headwind and rested his team for several hours out on the ice before he got moving again, often walking out in front of the team for a major portion of that stretch. The team eventually made it to solid ground before resting some more. Ultimately, the deteriorating conditions forced him to activate the emergency SOS on his GPS tracker to request assistance, automatically scratching him from the race. He eventually made it to White Mountain, accompanied by rescue snowmobiles in front and behind his team. 

Nine more teams, including the two Mackeys, are currently holed up in White Mountain. Seven of the teams are rookies. They all had decided to stay at the checkpoint beyond their mandatory 8-hour rest due to the storm conditions, and race official encouraged them to stay there overnight until the storm blows past. The forecast for today has the winds calming down to 10 to 20 mph.

The official Iditarod race standings haven't been updated since 11 pm (Alaska time) last night, so it's not yet apparent if any teams have left the checkpoint or are still huddled down, riding out the storm, or even if the remaining race has been officially cancelled due to the worsening conditions. 

If the race is still on, it's also unclear in what order the teams will leave White Mountain. First in/first out? If so, separated by how much time? The first of the nine remaining mushers, Kevin Hansen, arrived there some 15 hours ahead of the last, Sam Paperman, and Hansen would understandably not want to forfeit a 15-hour lead. Or will each team leave whenever they feel they're up to the challenge? Or will there be some other method to the unofficial restart?

Bruins 6, Jets 1

 

The mighty Boston Bruins piled it on the Winnipeg Jets last evening, winning by a score of 6-1. Pastrnak, Pavel, Arvidsson, Minten, and Aspirot all scored goals, and for good measure, Lukas Reichel scored a goal in his Bruins' debut and it turned out to be the game-winner.

It was a blowout win with very little drama, other than the excitement of seeing the lamp light up three times in the third period.

The Bruins improve to 38-23-8, fourth in the Atlantic. Boston, Montreal, and Detroit all have 84 points in the Division, but Montreal is in third place because of the games-played tie-breaker. Detroit is in fifth because of the regulation-wins tie-breaker. 

As for the Wild Card race, both Boston and Detroit still qualify for a berth. However, Columbus has moved up to third place in the Metropolitan Division and an automatic playoff berth, so now it's the Islanders trailing Boston and Detroit by one point for a Wild Card berth.

All of which makes Saturday's game against the Red Wings so pivotal. A win could potentially put the Bruins into third place in the Atlantic and qualify them for an automatic playoff spot. Of course, that depends on how the Canadiens fare, and they have two games coming up against the Islanders and the Hurricanes, two teams hungry to secure their playoff hopes. On the other hand, a loss would break Boston's tie with Detroit, knocking the Bruins down to fifth in the Division and possibly out of the Wild Card race with only 13 games remaining to the regular season.

Iditarod Wrap-Up

 

After Tuesday night's win by Jessie Holmes and yesterday's early-morning finishes by Travis Beals, Jeff Deeter, and Paige Drobney, ten more teams have completed the Iditarod. 

Yesterday, Wade Marrs, Matt Hall, Riley Dyche, Lauro Eklund, Peter Kaiser, Michelle Phillips, Hanna Lyrek, Jessie Royer, and Ryan Redington all crossed the finish line. Early this morning, Jesse Terry finished, earning the 2026 Rookie of the Year Award.

All the rest of the field are now on the Nome peninsula. Rookie Adam Lindenmuth is in last place but is heading toward White Mountain (mile 898) from Elim. Nine other teams, including Brenda Mackey and her Uncle Jason, are currently on their 8-hour break at White Mountain. Chad Stoddard has left White Mountain and is heading for Safety (mile 953), and six teams, including Bailey Vitello and Gabe Dunham, have left Safety for their final run to the finish line (mile 975).

A burlap hero is "one who marches - consciously or not - back to the sea in hopes of making no splash, who understands and embraces the imperfection of being, and in that way, stretches the definition of sainthood to fit" (Nate Wooley, 2022). They are the ones who recognize living as a heroic act and include "the occupiers of sunup barstools, the cubicle-planted, the ghosts of Greyhounds, and the reasonably sketchy."

The Iditarod may have winners but there are no losers. Competing a nearly 1,000-mile traverse of Alaskan wilderness in sub-zero weather without mechanical transport, surrounded by nothing but mountains, bears, wolves, moose, and bison, all while caring for an unruly team of sled dogs, is a heroic achievement in its own right regardless of placement (what have you done this week?). Even the earliest scratch completed 153 miles of wilderness adventure and dropped out only for the safety and well being of the dogs. They're all winners and all burlap heroes, every last one of them. 

Celtics 120, Warriors 99

 

The days of Mr. Brown and Mr. White are over - with the return of Taum to the lineup, we're back to the Two Jays, Jayson and Jaylen. No disrespect to Derrick White and I'm not overlooking his talent and contributions, but the dynamic of the team has shirted from Brown & White to Jayson & Jaylen. 

Case in point: last night, J. Brown dropped 32 points on the Golden State Warriors and J. Tatum dropped 24 while going 5-for-11 on threes and grabbing 10 rebounds for the dubs. The bench stayed strong, with Pritchard scoring 19 points and Garza 15. The Celtics outrebounded the Warriors 49-39 and completed 14 three-pointers to the Warriors 10. 

At some point, it has to be pointed out that all this occurred with the two Curry's - Steph and Seth - out with injuries for Golden State, as well as Jimmy Butler and our old friend Al Horford. We were basically facing Draymond Green and our other old friend, Kristaps Porziņģis, an intimidating duo to be sure but not the high-scoring powerhouse of Golden State in their prime.

Still, I'll take it. A win is a win is a win, and now the C's have 46 of them, twice as many as their losses (23).  

Friday night, the Celtics will be in Memphis, Tennessee to play what remains of the Grizzlies (24-44). But watch out - Memphis may be 2-8 in their last 10 games, but last night they upset Serbian strongman Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets, so anything can happen. Does "anything" include back-to-back wins against NBA powerhouses? Probably not, but the two Jays better be ready to bring some game to Memphis.

 

Jessie Holmes Wins the 2026 Iditarod!

 

Jessie Holmes, the reigning 2025 winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the Last Great Race on Earth, repeats as the 2026 champion. Holmes led the race most of the way, took a commanding lead on the Yukon, and never looked back.  So comfortable was his lead that he left White Mountain (mile 898) yesterday at 11:27 Alaska time yesterday, 17 minutes past his required 8-hour rest. He arrived at the finish line at 5:32 pm last night, making his official finish time 9 days, 7 hours, 32 minutes, and 52 seconds. Although his dog Zeus was in the lead most of the race, Holmes put Polar in front for the last stretch, and Polar was the first dog across the finish line.

Travis Beals came in second at 9d 11h 58m 26s, some 3½ hours after Holmes, followed by Jeff Deeter (9d 15h 10m 37s). Paige Drobny (9d 15h 38m 48s) came in fourth, less than a half-hour behind Deeter. 

Wade Marrs has left Safety (mile 953) and should be the fifth finisher sometime later today. After Marrs, there are 24 teams that have crossed the frozen Norton Sound and are on the Nome peninsula. Five of the teams have left White Mountain, three are still working off their mandatory 8-hour rest at White Mountain, eight are out of Elim (mile 852), five out of Koyuk (mile 804), and three still in Koyuk.  Rookie Adam Lindenmuth has left Shaktoolik (mile 754) and is somewhere out on the Norton ice. 

There were three scratches announced yesterday. Sadly, Mille Pirsild pulled out at the Elim checkpoint, 123 miles from the finish line, following the death of Charley, a four-year-old female on her team. Porsild is an experienced Danish racer, was the 2020 Iditarod Rookie of the Year, and has mushed dogs in Antarctica. Charley's body has been flown to Unalakleet, where a necropsy will be conducted by a board-certified veterinary pathologist to determine the cause of death. Iditarod rules state that if a dog dies during the race, it results in an immediate scratch from the race for that musher.

Jody Potts-Joseph and Grayson Bruton both voluntarily scratched back at Unalakleet. Rookie racer Potts-Joseph had a run-in with a bison on the trail back before McGrath (mile 311). It reportedly charged her and her team repeatedly, although it stopped each time short of the dog team. She hid behind a tree and tried to fire a gun but it jammed. She resorted to chanting "Go away, have mercy on us, leave us alone,” in her native Hän Gwich’in tongue, and the bison backed off before there were any injuries to either dogs or humans. But the encounter left her and the team shook and she was in last or near-last place from then on. She finally scratched after symptoms of kennel cough bagen appearing in her team. However, she still managed to get to Unalakleet before Brunton, who was competing in his second Iditarod. 

Jessie Holmes, originally from Phenix City, Alabama, a town so poor it can't even afford the vowel "o,"  has competed in the Iditarod every year since 2018, when he was the Iditarod Rookie of the Year, but he's probably most famous as a reality-TV star in National Geographic's Life Below Zero. He is the third competitor in the 54-year history of the Iditarod to repeat the year after winning for the first time. The other two were Susan Butcher in 1986-1987 and Lance Mackey in 2007-2008. Both went on to win four titles.

R.I.P., Charley. Impermanence is swift.

Canadiens 3, Bruins 2 (OT)

 

Pavel Zacha scored two goals for the Boston Bruins, but the team let Montreal tie the game up in the second period and neither team scored in the third. In the OT, the Habs' Cole Caufield scored a goal, his 40th of the season, beating a personal record and tying a 32-year-old Montreal record. Big deal. 

That's two straight OT road losses for Boston (37-23-8), who are 4-3-3 in their last ten games. They're in fourth place in the Atlantic Division are tied with Detroit at 82 points for a wild card berth, one point ahead of Carolina. 

The Winnipeg Jets (28-28-11) come to the Garden on Thursday for a 7:00 pm game.

Iditarod: Jessie Holmes to Repeat as Champion

 

Jessie Holmes and Travis Beals have both arrived at White Mountain (mile 898) and are almost assured to finish first and second in this year's Iditarod. Holmes has a four-hour lead on Beals, and with only 77 miles left to the finish line, it would take nothing short of a miracle (or a disaster, depending on your POV) for Beals to catch up with him. 

Holmes will repeat as Iditarod champion. All teams are required to take an 8-hour rest at White Mountain, and we can be assured that Holmes will leave as soon as he's allowed in order to maintain his lead.

Of the next three racers, Paige Drobney was the first to Elim (mile 852), the checkpoint before White Mountain. Jeff Deeter pulled in a half-hour after her. Both took roughly 3½-hour breaks there, and while they were resting, Wade Marrs blew through the checkpoint without a rest, and is now in third place. Drobney and Deeter both left Elim about an hour after Marrs passed through and are dueling it out for fourth place.

Paige has been taking longish breaks at every checkpoint the past day or two and is down to 10 dogs, signs that her team is tired and need frequent rests and TLC. It' a testament to the humanitarian treatment of the dogs in the race that she's basically forfeited at least a second-place finish to care for her team rather than force them on past the point of endurance to try and catch up to Holmes.

Porsild and Dyche are still in Elim. Hall, Phillips, Eklund, and Kaiser are enroute to the checkpoint, and three other teams are back in Koyuk (mile 804). Six teams have left Shaktoolik (mile 754) and are presumably on the open, exposed stretch of trail crossing the frozen Norton Sound. The rest of the field are stretched between Shaktoolik and Kaltag (mile 629), and no team is still back on the Yukon. 

Billionaire "expedition class" racer Kjell Rokke has completed the trail, crossing the finish line mid-day yesterday at 7 days, 22 hours, and 40 minutes. I have mixed feelings about the new "expedition class" contestants, but regardless of assistance, etc., nearly eight days in the Alaskan wilderness in mid-March while covering nearly 1,000 miles is still an achievement. Congratulations are due Rokke (as long as he doesn't swagger around saying that he "won" this year's Iditarod). Also, let's appreciate his generous donations to the race committee and to the indigenous settlements along the route.

Thank you, sir.

Devils 4, Bruins 3, (OT)

 

No, no, no! That's not how you're supposed to do it! The Bruins blow a 2-0, first-period lead and squander a two-goal performance by Pastrnak to lose to the New Jersey Devils in OT, 4-3. 

Pasta and Zacha both scored in the first but the Devils responded with two goals of their own in the second. The Devils took a 3-2 lead early in the third before Pasta scored his second goal two minutes later to tie it up. And then, in the OT, the Devils' Jack Hughes (you might remember him from the Olympics) scored the game-winning goal and handed the Bruins (37-23-7) a road loss.

Tonight, the Bruins head up to Montreal to play the arch-rival Canadiens (36-20-10) and end this three-game road trip. Puck drops at 7:00.