BU 2, Robert Morris 1

 

The Terriers win the consolation game!

Forward Kaileigh Quigg scored in the first period and defender Keira Healey scored in the second. Mari Pietersen made 28 saves in the net, and while Robert Morris eventually slipped one past her in the third, BU won the game and improves to 2-5-1. 

Today's win was a non-conference game in the Ice Breaker Tournament, so nothing changes in the Hockey East standings, where the Terriers are still 1-0-1 and in third place with five points, behind BC (7 points) and Northeastern.(6).

The Terriers return to conference play next weekend, when they host the Northeastern Huskies (4-1-1) for two games. 

Celtics 107, Knicks 103

 

I grew up on Long Island, in the vast suburban sprawl of New York City. Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs, with their towering buildings, teeming streets. and diverse populations, were my first impression of what a big city was like - thrilling, overwhelming, and with limitless potential. To this day, I love that city, with its world-class museums, music scene, jazz clubs, theater, and other arts. But I loathe their sports teams.

So, consider my affection for the City of New York when I say, fuck New York. Fuck the Yankees and fuck the Giants. Fuck the Jets and the Nets and the Mets and their lack of originality in team names. Fuck the Rangers and the Islanders. And mostly, not in spite of the fact that they're the reigning NBA champions but because they're the reigning NBA champions, fuck the Knicks.  

Really, fuck those guys and fuck their toxic fans. I'll never forget nor forgive them for May 12, 2025, when Jayson Tatum suffered a ruptured right Achilles tendon during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals in New York and the Knicks fans cheered and jeered and laughed as he writhed in pain and was potentially facing the end of his basketball career. Fucking classless animals. 

So, imagine the satisfaction I feel when their team starts the 2026-27 season as NBA champions with two consecutive losses, the first NBA champ to start 0-2 the following season in 15 years. I'm laughing and pointing at them just like they did when Tatum was on the floor of your filthy, so-called "Garden." You reading this, Spike, and Stiller, and Stewart? I'm laughing at fucking you.

Last night, a rehabed Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics delivered the second of the two consecutive losses to the Knicks. Tatum returned to form after his listless performance in the first game of the season, a 121-113 loss to the Pistons, by dropping 36 on the Knicks, leading all scorers. His three-point shooting, 3-10, can still use some improvement, but he also had nine rebounds and seven assists. New guy Paul George contributed 15 points, and Neemias Queta kicked in another 15 from the bench. Derrick White was in double-digits, too, with a dozen points.

The Knicks led by a point after the first quarter, but Paul George gave the Celtics a one-point lead with a three-point buzzer-beater from 24 feet out as the end of the half. In the third quarter, the Celtics outscored the Knicks, 33-24, and led by as many as 12 points in the fourth. The Knicks tried their comeback and got to within one point with less than two remaining - no one said this was an easy win - but the Celtics held on and won the game by four.

Bonus entertainment points for watching Jalen Brunson miss two free throws and OG Anunoby miss a 28-foot shot in the closing seconds. LOL, losers.

So the Celtics are now 1-1 on this youngest of seasons and the Knicks are 0-2 and all alone in dead last place in the Atlantic Division. I'm sure the New York press will handle that well and with adult maturity (Update: the headline on the sports page of today's New York Post starts "Dumb motherf–ker"). The Sixers and the Raptors are tied for first at 2-0.

Boston hosts the Chicago Bulls (1-1) Monday night (7:30 pm).

Yale 3, BU 2

The battle between BU and the Nutmeg State continued today with the Terrier women's hockey team taking on Yale University. After the men lost to UConn last night in Storrs in OT, the women lost this evening in Boston, 3-2   

After Yale scored the first goal in the game, senior Peyton Blaney hit her first goal as a Terrier to tie it up. Unfortunately, Yale took the lead back a mere 22 seconds later. Freshman sensation Lo Lachapelle scored her fourth goal of the season to tie the game up again late in the second. The score remained tied through the third and the game was looking like it was heading to OT, but then Yale scored the game-winning goal in the last minute of play to win, 3-2.

BU goaltender Sydney Fogu made 34 saves in the net.

The Terriers drop to 1-5-1 overall. Since Yale is nonconference, the Terriers remain 1-0-1 in Hockey East. 

The match was the opening game in this weekend's Ice Breaker Tournament. In tomorrow's consolation game, the Terriers will face Robert Morris - men in women's sports! (but at least Robert will be outnumbered 5-to-1 on the ice) -  while Yale will face Minnesota State for the championship.

Puck drops at 2 p.m.

Bears 30, Patriots 24

 

Thursday night football. Who, other than television networks, thought that would be a good idea? Two teams coming in with only four day's rest, playing on a weeknight when some fans can't even make it to the stadium? 

Anyway, the Chicago Bears beat the New England Patriots in Foxborough last night. The Bears jumped out to a 10-0 start and never trailed, although New England kept on coming back at them, including a spectacular 48-yard touchdown pass from Drake Maye to Rhamondre Stevenson as the first half expired to move to within 20-14 against Chicago. 

It was a marquee matchup of young QBs, with Maye against the Bears' Caleb Williams (USC, 2024). Both QBs had two passing TDs, although Maye got picked off in his own end zone for a second-quarter interception while Williams had no INTs. Otherwise, Maye had just ever-so-slightly better stats on the night - a .774 completion rate (24-31) for 321 yards versus Williams' 22-33 (.666) for 308 yards. Maye was sacked twice for 11 yards lost while Williams' was sacked three times for 19 yards. Maye finished the night with a 117.8 QB rating versus Williams' 116.7. Close, but no victory cigar; the Bears still won. 

Notably, Maye led the Patriots with 26 yards rushing while former Bulldog D'Andre Swift (Georgia, 2020) led all teams with 78 yards for Chicago. It may have been New England's lack of a big-yardage rusher that was the difference in the game. It's great to have a QB who can also run the ball, but when your entire team has fewer yards rushing (70) than an opponent's single rusher alone, you have a problem.

Trailing by six at the start of the second half, the Patriots kept responding to Chicago's scores, but were never able to get closer than six points. A desperate, fourth quarter on-side kick attempt failed in the closing seconds, and that was it for the night.

The Patriots fall to 4-3, second in the AFC East, and first-place Buffalo (5-1) has a bye this week. The good news is that the team has 10 days to rest and regroup, and then gets to go to sunny Miami to play the pathetic, last-place Dolphins (0-5) on November 1. The Patriots are early 8½-point favorites.

Bruins 6, Predators 0

 

Two goals in the first period by the Bruins, two in the second, and two in the third. None the whole game by the Nashville Predators. The mighty Boston Bruins celebrate their return home with an emphatic,  shutout win.

Pastrnak scored two goals, his fifth and sixth of the season, and made two assists, his ninth and tenth. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy (BU, 2016) had assists on four of the Bruins' six goals. Pavel Zacha had two assists as well, and Elias Lindholm, Mittelstadt, Peterka, and Kastelic all scored goals. And perghaps most notable, backup goaltender  Michael DiPietro had his first career shutout, with 28 saves against 28 shots.

Well done, lads.

The Bruins (8-2-1) are off to a terrific start this season. Their 17 points leads the Atlantic Division by three points over Tampa Bay and Ottawa, and they are only one point back from the Carolina Hurricanes for best in the NHL.   

Macklin Celibrini (BU, 2024) is coming to town! Saturday night, the Bruins will host Celibrini (five goals, nine assists) and the San Jose Sharks (6-4-1). While Macklin's six points in the last week alone is fourth best in the NHL, Pastrnak notched a third-best eight points over the same period while McAvoy had five (5th best). Overall, the Bruins have the second best (after Dallas) defense in the NHL, giving up only 30 goals and 50 assist so far this season, and should be able to handle Mister Celibrini. Mister Mack Celibrini. 

Allez, allez, les Bruins sont magnifiques!

UConn 5, BU 4 (OT)

 

This weekend, the Boston University hockey teams, both men and women, take on the Nutmeg State, Connecticut, the third smallest state in the Union. The women will start their Ice Breaker Tournament tonight with a game against Yale, while the No. 15 men's team plays a home-and-away against No. 16 UConn. Last night, the Terriers lost the opening game of the interstate rivalry with an OT loss in Storrs. 

The Terriers' Kamil Bednarik and Nick Roukounakis both scored in the first period to end the period, 2-2. UConn scored the lone goal in the second on a power play to make it 3-2, and then scored again in the third to take a 3-2 lead.   

Sophomore Carter Amico scored his first collegiate goal at 16:34 in the third period and then Ryder Ritchie hit the tying goal on a power play with 47.5 seconds left in regulation. The UConn Huskies scored the game-winning goal with 49.9 seconds left in the OT period. 

The Terriers outshot the Huskies, 50-30, including 22-10 in the third period. However, with BU's Mikhail Yegorov made 25 saves in the net, UConn's Kam Hendrickson had 46. 

Despite losing, the Terriers (3-2-0 overall) pick up a point in the Hockey East standings for the overtime loss. They're 1-2-0 in the Hockey East play, and their three points are tied with UMass for second in the conference behind Vermont's four. UConn (3-2-0 overall and 2-1-0 in Hockey East) are fourth with two points.

The teams are off tonight and will renew the series Saturday night in Boston. Puck drops at 7:00.

Stars 3, Bruins 2 (OT)

 

More like Mikko Rantanen 3, Bruins 2. The Stars' wingman scored all of Dallas' points last night with a hat trick, his third, fourth, and fifth goals of the season, including the third period goal that tied the game up and the OT goal that won the game. 

Matthew Poitras scored in the first period for the Bruins. Rantanen tied it up in the second, but then James Hagens gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead with a goal that period. After that, it was all Rantanen - the lone third period goal and an  OT power-play goal.

BU defenseman Charlie McAvoy (BU, 2016) had four blocks and made two hits. The Stars' Jake Oettinger (BU, 2019) made 18 saves for the Stars, while the Bruins' Jeremy Swayman made 22.  Swayman's 206 saves on the season are the second most in the NHL. 

The Bruins (7-2-1) pick up a point in the standings for the OT loss and still lead the Atlantic Division with 15 point, one point ahead of Tampa Bay and three up on Ottawa and Florida. 

That's it for this current road trip. The Bruins went 3-0-1 in the West and will play their first home game since October 10 on Thursday when they host the Nashville Predators (3-2-3). Both teams are defensive juggernauts - the Bruins have limited opponents to 30 goals, second fewest in the NHL, while Nashville has allowed only 32, third in the league (Dallas is first with only 17). 

Puck drops at 7:00.

Pistons 121, Celtics 113

 

New look Celtics, same disappointing flavor.

Basketball's finally back, and the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons played the first game of the NBA season. The Celtics lost.

As everyone in the whole universe knows by now, Jaylen Brown is gone, sent off to Philadelphia, and former 76er Paul George now mans the frontcourt with Jayson Tatum in Brown's place. Former Knick Mitchell Robinson is filling in the Celtics long-overlooked center position. 

Today, Robinson was a big nothing, four points and three rebounds. George did all the heavy lifting, leading the team with 38 points and 7-for-12 three-point shooting. Tatum had only 13 points and was 0-7 on threes, but he did get 11 rebounds for about the weakest double-double possible.

It didn't have to be this way. The two teams were evenly matched in the first quarter, going bucket-for-bucket and ending, Celtics 28, Pistons 27. Then Boston broke loose in the second, outscoring the Pistons, 30-18, for a 58-45 halftime lead.

Then it all went to shit. Detroit outscored the Celtics, 37-30, in the third quarter and 39-25 in the fourth, including an absolutely humiliating 23-0 run mid-quarter. Did they run out of gas? Did Detroit figure out the optimal defensive strategy against them? Did they forget there are basketball plays other than randomly shooting from outside the three-point line? No one knows, and it's going to be a long season if someone in the Celtics organization doesn't come up with an answer.

And they better come up with that answer quick, because the next game is Friday night against the New York Knicks, reigning NBA champions and the team hungriest to establish early dominance over the Celtics this season.

Patriots 26, Jets 19

 

After a 1-2 start to the season, the New England Patriots go 3-0 and are now 4-2 after six weeks. 

Yesterday, they beat the New York Jets in a divisional game. The Jets scored first, a field goal, but the Patriots answered with a touchdown on a 42-yard Drake Maye pass to Romeo Daubs, and never trailed after that. Maye finished with three TDs and 235 passing yards on 18 of 32 attempts. No sacks, no fumbles, no interceptions. 

The big news for the Pats may be the return to play of AJ Brown. However, he went only 3-for-10 yesterday with 27 yards, fourth among New England receivers. Demario Douglas led all receivers with 86 yards and one TD. In addition to that and Daubs' first-quarter catch, Hunter Henry (48 yards) had a receiving TD as well. 

Corey Kiner led the New England running backs with 57 yards. Maye had a total of 24 yards rushing, mostly on one 21-yard run in the third quarter, the longest by any Patriot in the game. 

New England (4-2) is still in second place in the AFC East standings. Buffalo (5-1) won yesterday, barely holding off the Raiders, 33-30 (the Patriots beat the Raiders, 45-17, last week). If the season were to end with the standings as they are now, New England would have the first Wild Card spot in the AFC.

Patriot fans won't have to wait long for the next game - they play Thursday night against the 4-2 Bears in Chicago (8:15 pm). Led by QB Caleb Williams (USC) and former Georgia Bulldog running back D'Andre Swift, their potent running game (1239 yards, third best in the NFL), will be a challenge for New England's mid-level rushing defense. However, Maye should be able to find some success against Chicago's mid-level passing defense. Still, New England is a three-point underdog going into the game.

We're No. 5!

 

Yesterday was a day in college football the likes of which we probably won't see again soon. Not only did the No.1 ranked team lose to an unranked opponent for the second straight week, but five of the top seven teams (Georgia, Notre Dame, Indiana, Alabama, and Texas) all lost their games as well. 

The previously undefeated, No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs lost to unranked Auburn yesterday, 27-24, and fell to No. 5 in the today's AP Poll. Last week, then-No. 1 Texas lost to unranked Oklahoma by the same, 27-24, score. It was the first time that the No. 1 team lost to an unranked opponent in back-to-back weeks since 1990. The hilarious part is both Auburn and Oklahoma are still unranked.

Just as hilarious is that Texas, after having fallen from No. 1 to No. 7 last week, lost again yesterday, this time to unranked Florida and fell all the way down to No. 19. Wouldn't it be just hysterical if Texas lost a third straight time to No. 7 Ole Miss (5-1) next week? Meanwhile, Florida (5-2), Georgia's next opponent, is now ranked No. 20. 

The undefeated, No. 3 Miami Hurricanes (6-0) survived unranked Florida State, 43-35, in double OT yesterday and are the new No. 1 team with 40 of the 70 first-place votes. 

No. 2 Notre Dame lost to No. 8 BYU, 28-24, and fell to No. 4. The Cougars (6-0) are the new No. 2 team with 20 of the first-place votes. But just as importantly, Notre Dame held the lineal college football championship and Georgia's 2021 and 2022 championship belts, and lost them both to BYU, the new lineal champion and belt holder.

No. 4 Ohio State (6-1), who lost to the now-disgraced Texas Longhorns, 24-22, in Week Two, beat No. 5 Indiana, 19-15, yesterday. One of the few teams to survive yesterday's massacre, the Buckeyes moved up in the rankings to the new No. 3 spot with nine of the first-place votes and Indiana (6-1) fell to No. 6.

The old No. 6 team, Alabama, who lost last week to Georgia, 20-17, lost a second straight game to No. 14 Tennessee. Alabama (5-2) is now No. 13 and Tennessee (6-1) is now No. 11.    

What else? Some asshole, probably from Texas, cast the single first-place vote for No. 8 Texas Tech as the top team. Good luck with that.  

Confused? Not surprising. It was a crazy day. In short, the top seven teams are now Miami, BYU, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Indiana, Ole Miss, and Texas Tech, in that order. This helpful chart might help you understand what happened:

Top 25 teams remaining on Georgia's schedule are No. 7 Ole Miss (5-1), No. 20 Florida (5-2), and No. 22 Missouri (5-2). The Dawgs are off next weekend on a bye before playing Florida in a Halloween game on October 31.

It's hard to tell what to make of the Florida team. The Gators suffered back-to-back losses to Missouri and South Carolina (two teams still on Georgia's schedule), but before those losses they beat Auburn and Ole Miss, and after those losses they beat Texas. So are they a good team or are their opponents just bad?  I like Georgia's chances recovering from a loss and coming off a bye week, and the Bulldogs are early 12½-point favorites. 

But like all of Bulldog Nation, I'll be holding my breath the entire game. 

Bruins 4, Kings 1

 

Just like Friday night, the Bruins' opponent scored first, and then Boston responded with four unanswered goals. See a pattern here? Don't poke the bear . . . 

The L.A. Kings scored a goal in the first period. David Pastrnak wasn't having any part of that and responded with an unassisted goal in the second period, his fourth of the season, to tie up the game. 

In the third period, Marat Khusnutdinov scored a goal, assisted by Matthew Poitras and Morgan Geekie, to give the Bruins the lead. Elias Lindholm later hit an empty-netter, assisted by Khusnutdinov and Charlie McAvoy (BU, 2016), followed by another open-net goal by JJ Peterka, assisted by Pastrnak and Fraser Minten. It was Pasta's eighth assist of the season. 

Jeremy Swayman made 25 saves in the game (.962). He has 184 saves n the season after seven games, third best in the NHL.

It was the mighty Boston Bruins fifth consecutive win and they improve to 7-2-0 on the season, giving them a two-point lead for first place in the Atlantic Division ahead of Ottawa, Florida, and Tampa Bay. They're second overall in the Eastern Conference to the Carolina Hurricane's 15 points (7-1-1). 

The road trip concludes Tuesday night in Dallas against goalie Jake Oettinger (BU, 2019) and the Stars.  Oettinger has only 120 saves so far this season - he's no Swayman - but his save percentage (.952) is sixth best in the NHL (Swayman's is .934). However, Boston's shooting percentage, 12.9, fifth best in the league, should make up the difference in the goalies' save percentages, as Dallas has only a 9.0 shooting percentage, third from worse in the NHL.

BU 2, Vermont 1 (OT) (men)

 

Whew! I needed this one! After Georgia's disappointing loss to Auburn today and the BU women's loss to Colgate tonight, not to mention the two BU losses last night, I needed someone to win something.  The No. 11 Terriers' men's team came through for me up in Vermont.

Trailing 1-0 with 0:54 left in the third and an open net, the Terrier's Ryder Ritchie blasted a shot from the opposite side of the ice and scored a game-tying goal. And then, barely a minute into the three-on-three, sudden-death OT, Ritchie scored again and won the game for BU, 2-1, to split the weekend series with the Catamounts.

Ritchie also led the team with six shots on goal and nine shots overall. Mikhail Yegorov made 24 saves in the net (.960).

The Terriers improve to 3-1-0 overall, 1-1-0 in Hockey East play.

Next weekend, the Terriers play a home-and-away series against the No. 17 UConn Huskies (2-2-0). It will be the first conference games of the season for the Huskies. 

Thank you, Ryder, and thank you, BU. I needed the wins!