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Morgan Geekie scored a goal, Elias Lindholm scored two, and David Pastrnak got his 900th career point last night, but the Rangers also scored three goals in regulation and beat the mighty Bruins in OT, handing Boston only their third OT loss this season. Goalie Joonas Korpisalo made 24 saves on 28 shots (.857).
The Bruins are 30-20-3 and remain eligible for the last Wild Card berth, four points ahead of the Florida Panthers. They host the Nashville Predators (24-23-4) tonight.
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Please allow me to be perfectly clear: I'm a big fan of Portland, Oregon - I spent a lot of time there in 2007 and 2008 and almost moved there. Visited many times since then, too. I'm also a very big fan of Jrue Holiday and Robert Williams III. Timelord got us within striking distance of the championship and his trade to Portland gave us Jrue, who took us to the mountaintop in 2024.
So it saddens me to see them on a once-mighty Trailblazers team that's been struggling as of late. The team suffered two consecutive losing seasons, although they are improving and nearing .500 this year. So best wishes to Jrue, to Timelord, and to the Blazers, except for last night.
Last night, the Boston Celtics beat Portland 102-94 behind Pritchard's 23 points. Mr. Brown got 20 points and Mr. White scored 18. For the record, Jrue had 14 points for the Blazers and Timelord came off the bench for another six plus two steals and a blocked shot.
The Celtics remain atop the Atlantic Division at 29-17, one game ahead of Toronto and 1½ ahead of New York. They're five games behind Detroit in the Eastern Conference. The Atlanta Hawks (23-25) will come pay a visit on Wednesday.
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It was a rough weekend for BU Terrier hockey - the men's team got swept by Providence and the women's team got swept by Vermont.
Sydney Healey gave BU an early, 1-0 lead 20 seconds into the game, but little did the Terriers know that would be it for scoring last night. Vermont tied it up in the first and scored a power-play goal in the second. The Terriers pulled goaltender Michelle Pasiechnyk in the final minutes but couldn't capitalize on the extra skater, but at least avoided a late, open-net goal by the Catamounts.
The Terriers are 7-15-3 overall and tied with Maine for seventh place in the Hockey East standings. Next weekend will see a home-and-away against Merrimack (5-16-3).
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No. 11 Providence scored early in the first period and added three more goals in the third to beat the No. 18 Boston University men's hockey team, 4-0, on the Terriers' home ice to complete a weekend sweep.
Even though the Terriers outshot the Friars, 33-26, the Providence goalie deflected every shot he faced. Mikhail Yegorov made 22 saves in the net for BU.
The Terriers fall to 12-12-1 overall and 8-9-0 in Hockey East play. They're in fourth place in the conference standings, seven points behind the first-place Friars.
Next weekend, they have a single game against archrival Boston College, 13-8-1 overall and four points ahead of BU in the Hockey East standings.
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The Bruins and the Canadiens are the two teams in the East currently eligible for a Wild Card berth, and Boston (3-20-2) is now one point behind Montreal in the standings.
Speaking of rivals, the Bruins head to Madison Square Garden to play the Rangers (21-25-6) on Monday night.
Total rebounds: Bulls 44, Celtics 38. Three-Pointers made: Bulls 21, Celtics 15. Hugo González minutes: 11:08.
The result? The Bulls sink that 21st and final three-pointer, a 22-footer from the left corner, in the last second of the fourth to win the game, 114-111.
When it takes two overtimes to beat the lowly Nets, don't expect to dribble into Chicago and beat the Bulls.
The Celtics return home to play Portland on Monday.
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The No. 18 Boston University men's hockey team lost their game in Providence last night, 4-3, against the No. 11 Friars.
Providence struck first with two power-play goals in the first period, but BU's Cole Eiserman scored in the second and freshman Tynan Lawrence got his first collegiate goal early in the third to tie the game up. Providence jumped back ahead by one, but Eiserman got a second goal of the night to tie it again. However, Providence scored with 2:41 remaining in regulation to skate away with the win. Terrier goaltender Mikhail Yegorov had 36 saves on the night.
BU falls to 12-11-1 overall and 8-8-0 in Hockey East. They are in fourth place in the conference standings, four points back from first-place Providence.
The weekend series moves to Boston for a game at 7:00 pm tonight.
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The B.U. women's hockey team lost a home-ice game to Vermont last night. Vermont scored four unanswered goals, three on power plays, before the Terrier's Keira Healey scored her first collegiate goal on a power play in the third. Sydney Healey added another goal, but Vermont scored a shorthanded goal late in the game for the final, 5-2 score. Michelle Pasiechnyk made 27 saves in net for the Terriers.
What can you say? The Terriers fall to 7-14-3 overall, and 5-8-2 in Hockey East play. Their 19 points are tied with Vermont at fifth place in the conference, but they'll get a chance to break that tie and avenge the loss with another home-ice game against the Cstamounts at 4:00 this afternoon.
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WTF? It takes two OTs to beat the lowly (12-30) New York Nets? You needed a Jaylen Brown triple double (27 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists) to beat one of the worst in the NBA? You needed Hugo González to make a 24-foot three-pointer from the left corner in the last 0.4 second just to tie up the first OT?
The Celtics led the Net in total three-pointers, 22-13, but lagged in rebounds, 58-41. Payton Pritchard's 32 points helped, but to win the game, the Celtics needed 18½ minutes from González and his 4-4 shooting, including 2-2 on threes (he also hit a three in the second period from the same spot as his tying shot in the first OT), his seven rebounds, and an assist, a steal, and a block from him. González wins games, and the Celtics' success or failure this season is directly proportional to his playing time.
The Celtics are 28-16 after this game, 1½ games ahead of the Knicks atop the Atlantic Division and 4½ games behind the Pistons in the Eastern Conference. Jaylen Brown's 29.7 points per game is fourth highest in the NBA, and the Celtics' defense is third best in the league.
The team travels to Chicago today (hopefully, ice storm permitting) to play the Bulls (22-22).
Hey, video games are e-sports, right? Any reason not to discuss video games in this sports blog?
Hearing no objections, last night I completed Outer Worlds 2, a first-person sci-fi Role-Playing Game released on October 29, 2025 by Obsidian Entertainment. I started the game on January 3 and completion took me 83 hours of gaming time. I played the game on "Normal" difficulty, but will admit that a couple of times early in the game I briefly switched over to "Story" mode when I kept getting repeatedly killed during early boss fights.
According to Steam, I earned only 18 of 48 possible achievements (38%), but many of the unearned achievements are based on completing multiple play-throughs of the RPG. I did reach the highest level of the game (30), completed all the main story and companion quests, and killed over 50 raptidon juveniles, crabble hatchlings, mantiwasps, spiderlings, and other creatures in the process.
For this first time through this RPG, I selected a male Renegade as my character and my selected trait was Brilliant. Initially, I chose Lockpicking and Hacking as my primary skills to help acquire weapons and ammo, but as the game progressed I loaded up Gun and Speech skills.
This wasn't my first Outer Worlds experience. Back in 2019, I played the previous game, The Outer Worlds, and its DLCs multiple times with different character builds for a grand total of 192 hours.
Next up is a replay of OW2 as a different character, probably female, with different traits and skills to see just how much that changes the game.
This is a sports blog and not a review site, so I won't offer a synopsis or critique of games but instead try and cover them like sporting events - stats, standings, achievements, and events. You know, just the facts, ma'am.
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The Vegan Golden Knights scored three times in the first period last night to take a commanding, 3-0, lead in the TD Garden, the Bruin's home rink. Sacred ice. Apparently, no one ever taught Vegas not to poke the bear.
Pasta came right back at them and scored a goal midway through the second. 3-1. Jeannot scored midway through the third, and then Elias Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy (BU, 2016) both scored power-play goals within 30 seconds of each other to seal a 4-3 Bruins win.
Joonas Korpisalo saved 30 of 33 shots on goal (.909).
The Bruins (29-20-2) are seventh overall in the East and three points above the cut-off line for Wild Card eligibility. Their 168 goals on the season is tied with Tampa Bay for fifth-best in the NHL.
Next game is against the despised, arch-rival Montreal Canadiens (28-16-7), who are currently sitting pretty in the standings with three more points than the Bruins. It's time to cut into that lead.
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Jaylen Brown got a 30-point, 10-rebound double double and the Celtics outrebounded the Pacers, 54-42, but the two teams were tied with 12 three-pointers each and Hugo González got only 10:46 minutes of playing time.
But it's the Pacers, and you don't exactly have to bring your A-game to win in Indiana, and the Celtics walked away with a 15-point victory.
The Celtics (27-16) are in first place in the Atlantic Division, 1½ games ahead of the Knicks and 5½ back from Detroit in the Eastern Conference. They have another easy game tomorrow in Brooklyn against the 12-30 Nets, who just lost a game to the Knicks by 54 points.
I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason that Jeremy Swayman gave up six unanswered goals in Dallas, making 25 saves on 34 shots (.824). I'm sure there's an equally good reason that the Bruins waited until 6:37 minutes into the third period before replacing Swayman with Joonas Korpisalo, who stopped the scoring and went 3-for-3 the rest of the game. Geekie and Minten scored two late goals after the bleeding stopped, but it's hard to come back from 6-0, even if you're the mighty Boston Bruins.
The loss snaps a six-game win streak for Boston, who fall to 28-20-2. Despite the loss, the previous win streak built up enough of a cushion that they remain two games above the cut-off line for Wild Card eligibility.
Next game is tomorrow night in Vegas against the Golden Knights (24-12-12).
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The B.U. women's hockey were defeated, 2-1, last night by the upper-class twits of the Harvard Crimson in the championship game of the 2026 Beanpot. The Terriers' have taken a loss in the last three Beanpot title games.
Harvard scored first with an early goal in the opening period. The Terriers answered with a Maeve Kelly power-play goal midway through the period and the game remained tied at 1-1 for the rest of regulation as BU was unable to score on its final six power plays. A Harvard penalty shot in OT won the game for the Crimson.
Despite taking the loss, BU outshot Harvard, 47-15, in the game as Harvard goalie Ainsley Tuffy won the tournament MVP award with 46 saves on 47 shots. BU's Mari Pietersen went a relatively leisurely 13 on 15.
Harvard's not in Hockey East so it was a non-conference loss for the Terriers, who move to 7-13-3 on the season. Next up for BU are two home games against the Vermont Catamounts (10-12-4).
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The Celtics gave González only 1:47 of playing time, so they weren't really serious about winning the game last night.
However, over in Miami, the Hurricanes and the Hoosiers were both serious about winning the CFP Championship Game. Indiana faced a stiffer defense than they'd seen in the Big 10 all season, and Miami refused to roll over, twice coming back from 10 down to get within 3. Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza made an incredible fourth-quarter TD run on a fourth-and-four on the Miami 12; it looked like he was going to be tackled for a turnover on downs at least twice on the run, but he spun and kept going until he could leap across the goal line. It's hard for any team to come back after that.
Down by six late in the fourth, Miami advanced the ball 34 yards to the Indiana 41 for a potential game-winning TD when Hurricanes QB Carson Beck threw his first interception of the game, because of course he did. Throwing INTs at crucial moments was Carson's signature move during his tenure at Georgia, and it was only fitting that this one ended the game, 27-21, and gave Indiana their first National Championship.
And so ends the 2025 college football season, with the most unlikely of champions, only one SEC team in the final four, the team with the lineal championship belt and Georgia's 2021 and 2022 championship rings (Notre Dame) not even among the 12 in the playoffs, and a Carson Beck INT.
This is the third straight year a Big 10 team is the National Champion, and some embittered northerners are already shivering that the SEC is dead and over. Wait until next year. Georgia had a great 12-1 regular season this year, only to lose to another SEC team (Ole Miss) in the playoffs. Bulldog QB Gunner Stockton will be back after finishing in the top 10 of the Heisman voting, and despite the transfer portal and NIL deals, the Dawgs are loaded with top-tier recruits. Georgia may have lost in the quarterfinals the past two seasons, but it's never wise to bet against a Kirby Smart team. Only a fool would write off Georgia next year, not to mention Alabama, and Ole Miss and whatever Lane Kiffin cooks up at LSU. The conference took its lumps this season, I'll admit that, but they're down, not out.
Speaking of Indiana, though, the Celtics play the lowly Pacers (10-34) there tomorrow night.
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As if there were any remaining doubt that they're back, the New England Patriots crushed the Houston Texans, 28-16, in the AFC Divisional round.
To be fair, the Pats got a lot of assistance from Houston QB C.J. Stroud, who threw four interceptions. New England only scored on one of those intercepts, a Marcus Jones pick six, but every time the ball's not in the Texans' hands was to the advantage of the Patriots.
Drake Maye went 16 of 27 for 179 yards, including three passing TDs. He was sacked a brutal five times and threw one interception. Kayshon Boutte had 75 yards receiving including one of Drake's TD passes; ex-Texan Stefon Diggs and Demario Douglas had the other two. Rhamondre Stevenson rushed for 70 of New England's 105 yards.
The Patriots led for all but two minutes of the second quarter, when Houston kicked a field goal for a 10-7 lead, only to throw that pick six on the first play of their next possession.
The Patriots are going to the AFC Championship! They'll play the Denver Broncos, who will be without their starting QB Bonix, who broke an ankle bone on the second-to-last play of their Divisional round game against the Buffalo Bills. Bonix underwent season-ending ankle surgery on Tuesday, and their backup QB, former Patriot Jarrett Stidham, will start the game. Fun fact: Stidham was the QB at Auburn in 2017 and 2018, and after he graduated was replaced by Bonix, who lasted one season at Auburn before transfer portalling out of the SEC and over to Oregon. They both wound up in Denver.
Anyone else sensing a New England-Seattle Super Bowl coming up?
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Despite the fact that the last five posts have all been about hockey, SDW is NOT a hockey blog. But it is January, and puck is the flavor of the month.
But anyway, in non-hockey news, the Boston Celtics beat the Atlanta Hawks, 132-106, last night in a game called basketball. The Hawks, without Trae Young (traded) and Kristaps Porzingis (injured), had to rely on the 18 points of journeyman Nickeil Alexander-Walker (New Orleans-Utah-Minnesota-Utah-Minnesota-Atlanta).
Unfortunately for them, the Celtics had many tools at their disposal, not the least of which was Sam Hauser's 30 points on 10 three-pointers and Jaylen Brown's astonishing 41 points. Hauser and Brown alone combined for 71 total points. Hugo González contributed 7 points, three on a three, and snagged eight rebounds in his nearly 30 minutes of play. Overall, the Celtics out-rebounded the Hawks, 55-47, and thanks largely to Hauser, made 22 three-pointers to the Hawks' 15.
Boston improves to 26-15 and first place in the Atlantic Division, a game-and-a-half ahead of New York, and second overall in the East, 4½ back from Detroit.
The Celtics play in Detroit on Monday night in a crucial game against the Pistons (30-10). The game will be nationally televised by NBC, but are you kidding me? Monday night? There's not going to be a single mother-fucker watching that game with the NCAA National Football Championship between Miami and Indiana on at the same time.
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The Blackhawks scored twice in the first period, which ended with a 2-0 Chicago lead. BFD. All they did was poke the bear, because the mighty Boston Bruins roared back with five unanswered goals to win the game, 5-2. Teach them to try to sneak in some early-game scores.
The Bruins' scoring started with some rear-guard action, with goals by defensemen Charlie McAvoy (BU, 2016) and Mason Lohrei, before the left-wing forward Viktor Arvidsson scored in the second. Lohrei scored again in the third, followed by a goal by forward Marat Khusnutdinov. Goalie Joonas Korpisalo made 22 saves on 24 shots for a .917 percentage.
The Bruins (28-19-2) remain eligible for a Wild Card berth, two points ahead of contenders Toronto. They are four points back from Detroit and Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division.
From the chilly climes of snow-choked Chicago, the Bruins will travel south to Dallas, Texas for a Tuesday night game against the Stars (27-12-9). The game will be televised on TNT, and the puck drops at 7:30.
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The Boston University women's hockey team lost a home game, 4-2, to Holy Cross, the third-place team in Hockey East, last night.
The score was tied, 1-1, a mere 1:54 into the game after the Terriers' Neely Nicholson hit a goal. Holy Cross made it 3-1 midway through the second and BU pulled goalie Mari Pietersen (14 saves) for freshman Jackie Wright in her collegiate debut. Wright mage 7 more saves, but Holy Cross hit an empty net to make the score 4-1. BU still managed one more goal by Luisa Welcke, but the clock ran out with the final score, 4-2.
BU falls to 7-12-3 overall and 5-7-2 in Hockey East action. Their 19 points put them in fifth place behind BC (26 points) and ahead of New Hampshire (18 points).
Whatever. Tuesday night, the Terriers play the Harvard Crimson (10-10-1) in the TD Garden for the 2026 Beanpot Championship. Go, Terriers!
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Revenge of the Terriers: After dropping a home game on Friday to UMass, the BU men's hockey team skated north to Lowell and shut out the River Hawks, 3-0.
The scoring didn't start until the very end of the second, when Cole Hutson scored a slapshot with 1.7 seconds left in the period. Roukounakis scored in the third, and Ben Merrill hit an empty netter toward the end of the game. Goalie Mikhail Yegorov saved 23 shots in the net.
The No. 20 BU Terriers are 12-10-1 on the season, 8-7-0 in conference play. Their 24 points puts them in third place in the Hockey East standings, behind UConn (28 points) and Providence (25), and ahead of BC (22 points).
This will change, and soon. Next weekend, the Terriers play a home-and-away series against Providence (13-7-2), and then the following weekend a single game against BC (11-8-1).
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The No. 20 (for now) Boston University men's hockey team lost to the UMass Lowell River Hawks, 4-3, in overtime.
The Terriers scored first with a Jonathan Morello goal and then took a 2-0 lead on a Jack Harvey power-play goal. UMass scored three times in the second period, but Harvey tied the game back up with his second score of the night, a shorthanded goal at 6:47 of the third period. But in the OT, the River Hawks doinked one in and got the W.
BU heads to Lowell tonight for retribution. Puck drops at 6:00.
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Okay, Kraken is a cool name for a sports team, not as cool as Mammoth, but still cool. Doesn't matter though, because the Bruins, despite their old-school name, beat Seattle in Boston, 4-2, for their fifth consecutive win.
Khusnutdinov and Arvidsson scored early in the first to take a 2-0 lead. Kastelic made a short-handed, unassisted goal in the second, and Pastrnak hit an empty-netter on a power play in the third.
Boston (27-19-2) remains eligible for the last Wild Card spot and is two points ahead of Toronto in the standings. Overall, the Bruins are fifth in the Atlantic Division and seventh in the Eastern Conference.
The Bruins head to Chicago for a Saturday night game against the Blackhawks (19-21-7).
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Last night, the Boston Celtics out-rebounded the Miami Heat, 51-40, but hit fewer threes, 13 to the Heat's 15, and gave Hugo González only 13:31 minutes playing time, the least of anyone on the team other than Baylor Scheierman's 4:58. But they nonetheless won the game, 119-114, snapping a two-game losing streak.
The difference was Anfernee Simons, who had 34:19 minutes off the bench, more than four of the five starters. He made good use of his time, scoring a game-high 39 points, including seven threes. His 43.8% was the highest three-point percentage on the team, and he also snagged four rebounds, assisted on four others goals, and made one steal. Last night was Simons' night.
In other news, Jaylen Brown scored 27 points and Sam Hauser, 17. And to support the magic formula I've been touting the past few weeks, for all his heroics, the Celtics were + 18 when Simons was on the court, but were +19 during González' 13½ minutes.
The Celtics are 25-15 on the season, second in the Eastern Conference to the Pistons and a half game ahead of the Knicks in the Atlantic Division.
From Miami, the Celtics head north to play tomorrow night right here in Atlanta against the Hawks (20-23), who've lost their star Trae Young to the Washington Wizards (poor Trae) and our old friend Kristaps Porzingis to an injury. Until then, if anyone on the Celtics team wants to stop by here for an old pal cocktail and some sitting meditation (not in that order), I'll be happy to oblige.
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The No. 7 Northeastern Huskies, the first-place team in Hockey East, have won the last three women's Beanpots, the last two times by beating the unranked BU Terriers.
Not this year. Last night, the Terriers eliminated the Huskies in the first round in an overtime bout, winning the game by a final score of 2-1. BU freshman Lexie Bertelsen scored the first goal of the game early in the first, but the Huskies tied the score five minutes later and that was it for scoring in regulation. In the OT, Maeve Carey scored an overtime goal on a power play to eliminate the Huskies and give the Terriers the win before the largest crowd ever in BU's Walter Brown Arena.
Goalie Mari Pietersen made an impressive 35 saves for the Terriers and stopped the last 28 shots she faced.
BU will face Harvard in the Beanpot Championship Game in the TD Garden on Tuesday, January 20. The women beat those aristocratic nerdlings, 3-2, earlier this month in Belfast, and the men beat the Crimson, 4-1, on Monday night. Harvard may not be a hockey powerhouse, but I guess if you have to play for a Boston school for some reason, Harvard's as good a place as any. A win will give the Terriers their first Beanpot title since 2019, which was also the last time they faced Harvard in the finals.
Before that, though, the Terriers (7-11-3) have a Saturday night home game against Holy Cross (15-7-1).
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Pavel Zacha scored the first goal of the game midway through the second, and Fraser Minton scored early in the third. Mark Kastelic capped it off with an open-net goal late in the game, and Jeremy Swayman preserved Boston's dominance with 24 saves on 24 shots.
Boston's 54 points puts them in fourth place in the Atlantic Division and qualifies them for a Wild Card spot, two points ahead of the Sabres for the last berth.
The Kraken (21-15-8) come to the Garden Thursday.
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The No. 20 Boston University men's hockey team beat the aristocratic nerdlings of Harvard University, 4-1, last night.
Harvard scored first, but the Terriers got two unanswered goals from Conrad Fondrk and Jonathan Morello in the second period. BU's Ben Merrill and Sacha Boisver added two empty-net goals in the third for the final score.
BU improves to 11-9-1 overall, but as this was a non-conference game, remain 7-6-0 in Hockey East.
Next up for the Terriers is a home-and-home series with UMass Lowell at Agganis Arena on Friday and the Tsongas Center on Saturday.
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So, my magic Celtics formula (3-point % + > Rebounds + González Minutes = Success) only works when Jaylen Brown is in the lineup. The formula is for the Celtics team, and without Brown, the Celtics aren't the Celtics.
Last night, a Brown-less Celtics team lost to the lowly Indiana Pacers. You can argue that the formula still applied, because the Boston scored only 9 threes compared to Indiana's 16. No > Rebounds, no Success. But the truth is, the three-point total was low because Mr. Brown wasn't in the lineup and the Celtics weren't themselves. Mr. White tied the game with a layup at 00:29 left in the game, but on the next play, Pascal Siakam came from behind and set a screen on White and knocked him to the ground, then spun around and finished with a layup to take back the lead. White missed a final three-point attempt (he was 2-9 all game) and the Pacers won.
Mazzulla thought Pascal's screen was illegal and was irate at the refs for not calling a foul. It was all he would talk about after the game. But again, I don't like blaming losses on bad officiating. We just have to play well enough to overcome the refs.
The Celtics road trip takes them south next, way south to Miami, Florida for a Thursday night game against the Heat (20-19).
Chargers fans wanted their team to face the New England Patriots in the Playoffs. The Pats had a weak schedule, they reasoned, their 14-3 season record was overinflated with easy games against weak, cupcake teams. Well, careful what you wish for L.A. Your team just got blown out, you only scored one single field goal all game, and after that you were completely shut out for three consecutive quarters.
The New England Patriots won their Wild Card playoff game over the L.A. Chargers last night, 16-3. The Patriots defense stifled the Chargers all game, forcing a turnover on downs during a goal-line stand on the New England 2-yard line in the first quarter, and forcing the Chargers sole field goal after a second goal line stand on the three. They sacked Chargers QB Justin Herbert six times
New England QB Drake Maye competed 17 of 29 passes for 268 yards, and rushed for another 66, including one spectacular 37-yard run in the second quarter.
Fun trick play of the game: In the second quarter, Maye handed the ball off to wide receiver Efton Chism III and then ran downfield, and Chism then passed to Maye. It didn't work - Chism's pass went too high - but it was fun to watch.
The win was New England's first playoff win since 2019, back when you-know-who was the quarterback and we won the Super Bowl. Another Super Bowl win would be nice, but let's not get ahead of ourselves - we still have to play the winner of tonight's Pittsburgh-Houston game in the Divisional Playoff next Sunday.
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Last night, we used ten goals to beat the Rangers. Today, all we needed was Viktor Arvidsson, whose first period goal won the game. Oh yeah, Joonas Korpisalo's 17 saves helped a lot, too.
Bruins win, 1-0. Off to watch the Patriot's wild card game.
Unranked UMass avenges Friday night's loss with a 2-0 Saturday-night shutout of the No. 19 Boston University Terriers. BU goalie Mikhail Yegorov misplayed the puck behind the net in the middle of the first period and UMass was able to scoop it up and tuck it into the net. The Minutemen scored a second goal into an empty net as well.
The Terriers are 10-9-1 overall and 7-6-0 in conference play. Their 20 points put them one point behind BC in Hockey East and five behind first-place UConn.
Next up is a non-conference game against Harvard (7-6-1) on Monday, BU's third game in four days. Puck drops at 7:00.
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Alert readers will recall that my formula for the Celtics to win their games can be summarized as 3-point % + > Rebounds + González Minutes = Success! Last night, the Celtics completed more three-pointers (16) than the San Antonio Spurs (10), and had a higher percentage, too, 36.4% to 22.7%. They were competitive in rebounding, 52-53, and González was a starter and got 12:44. Yet the Celtics lost the game, 100-95.
What went wrong? Well, the refs let the Celtics get to the free-throw line only four times in the entire game, compared to 20 times for the Spurs. "It's the same shit every time we play a good team,: Jaylen Brown told the AP after the game. "It's like they refuse to make the calls and they call touch calls on the other end. That's just extremely frustrating."
"Every time we play a good team, the inconsistency is crazy," he went on. "I'm irate at how they officiated the game today."
I don't like blaming losses on the refs, but only four free throws all game? And a five-point loss in a low-scoring game when we did everything right vis-a-vis three-pointers, rebounds, and Hugo? Whatever. Time to flush this one down the toilet and move on to Monday night's game in Indianapolis against the lowly Pacers (8-31).
The Celtics and the Knicks are both 24-14 and tied for second place in the East behind Detroit (28-10).
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The Boston University women's hockey team, back from their triumphant series in the Friendship Cup in Belfast, North Ireland, beat the New Hampshire Wildcats, 2-1, up in Durham last night. Luisa Welcke and Sydney Healey scored BU's goals and goalie Michelle Pasiechnyk made 25 saves.
The unranked Terriers improve to 6-11-3. Their 5-6-2 conference record translates to 19 points and fourth place in Hockey East, 19 points behind the first-place Northeastern Huskies (12-1-0 in Hockey East play).
Speaking of the Huskies, the next up for the Terriers is the 47th Beanpot, which will start with a home game against the Huskies (16-5-0 overall). Puck drops at 7:30.
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What a weird-ass game! I mean, I love it, but I doubt I'll ever see something like this again. The mighty Boston Bruins drop 10 goals on the New York Rangers, and not one of them was by Geekie or Pastrnak, Boston's top scorers. Instead, we got two hat tricks, one by Pavel Zacha, and the other a four-goal double hat trick by Marat Khusnutdinov, who only had five goals all season up until last night's game.
The Rangers actually scored first, but then the Bruins came back with six unanswered goals of their own, including Zacha's full hat trick, half of Khusnutdinov's four goals, and a Fraser Minton goal for good measure. The Rangers scored again on a power play (big deal), and than former BU Terrier Charlie McAvoy scored for the Bruins, Khusnutdinov finished his double hat trick, and Fraser chipped in another goal for another good measure.
TD Garden fans - were you not entertained?
Ranger goalie Jonathan Quick (.700) gave up six goals on 20 shots (Here lies the body of Jonathan Quick, Skated to Boston and tripped on his dick). The Rangers replaced him with Spencer Martin (.714), who allowed four goals on 14 shots (The Ranger goalkeeper Spence Martin, ate beans before playing the Garden, and missed so many shots, and I'm talking lots, 'cause be couldn't stop constantly fartin').
Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman (.931) saved 27 of 29 attempts.
However, for all those goals, the Bruins only pick up two points in the standings, and are still two points back from qualifying for a Wild Card.
The Penguins (21-13-9) come to Boston today (5:00 pm) to try their luck against the mighty Bruins scoring machine.
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Even in college hockey, it's unusual to score only one goal in a game and win, but the No. 19 Boston University men's hockey team pulled it off last night in Amherst against unranked UMass for their fifth win in their last six games.
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The surprisingly resilient Boston Celtics may still be four games back from Detroit in the overall Eastern Conference standings, but they've returned to first place in the Atlantic Division with last night's win over the Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors may have sank more three-pointers (18) than the Celtics (14), but they had a much lower percentage than Boston - 38.3% to 50%. They were just chucking from outside like crazy the whole game with 47 three-point attempts and missing most of them. That's generally not a winning strategy.
With the Raptors all hanging around outside the paint, the Celtics easily outrebounded Toronto, 40-31. Hugo González got four of Boston's 40 rebounds, as well as blocking a shot and sinking two buckets, one from outside, in his 18:32 minutes of play off the bench.
Hauser (19 points) had the hot hand on threes for Boston, going 5-of-7 from outside. Pritchard went 3-for-5 from outside on his way to a team-leading 27 points. Brown was right behind him with 25 points.
The Celtics are now 24-13, a half-game ahead of the Knicks, who lost last night in Phoenix. They trail the Pistons by four games in the Eastern Conference but will face a test tonight against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, featuring former Celtic Luke Kornet.
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The long road trip that started last year is finally over, and the mighty Boston Bruins celebrated their return home last night with a 4-1 beatdown of the Calgary Flames.
Kuraly and Elias Lindholm scored in the first period, and then Lohrei and Mittelstadt made it 4-0 before Calgary finally scored their first and only goal of the game. Korpisalo was in the net last night and made 28 saves (.966).
The Bruins improve to 23-19-2. Their 48 points put them two points back from qualification for a Wild Card spot
The Rangers will skate into town Saturday for an afternoon (1:00 pm) game televised by ABC. You have no excuse not to watch it.
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The Denver Nuggets made more three-point buckets (20) than the Boston Celtics (15) last night and won the game, 114-100.
The Celtics outrebounded the Nuggets, 53-39, and González got 20:45 off the bench and even hit a three. But Denver had a higher three-point percentage (45.5) than Boston (39.5), and Boston had twice as many turnovers (14) as Denver (7), so even without Serbian strongman Nikola Jokić, the Nuggets won the game.
Jaylen Brown scored 33 points in the game last night, including 4 of 6 on threes. His average 11 goals per game is second in the NBA only to Giannis (11.3), and his 29.7 points per game is fifth in the NBA.
With the loss, the Celtics fall back behind the Knicks, who won their game last night, by a half game in the standings.
The Toronto Raptors (23-15) come to the Garden on Friday.
The Bruins lose their first game of 2026, ending a two-game win streak that started last year (New Year's Eve to be precise).
Pastrnak got two goals in the game - the Bruins' first two, the second one tying the game up at 2-2. But then the Kraken scored four (four!) unanswered goals in the second and third to take a 6-2 lead. Lohrei and Arvidsson each scored late in the third to make it interesting at 6-4, but then the Kraken got an empty net goal with 15 seconds left to play for the final 7-4 score.
The Bruins went 2-3 on this road trip from Buffalo to Seattle and are now 22-19-2, one point ahead of last-place Ottawa in the Atlantic. Boston's 46 points are three behind Pittsburgh for a Wild Card spot.
Now they go back home and will host the Calgary Flames (18-20-4) on Thursday night.
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The Boston Celtics are in first place in the Atlantic Division.
No Tatum, no Holiday, no Porzingis, no Horford, no Kornet? No problem. We've got Mr. Brown and Mr. White, we've got Simons, Pritchard and Hauser, we've got Hugo González. We've got first place in the Atlantic.
We got there beating the Chicago Bulls, 113-101, last night. Simons led the team with 27 points, Queta got the surprise double double (13 points and 13 rebounds) and González got 12 minutes and 7 rebounds. The Celtics out-rebounded the Bulls, 54-45 and scored 20 threes to Chicago's 16. Remember, 3-point % + > Rebounds + González Minutes = Success!
Also, there were no stinko quarters. After jumping out to a 54-33 halftime lead, the Celtics scored only 3 and 4 fewer points than the Bulls in each of the last two quarters.
With the win, the Celtics are a ½ game ahead of the New York Knicks, who have helpfully lost four straight games while the Celtics are on a four-game winning streak. Keep up the good work, New York!
The Denver Nuggets (24-12) will visit the Garden Wednesday night for the Celtics' next game. Serbian strongman Nikola Jokić is out with an injury, thank god, but best wishes, Nikola, and get well at your own pace. Don't let anyone rush you - stay out as long as you need. Meanwhile, the Celtics will still have their hands full.
They will come back better and stronger next year. We fans should be reveling in every single one of these games coached by Kirby Smart. These are the golden years of Georgia Bulldogs football. There are the years fan will look back on fondly for decades. This is the standard future teams and coaches will be measured against.
No, we didn't win the National Championship this year, but we've won two of the last five and there's no other team that can say that.
Go Dawgs!
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The New England Patriots, who last year ended their season, 3-14, turned things around with a 14-3 regular season this year. They are the AFC East champions, and Denver, also 14-3, needed the common-opponent tiebreaker to clinch the entire AFC.
Yesterday, in the last game of the regular season, the Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins, 38-10, behind Drake Maye's 191 passing yards and Rhamondre Stevenson's 131 yards rushing. Stevenson scored two rushing TDs and TreVeyon Henderson rushed for two more, while Maye passed for a fifth. The Patriots played flawlessly - there were no New England fumbles and no interceptions; the offensive line never even gave up a sack.
Maye finished the season with the highest QB rating (113.5), the highest completion percentage (72.0%), and the most yards per attempt (8.9) in the NFL. He threw the third most passing touchdowns (31), and was fourth in total yards (4,394) and passing yards per game (258.5). His 354 completions was fifth-best in the league.
With an MVP-level QB like Maye, the Pats were second in the NFL in point per game and fourth in total passing yards. Their defense had the fourth-lowest points allowed per game.
However (there's always a "however"), the Pats also benefitted this season from one of the easiest schedules in the NFL (the AFC East isn't exactly a powerhouse these days). Their schedule only included three teams that made it to the playoffs this year, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Carolina, and they were a combined 2-2 in those games.
So now comes the interesting part. They start the playoffs next Saturday with a Wild Card game against the L.A. Chargers (11-6), featuring QB Justin Hebert (3,727 yards, 9th in the NFL) and former Georgia Bulldog Ladd McConkey (789 receiving yards). The early line favors New England by 3½, but should they win, they will face the winner of Buffalo-Jacksonville, and then, most likely, the Denver Broncos in the Conference Championship. Seattle, also 14-3, is the favorite to win the NFC and be the opponent to whatever AFC team makes the Super Bowl.
It's been a great season so far for the 2025 Patriots. Now let's buckle down and see what they're really capable of doing.
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Talk about mighty - not only did the Celtics drop 146 points on the Clippers last night in L.A., but Jaylen Brown tied his career high with 50 points, including 6-of-10 shooting on threes. He joins Jayson Tatum and Larry Bird as the only players in Celtics franchise history with multiple 50+ point games.
When Jayson Tatum finally heals and returns to play, he'll find a markedly better Celtics team than the one with which he last played.
Walsh was hot from outside, too, hitting 3-of-4 on his way to 13 points. Pritchard went 2-of-3 (12 points total), Simons 5-of-8 (15 points), and White 5-of-12 (29 points). The Celtics outrebounded the Clippers 46-30, and gave González 9:50 minutes. Just remember the magic formula:
3-point % + > Rebounds + González Minutes = Success!
The Celtics are now 22-12 and in second place in the Atlantic Divison, a mere half game back from the first-place Knicks.
The western road trip will take the Celts to Chicago Monday night for a game against the Bulls (17-18).
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The mighty Boston Bruins make it back-to-back wins after their awful six-game losing streak with an OT win in Vancouver. Hometown boy Fraser Minten scored the OT goal, as well as the game's first in the opening period. Elias Lindholm found the back of the net in the second.
Former Bruin Jake DeBrusk led the Canucks with seven shots on goal, but never scored. Former BU Terrier Tom Willander made two shots and two blocks, but likewise didn't score.
The Bruins improve to 22-18-2 on the season, fifth in the Atlantic Division and seven points back from first place, which is now occupied by Tampa Bay.
The West Coast road trip continues - next, the Bruins will play the Kraken in Seattle on Tuesday night (10:00 pm).
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Riley Walsh got the first score of the game in the first period. The Crimson tied the game in the second, but then Lilli Welcke, who hit the winning shot in yesterday's shoot out, put the Terriers ahead just 36 seconds later, and BU took a 2-1 lead into the third. Harvard came back and tied it again, but BU's Neely Nicholson got the winning goal with 7:14 remaining in the game.
The Terriers are now 5-11-3 overall and 4-6-2 in Hockey East play. Their next game is back in the states against New Hampshire (10-8-3 overall, 5-5-2 in Hockey East) on Saturday, January 10.
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Screw football. Teams let you down, disappoint you, and break your heart. Forget about 'em. There's a game on right now - the Armed Services Bowl, but I don't even care. Two Texas teams, and both from minor conferences at that. Couldn't be bothered.
Here's what matters: the Boston University women's ice hockey team is in Belfast, North Ireland (of all places), playing in something called the Friendship Series among BU, Harvard, Quinnipiac, and Minnesota - Duluth.
The first round was today, and the unranked Terriers (4-11-3) advanced over the No. 8 Quinnipiac Bobcats (14-6-1). BU will face Harvard (8-6-1) in the championship game tomorrow.
The Bobcats took a 2-0 lead early in the second period before BU's Sydney Healey scored twice, once in the second period and again in the third, to make it 2-2. Neither team scored in overtime, and the game officially ended as a tie, and a shootout needed to determine who would advancing to the next round.
Terrier goalie Mari Pietersen saved all three of Quinnipiac's attempts in the shootout and BU's Lilli Welcke was the only shooter to score, advancing the Terriers to the championship game with Harvard tomorrow.
The Crimson won, 3-2, in overtime against No. 5 Minnesota Duluth (12-7-0) in today's other semifinal.
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A grieving nation, stunned and saddened by Georgia's loss in the CFP quarterfinals, turns its weary eyes to the Boston Celtics for solace. Jaylen Brown responds with a healing 29-point performance and 10 rebounds - a double double! - as the Celtics win a late-night game (late at least here in the East Coast) in Sacramento over the Kings, 120-106.
What quarter did the Celtics underperform? None! In no quarter were they outscored by more than one point, and they dominated, 32-18, in the fourth. Four solid quarters of basketball! What a concept!
Sam Hauser had the hot hand on three-pointers last night, going 5 of 7 from outside for all 15 of his points. White and Pritchard each had 16 points and Simons had 14, and the Celtics outrebounded the Kings, 40 to 32. They gave González 18½ minutes of playing time and he responded with a three, six rebounds, an assist, and a steal, and the team was +20 when the was on the floor. So once again, the formula for winning is Rebounds + Three-Pointers + Hugo Minutes = Success!
Boston is now 21-12 (same as the Bulldogs' lead at halftime last night, I realize and suddenly get choked up) and in second place in the Atlantic, two games back from the Knicks. The Celtic defense has given up only 110.6 point per game, second best in the NBA behind Oklahoma City.
Next game is Saturday night (10:30 pm) against the Clippers.
