Astros 8, Red Sox 1

 

Okay, I'm trying real hard not to freak out here. It's still March - christ, it's not even April yet - but after an Opening Day win, the Red Sox have fallen to a rocky 1-3 start on the season. Even that I could handle, but getting blown out, 8-1, by Houston? 

Starting pitcher Ranger Suarez, acquired from Philly in the off-season, went 4⅓ innings and gave up four runs, including two homers. Reliever Johan Oviedo, who we picked up from Pittsburgh, gave up four more runs with another two homers. 

Wilyer Abreu, about the only offense the Sox have shown this season, brought in the only Boston run of the game with an RBI double to deep right in 7th inning.

Brayan Bello makes his season debut tonight. Bello is 39-36 over four seasons with the Red Sox and has a career ERA of 4.09. He'll be up against the Astros' Hunter Brown, who issued nine strikeouts and no runs in his first game this season against the Angels, and is 36-31 with a career 3.46 EPA over four seasons.

C'mon, Boston, we need some offence! Trevor Story is batting only .150 so far this season, and Roman Anthony a mere .235. Let's win these next two games in Houston, and return from this opening road trip at .500!

Hawks 112, Celtics 102

 

Okay, Brown's back, so they sit out Tatum for the night. Brown responded with a 29-point, 10-rebound double double, and was one assist short of a triple double, but the Celtics lost to the Atlanta Hawks. Tied at the half, the Celtics got outscored 36-22 in the third quarter and never really recovered from that deficit.

Boston (50-25) has already clinched a playoff berth and lead the Atlantic Division by two games with seven left to the season, including one against the second-place Knicks. They trail Detroit by four games in the conference and are probably not catching up to the Pistons, barring a miracle. So long story short, this late-season road loss probably doesn't make much difference, but it still kinda sucks.

Shake it off and move on: from Atlanta, the Celtics fly down to Miami to play the Heat (40-36) on Wednesday night. ESPN will be carrying that game.  

Reds 3, Red Sox 2

Wilyer Abreu homers in the fourth in a losing effort, and the Cincinnati Reds win the rubber game, 3-2, and take the Red Sox' first series of the season, two games to one. 

Greg Weissert takes the loss for giving up a three-run homer in the 6th.

The Red Sox (1-2) move on to Houston (2-2) for a three-game road series. Ranger Suarez starts tonight for Boston.  

Bruins 4, Blue Jackets 3 (SO)

 

Charlie McAvoy (BU, Class of 2016) scores in the third and Pavel Zacha chips in two third-period power-play goals to force OT. Then Viktor Arvidsson gets the winning goal in the shootout to give the Bruins a win over Columbus.

With the win, Boston (42-24-8) keeps the first Wild Card berth and gets a six-point lead over the first non-qualifying contender, Ottawa.

Tuesday, the Bruins host the Dallas Stars (44-18-12).

Celtics 104, Hornets 99

 

Tatum scores 32 points, becoming the youngest Celtic to reach 14,000 career points, and the Celtics clinch a playoff spot as Boston beats Charlotte, 104-99.

The Celtics (50-24) travel from Charlotte to Atlanta tonight to play the Hawks (42-33) 

Reds 6, Red Sox 5

 

Well, at least we forced extra innings.

Trevor Story homered in the third inning and Wilyer Abreu hit an RBI single in the 8th and homered in the 9th to tie the game up. Unfortunately, the Reds squeaked in a run in the 11th and that was that. Justin Slaten took the loss in relief.

Connelly Early pitches today in the rubber game.

Bruins 6, Wild 3

 

The Bruins' mission as of late seems to be denying other teams the chance to clinch a playoff spot. The other night, they beat first-place Buffalo, and last night they beat the number three team in the West, the Minnesota Wild.

Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha both scored twice against the Wild. Zacha scored late in the first period, following an early-period score by Andrew Peeke, and then scored again late in the third. Lindstrom scored early in the third, and then hit an open net in the last 0 seconds of play. Arvidsson scored a goal too, mid-way through the second. Swayman made 31 saves in the net.

The Bruins improve to 41-24-8 and at 90 points qualify for a Wild Card berth. Columbus has returned to the Wild Card ranks for now, but Boston's going to see what they can do about that. They play in Columbus today in a 5:00 p.m. game, and a Bruins' win could knock the Blue Jackets out of eligibility. 

Which seems to be Boston's mission right now.

 

Celtics 109, Hawks 102

 

No Brown, but Pritchard stepped up and dropped 36, including 6-of-11 three-point shooting, and Tatum hit a 26-point, 12-rebound double double. The Celtics beat the Hawks, 109-102.

The Celtics head to Charlotte Sunday for a 6:00 pm game against the Hornets (39-34). 

Red Sox 3, Reds 0

 

Opening Day. Crochet Day. RBI singles by Rafaela, Story, and Duran. Chapman gets a save. Red Sox win, 3-0.

Baseball's back. Any questions?

Bruins 4, Sabres 3 (OT)

 

Apparently, this was Boston's night to beat first-place teams. The Celtics took care of business with Oklahoma City, and in Buffalo, the Bruins knocked the Sabres out of first with an OT win.

Pastrnak scored first, hitting in the opening period with assists from Minten and Khusnutdinov. Arvidsson scored in the second, assisted by Pasta and Zadorov. In the third, it was Mittelstadt with the assistance of Aspirot and Zacha. 

But the Sabres also scored three times, and it was in that beautiful OT period that Zacha got the puck past the Sabres' Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, possibly the most Finnish person on the planet, scoring the winning goal a mere 38 seconds past regulation, assisted by Pasta and McAvoy (BU, Class of '16). 

The Bruins (40-24-8) are tied with the Canadiens at 88 points, but Montreal stays ahead in third place with the automatic playoff berth because of the games-played tie-breaker. Boston, though, still qualifies for the Wild Card, up by three points ahead of the Islanders.

The Bruins return home from this one-day road trip to play the Minnesota Wild (40-20-12) Saturday night for a one-game homestand.        

Celtics 119, Thunder 109

 

Giant killers! Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder swagger into the TG Garden tonight with their NBA-leading 57 wins, and the Celtics add a number to their loss column. 

The Thunder came out strong, outscoring the Celtics by 11 points in the first quarter, but Boston adjusted and outscored Oklahoma in each of the next three quarters. Jaylen scored 31 points total and Jayson scored 19, with 12 rebounds to boot. Pritchard had the hot hand on three-point shooting, going four of six and scoring 12 of his 14 points from outside the circle. 

If this was a playoff preview, I like what I'm seeing. These Celtics can play with - and beat - the best. 

The Celtics fly down here to Atlanta to play the Hawks (41-32) on Friday night.    

Maple Leafs 4, Bruins 2

 

Charlie McAvoy (BU, 2016) tried to make it interesting. After Elias Lindholm scored a goal in the first period and then Toronto ran off three unanswered goals in the second period and early in the third,  McAvoy scored a power-play goal assisted by Pastrnak and Zacha. Comeback time, baby! 

But no comeback beyond McAvoy's goal materialized and to add insult to injury, the Leafs scored on an empty net in the last minute of play to make it 4-2, Toronto.

The Bruins (39-24-8) are still in the running for a Wild Card berth at 86 points. Ottawa has been on a hot streak, winning their last four games, and now have 85 points and the second wild-card berth. The Islanders are tied with the Senators in points, but the games-played tie-breaker goes to Ottawa. Detroit, who've lost their last two, trail Ottawa by one point.

The Bruins are off to Buffalo tonight to play the Sabres (44-20-7), who are in first place in the Atlantic with 95 points. It's a one-game road trip, to be followed by a one-game homestand, to be followed by another one-game road trip, to be followed by another one-game homestand to end the month. Then five of the seven games left after that in April are on the road, where the Bruins are 13-21-7. What a way to go!

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.    

Celtics 120, Suns 112

 

Mr. Brown with 41 points. Mr. White with 21. Mr. Tatum, 21, too. Mr. Pritchard with 19 off the bench. Brown and Tatum both had seven rebounds, six defensive and one offensive each. 

Devin Booker had 40 points for the Suns, but it was all seeds and stems for Phoenix after that. The entire game was actually pretty close - no team scored more than five points than the other for all four periods. But somehow, when the clock finally expired, the C's had eight more points than the Suns.

Boston (45-23) has managed to move up to within 3½ of Detroit in the Eastern Conference standings, but Detroit somehow managed to arrange two consecutive games against the lowly Washington Wizards tonight and tomorrow, so the Celtics will have to keep pushing hard to cut deeper into that margin, starting with Wednesday night's game against Golden State. Once our kryptonite team, the Warriors have fallen on hard times (33-35), despite an all-star roster that includes Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, and our old friends Kristaps Porziņģis and Al Horford. 

  

Iditarod: Holmes in the Lead

 

Shaktoolik (population 212) is located on Norton Sound on a barrier island at the mouth of the Shaktoolik River. On Cape Denbigh, 12 miles to the northwest, the 6,000- to 8,000-years-old Iyatayet site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

The town of Shaktoolik (Unaliq for "scattered things") was occupied as early as 1839 and first mapped in 1842 by the Imperial Russian Navy. Reindeer herds were managed in the area around 1905. The town was originally located some six miles up the Shaktoolik River and moved to the mouth of the River in 1933. That site was prone to severe storms and winds, however, and the village relocated to its present, more sheltered location in 1967. There are currently only two occupied dwellings at the old townsite.

Shaktoolik has served as a checkpoint (mile 754) for the Iditarod since the first race in 1973 and is known for being one of the windiest stretches of the trail, where mushers often encounter severe snowdrifts.  Jessie Holmes was the first to arrive there this year, and he had a big enough lead that he was able to take a 3½ break there and still be the first to leave. Baring a disaster, Holmes is winning the race again this year.

Paige Drobney was second to Shaktoolik,  arriving almost three hours after Holmes. She chose to take a 6 hour break there and while she was resting, Travis Beale, Mille Pirsild, and Wade Marrs all passed through the checkpoint before she finally left. That would seemingly put her back in fifth place, but one has to assume that Travis, Mille, and Wade are going to have to rest their dogs somewhere on the trail ahead, and Paige's well-rested team should be able to pass them and regain some of her standing. With only a little over 200 miles left to the race, it seems unlikely at this point that she can catch up to Holmes' well-rested team three hours up ahead, but this is the Iditarod and anything can happen.

Three teams are currently resting in Shaktoolik. Jeff Deeter arrived about a half hour before Paige left, and Riley Dyche and Matt Hall arrived after she left. Five more teams are back in Unalakleet (mile 714) and a whopping 15 are between Kaltag (mile 629) and Unalakleet. The last two teams are enroute to Kaltag from Nulato (mile 582). There still has been only one scratch so far this year, and this far in, I'd be surprised to see anyone else drop out.

From Shakatoolik, the trail proceeds north to Reindeer Cove, crosses the frozen Norton Sound to Koyuk (mile 804), and then proceeds along the northern shore of the sound to the finish line in Nome (mile 975). 

"Expedition" update: Steve Curtis, who's been listed at the McGrath checkpoint (mile 311) since last Thursday, has officially bowed out, as has Thomas Waerner, who made it to Unalakleet along with billionaire Kjell Rokke, but scratched when he saw symptoms of "kennel cough" among some of his dogs. Rokke has pressed on without his guide and was at White Mountain (mile 898), a required 8-hour rest for racers, but those rules don't apply to billionaires and he'll press on to the finish line in Nome.

Iditarod: From the River to the Sea

 

Sorry if the headline triggers you, but the Iditarod race has now proceeded from Kaltag, the last checkpoint on the (Yukon) River, down toward Unalakleet on the (Bering) Sea, and this is the only coverage of the race with balls enough to use the world's most obvious metaphor to describe this stretch.

As of 7:00 am Alaska time, nine teams have left Kaltag (mile 639). With the mandatory 24-hour and Yukon 8 rests now completed, it's a flat-out race to the finish line from this point forward.

Jessie Holmes was the first through Kaltag at around 4:30 pm, pausing at the checkpoint for only 15 minutes. Paige Drobney passed through some three hours later, followed by Millie Pirsild some 2½ hours after that at about 10 pm. 

Travis Beals was the next musher to arrive at Kaltag, but instead of passing straight through like the first three racers, he took a three-hour rest there and didn't leave until 1:26 pm, after Riley Dyche and Wade Marrs had passed through. So after Holmes, Drobney, and Pirsild, the order now is Dyche (4th place), Marrs (5th), and  Beals (6th).  

Michelle Phillips arrived in Kaltag after Beals had left. She took a 4½ hour rest before leaving at 6:34 this morning. Jeff Deeter passed through the checkpoint while Phillips was resting. Matt Hall arrived after Phillips left, took a three-hour rest, and still managed to leave before another team arrived.  So the next three teams, completing the nine out of Kaltag, are Deeter (7th place), Phillips (8th), and Hall (9th).

Three teams (Ryan Redington, Lauro Eklund, and Peter Kaiser) are still in Kaltag. 

Behind the first twelve, the race is finally starting to spread out a little. There are three teams still heading to Kaltag from the previous Nulato checkpoint (mile 582), four teams back at Galena (mile 545), five teams between Ruby (mile 495) and Galena, and two teams still in Ruby. "Expedition class" racer Steve Curtis remains all the way back in McGrath (mile 311), where he's been for the last three days - I guess he likes it there (I hope he likes it there). Billionaire Kjell Rokke is all the way up to Shaktoolik (mile 754), while his "assistant," Thomas Waerner, is now behind him at Unalakleet (mile 714).

One last dash to the finish line. This is it, folks, and last year's winner, Jessie Holmes, has a three-hour lead on the pack.

Bruins 3, Capitals 2 (SO)

 

While the Celtics were beating the Washington Wizards up in the Garden, the Bruins were down in Washington beating the Capitols. It took a shootout to win, but they got the job done.

Charlie McAvoy (BU, Class of '16) scored both of Boston's goals during regulation, his 8th and 9th of the season. Swayman made 25 saves on 27 shots (.926) in the net.

No one score in OT and it took nine rounds of shootout before Fraser Minten finally scored the only goal after regulation ended. The road win ends a seven-game road losing streak for the Bruins. 

Boston (37-23-6) still qualifies for a playoff spot by a single point ahead of Columbus, but are now tied with Detroit at 80 points each. However, since it took the Red Wings one more game to earn those points than the Bruins, the tiebreaker puts Boston ahead of Detroit in the Wild Card standings. 

The Bruins will head down to New Jersey to play the Devils (33-31-2) on Monday (7:00 pm).   

Celtics 111, Wizards 100

 

The boys are back in town and back on the court - the midwest road trip is over and Mr. Brown, Mr. White, and Mr. Tatum are all back in the lineup. Last night, they beat the Washington Wizards by 11, but then, the Wizards are the team that let Bam Adebayo score 80 points on them.  

The Celtics were more modest. Mr. Queta scored 24 points, while Mr. Tatum scored 20 and snagged 14 rebounds. Mr. Brown scored 16 points, and both Mr. White and Mr. Garza scored 15. Nobody hogged the ball like they were playing for a Miami Heat fighting for relevancy. The Celts were professionals - they took to the court, did what had to be done, and left with the victory. No showboating.

Boston remain 1½ games up on the Knicks in the division and 4½ back from the Pistons in the conference. With 15 games left to the season, it's looking more and more like that's how the final standings will look before the playoffs.

The Phoenix Suns (39-28) are coming to the Garden. They'll play the Celtics Monday night starting at 7:30 pm.    

UConn 5, BU 3

 

That's it. Season's over. The BU Terriers lose in the Hockey East quarterfinals and are eliminated from any further post-season consideration. 

Friendly reminder that they made it to the final game of the NCAA's Frozen Four tournament last year, and were ranked No. 1 in the country for at least one week early in this 2025/2026 season. 

This afternoon, the Terriers tied the game early in the second period with a Tynan Lawrence goal, and again last in the period with a Jack Murtagh goal. After UConn came back with two more goals early in the third, Ben Merrill made it competitive again with a goal midway through the final period. But that was it for the Terriers, and UConn hit an open-netter late in the game for the final score.

This team won the Red-Hot Hockey tournament in Madison Square Garden, beating No. 9 Cornell, and made it to the Beanpot title game. They avenged their loss to BC in the Beanpot finale with a sweep of the Eagles two weeks later, finishing the season 2-2 against arch-rival Boston College. 

Overall, this season's Terriers were 17-17-2 overall, and 12-12-0 in conference play. We had hoped for more and better, but .500 at the very least is not losing.      

Can't win 'em all. Better luck next year, Terriers. See you again this October.

P.S. One final note. I just heard on the Terriers' radio broadcast that The Dugout bar on Commonwealth Avenue closed this year. Heartbreaking news. Back in the 1970s, when I was at BU, The Dugout was the preferred hangout for three very distinct groups - the Terriers hockey team, the BU Geology Department, and administrative staff for the College of Liberal Arts. I was a geology student back then with a student job at the CLA, so I spent a lot of time at The Dugout (or "Doo-jow" as we called it), rubbing elbows with the hockey players. Good times. I'm sorrier to see The Dugout gone than I am about the end of this season.

Iditarod: The Further Adventures of Holmes and Drobney on the Yukon

 

Jessie Holmes has about a two-hour lead on Paige Drobney. Both have completed their mandatory Yukon 8-hour rest back in Ruby (mile 495), and both pulled out of Galena (mile 545) late last night. I was kind of surprised that Drobney chose to take her break when she did, rather than shoot ahead of Holmes when she had the chance to take the lead and put pressure on Holmes to catch back up. Shows what I know about mushing strategy. 

Riley Dyche, Travis Beals, and Wade Marrs pulled out of Galena after the leaders, but neither have completed their Yukon 8's yet. Mille Porsild, who has taken her mandatory rest, has been in Galena for about 4½ hours as of 6:00 am Alaska time, but will probably leave soon. 

Six other teams (Michelle Phillips, Peter Kaiser, Jeff Deeter, Matt Hall, Jessie Royer, and Ryan Redington) are also in Galena. Ryan's the only one of those six to have taken his Yukon 8, so strategically he's in fourth place behind Jessie, Paige, and Mille. Phillips, Kaiser, and Deeter have been in Galena for a little over four hours now, so it's hard to tell yet if they're on their Yukon 8's or just resting up before their next push, like Mille.

It's currently -6° F in Ruby, but expected to "warm" up to 7° today. Surprisingly, that's considered "too warm" for some of the teams, and some have said that the trail prior to Ruby was slow because it was so warm out. Generally, they seem to prefer to rest in the "heat" of the day and do their running during the long, cold nights. Or maybe it's better to run and keep warm during the coldest hours of the night. In any event, teams arriving at Galena now at the start of the day might choose to take their break there during the day, and start again in eight hours as the temperatures start dropping again.

Rounding out the field, four teams have left Ruby, seven more are still in Ruby, and the last ten have left Cripple (mile 425). There still has been only one scratch so far.

There are two more checkpoints ahead on the Yukon - Nulato (mile 582) and Kaltag (mile 629). After Kaltag, the trail leaves the Yukon and drops through the Kaltag Portage down to Unalakleet (mile 714) on the shore of the Bering Sea. 

One final note: billionaire "expedition class" racers Kjell Rokke and Thomas Waerner, who aren't required to take mandatory rests and can get unlimited assistance, including fresh sled dogs, are way ahead of the field and have already left Kaltag. Meanwhile, the third "expedition" racer, Steve Curtis, is still all the way back in McGrath (mile 311). This puts the vets and checkpoint assistants at unnecessary risk, as they have to be at the often remote and inhospitable checkpoints ahead of Rokke and Waerner and then wait around long enough for Curtis to eventually make his leisurely appearance. Curtis should scratch now, IMHO, even if he's having the time of his life and "paid for" the privilege, for the sake of the health and safety of the volunteers.    

   

Iditarod: Holmes and Drobney on the Yukon

 

Jessie Holmes and Paige Drobney have both reached Ruby (mile 495), the first checkpoint on the Yukon River. Holmes is in the lead, arriving at Ruby a little over two hours before Drobney. Paige had left Cripple (mile 425) some 2½ hours before Jessie, but Holmes, who had taken a 5-hour rest at Cripple, still arrived at Ruby sooner that Paige, who had blown through Cripple with only a 16-minute break. One assumes that Drobney must have rested somewhere along the trail between the two checkpoints, and Jessie had passed her enroute. 

Both are currently resting in Ruby while 14 other teams have left Cripple and are presently enroute to Ruby.

The race looks like it will come down to a showdown between 2025 champion Holmes and contender Drobney. Both still have nearly-full teams of dogs (Holmes 15 and Drobney 14) and the win may come down to time/rest management and strategy more than speed and power. At this point, I'm pulling for Team Squid - nothing against Holmes, but he's had his championship and Drobney has been a close contender for years now and is due her win.    

After Drobney, Ryan Reddington led the next team out of Cripple. Mille Porsild and Matt Hall left about 3½ to 4 hours after Redington, and four other teams (Jeff Deeter, Riley Dyche, Travis Beals, and Michelle Phillips) about an hour or so after Hall. Six teams are still in Cripple, and the last 11 are somewhere between Ophir (mile 352) and Cripple. All teams have taken their mandatory 24-hour rests. That's pretty close for this stage of the race, and so far there's still been only one scratch.

Ruby (population 131) is a former gold-rush town on the Yukon River which became an Athabaskan village. From Ruby, the trail follows the Yukon, the longest river in Alaska, for the next 234 miles to the Kaltag checkpoint (mile 629). The stretch of trail along the river is swept by strong winds which can wipe out the trail and drop the windchill to below −100° F. It's currently -9° in Ruby, and the Accuweather forecast is for mostly sunny skies but very cold, with a low of -18° by Tuesday night. However, an even greater hazard is the uniformity of the trail along the Yukon, as the mushers, suffering at this point from sleep deprivation, have report hallucinations along this long stretch. 

With an 8-hour rest required along the Yukon, it will be interesting to see when and where Jessie and Paige choose take their breaks as they try to out-maneuver one another for the lead. As of 9:30 am Alaska time, Holmes has been at Ruby for 4½ hours - will he rest another 3½ and complete his mandatory 8? Paige, fresh off her rest on the trail, has been in Ruby for 2½ hours - will she leave there before Jessie to regain the lead and then take her mandatory later? 

You've heard of 3D chess. This is -0° chess.

Sharks 4, Bruins 2

 

Nineteen-year-old Macklin Celibrini (BU, Class of 2025) didn't score a goal last night in his first pro game in Boston, but had an assist, five shots on goal, one block, four giveaways, and was 5-8 on faceoffs (38.5%). 

His team, the San Jose Sharks, won the game, 4-2. They actually ran up a 4-0 lead before Fraser Minten hit a goal for the Bruins midway through the third, assisted by Pastrnak and Khusnutdinov, and then Pastrnak scored in the last minute of play, assisted by McAvoy (BU, Class of 2016) and Mittelstadt.

The Bruins (36-23-6) are now clinging to the last Wild Card berth by a single point, one point ahead of contender Columbus.

Saturday, the Bruins will skate down to D.C. to play the Washington Capitals (33-27-7) in an afternoon (3:00 pm) game on ABC.

Thunder 104, Celtics 102

 

Last night in Oklahoma City, the Boston Celtics took on the Thunder, the  team with the best record in the entire NBA. They did it without their returning superstar, Jayson Tatum, who was ordered to rest his healing Achilles tendon as he returns to gameplay. Derrick White, another all-star caliber player, was out as well. 

And they almost won. They led by three at the half, and again after three quarters, and it took a pair of free throws with 0.8 seconds left in the game to avoid OT, and even then, Payton Pritchard still almost won the game for the C's with a 33-foot three-point attempt at 0.3 seconds.

So on a three-game road trip that included two of the top teams in the league, the Celtics finish 1-2. It really changes nothing. They're still in first place in their division and still trail Detroit in the East by 4½ games. And to those who claim the losses show that while good, the Celtics still can't beat the elite, I say that losing a single game by two points in the last second of play on the opposing team's court without two of your star players proves nothing. To which I'll also add, fuck you.

With Tatum and White out, Jaylen Brown led the team with 34 points. SGA had 35 for the Thunder and the press can't get over themselves for his performance. Pritchard had 14 points, and both Scheierman and González scored 11. At 104-102, it was a low-scoring, defensive game, mainly a showcase for Brown and SGA, and no one else had eye-popping numbers.

God, I hate Oklahoma. I hate Oklahoma City. I hate the Thunder. Hate their fans. I'm so glad the Celtics are getting out of that smelly-ass town. Saturday night, the Celtics are back home and will play the hapless Washington Wizards (16-49). The Celtics will win.

Iditarod: Holmes Back in Front

 

2025 Iditarod champion Jessie Holmes, fresh off his 24-hour rest in Takotna, has pulled out of Ophir checkpoint (mile 352) at 2:00 am Alaska time, and is in the lead in this year's race. 

(Technically, "expedition class" racers  Kjell Rokke  and Thomas Waerner are ahead of him, and have already left the Cripple checkpoint (mile 425). "Expedition class" racers aren't eligible for placement or prizes in the race, aren't required to take mandatory rests, and can swap fresh sled dogs in and out at their convenience, so Rokke and Waerner's lead is more due to advantages from the rules than their mushing prowess.)

Paige Drobney, Mille Porsild, Michelle Phillips, Ryan Redington, and Travis Beals all left Ophir 1½ to 2 hours after Holmes. For some reason, the official Iditarod standings indicate Drobney, Williams, and Beals haven't yet completed their mandatory 24s, although it also shows that both spent over 24 hours in Takotna. I'm assuming it's an oversight or an error on the part of the committee and will be corrected soon. 

I understand Takotna wasn't the preferred spot for many teams to take their break, but many mushers got thoroughly soaked after Rohn (mile 188), where the trail follows the south fork of the Kuskokwim River and freezing water flowing over a layer of ice can be a hazard. Fearful of the predicted low temperatures overnight, many decided to stop in Takotna (mile 329) to dry out the dogs, boots, clothes, etc. Several mushers reported having their pants frozen on and not being able to get them off until they got indoors. 

Porsild's sled took a full-on plunge into the river, resulting in a soaked sleeping bag, mukluks, and sled bag. With temperatures dropping to -40 to -50° F, all her gear froze instantly. To add to the adventure, her sled then took off on a glacier and into a section of trees were it got stuck. It took her 45 minutes to get the sled back on the trail, but at the cost of her mittens. Fortunately, "expedition class" musher Thomas Waerner came along and kindly lent her a pair of his so she could make it to Takotna without frostbite. 

Bailey Vitello wasn't so lucky. He frost-bit the bottom of his foot and had to pour hot water over his frozen boots to get them off. However, he's still in the race at 11th place, and as of this moment was the last musher to leave Ophir. 

Rookie Jodi Potts-Joseph encountered a bison somewhere on the trail before McGrath (mile 311); fortunately, Jodi, her dogs, and the bison were all unharmed, but she's still back at McGrath in last place (second from last if you include "expedition class" racer Steven Curtis, who's still back in Rainy Pass (mile 153), 200 miles back from the lead).

In summary, as of 8:30 am Alaska time, 11 teams (Jessie Holmes, Paige Drobny, Mille Porsild, Michelle Phillips, Ryan Redington, Travis Beals, Peter Kaiser, Jessie Royer, Riley Dyche, Wade Marrs, and Bailey Vitello) have left Ophir and have completed their 24-hour rest, even if the standings don't yet recognize their breaks.  Seven other teams, including Matt Hall and Jeff Deeter, are currently taking their mandatory 24 in Ophir, and four more have left Takotna after completing their 24. 

After Ophir, the trail diverges into the northern and southern routes and rejoin at Kaltag (mile 629). This year follows the northern route through Cripple (mile 425) and then through the Sulatna Crossing to Ruby (mile 495) on the Yukon River. 

BU 4, Vermont 1

 

The sixth-seeded BU Terriers won the opening round of the Hockey East tournament last night with a 4-1 decision over 11-seed Vermont. This was the Terriers' 16th straight tournament win at Agganis Arena.

Cole Eiserman opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the first period. Vermont got their only goal of the game in the second, but then Eiserman tied it up with another goal in the third. Cole Hutson scored on another power play later that period, and Jack Harvey knocked in an open-netter late in the game to seal the win.

And with that, the Terriers (17-16-2) keep their post-season hopes alive and advance to the semifinals, where they'll face No. 3-seed UConn (18-11-5) on Saturday (1:00 pm). BU and UConn split a home-and-away series back in October, with both teams winning on the other team's ice. Saturday's game will be played at UConn's mafia-sounding Toscano Family Ice Forum.

Go, Terriers! 

Iditarod: Riley Dyche Takes the Lead

 

At 5:16 am this morning (Alaska time), Riley Dyche arrived at Ophir, 352 miles from the starting line, the first and only musher so far to reach the checkpoint. Ophir, a former gold-rush town, has been abandoned since the 1950s and was destroyed in a fire started by a camper in the 1970s. The original Iditarod Trail ran down the valley of the nearby Innoko valley, although the current trail goes through the old town site. 

Matt Hall and Lauro Eklund trail Dyche and are currently between Ophir and Takotna, the previous checkpoint. Eleven other teams, including Jessie Holmes, Paige Drobny, Ryan Redington, Mille Porsild, Travis Beals, and Michelle Phillips, are currently resting in Takotna.

After Ophir, the race will finally turn to the official northern route. The next checkpoint, Cripple, is 100 miles past Ophir at mile 425. Cripple is the middlemost checkpoint on the Iditarod trail, although the unofficial halfway point is somewhere between Cripple and the next checkpoint, Ruby, situated on the Yukon River.  

Billionaire Kjell Rokke is back in 16th place between McGrath (mile 311) and Takotna (mile 329), and fellow "Expedition class" racer Steve Curtis is still dead last between Rainy Pass (mile 153) and Nikolai (mile 263), nearly 100 miles back from the lead. 

No one has yet completed their mandatory 24-hour rest but as the teams approach the halfway mark, we should start to see some do so starting today.  Jessie Holmes has been in Takotna for some 10 hours now, and is probably on his mandatory 24. Ditto Drobney (9 hours and counting), Reddington and Porsild (8 hours), and Beals and Phillips (7 hours). Although it's not unusual to see teams take voluntary four-hour rests, longer rests, especially at checkpoints, are usually part of the mandatory 8- and 24-hour breaks.   

Jessie Holmes has led most of the race, and in 14 hours or so when his rest is complete and he's back on the trail, we will probably see him pass Dyche and return to the lead as Riley takes his 24.