BU 6, Colgate 2

While the BU Terrier's women's hockey team was in the town of Hamilton, New York playing the Raiders of Madison County, BU's No. 3-ranked men's hockey team was hosting the unranked men's team of Colgate University (formerly known as Madison College, Hamilton College, Hamilton Theological and Literary Institution, and the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York) for a pair of games. BU won the first match, 6-2.

Cole Hutson scored the first goal of the game in the closing minute of the first period, and then the Terriers erupted for three goals in the second, when Mick Frechette and freshman Ryder Ritchie scored their first collegiate goals, and Cole Eiserman scored on a power play. Eiserman scored again in the third and freshman Jonathan Morello capped the game off with an unassisted goal at 16:33.

Goalkeeper Mikhail Yegorov made 24 saves on 26 shots (.923). 

The 2-0-0 Terriers play Colgate again at 6:00 pm today.  

Colgate 3, BU 1

 

The town of Hamilton in upstate New York's Madison County is the home of Colgate University, formerly Madison College, Hamilton College, Hamilton Theological and Literary Institution, and the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York. The Colgate family of toothpaste fame were trustees and generous donors to the institution, and the school took the toothpaste name in 1890.

The Colgate Raiders are ranked No. 7 in the country in women's ice hockey. The Boston Iniversity Terriers, now ranked No. 14 after dropping their first two opening games to No. 3 Minnesota, traveled to Colgate this weekend for two games. They lost the first, 3-1.

Whoever came up with the Terriers 2025-26 season schedule wasn't dong the team any favors. They started the season with the third-ranked team in the country and then took on the eighth-ranked team. Sheesh. Ever hear of early-season cupcakes?

BU goalie Mari Pietersen made 28 saves on 31 shots (.933); her counterpart in the Colgate crease faced only 20 shots. Freshman Lexie Bertelsen scored BU's only goal, her first collegiate goal and the first score in the game. Colgate's Emma Pais tied the game up in the closing seconds of the first period and then scored again midway through  the second. Colgate's third goal was an open netter by Ava Wood in the last minute of the game.

The Terriers start the season 0-3, largely due to their punishing schedule. They close out the series in Hamilton at 6:00 pm today.   

Bruins 4, Blackhawks 3 (OT)

 

Back-to-back wins to start the season! And an OT win, something last year's team really struggled to achieve. 

Early in the first period, Casey Mittelstadt, the player the Bruins picked up last season as part of the trade for former BU Terrier Charlie Coyle, scored an unassisted goal. In the second, Tanner Jeannot, who signed with the Bruins over the summer as a free agent, scored in the second. In the third period, Elias Lindholm got the go-ahead goal on a power play, assisted by Zacha and Pastrnak, but the Blackhawks came back and tied it up, forcing overtime. Two minutes into the OT, young Fraser Minten  scored an unassisted goal to win the game. Joonas Korpisalo replaced Swayman as goalie for last night's game and made 21 saves on 24 shots (.875).

The Bruins and the Panthers are tied for first place in the Atlantic Division at 2-0-0. After back-to-back games, the Bruins get a night off tonight and then will host the Buffalo Sabres (0-1-0) in the Garden on Saturday night.  

Bruins 3, Capitals 1

 

The 2025-26 Boston Bruins have some 'splaing to do.

They haven't won a Stanley Cup since 2010 in a city that pretty much expects championships or at least contenders for championships. They haven't even been in the finals since 2019. In the last four seasons, they only made it past the first round of playoffs once, and last season didn't even qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2016. 

The frustration was particularly evident after the 2022–23 season, when the Bruins broke all sorts of NHL records, led the Atlantic Division the entire season, and finished the season with 65 wins and 135 points. But in the first round of the playoffs, they took a 3-1 series lead only to get eliminated by the Florida Panthers in seven. The Panthers knocked the Bruins from the playoffs in the 2023-2024 season as well, and remain both their divisional archrivals and their own personal kryptonite team. 

The front office fired head coach Jim Montgomery after a slow start last season, naming Joe Sacco as interim  coach, and then before this season began, replaced Sacco with Marco Sturm, now the 30th head coach in Bruins' history. Most notably, the Bruins traded team captain Brad Marchand to the hated Panthers for a first-round draft pick, and the only BU alumnus left on the team is former Terrier Charlie McAvoy. 

With no major trades or off-season acquisitions. the Bruins are going to need to rely of the formidable offense of David Pastrnak, who will be assisted by veterans Elias Lindholm, Morgan Geekie, and Pavel Zacha. Jeremy Swayman will apparently be their go-to goaltender this season. 

So how's that going to work out? For consultation, I turned to the I Ching, of course, and wound up casting the 59th hexagram, Huan (Dissolution), which sounds ominous. Wind above, water below. There were no moving lines, but the hexagram's reading, "Dispel the inflexible demands and fears of the mind so that you may reunite in the heart," seems directed more toward us fans than the team itself. 

"If you have begrudged, forgive," the oracle advises. "If you have torn down, repair. If you have injured, heal. If you have judged, pardon. If you have grasped, let go." In other words, forget the past disappointments, and enter this season with an open mind.

Last night, the Bruins played their first game of this new season, the dawn of the Marco Sturm era. They won, beating the Washington Capitals, 3-1, on the road. Pastrnak scored the first goal of the game in the second period, Lindholm scored a power-play goal in the third, and Geekie got an open-net goal in the closing minute. Since Pasta assisted on the latter two goals, he finished the game with three points, the most on the team. Swayman made 35 saves on 36 shots (.972).

The Bruins start the season 1-0, and Pastrnak seems ready to shoulder the offensive duties. Can't ask for more than that after one game. Tonight, they return home to play the Chicago Blackhawks (0-1). Let's not begrudge the Bruins for their past disappointments, and instead cheer them on without judgement. After all, they don't have to play the Panthers until October 21.

Patriot 23, Bills 20

 

I can't even remember the last time I posted something about the New England Patriots that wasn't filled with disappointment or tinged with snark. But last night, in a nationally televised game, the Pats won a big game against a tough team, announcing "We're back!" to the whole wide world. 

Drake Maye went 22 for 30 (73.35) for 273 yards in the air and rushed for another dozen. Rhamondre Stevenson, who fumbled the ball away twice in the first half, rushed for only two yards more than Maye but remembered to keep the ball in his hands in the second half and rushed for two TDs. But the stand-out performed of the game was probably wide receiver Stefon Diggs who, although he didn't get any TDs, had 10 receptions for 146 yards, nearly half of Maye's total 273. 

It was an ugly first half, with fumbles, turnovers, and no touchdowns, but ended with the Patriots ahead, 6-3. New England took a 20-10 lead early in the fourth quarter, but Josh Allen and the Bills came back and tied the game up. 

Then came perhaps the finest drive by New England so far this year. Certainly the most meaningful. Following the game-tying Buffalo FG, TreVeyon Henderson returned the ensuing kickoff for 23 yards and then Maye connected to Diggs for 12 more and to Kayshon Boutte for 19. Stevenson rushed three times during the drive without a fumble or a turnover as New England got the ball to Buffalo's 34 yard line, and then Andy Borregales kicked a 52-yard field goal with 20 seconds left to win the game.

Okay, it won't make the team's highlight reel alongside some of Brady's classic drives, but it looked damn good last night and got New England to 3-2 on the season, one game back from formerly undefeated Buffalo in the AFC East.

When was the last time I felt that good after a Patriots game? 

The next four weeks we play the Saints (1-4), the Titans (1-4), the Browns (1-4), and the Falcons (2-2), so it's not inconceivable that we could improve to 7-2 before facing Tampa Bay (4-1) in November. With the Jets (0-5) and the Dolphins (1-4) in the division, the AFC East actually kind of sucks, and if the Pats can rise to the occasion, beat those pesky little one- and two-win teams, survive Tampa Bay, and win the rematch with the Bills back in Gillette, we're not only in the playoffs, but in there with a good seed.

Expecting too much after one early-season win? Perhaps, but let me enjoy the enthusiasm while I can because, baby, it's been a while!

We're No. 10!

 

Told you we'd move up.  

But ha, ha, No. 9 Texas. They lost to unranked, 1-3 Florida (Florida!) and dropped out of the AP Top 25 altogether. The Longhorns (3-2) are learning that life in the SEC isn't the cakewalk they thought it was and a whole lot more unpredictable than the Big 12. Anyway, the preseason No. 1 pick - the team ESPN and all the sportswriters were predicting would run the table, go undefeated, and win the National Championship - isn't even ranked anymore. The unranked Texas Longhorns. I like the sound of that.

You know who else is now unranked? Preseason No. 2 Penn State, who flew out to California ranked No. 7, lost to UCLA and former Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava, and now find themselves 3-2 and unranked as well. It's almost like the preseason pollsters had no idea WTF they were talking about with their picks and just bought into all of the PR hype generated by the Texas and Penn St. meme machines.

Anyway, two Top 10 programs falling out of the rankings leaves room for the Georgia Bulldogs to move up two spots from No. 12 to No. 10. We're two spots ahead of new No. 12 Tennessee, who we beat back on September 13, and two behind No. 8 Alabama, who beat us on September 27. FWIW, the Tide beat Vandy yesterday, 30-14, spoiling the Commodores five-game unbeaten streak and dropping them to No. 20 in this week's poll.   

What else? No. 2 Oregon (5-0) and No. 3 Miami (5-0) switched positions after Miami, holders of the lineal championship belt and Georgia's two championship rings, beat No. 18 Florida State (what, like it's hard?) and Oregon was idle on a bye week. FSU, despite now being 3-2 like unranked Texas and Penn State, are still in the Top 25, albeit barely hanging on at No. 25.  

For all the doubters out there, even without Texas in the rankings, five of the Top 10 teams and nine of the Top 20 teams are SEC. Yes, it really does mean more.

Next week, No. 10 Georgia plays unranked Auburn (3-2), who we beat, 31-13, last year, and then on Oct. 18, we host Old Miss (5-0), who held steady at No. 4 on their bye week. Last year, the Bulldogs lost to Ole Miss, 28-10, so they have some payback coming.

BU 4, LIU 2

 

The No. 2 Boston University men's hockey team, 2025 Beanpot winners and contenders in last year's national championship game, opened their 104th season at home tonight with a 4-2 win against unranked LIU.

Sophomore Cole Eiserman, who led all NCAA rookies last year with 25 goals, scored a power-play goal in the first period. Sophomore transfer Sacha Boisvert (North Dakota), who was last season's NCHC Rookie of the Year, scored a power-play goal in the second.

Sophomore Cole Hutson, last year's National Rookie of the Year and a First Team All-American, led all NCAA freshmen in points (48) last season. Tonight, he scored an even-strength goal in the third period. Eiserman capped the scoring off with another even-strength goal in the third period with less than five minutes left. 

Goalie Mikhail Yegorov joined BU in the second semester last year with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. Tonight, he made 34 saves on 36 shots (.944).

The Terriers start the season with a win and will play an exhibition game tomorrow (5:00 p.m.) against RPI.

Minnesota 5, BU 2

 

Well, losing 5-2 is better than a 5-0 shut-out like last night, I guess. BU even had a 2-1 lead going into the third, but the final period was all Gophers as they scored four unanswered goals, all at even strength.

Sydney Healey, BU's top point scorer last year, scored a goal in the first period and Anežka Cabelová scored her first NCAA goal in the second, the only score in that period. But in the third, Minnesota's Abbey Murphy, who scored in the first, scored again early in the period and then Minnesota added two more within a span of 21 seconds midway through the period. Abbey Murphy added another goal, her third of the afternoon, with 1:25 left as the final dagger in the Terrier's heart.

Goalie Michelle Pasiechnyk, in her first start for BU, made 31 saves on 35 shots (88.6%).  

No. 13 BU starts the season 0-2 and will surely drop in the polls, but as I said yesterday, No. 3 Minnesota is probably the toughest opponent they will face all season. Next weekend, the Terriers play two games at Colgate, who are "only" ranked No. 7 in the country.       

Georgia 35, Kentucky 14

Kentucky may be regarded by some as an SEC basement dweller, especially with the recent and unexpected rise of Vanderbilt (5-0). The Wildcats only real goal, it's been argued, is to not embarrass the school too bad before basketball season begins. But last year, Georgia had to come up from behind to squeeze out a 13-12 win in Lexington. Coming off a loss to Alabama last week before this year's game, the Bulldogs couldn't afford another close shave with Kentucky.

All was good, as it turns out. Bulldog QB Gunner Stockton went 15 for 23 (65.2%) for 196 yards passing and a TD, and rushed for another 48 yards and two more TDs. Dillon Bell scored the other two TDs on short-yard runs. The game was one-sided enough that backup QB Ryan Puglisi got a chance to play, going 3 for 4 (75%) for 49 yards and, unfortunately, one interception.

The defense looked pretty spotty at times, but managed to hold Kentucky to only one TD for most of the game. The second Wildcat TD came in the fourth quarter after the two-minute warning. 

In all, it was a pretty unremarkable game - no one did anything extraordinary, but no one shit the bed either.  

Georgia improves to 4-1 overall, 2-1 in SEC play. Next week, the Dawgs travel to Auburn (3-2), who was idle today.  Auburn is 0-2 in conference play, losing to Chokelahoma and ATM.

Minnesota 5, BU 0

The No. 13 Boston University women's hockey team opened its 2025-26 season with the first of two home games against No. 3 Minnesota, probably the highest-ranked team they'll play all season. The Gophers won, 5-0. 

Last year, BU played two against the Gophers in Minneapolis. Minnesota was ranked No. 2 at the time, and won both of those games (1-0 and 5-2). BU is now 1-8-0 all time against Minnesota, 1-2 at home. The one and only time BU beat the Gophers was in December 2016 in a 6-5 overtime game at BU's Walter Brown Arena.

Tonight, Minnesota scored once in each of the first and second periods, one goal on a power play and the other even-strength. The Gophers added three more even-strength goals in the third period before BU could even pull goalie Mari Pietersen. Last year's backup goalie, Pietersen is BU's lone returning goaltender and played 10 games last season, including two shutouts. Tonight, she blocked 44 of 49 shots (89.8%). 

BU's Lilli Welcke was ejected from the game in the first period for contact to the head, and Kaileigh Quigg was ejected in the third for hitting from behind. 

Sydney Healey returns as BU's top points scorer with 23 last year. She also leads all returning players in goals with 15. Senior Maeve Carey is the team's captain this year. The Terriers have 10 newcomers in seven freshmen and three transfers, including Michelle Pasiechnyk, who transferred after four seasons at Clarkson where she was named the NCAA Goaltender of the Year in 2023-24. She made 750 saves that season and boasted a 25-5-1 record.

Minnesota opened their season with a pair of blowout wins over unranked Boston College at home, winning 7-1 and 11-0, so you have to hand them that. The enemy of my enemy, etc., and any team that beats the Eagles can't be all bad.   

Game 2 against Minnesota is tomorrow afternoon at 4:00. The BU men's hockey team open their season tomorrow at 7:00 with a home game against Long Island University.

Yankees 4, Red Sox 0

 

Season's over. That's it, we're all done, nothing more to see here. Move on.

At the end of the season, the Red Sox had nothing left in the tank. Only two reliable starting pitchers, one depending on how you feel about Brayan Bello. Roman Anthony, the rookie phenom who sparked the offense much of the year, was out with an oblique injury. We were left with a veteran slugger who seemed to have lost his mojo, and a once dependable outfield that suddenly seemed to have forgotten how to play baseball.

The sporting news are all spinning last night's story as the dominance of the unfortunately named Yankee pitcher  Cam Schlittler, a Massachusetts native and former Red Sox fan. He got 12 strikeouts and shut out the Sox over eight innings (107 pitches). Must be an all-time great pitching performance, right? 

Wrong. He had speed, but so many of his pitches were up high and easily hittable by a team batting better that Boston this series. We made him look like Greg Maddox, but he was really just an okay rookie having a good night.   

The Sox' rookie starter, Connelly Early, probably has more long-term potential than Schlittler. He got six K's against the Yankees, half as many as Schlittler, but did so in only 3⅔ innings to Schlittler's eight. But Early was let down by poor Boston fielding and an utter lack of offense.

Things totally fell apart for Boston in the fourth inning when the Red Sox defense totally fell apart and allowed four runs. Other than that epic collapse in the field, the Yankees might not have scored at all. But the inning did lead to my favorite moment in the game: with two out and two on and Aaron Judge at bat, Justin Slaten relieved Connelly Early and promptly hit Judge with his very first pitch, loading the bases. Why intentionally walk him when you can hit him instead? Slaten got the next batter out to end that awful inning with a pop fly. 

The 2025 Boston Red Sox made the post-season for the first time since 2021 and after finishing in dead last place in 2022 and 2023. All that I wanted from them this year was to make the playoffs and they accomplished that goal. Even won the first game. But like last season, they were hampered by injuries, and by the post-season they didn't have left what it takes to win a championship. 

The big question hanging over the team this year was the effect of the mid-season trade of All Star slugger Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants. His bat was sorely missed in this Wild Card series and Boston has nothing to show for Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks, the pitchers we got in exchange for Devers. Immediately after trading Devers, we went on a 4-8 skid. But by July, things turned around with 10 consecutive wins. 

Were we better off without Duran? No, of course not, and it's silly to think so. Could we have won this series without Duran, if Anthony and other players remained healthy? Absolutely, and it's silly to think otherwise.

It was a painful to watch last night's game, and a painful two nights for Games 2 and 3. It was a painful way to end the season. But pain is part and parcel of being a Red Sox fan - I should know, I've been one since 1975. I've suffered seasons far worse that this and celebrated greater victories than a single Wild Card game. Losses like this build character.  

We didn't win our playoff series, but we at least made it to the post-season, more than we could say for four years. We're improving and the goal next year is to make AND WIN the Wild Card, and then see where we go from there.

Congratulations, Red Sox, and thanks for this year's memories.

Yankees 4, Red Sox 3

 

And thus it has been written: every New York vs. Boston playoff series must go the full number of possible games before a victor can be declared. 

It could have been a sweep. It should have been a sweep. The Yankees scored first, but Trevor Story tied it up with a two-RBI double. The Yankees took the lead again in the fifth, and Story tied it back up again with a solo home run in the sixth. The Yankees finally squeezed out another run in the bottom of the eighth, and Story and the Sox had no answer in the ninth. The series is tied, 1-1.

I don't want to go through all the missed opportunities - the runner held at third, the dropped fly ball, the reliever left in the game too long, etc., etc. Suffice it to say we could have won this game, but didn't. What's more, starting pitcher Brayan Bello only lasted 2⅓ innings and we went through six relievers, severely draining our bullpen for Game 3 tomorrow, same time (6:00 pm).

The ESPN announcers were ass - they were so obviously pro-Yankee they couldn't even try to hide it. After Story hit the two-run double in the third, the inning ended on a most unremarkable double play, but the camera followed the New York pitcher back to the dugout as if he had just saved a Game 7 without even mentioning that Boston had just tied the game up. After the commercial break, they replayed the double play and not the game-tying, two-run double that came just before it. And of course, they talked about Aaron Fucking Boone almost incessantly, going so far as to speculate when he'd be at bat again even while the Red Sox were at the plate. 

No matter how this series ends, I'll at least be glad I won't have to listen to them any more.