Nashville 6, Bruins 3

 

The Bruins have now lost seven of their last eight games. That's all that needs to be said.

Iditarod

 

All 33 dog-sled teams have now passed through the first Iditarod checkpoint at Nenana. Jason Mackey was the first to arrive at Nenana, followed two minutes later by his niece, rookie musher Brenda Mackey. Both are descendants of 1978 Iditarod champion and mushing legend Dick Mackey. Jason pulled out of the checkpoint almost immediately (10 minutes) and is currently in the lead; Brenda spent some three hours and 40 minutes resting and caring for her dogs before leaving Nenana and is currently 14th.

The 2023 champion Ryan Reddington is in 3rd place behind Bailey Vitello. Jesse Holmes is currently 6th, Mitch Seavey is 12th, and Mille Porsid is 17th. Rookies Dane Baker (31st ) and Calvin Daugherty (33rd) each had to drop one dog from their teams at Nenana; all other teams still have their full, 16-dog teams.

After the Nenana checkpoint, the race will continue along the Tanana River, a braided, glacier-fed stream as much as a mile wide and 70 to 80 feet deep, to the next checkpoint at Manley, 85 miles past Nenana and 137 miles from the starting point. Manley is the last checkpoint along the Tanana River before its junction with the Yukon and is located about two miles north of the town of Manley Hot Springs (population 169).

Update: At 6:33 am Alaska Time, Jason Mackey was the first musher to arrive at Manley. He completed the 85-miles trek from Nenana in 13 hours and 58 minutes. 

Several geothermal mineral springs were discovered along the Tenana in 1902, and in 1907 a miner named Frank Manley built the Hot Springs Resort Hotel there. The resort was a four-story building with 45 guest rooms, steam heat, electric lights, hot baths, a bar, a restaurant, a billiard room, a bowling alley, a barber shop, and an Olympic-size indoor swimming pool which used heated water from the springs. The original hotel burned to the ground in 1913, but Manley Hot Springs Resort currently operates a restaurant, bar and lodging in three cabins there. Interesting note: the town of Manley Hot Springs was the site of an apparently random murder spree in 1984 by a drifter that left nine people dead.

The Iditarod

 

The 2025 Iditarod, the so-called Last Great Race of Earth, got underway today. After the ceremonial start in Anchorage on Saturday, the official race began in Fairbanks, using a new route due to a lack of snow cover on the ground along the Southern Route usually used in odd-numbered years. 

The race will initially run parallel to the Tanana River downstream to its confluence with the tributary Nenana. The first checkpoint, the small (population 378) home-rule town of Nenana, is 52 miles from the Fairbanks starting point. Fun fact: in 1925, after diphtheria antitoxin had been transported by rail from Anchorage, Nenana was the starting point for the dog-sled run to carry the serum to Nome, which is now the inspiration for the Iditarod. 

Dallas Seavey won the race in 2024, a record sixth title, in 9 days, 2 hours, 16 minutes and 8 seconds.  Dallas isn't competing this year, but his father, the 65-year-old, three-time champion Mitch Seavey, is in the race, and along with  2023 winner Ryan Redington is one the only two defending champions competing this year. But with the new route, the longest by some 150 miles, there are no clear favorites and all the mushers can be considered rookies. 

Minnesota Shuts Out Bruins, 1-0

 Well, so much for the Pasta streak . . . 

Celtics 110, Nuggets 103

Not a team to lose three in a row, the Celtics snapped their back-to-back loss streak and beat Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets on a Sunday afternoon, nationally televised game.  

Despite a 20-point, 14-rebound performance by Jokić, the Celtics outscored the Nuggets every quarter but the Third. Brown led the C's with 22 points, while Tatum, hampered by poor 1-7 three-point shooting, still managed a 16-point, 11-rebound double double. Al Horford scored 19, Derrick White 17, and Payton Pritchard scored 11 off the bench with 3-for-5 shooting from outside the paint.

The Celtics (43-18) will face the Portland Trailblazers (27-33) at home on Wednesday. 

BU Beats Vermont, 3-2, in Hockey East Quarterfinal (OT)

 

Great game and great effort by the Terriers. Oona Havana (cool name!) of the Vermont Catamounts scored first, but BU's Maeve Kelly came right back and tied it up. A minute later, Vermont scored again, but then Lilli Welcke of the Terriers tied it all up again. There was no scoring in the Second Period, but Vermont went ahead in the Third on a power-play goal. Sydney Healey, however, tied the game up for the third time with an even strength goal and then Riley Walsh scored the winning goal in the OT period and the Terriers, who never led the game in regulation, skate away with the win.

The Terriers will play the winner of the BC-Maine game in the Semifinals on Wednesday. The game's halfway through the Third Period right now and BC leads, 4-3. 

BRUINS WIN!

 

The Bruins won a game! It's now the month of March, and I guess the February hex that put them on a five-game losing streak and kept them from winning a match since Feb.4 has finally lifted. Oh, by the way, they beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2, in Pitt.

Pasta scored a goal and got an assist, and extends his point streak to 17 games. Charley Coyle (BU, 2011) and Mason Lohrei also scored goals. 

The road trip continues to Minnesota, where they will play the Wild on Sunday afternoon (3:30).   

Cavs Beat Celtics, 123-116, In Eastern Conference Showdown

 

What the title said. First back-to-back losses by the Celtics this year, first time since last Christmas Day. Cleveland came back after being down by 22 to win, and in the Garden at that. The two teams have split the season series this year, 2-2.

Man, this day sucked! I'm glad February's finally over. This is a sports blog and not political, but after Trump and Vance acting like Real Housewives of D.C. in front of Zelensky today ("have you said 'thank you' once, this meeting?") and this second consecutive Celtics loss, I'm just writing this day off and thanking Punxsutawney Phil that it's not a leap year and we don't have one more day of February to suffer through.

Sunday, the Celtics entertain Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets (38-21). 

     

Five in a Row - Bruins Lose to Islanders, 2-1

 

Only game in town tonight, and the Bruins blow it, again, with a 2-1 home loss to the Islanders. Fifth straight loss, and the team hasn't won a game since February 4.

Pastrnak scored the lone Boston goal, so his point streak continues to 16 games, but does it even matter at this point? 

The Bruins are 27-25-8, fast moving in on .500 mediocrity. They play the sub-500 Penguins (24-28-9) in Pittsburgh next if that makes any difference to you. 

Pistons 117, Celtics 97

Don't really know what happened here - I didn't watch this game or follow it on the radio, so I'm just going on box scores here. But the game was tied at the half, 55-55, and then Detroit outscored Boston by 11 points in the Third Quarter and by 9 in the Fourth. Tatum led all scorers with 27 points, but the Pistons' Malik Beasley scored 26 off the bench and Jalen Duran got a 13-point, 11-rebound double double. Maybe it was Jaylen Brown's absence (injury) from the lineup? 

Come back home, Celtics. Boston needs you. The Celtics are 42-17 and have a Friday night game against the 48-10 Cleveland Cavaliers next, so shake off this loss (weird things can happen in Detroit) and focus on beating the Cavs.

Bruins Lose in OT to Toronto, 5-4

It seems the Celtics weren't the only Boston team playing Toronto tonight. The Bruins faced the Maple Leafs tonight - home ice, but it didn't matter because they lost anyway. Again. Fourth straight loss, an OT loss this time, and the team hasn't won a game since February 4.

Pastrnak got scored two goals and one assist, so his point streak continues to 15 games, so there's that.

Bruins are 27-24-8. They play the Islanders at home if you have the stomach to watch it.  

BU Settles for Tie with UConn, 2-2

 

You win some, you lose some, some get rained out, and in the case of UConn, you tie. 

It promised to be a good game - a Top 10 matchup between No. 10 BU versus No. 9 UConn, coming the week after the UConn women stole the Hockey East regular-season title away from the Terriers. Both teams refused to lose, and Sascha Boumedienne and Cole Hutson scored goals for BU, with Hutson tying it up halfway through the Third Period. But neither team was able to score after that, including the two OT periods. 

Next up for BU is a March 6 game against No. 7 Providence.