Hump Day Sports Chowdah Update- Denver Steels One @ Home; Tide Rolls in BCS; B's Weather Northern Invasion; NBA Champs Give C's Texas Sized Trouble

NFL- Holy crap....I didn't see this so much as catch it on the radio. Even if I did see it, I probably still wouldn't have believed it.

In case you've been living somewhere without TV or Twitter for the past couple of days, here is how Wild Card weekend wrapped up in Mile High. Embedded below is the ENTIRE overtime from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos game.



Yeah- your eyes do NOT decieve you. One play and *BAM!* it's ovah. There was a whole slew of new overtime rules that were explained at the very beginning of Sunday's OT [basically no more sudden death OT if a field goal is kicked- first one to score 6 points wins- NANESB!].

Tebow's TD pass to open up OT sets up a meeting with the New England Patriots in Foxborough, MA Saturday night at 8:00 PM ET on CBS.

The Steelers/Broncos game on Sunday evening had capped what was previously been a Wild Card weekend of blowout contests.

Things got underway on Saturday with the Houston Texans notcing their first-ever postseason win after beating the Cincinnati bengals 31-10 at home. This was followed up on Saturday night with the Detroit Lions trying in vain to play catch-up with the NFC South champion Saints as New Orleans clinched that one by a 45-28 final.

On Sunday afternoon, the Giants built upon a 7-2 halftime lead over the Atlanta Falcons to run away with the contest, going on to win by a 24-2 final.

This weekend's matchups are as follows:

SATURDAY- 1/14:

New Orleans Saints @ San Francisco 49ers- 4:30PM ET [FOX]
Denver Broncos @ New England Patriots- 8:00PM ET [CBS]

SUNDAY- 1/15:

Houston Texans @ Baltimore Ravens- 1:00PM ET [CBS]
New York Giants @ Green Bay Packers- 4:30PM ET [FOX]

OTHER NFL NEWS: The body of the 21 year old son of Green Bay Packers assistant coach Joe Philbin was found by searchers in the Fox River on Monday. Police in Oshkosh, WI are trying to piece together the actions of Micheal Philbin in the hours leading up to his death.

A night watchman at a nearby business called police reporting that he heard somebody calling for help from an area adjacent to the river at a bout 2:30 AM Sunday. Police, fire and dive teams searched the area but initially found nothing.

Investigators do not immediately suspect foul play, but suspect alcohol may have been a factor.


NHL- The regular season Stanley Cup rematch on Saturday turned out to be a little anti-climatic as the Canucks were able to hold off a late Bruins charge and win by a 4-3 final....all four of Vancouver's goals coming with the man advantage.

Corey Schneider stopped 36 of 39 shots faces while Tim Thomas stopped 32 of 36 shots faced. This was a pretty chippy affain, with the Bruins getting assessed 48 penalty minutes and Vancouver getting 52 total.

The big story was the NHL suspending Brad Marchand for a hit on Vancouver's Sami Salo on Saturday.

Marchand clipped Salo towards the end of the second period in Saturday's game and was assessed a major penalty and game-misconduct. By Monday, the NHL had issued a 5-game suspension for Marchand and he will reportedly forfeit $150,000 in pay. Marchand will reportedly be able to return on Jan 19th, when the Bruins play the New Jersey Devils.

The league considers Marchand a repeat offender, havng been been suspended two games last March.

On Tuesday Night, the Marchand-less Bruins hosted the Winnipeg Jets and were trailing 3-2 heading into the 3rd period. Boston would rally in the 3rd, getting goals from Nathan Horton (just 8 seconds in no less), Tyler Seguin and Benoit Pouliot (the latter coming on the power play) to take the lead for good and win by a final of 5-3.

Tukka Rask had the start in net and turned aside 29 of 32 shots faced while the Bruins had all of 13 penalty minutes assessed against them.

The Bruins will next face the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. Puck drops at 7PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

Jeffery Roberts- Daily Hampshire Gazette

NCAA HOCKEY: The NCAA Doubleheader for Frozen Fenway wrapped up on Saturday with both contests heading into OT.

Game one had the Vermont Catamounts against the UMass Minutemen, and after Vermont got off to an early 1-0 lead, the game would head into OT knotted up at 2-2. The fact that the contest even made it to overtime was made all the more impressive by the fact that the Minutemen's Patrick Kiley was given a 5 minute major penalty with less than 3 minutes to go in regulation. Not only was UMass able to successuflly kill of the e5 minute major in the 3rd and into OT, but Catamounts defenseman Michael Paliotta was called for boarding with 1:16 remaining in overtime. UMass defenseman Michael Marcou managed to score with 22 seconds left in OT to give the Minutemen the 3-2 OT win. Sophmore goalie Jeff Teglia notched his first career win witht the Minutemen after making 24 saves on Saturday.

The UMass win was followed up by a higer-scoring contest between the University of New Hampshire Wildcats and the Maine Black Bears Forward Brian Flynn scored a minute and a half into OT to break a 4-4 deadlock, giving Maine the 5-4 victory. Saturday night's win is the Black Bear's 7th win in their last 8 games.


OTHER NCAA HOCKEY NEWS: Former Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey coach Charles 'Lefty' Smith passed away in his South Bend, IN home at the age of 81. In a statement, the University said that Smith died of natural causes.

Smith started Notre Dame's hockey program back in 1968 and compiled a 307-320-30 record in his 19 year tenure as the Fighting Irish head coach. In 1973, Smith was awarded the WCHA's Coach of the Year. After his coaching career, Smith became facilities manager for the Irish, continuing to work until his retirement a month ago.

NCAA FOOTBALL- Well, I learned something new on Monday night: Apparently Tigers can lay eggs.

That's exactly what the #1 ranked LSU Tigers did in the BCS championship game against the Crimson Tide at the Superdome as #2 Alabama shut out the Bayou Bengals 21-0.

Flawless execution on 'Bama's part notwithstanding, many spectators were left wondering how different the game might've looked if the #3 Oklahoma State Cowboys were invited to the BCS Championship game instead of a conference opponent for LSU [I sent out a tweet half-seriously implying that the Fiesta Bowl was actually the REAL BCS title game- NANESB!].

So when all was said and done, the apparent highlight for Louisiana college football this Bowl season was the UL-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns last-minute victory over San Diego State in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, also played in the Superdome.

OTHER NCAA FOOTBALL NEWS- Baylor's Heisman-winning quarterback Robert Griffin III announced that he would forego his senior year at Baylor to enter the NFL draft on Wednesday.

NBA- Oh yeah...the NBA season is underway.

The Boston Celtics dropped to 4-5 on Wednesday night after losing to the reigning NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks by an 85-90 final. Dirk Nowitzki got by Kevin Garnett with what would be the game-winning laup with 5 seconds left in the 4th.

The Celtics will next take on the 10-2 Chicago Bulls on Friday night at 8:00PM ET, with the game being televised on ESPN.