Extra Time Sports Chowdah Update- BoSox Snap Skid After 14 Inning Game in South Side; Something Special in Storrs, UConn Brings Home Men's, Women's Basketball Title; Union? Yes! Dutchmen Win First Ever NCAA Hockey Title

RED SOX- It took all night, but the Red Sox were able to snap their three-game losing streak.

Heading into Comiskey after dropping three out of four to the Yankees in the Bronx, the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox squandered a good start by Jake Peavy against his former team when the White Sox broke a 1-1 deadlock on a 2-out throwing error by Xander Bogaerts in the bottom of the 9th that plated Alexei Ramirez to give the southsiders a 2-1 walkoff win.

Wednesday night's game seemed full of missed opportunities for both teams as the Red Sox took an early 1-0 lead on a Bogaerts RBI single in the first inning. Chicago tied the game in the bottom of the first when Adam Eaton came home from third on a Ryan Robert throwing error to make it 1-1. The Pale Hose would then take a 3-1 lead when Alexei Ramirez belted a 2-run homer off of Clay Buchholz in the bottom of the 6th, but the Red Sox would chip away at that lead.

Boston would get a run back in the bottom of the 8th when Big Papi was walked to lead off the inning and went to second on a walk to Jonny Gomes, then 3rd when Grady Sizemore hit into a fielder's choice. Former White Sox catcher AJ Pierzynski then hit a sac fly deep enough to bring the lumbering Big Papi home to make it 3-2 Chicago. In the 9th, Dustin Pedroia drew a leadoff walk, followed by Bogarts drawing another walk and Big Papi flying out to left. Jonny Gomes then hit an infield single to load the bases before Pedroia came home on a Sizemore sac fly to tie the game before Pierzynsky grounded out to end the inning.

So into extras they went on the South Side, and once again walks would cost the White Sox as Boston took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 11th when Dustin Pedroia came home on a Jonny Gomes sac fly. However, in the bottom half of the 11th and with the White Sox down to their last strike and Jordan Danks on 2nd, Tyler Flowers got a base hit to tie the game at 4-4. Adam Eaton would then fly out to end the ChiSox threat in the bottom of the 11th, so the game continued into the early hours of Thursday morning.

With a depleted White Sox bullpen, Chicago sent out 2B Leury Garcia onto the pitchers mound. Garcia managed to get two out before Daniel Nava and Jonathan Herrera were on board for Jackie Bradley Jr hit a 2-out double to give Boston the lead once again, plating Nava and Herrera and making it a 6-4 Boston lead. After Capuano went 2⅔ innings, Burke Badenhop came out of the bullpen to face the final Chicago batter, striking out Marcus Semien to end the ballgame.

Boston goes on to win this one in 14, despite the fact that Chicago pitching allowed a total of 15 walks and Boston left 28 runners stranded on base- averaging two per inning in Wednesday night's game.

The rubber game is Thursday night with Jon Lester [1-2; 2.57 ERA] going up against Chicago's Chris Sale [3-0; 2.66 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 8:10 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

NHL- The Boston Bruins ended the regular season by winning their final two games against Buffalo and New Jersey. The wins mean that Boston has secured the President's Cup Trophy- the NHL's award for the club with the best regular-season record [for point of reference, the Canucks won the President's Cup in the 2010-11 season and the Blackhawks won the honors during the lockout shortened 2013 season -NANESB!].

Under this year's newly-revised NHL playoff structure, the Bruins will face the Red Wings in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with the winner of this series going on to face the winner of the Montreal-Tampa bay Series. The Habs already lead that series 1 game to nothing while the Bruins and Red Wings won't get started until Friday at 7:30 ET from Boston. The Original Six matchup is set to be aired on NESN locally, NBC Sports network nationwide and TSN in Canada.

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NCAA HOOPS- Once again, it's been a pretty good week for University of Connecticut basketball. The Men's team faced off against the Kentucky Wildcats in the Men's final last week and led wire-to-wire [although Kentucky would close the gap considerably in the second half- NANESB![ going on to win the national title game by a 54-60 final.

Just days later, in an extremely rare meeting of undefeateds, the UConn women's team faced off against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the NCAA Women's basketball national title game and would go on to win convincingly by a 79-58 final. The University even held a joint parade to celebrate the two national titles. The two championships come 10 years after the last NCAA program to win both men's and women's titles in basketball- which also happened to be Connecticut.


Charlestown, Massachusett's own Shabazz Napier was named the most outstanding player of the 2014 Men's tournament by the NCAA and awarded to Bob Cousey award as the top point guard in the NCAA. Napier- a senior- will enter the NBA draft this season.

NCAA HOCKEY- Sadly, there will be no NCAA Men's hockey title inside the Hub this year. Union, the small upstate New York college just northwest of Albany, made the most of their second Frozen Four appearance since the 2011-2012 season, skating past the Boston College Eagles by a 5-4 final to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the National Title Game.

Although Minnesota got out to an early lead, Union took command late in the first period with an explosive two minutes getting goals from Mike Vecchione, Eli Lichtenwald and Daniel Ciampini to give the Dutchmen a 4-2 lead by the first intermission. Minnesota clawed back, getting the only goal of the 3rd from Taylor Cammarata to make it a 1-goal contest, but Union pulled away for good in the 3rd and would go on to win their first ever hockey title.

The Men's hockey title is the first national championship to come to Union since a 1926 Men's Lacrosse title.

OTHER NCAA MEN'S HOCKEY NEWS- Boston College senior Johnny Guardeau was awarded the Hobey Baker trophy this year. The Calgary Flames 4th round pick led the nation in scoring with 80 points in 40 games for Boston College and led in goals (6) and assists (44).

April Fool's Sports Chowdah Update- Sox Drop Season Opener to O's, Stop By White House for Customary Visit; Road Trip to Philly Wraps Up Hot March for Bruins; BC Advances to Frozen Four

RED SOX- The end of March heralded the beginning of the major league baseball season, with the Red Sox opening up on the road in Camden Yards. With Lester matched up against the O's Christ Tillman, the O's got on the board first when new acquisition Delmon Young grounded into a double play with nobody out and ex-Ranger Nelson Cruz at third in the bottom of the second.

The Red Sox managed to tie the game back up when Grady Sizemore- in only his second regular season MLB at-bat since July 2011- belted a solo homer to right field in the top of the 4th [His first at-bat was a single in the top of the 2nd- NANESB!].

However, Nelson Cruz would then lead off the top of the 7th inning with a solo homer off of Lester to give Baltimore the 2-1 lead. Tommy Hunter came out of the bullpen for the O's on the top of the 9th and led off the inning by hitting Will Middlebrooks with a pitch. Daniel Nava popped out the third for the first out of the inning but Pedroia followed that up with a single before Big Papi flew out to left field for the second out. With two away, John Farrell decided to have Jackie Bradley Jr come into the game as a pinch-hitter for Mike Napoli, but Bradley struck out to end the ballgame.

So the Red Sox open up the season with a 1-run loss in Baltimore. Not surprisingly, the Opening Day loss was taken in stride and kept in the proper perspective by some members of Red Sox Nation.

OMG! THE SOX ARE IN LAST PLACE....FARRELL'S GOTTA GO....RIGHT NOW!!!!- Obligatory #RedSoxNation Freakout. #RedSox #BOSvBAL #OpeningDay #MLB

— Fenway Nation (@Fenway_Nation) April 1, 2014

However, the Red Sox took Tuesday off to head down to the customary visit to the White House by the World Series champions [their third trip in 10 years and first since Barack Obama was elected- NANESB]. Gone were most of the beards that made the 2013 Red Sox look like a Hub version of Duck Dynasty, although some of the outfits stood out more than others.

THIS IS WHY JOHNNY GOMES WILL ALWAYS BE THE MAN! pic.twitter.com/M8iiXMPG4f

— Glenndrick Lamar (@GlennMTyson) April 1, 2014

The Red Sox will resume play tonight with John Lackey getting his first start of the season while Ubaldo Jiminez, who the Orioles signed to a 4-year, $50 million contract back in February. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

BOSTON BRUINS- The only downside of March for the Boston Bruins is that it's come to an end. Heading into last weekend, they started a 4-game road trip that started with back-to-back games in Washington DC and Philadelphia. On Saturday afternoon, they managed to double up the Caps by a 4-2 final with Chad Johnson in net.



On Sunday afternoon, they headed up the I-95 to take on the Philadelphia Flyers. Just a little after five minutes into the game, Vinny Lecavalier got the Flyers on the board first before ex-Flyer Andrej Meszaros beat Steve Mason to make it a 1-1 game halfway through the first. However, Kimmo Timonen put the Flyers back on top with an even-strength goal in the last 45 seconds of the first period.

However, at 5:44 into the second period, Zdeno Chara would get a power play goal to even up the contest at 2-2 and Patrice Bergeron would get a go-ahead goal from a seemingly impossible angle to give Boston their first lead of the night at the 11:05 mark.

In the third, the Bruins had managed to hold off the Phillies throughout most of the period until inside the final 25 seconds when Vinny Lecalvalier once again broke through and tied the game at 3-3 in regulation with a few seconds left. Since nothing was decided in regulation and the 5 minutes of overtime, the contest then headed to a shootout with Bergeron scoring early for Boston and Claude Giroux for Philly. The Bruins' Reilly Smith finally broke through in the fifth round of the shootout, giving Boston the 4-3 win, although Philly does collect a much-needed point to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Tukka Rask turned aside 49 of the 52 shots he faced prior to the shootout while Steve Mason made 27 saves on 30 shots faced. The Bruins were 1 for 2 on their power play opportunities while Philly went 0-4 with the man advantage.

The Bruins road trip continues through Detroit on Wednesday night- this one will be nationally televised on NBC Sports Network. Puck is scheduled to drop at 8:00 ET between the Bruins and Red Wings.

BOSTON COLLEGE HOCKEY- The BC Eagles survived a late challenge from a very game UMass-Lowell in Worcester on Sunday to advance to the frozen Four. Eagles defenseman Ian McCoshen broke a 3-3 deadlock in the 3rd and goalie Thatcher Demko made 29 saves in the Boston College win.

BC will advance to the Frozen Four to take on Union, who eliminated the Eagles last season by beating them 5-1 in the first round of the NCAA Eastern Tournament regional. This would be the Union Dutchmen's second trip to the Frozen Four since the 2011-2012 season, where they lost to Ferris State by a 3-1 final in the semifinal. The game is scheduled for 5:00 PM ET at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Thursday, April 10th.

Meanwhile, Minnesota bested St Cloud State in a 4-0 shutout to advance and face a resurgent North Dakota in Philly. The Fighting Sioux and Golden Gophers are scheduled to play at 7:30 PM ET and both the BC/Union Game and Minnesota/North Dakota games will be televised on ESPN.

In Soviet Russia, Sports Chowdah Updates YOU- USA Leads Medal Count in Sochi; Team Canada/USA to Duke it Out On The Ice; Topless Lebanese Skiier in Hot Water; Bruins Shut Down Sens Before Olympic Break; BC Takes The Fifth in Beanpot; Syracuse Falls to Boston College

I swear, I'm not boycotting the Olympics- although a casual glance of this blog since the Winter games got underway in Sochi might lead one to that conclusion. On the other hand, Wyatt Earp of Support Your Local Gunfighter is keeping track of the compelling human-interest stories concerning the athletes competing in Sochi.

WINTER OLYMPICS- Despite the highly publicized gaffes such as reporters checking into hotels still under construction and a technical miscue during the opening ceremonies, the Winter Olympiad at Sochi got off and running last week.

US Snowboarder Sage Kostenburg won the first gold medal of the games in the men's slopestyle event back on Feb 8th. Well beyond the halfway point of the 2014 Sochi games, Team USA currently leads the overall medal count with 23 (7 gold, 5 silver and 11 bronze). Both Russia and the Netherlands trail the USA in the medal count by one while Norway has the most gold medals with a grand total of nine.

Of most interest to me is the Team USA Men's hockey- which got off to a stellar start with a 7-1 thumping of Slovakia on Feb 12th for their Olympic debut. On Saturday, the USA needed a controversial disallowed goal and OT to get past a heavily favored Russia team, with St Louis Blue Center TJ Oshie becoming something of a cult hero with his game-winning shootout goal to give Team USA the 3-2 win.

On Wednesday, Dustin Brown got the game-winning goal for Team USA as they cruised past the Czech Republic by a 5-2 final while host Russia was eliminated from medal contention by Finland in a 3-1 loss. Team Canada got by a very game Latvia, winning 2-1 to set up a semifinal contest with Team USA on Friday. The winner of the USA/Canada men's game will go on to face the winner of the Sweden/Finland men's semifinal game for the gold.

For those of you who can't wait until Friday for some good ol' USA-on-Canada puck action, the women's hockey gold medal game will feature the USA taking on Canada on Thursday at 12:00 ET for all the marbles. The game will be televised on NBC and streamed on the NBC Olympics website.

ELSEWHERE IN THE OLYMPICS- Lebanese downhill skier Jackie Chamoun has reportedly raised the ire of politicians in Beirut after topless pictures of her were circulating online. Lebanon's interim Sports Minister reportedly called upon the Lebanese Olympic Committee to launch an inquiry and 'take the required steps to avoid harming Lebanon's international reputation'.

Chamoun has her defenders both inside and beyond Lebanon's borders, and after condemnation from Islamic clerics and demand for a parliamentary inquiry, social-media savvy Lebanese took to twitter and Facebook- sometimes posting pictures of them topless or seminude- using the hashtag #StripForJackie.

NHL- Of course, all these NHL All-Stars mean that there's no NHL for nearly 3 weeks. In fact, we're still nearly a week away from the resumption of NHL play- and that is a single game between the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes that was postponed earlier in the year due to a blizzard before being rescheduled to Feb 25th.

Thanks to the Olympic break, the Boston Bruins have a grand total of five games in the month of February- including a Feb 26th matchup against the Sabres at the First Niagara Centre. After a quick 1-game road trip to St Louis, the Bruins returned home to the Garden to face off against the Ottawa Senators for the final game before the Olympic break. The B's jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first thanks to goals from Patrice Bergeron and Chris Kelly- and they never looked back, adding on to their lead with goals from Bobby Ryan, Jarome Iginla, Carl Soderburg, Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic to cruise to a 7-2 victory.

Although the Bruins head into the 3-week long break leading the Atlantic Division, they're still 5 points behind the Penguins for the Eastern Conference lead.

While we still have to wait for a whole week for the next Bruins game, the good news is that it will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network on Feb 26th with the puck scheduled to drop at 7:30 ET.

NCAA HOCKEY- For the fifth straight year, the Boston College Eagles are the Beanpot champions, having defeated Northeastern during the Beanpot Finals on Feb 10th.

Although Boston College got out to a 1-0 lead, Northeastern managed to tie the contest back up at 1-1 in the closing minutes of the second period. However, BC senior forward Patrick Brown would get what would prove to be the game winning goal with just under 5 minutes to go in regulation before the Eagles added on with an empty netter from Junior Johnny Gaudreau with less than two minutes to go in the game and another tally from Brown.

The 5-straight titles for BC is the first since the 1999-2000 season when the BU Terriers had won their 6th straight. Boston College came into the 2/10 Beanpot final ranked the #1 program in the USA according to a USCHO poll.

NCAA HOOPS- As awesome as a fifth straight Beanpot title for the men's hockey program might've been, the BC Eagles made headlines on Wednesday night when they toppled previously undefeated Syracuse in OT at the Carrier Dome. Sophomore Olivier Hanlon led BC with 20 points and three assists.

The Eagles went on a 29-12 run in the second half to take a 46-42 lead and Junior Lonnie Jackson had 10 points, making three out of his four free throws in OT to help BC go on to their 62-59 win. The win by Boston College means that the Wichita State Shockers are now the sole undefeated Division I men's basketball program in the nation.

Auld Ang Syne Sports Chowdah Update- Winter Classic Big Time Hit in Ann Arbor; Fenway Freezes Over for New Incarnation of 'Holy War'; A Star for the Ages, Marine Veteran and Padres Broadcaster Jerry Coleman Passes Away at 89

My understanding is that there's been some football games of significance taking place lately- I'll get caught up on that as best I can, but for now here's some of what's happening with the non-pigskin sports.

Brian Babineau- Getty Images

NHL- As much as I'm not a fan of either team involved, I gotta say that the 2014 Winter Classic went off without a hitch.

Before a crowd of 105,491 at the University of Michigan's Big House in Ann Arbor, the 'home' Red Wings faced off against the Toronto Maple Leafs, kicking off 2014 with an Original 6 matchup.

After a scoreless first period, former Senator Daniel Alfredsson put Detroit on the board first with a goal about midway through the second period before Toronto's James van Reimsdyk got the equalizer for the Leafs in the dying seconds of the 2nd.

Less than 5 minutes into the 3rd, the Leafs took their first lead of the day on a Tyler Bozak goal to put Toronto up 2-1. With less than five minutes to go, the 'home' team got the equalizer in the form of a goal from Justin Abdelkader to knot things up at 2-2. With nothing resolved late in regulation or in OT, the Winter classic headed for a shootout for the second time in its history.

Pavel Datsuk got the first shootout goal of the game for Detroit, but Joffery Lupul and Tyler Bozak would get back to back goals for the Toronto shootout win. Toronto's Jonathan Bernier stopped 41 of 43 shots faced in regulation and OT while the Wing's Jimmy Howard faced 26 shots on goal and successfully turned aside 24 of them.

This game was actually slated to take place on New Year's Day 2013, but was cancelled due to the lockout and abbreviated season. Interestingly, this will be the first of many outdoor games scheduled for the 2013-2014 season.

In a move that was likely designed to offset the loss of the 2013 Winter Classic, there are at least five more games in four more venues scheduled this season in what's been dubbed the NHL Stadium Series. On January 25th, the LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks will face off in Dodger Stadium. The following day, on the other side of the country the New York Rangers will host the New Jersey Devils at Yankee Stadium. Three days later, hockey returns to Yankee Stadium when the Rangers and Islanders go head-to-head. On March 1st, the Stadium Series resumes at Chicago's Soldier Field when the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks will take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. The NHL's stadium series is slated to wrap up the following day north of the border in Vancouver when the Canucks will host the Ottawa Senators at the BC Palace in the 2014 Tim Horton's Heritage Classic.

As for the New Year's Day Winter Classic, the Washington Capitals are slated to host the game next year, although a venue or opponent haven't been formally announced. There has also been speculation since the inaugural 2008 Winter Classic that Beaver Stadium on the Penn State campus in State College, PA would host an outdoor matchup between Pennsylvania's two NHL franchises- the stadium boasts an even larger seating capacity than Michigan's Big House and is roughly halfway between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- Meanwhile, the Boston Bruins are getting off on the right foot for 2014. After a 3-2 win against Nashville at home the day after the Winter Classic, the Bruins hosted the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.

Although the Jets got on the board first thanks to a Dustin Byfuglien goal midway through the first, Danny Paille tied it up at 1-1 with a tally for the B's less than 3 minutes later.

The second period was all Torey Krug as he scored two goals a little over four minutes apart for what would turn out to be the game-winner, putting Boston up 3-1. In the 3rd, Reilly Smith would add to Boston's total midway through the period making it a 4-1 game....which would also be the final. Tukka Rask turned aside 35 of 36 shots faced and the Bruins are now in sole possession of first place in the Atlantic division.

The Bruins will hit the road and next play on the west coast on Tuesday night when they take on the Anaheim Ducks- a team that has yet to lose at home in regulation this season- from the Honda Center in Orange County, CA. This one is a pretty late start at 10:00 PM ET and it will be televised on NESN.

Frozen Fenway- the Holy War on Skates. Matthew J Lee photo via @BostonGlobe #NDvsBC #NotreDame #BostonCollege pic.twitter.com/JOvQg6yCxA
— Fenway Nation (@Fenway_Nation) January 6, 2014

NCAA HOCKEY- Ann Arbor's Big House wasn't the only outdoor hockey venue this week. With an outdoor rink set up at Fenway, America's Favorite Ballpark hosted an NCAA Hockey doubleheader over the weekend.

After a 1-1 tie between Providence College and Merrimack, #6 Boston College and #14 Notre Dame took to the ice for the Holy War (on skates!). The Eagles jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Brendan Silk and Johnny Guardeau before Mario Luca scored late for the Irish to cut the lead to 2-1.

The Irish tied it up early in the second with a power play goal from TJ Tynan- the only scoring that would take place in the second period. In the 3rd, the re-took the lead on a shorthanded goal from Bill Arnold, but less than 3 minutes later, the Irish's Bryan Rust tied it back up at 3-3.

Less than a minute later, Johnny Guardeau got his second goal of the night and Eagles netminder Brian Billett would hold off a furious late surge by the Irish for the 4-3 win.

Saturday's game is actually the first of two NCAA Doubleheaders at Fenway- UMass Lowell is slated to take on Northeastern on the afternoon of Jan 11th while Maine will take on the BU Terriers that evening.

Andy Hayt- Getty Images

MLB- Former Yankees 2nd baseman, WWII Marine fighter pilot and Hall of Fame Broadcaster Jerry Coleman passed away at a California hospital on Sunday at the age of 89. A California native, Coleman reported to the Yankees minor league affiliate in Wellsville, NY after graduating high school at the age of 17. At age 18, he joined the Marine Corps and was flying Dauntless SBD dive bombers on missions in the pacific theater in WWII.

After World War II, Coleman made his major league debut with the Yankees in 1949 and was named the AP's Rookie of the Year that season. Starting in 1951, Coleman missed the bulk of two seasons serving in the Korean war where he served alongside Ted Williams. Coleman, the only big-leaguer to fly combat missions in WWII and Korea [Williams served as a flight instructor during WWII- NANESB!] recounted a harrowing close call Ted Williams had, crash landing after returning from a mission over North Korea.

After returning to the Yankees, Coleman was beset by vision problems and broke his collarbone in 1955. His last season with the Yankees was in 1957, when the Bronx Bombers lost to the Milwaukee Braves in seven games in the World Series. After retiring as a player, Coleman worked in the front office for awhile before making his way to the broadcast booth.

In 1970, Coleman returned to California and broadcast games for the then-California Angels for two seasons. By 1972, Jerry made his way down Interstate 5 to San Diego and would work in their broadcast booth for the San Diego Padres every year except for 1980- which marked an uneventful stint as the Padres manager. The following season, he returned to the broadcast booth and remained there through the 2013 season, earning the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C Frick award in 2005.

The veteran broadcaster was known for peppering his play by play with phrases such as "Oh doctor!" and "You can hang a star on that one!" after a particularly impressive play as well as frequent malapropisms. In recent years, Coleman was working a reduced schedule, covering select daytime home games and doing pregame interviews with Padres manager Bud Black.

Coleman was admitted to a San Diego-area hospital around Christmastime with cerebral hemorrhaging and his condition had worsened over the next several days.



Prior to his being hospitalized, Coleman appeared in a video message filmed in front of the USS Midway  museum for Veteran's Day that was released by the San Diego Padres. Coleman is also one of only two people the Padres organization erected statues at PetCo Park to honor- the other being Hall of Fame outfielder Tony Gwynn.

Pole Dancing Sports Chowdah Update- South Africa's 'Blade Runner' Accused of Killing Girlfriend; Bruins Manitoba Up in Winnipeg; Boston College Wins Record 4th Straight Beanpot; Danica Patrick Sitting Pretty For Daytona 500

NASCAR- Danica Patrick made history over the weekend by becoming the first woman to win the Daytona 500 pole on Sunday with a 196.434 MPH lap [and thus provided me with a contrived opportunity to post some swimsuit pictures of Patrick- NANESB!]. The closest anyone came to knocking Patrick off the pole was 4 time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, who quipped that at least he was the fastest guy on the track that day.

Prior to her 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut, Patrick became the first woman to win a major IndyCar race after she won the Japan IndyCar 300 series in 2008.

The Daytona 500- the first race of the Sprint Cup ciruit- will get underway on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 PM ET.

TRACK AND FIELD- In all honesty I didn't pay much attention to the track and field events during the 2012 London Olympics due to a combination of being distracted by the volleyball event and my disappointment that neither bouncy Aussie hurdler Michelle Jenneke or smoldering Greek fascist fangirl Voula Papachristos.

But I did hear about South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius- dubbed the 'Blade Runner' due to his prosthetic legs. Pistorius, a double amputee, was the first amputee runner to compete in the Olympic games and was the flag bearer for the South African team during the closing ceremonies. His limbs during the competition were carbon fiber prosthetics, leaving some to claim he had an unfair advantage over able-bodied atheletes.

On Valentine's Day, Pistorius was arrested by police for the shooting death of his girlfriend in their suburban Pretoria home. The Olympian allegedly fired a handgun at his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp through a closed bathroom door after a heated argument. Pistorius' lawyer insist that the shooting of Steemkamp was accidental.

The shooting death has shocked South Africans and many around the world who idolized Pistorius for overcoming adversity to become a sports champion, competing in the London Olympics last year in track besides being a Paralympian. Steenkamp, 29, was a model and law graduate who made her debut on a South African reality TV program that was broadcast on Saturday, two days after her death.

Nel said the couple had had a shouting match and Steenkamp fled to the bathroom, down a seven-yard passage from the bedroom, and locked herself in. He said the 26-year-old Pistorius got up from bed and had to put on his prosthetic legs to reach the toilet door.

Nel told the court the door was broken open after the shots were fired. Pistorius' lawyer insisted there was no evidence to substantiate a murder charge.

South African media also report that police found a bloodied cricket bat in Pistorius' home and were running tests to determine whose blood it might have been.

 

Canadian Press, Trevor Hagan

NHL- After a 2-game losing streak, including an overtime loss against the Rangers at home and their second regulation loss against Buffalo, the Boston Bruins travelled to Manitoba for the first time this season.

After the Jets got out to a 1-0 lead thanks to a Alex Burmistrov tally early in the second period, Tyler Seguin knotted things up at 1-1 midway through the second period. Winnipeg briefly took a 2-1 lead late in the 2nd on an even-strength Evander Kane goal, but with just 2 seconds remaining in the period, Danny Paille evened the score at 2-2.

The Bruins got off to a good start in the 3rd after Brad Marchand drew a tripping penalty on Ron Hainsley just 9 seconds in- after the game, Marchand said he thought he should've been awarded a penalty shot. With the man advantage, it was marchand himself who scored the go-ahead goal for the Bruins 25 seconds later. However, instead of pressing their advantage the Bruins ended up defending a late onslaught from the Jets with Tukka Rask turning aside 10 shots (out of a total of 24 that he faced) successfully to preserve the 3-2 win for Boston.

The Bruins will continue their 5-game road trip on Thursday at Tampa Bay, but on Monday the team made an intermediate stop in western Connecticut before continuing to Florida.

Monday, Presidents Day, was the Bruins’ day to do what they could to lift spirits in Newtown — bringing the Stanley Cup with them for an earlier session from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Head coach Claude Julien — fresh off a plane from Winnipeg that got the team in to Boston around 3:30 a.m. — came to town along with players Chris Bourque, Andrew Ference, Hamilton, Adam McQuaid, Daniel Paille, Rich Peverley and Tyler Seguin.

All wore black Bruins jerseys made specially for the occasion, with green Sandy Hook School ribbons over the right breast. They were to be donated to Newtown after the event.

In addition to the appearance in Newtown, the Bruins will honor Sandy Hook Elementary School Vice Principal Natalie Green Hammond at their game against the Montreal Canadiens March 3 at the TD Garden. Green Hammond, a lifelong Bruins fan, will drop the ceremonial first puck.

The Bruins played floor hockey with dozens of kids, signed autographs, took photos with kids and their parents and even ended the day by donning blue and gold Newtown High School Nighthawks jerseys for more photos. All around the room, people smiled a lot.

“I know that when the tragedy hit — I’m not going to lie — I cried like everybody else,” Julien said. “When you look at the faith and the strength of this town and how they bonded and support each other, that’s amazing.”

Ference, a Bruins defenseman who is the father of a 7-year-old and a 3-year-old, said that “everything that happened here ... hits close to home. ... It’s not that hard to imagine it happening to you. ... So it’s an opportunity as a sports team in New England where we can come down and obviously make a lot of kids happy and a lot of parents happy.

“So how do you not come down?” he said.

Asked what he hoped kids might get out of the visit, Ference said, “Hopefully, they’re just having fun. ... I just want the kids to have a good day and smile and have fun and hopefully have some good memories of today.”

The appearence, which was closed to the general public, also featured Bruins alumni Bobby Sweeney and Tommy Songin conducting hockey clinics along with the Bruins Youth Hockey Development team.

NCAA HOCKEY- The Boston College Eagles won their 4th consecutive Beanpot title- a first in the 61 year history of the Boston area collegiate tournament.

The final game featured the 17-7-2 Boston College Eagles against the Northeastern Huskies, who are currently dwelling in the Hockey East basement. Eagles Sophmore Johnny Gaudreau led the scoring with two goals and an assist while Senior Steven Whitney notched the game winner in Boston College's 6-3 win over the Northeastern Huskies last week.

Meanwhile, Harvard topped Boston university by a 7-4 final in a high-scoring Beanpot consolation game. The win was the Harvard Crimson's first win in nearly a month

Holy Day Cuppa Sports Chowdah- Ferris State's Day Off; Never Bring Sabres to a Shootout; Tale of the Tiger- Detroit Sweeps Sox; 76ers 86ed at Garden

The Tampa Bay Times, Daniel Wallace / AP Photo

FROZEN FOUR- Buoyed by a 2-goal performance from Junior Steven Whitney and Junior goaltender Parker Milner turning aside 27 of 28 shots faced, the Boston College Eagles won the men's NCAA Hockey title in Tampa, FL on Saturday night, defeating the Ferris State Bulldogs by a 4-1 final in a game that was much closer than the final score would indicate.

For the small university located in western Michigan, this was their first trip to the Frozen Four in school history- let alone NCAA final- advancing past another underdog making their 1st ever Frozen Four appearance, the Union Dutchmen out of Schenectady, NY.

In Saturday's game, the Eagles got off to a quick 1-0 lead just over 3 minutes into the game thanks to a Whitney tally before Ferris State's Garret Thompson tied the contest up at 1-1 two minutes later. Senior Paul Carey would then put Boston College back on top with a power play goal midway through the second.

Ferris State would launch a spirited counterattack in the second, matching the Eagles seemingly shot for shot. Milner turned aside all 15 shots faced in the 2nd stanza while Ferris State goalie Taylor Nelson stopped 14 shots he faced from Boston College.

Although the Bulldogs came precariously close to tying the contest a couple times in the 3rd, Boston College Freshman Johnny Gaudreau broke the contest open with an insurance goal with less than 5 minutes remaining in the contest to make it 3-1. After Ferris State pulled Nelson for an extra attacker, but Whitney would get the empty-netter with just under 2 minutes left in the contest to make it a 4-1 final.

The Men's Hockey title is the Eagle's 5th altogether- four of them coming during head coach Jerry York's tenure- and their 3rd championship since 2008. The Eagles finish the season with a 19-game winning streak and a 33-10-1 record overall.

OTHER NCAA HOCKEY NEWS- University of Minnesota-Duluth senior Jack Connolly was announced as the 2012 Hobey Baker Award winner over the weekend. The 5ft 8 center from last year's NCAA Men's Hockey champions is a Duluth, MN native and is the 5th Hobey Baker winner from UM-D. The Hobey Baker is given out each year to the best men's college hockey player.

Duane Burleson- AP photo

MLB- The Detroit Tigers were able to get a measure of revenge against Beantown on behalf of Ferris State by completing a 3-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox on Sunday afternoon.

On Saturday, the Tigers basically had batting practice off of Josh Beckett, with Beckett tying a career-worst 5 HR's allowed. Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder each had two home runs while Alex Avila hit a solo homer in a 10-0 rout of the Red Sox.

Sunday's game was no less a hot mess, although despite Clay Buccholz giving up an early 4 runs, a rough start by Max Scherzer helped Boston out. Buccholz lasted 4 innings, allowing 8 hits and 7 runs, while Scherzer gave up just as many runs and hits in 2 and ⅔ innings of work.

Although we're only 3 games into the regular season right now, those who cautioned against letting Papelbon depart thru free agency are probably saying 'I told you so' right now as Boston had the chance to close out the game twice and blew each opportunity, starting with Alfredo Aceves giving up a game-tying 3-run homer to Miguel Cabrera to tie things up at 10-10.

Then, after the Red Sox re-took the lead in the 11th on RBI singles from Nick Punto and Dustin Pedroia to make it 12-10, DH Delmon Young made it a 1-run game with a sac-fly off of Mark Melancon after Miguel Cabrera had singled and advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch. With two outs and Alex Avila down to his last strike, the Tiger's catcher homered to deep right for the walkoff 13-12 win.

Currently, the only saving grace for Boston at the moment is that the Yankees were swept by Tampa Bay in a weekend series down in Florida- that's marginally worse for the Yankees because it happened against an AL East opponent and could serve as a tiebreaker and work to the Yankees' disadvantage if the AL East race came down to the wire like it did last season.

The Red Sox take their 0-3 record north of the border to take on the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre on Monday afternoon in Toronto's home opener. Felix Doubront will get the start for Boston while Henderson Alvarez gets the start for the Jays. This will be Toronto's home opener after wrapping up a 2-1 series in Cleveland. The game is scheduled to get underway at 7:07 ET and will be televised on NESN and Rogers Sports Net.

NHL- The regular season wrapped up at TD Garden on Saturday with the Bruins coming into the finale clinching the #2 spot in the Eastern Conference and the Buffalo Sabres on the outside looking in. The table was set- it was just a matter of who sat where.



After a scoreless first, The Bruins got off to the 1-0 lead with a Tyler Segiun goal less than 5 minutes into the 2nd. Buffalo's Brad Boyes managed to knot the contest up at 1-1 with 4:15 to go in the first period.

The Sabres would go on the power play late in the second that would carry over into the 3rd, but seemed to offer the Bruins more shorthanded scoring chances than it did Buffalo with the man advantage- but Jhonas Enroth stopped both shorthanded attempts for Buffalo. Buffalo would then break the deadlock thanks to goals by Boyes and Jason Pominville less than two minutes apart about midway through the 3rd.

With just a hair over 10 minutes to go in regulation, the B's managed to close the gap within 1 thanks to a power play goal by Tyler Seguin, making it a 3-2 Buffalo lead. Marchand would get the game-tying goal two and a half minutes later and the final regular season contest at the Garden would head to OT.

After a scoreless OT, the contest headed to a shootout where Patrice Bergeron was the only shooter between the two teams to get one past the goaltender, giving Boston the 4-3 win and closing the book on the season for Buffalo.

Tim Thomas stopped 25 of 28 shots faced while Enroth turned aside 37 of 40 shots faced on Saturday. The Sabres went 0-1 on the power play while Boston went 1-4, getting their first power play goal since last Sunday's 2-1 win against the NY Rangers in Madison Square Garden.

The Bruins will be idle until Thursday when they take on the #7 seed Washington Capitals. The game is scheduled to get underway from the Garden at 7:30 ET and will be televised on the NBC Sports Channel and CBC.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- Even though the Western Conference playoff picture wasn't as crowded as it was just a week ago, the regular-season finale between the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks put a bow on the NHL season in pretty dramatic fashion.

Calgary, Dallas and Colorado pretty much faded away in the final week while the Kings, Sharks and Coyotes were separated by three points or less coming down the home stretch. In the silicon valley on Saturday night, the Kings got off to a 1-0 lead before scoring in the closing seconds of the 2nd period to make it 2-0.

San Jose's Dan Boyle would put the Sharks on the board less than a minute into the 3rd before Patrick marleau tied the contest up at 2-2 on a San Jose power play. The game headed to overtime with each team getting a point, but Boyle would once again bury the puck past LA's Jonathan Quick to give the Sharks the 3-2 OT win.

The Sharks win, coupled with the Coyotes regulation win over Minnesota earlier Saturday night, knocks LA down to the #8 seed, where they'll take on the President's Cup-winning Vancouver Canucks this year. San Jose's OT win gets them a rendezvous with the #2 seed in the Western Conference, the St Louis Blue. While only two points ahead of LA and 1 point ahead of the Sharks, Phoenix has clinched the #3 spot on the Western Conference and will take on Chicago.

At the conclusion of the final regular season game this week, the NHL posted the schedule for the first round of the 2012 playoffs on their website.


NBA- Wow! This was so much better than last month's showing against the 76ers. Seems as though every time the Celtics have had a chance to take 1st place over the Philadelphia 76ers during this abbreviated season, they've always managed to fold- to the best of my knowledge, it's happened at least twice in this abbreviated season.

However, it did NOT happen on Sunday as Kevin Garnett had 20 points and Rajon Ronjo had 15 assists on Sunday night's game at the Garden in a 103-79 thumping of Philly. Avery Bradley and Brandon Bradley started Sunday's game and each of them had 18 points while Ray Allen came off the bench for 10 points.

Sunday's loss puts Philly in a tie with the New York Knicks for 2nd place in the Atlantic conference, with the Celtics having a 3-game cushion in the conference. The C's home record improves to 20-9 on the season as well.

The Celtic's next game will take place on Tuesday night when they travel to south Florida to take on the Miami Heat. The game will be televised on ESPN and tips off at 7PM ET.

Opening Day Sports Chowdah Update- Marlins Christen New Stadium; Sox Drop Season Opener in 1st Game of Valentine Era; Bruins Clinch #2 Spot in East

Believe it or not, there's a ballpark in there somewhere.

MLB- The defending World Series Champion St Louis Cardinals spoiled the opening game in the Miami Marlins new ballpark on Wednesday night.

Before a sellout crowd of 36,601, Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse had an early lead to work with a 2-RBI single from 3B David Freese in the 1st and another RBI single from SS Rafael Furcal in the 2nd inning to put the Cards up 3-0.

Lohse carried a no-hitter through 6 innings before Miami SS Jose Reyes led off the bottom of the 7th inning with a single to right field. The Marlins got on the board thanks to a John Buck RBI double, but that would be all Miami would get as the Cardinals would go on to win 4-1 in Miami's new park, their first regular season win without slugger Albert Pujols since losing him to free agency in the offseason.


RED SOX- The opening game stateside for the American League got underway on Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park in a pitcher's duel between Boston's Jon Lester and Detroit's Justin Verlander.

Although Lester allowed four leadoff singles, he threw 6 shutout innings against the Tigers before Tigers catcher Alex Avila drove in Jhonny Peralta with an RBI double in the bottom of the 7th. Detroit would then take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 8th on a Prince Fielder sac fly.

Tigers closer Jose Valverde came on to close out the game but immediately gave up a leadoff single to Dustin Pedroia and moving to third on an Adrian Gonzalez single. Gonzalez was pulled for pinch-runner Darnell McDonald. The Red Sox then got on the board when David Ortiz drove home Pedroia on a sac fly to center field. After Youkilis struck out for the second out in the 9th, McDonald stole second base before Ryan Sweeney belted a triple deep to the right-field corner, driving in the tying run before Cody Ross grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.

With offseason acquisiton Andrew Bailey going on the DL for thumb surgery right at the end of Spring Training, the Red Sox bullpen was left in a state of flux. Mark Melancon came on in the bottom of the 9th for the Sox, and after getting the first out, gave up singles to Peralta and Avila before being pulled for Alfredo Aceves. Aceves hit the first batter he faced, sending Ramon Santiago to first an loading the bases. Austin Jackson then drove an Aceves offering past a diving Nick Punto for a walkoff single and 3-2 Tigers win at the season opener in Comerica Park.

In the wake of the turbulent offseason, Red Sox Nation took the news of the opening day loss in stride.



With the Rays, Yankees and Orioles not getting started until Friday and the Blue Jays winning on Thursday, the loss leaves the Red Sox in the AL East basement to start off the regular season. Jon Lester went 7 innings allowing 6 hits and 1 earned run while last year's Cy Young winner Justin Verlander went 8 shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out 7. Depsite the blown save, Valverde is credited with the win and Melancon gets the loss.

The two teams have Friday off, but will go back at it on Saturday, with Josh Beckett getting the start against Doug Fister. The game will get underway at 4:05 ET and will air on FOX.

ELSEWHERE IN THE AL EAST- It took 16 innings, but thanks to a blown save in the top of the 9th by Chris Perez and a 3-run homer by Jays catcher JP Arencibia in the top of the 16th, the Blue Jays won the longest opening day game in MLB history by a 7-4 final. The win, coupled with the Red Sox loss and Baltimore, Tampa Bay and the Yankees being idle puts the Jays into first place in the AL East.



NCAA HOOPS- Kentucky's 67-59 win over the Kansas Jayhawks in the NCAA title game for their 8th NCAA title was almost an afterthough as University of Kentucky Students rioted. At least one person was shot and there were a number of arson fires [including couches for some reason- NANESB!] in the Lexington, KY area immediately after the Monday night title game.

With the Jayhawks focused on Anthony Davis, Sophmore Doron Lamb had 22 points for the Wildcats in the Championship game. The win is the first NCAA title for former UMASS coach John Calipari.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA HOOPS- In the NIT tournament, the UMASS Minutemen lost out to eventual champions Stanford in the semifinals by a 64-74 margin. The Stanford Cardinals would then go on to topple the Minnesota Golden Gophers by a 75-51 final in the NIT title game.


NHL- After a New York road trip that saw wins against the Rangers and Islanders followed by a home loss against the Penguins, the Bruins embarked on their final road game of the regular season up in Ottawa. Goalie Anton Khudobin was called up from Providence to make his Boston debut [but not his NHL debut- he had a couple of apprearences with Minnesota in 2009 and 2010- NANESB!]- a thumb injury last month prevented him from arriving in Boston, leaving the B's to pull Marty Turco- presently 2-2- from Austria after Tukka Rask was injured.

Khudobin got some offensive support early thanks to a Benoit Pouliot goal in the first and a rare Greg Zanon goal for Boston (his 3rd of the season) to build up a 2-0 advantage. Jason Spezza cut the Senators defecit in half late in the second. Boston would make it a 2 goal game once again with a Milan Lucic tally to make it a 3-1 Boston lead late in the 3rd, and that would be the final.

Khudobin stopped 44 of 45 shots faced while Ottawa's Ben Bishop would allow 3 goals on 27 shots faced. Both teams were 0-3 on the power play on Thursday Night.

For the regular season finale, the Bruins will host the Buffalo Sabres at the Garden on Saturday at 4:00 PM. After a late-season resurgence, the Sabres were eliminated from the playoffs with their Thursday night loss to Philadelphia. The game will be televised on NESN.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- The Washington Capitals secured the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers. Both Winnipeg and Buffalo were eliminated with the Washington win and Buffalo loss to Philly and a Winnipeg loss to the Islanders.

Out west, the playoff situation is a little tighter as the Los Angels Kings and San Jose Sharks jockey for position in the Pacific Division with a home and away series between the two teams to wrap up the regular season. The two teams are tied at 94 points on the season after the Sharks beat the kings 6-5 in a shootout in LA on Thursday night. The tie-breaker will take place in San Jose on Saturday night at 10:30 ET. With the Avalanche, Stars and Flames eliminated, the Phoenix Coyotes have wrapped up the 8th and final Western conference playoff spot.

NBA- Despite losing two games in a row, the Boston Celtics remain atop the Atlantic divison. On Wednesday, the Spurs managed to hold off the Celtics for an 87-86 win on Wednesday while the C's lost to the Bulls in the Windy City by an 86-93 final.

The Celtics will head on to Indianapolis to take on the Pacers Saturday night before returning to the Garden to take on the 76ers on Sunday.


NCAA HOCKEY- The Boston College Eagles punched their ticket to the NCAA Men's Hockey finals in a convincing fashion with a 6-1 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Thursday night. After taking a 1-0 lead for the first, the Eagles exploded for 3 more goals from Kevin Hayes, Chris Kreider and Paul Carey in the 3rd to build up a 4-0 lead. Minnesota's lone goal came early in the 3rd, but Boston College responded with two more unanswered tallies for the 6-1 final.

The Eagles will face the Ferris State Bulldogs in the Finals on Saturday at 7:00 PM ET. The small Western Minnesota school got past Schenechtady, NY's Union College by a 3-1 final on Thursday. This is the first trip to the Frozen Four for both Ferris State and Union.

Petrino's reported mistress Jessica Dorrell in her Razorback volleyball days

NCAA FOOTBALL- University of Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino has been placed on administative leave by the University after an accident report from the Arkansas State Police contradicted his earlier public statements after he crashed his motorcycle over the weekend.

In public statements, the married 50 year old Petrino stated that he was alone when the crash took place in Madison county. However, the Arkansas State Police accident reports names 25 year old Jessica Dorrell as a passenger on Petrino's motorcycle. After the police report was made public, Petrino admitted to having a 'previous inappropriate relationship' with Dorrell.

A 2008 Arkansas graduate, Dorrell was a four time letter winner in the Razorbacks volleyball program and handled fundraising duties for the Razorback Foundation. Just last week, she was named student development coordinator for the football program, co-ordinating on campus recruitment and eligibility issues for incoming players. Dorell also has a fiancee who's the director of swimming operations for the Razorbacks [altho the Arkansas Razorbacks swimming & diving team page currently lists Megan Haskins as the director- NANESB].

Petrino arrived in Arkansas from the NFL after quitting in the final month of the Atlanta Falcons 2007 NFL season. The Razorback football program has had winning seasons for three of the last four years and have been invited to the Liberty, Sugar and Cotton Bowls under Petrino.

California Dreamin' Sports Chowdah Update- B's Make Most of Southern California Road Trip; C's Return to Garden After Road Trip; Final, Frozen 4 Set

NHL- After Thursday night's road loss to San Jose, the Bruins faced off against the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center in downtown LA on Saturday. The Bruins and Kings had already met at the Garden back in December and Boston was looking to complete a sweep of the season series.

The game remained scoreless after a first period where LA had managed to pressure and outshoot Boston. It looked as though the momentum would continue into the second period when the Kings would go on the power play about five minutes in. LA would then turn the puck over deep in their own end with Jonathan Quick making a sprawling save on Brad Marchand only for Patrice Bergeron to pick up the rebound and put it in the wide-open net to give Boston the early 1-0 lead. Before the 2nd period drew to a close, the Kings would get an equalizer off the stick of Colin Fraser to make it 1-1.

In the 3rd Period, the Bruins struck quickly with goals from Milan Lucic and Chris Kelly (both even strength) less than a minute and 20 seconds apart to take a 3-1 lead, but with about five minutes to go in regulation, LA's Slava Voynov made it a 1-goal game on an even strength tally. In the final minute, the Kings pulled Quick for the extra attacker, and although they were able to get a number of shots off, Thomas was able to turn them aside and clear the puck while Brad Marchand got a shot off from the neutral zone as time expired and lazily drifted into the empty net- it counted after further review. Boston beat LA by the final of 4-2 on Saturday night, further complicating an already-convoluted playoff picture for the Western Conference.

As of Sunday night, Los Angeles had a tenuous grip on the 8th and final playoff spot in the west, 1 point behind the Phoenix Coyotes. However, the Sharks and Coyotes also went head-to-head Saturday night, with San Jose winning in the shootout and putting them in a three way tie with LA and Colorado (who had lost in OT to Vancouver on Saturday). Calgary had already lost to Dallas earlier on Saturday, but remain within 4 points of Phoenix for the #7 seed [so much more interesting than the Eastern Conference, where it's looking like it will be a two team race between Buffalo and Washington- NANESB].

Tim Thomas made 40 saves on 42 shots faced on Saturday while Jonathan Quick allowed 3 goals in 35 shots faced. The Kings went 0-4 on the power play while Boston was 0-1. The win snaps a 4-game road losing streak for the Bruins.

Saturday night's game in Los Angeles also marked captain Zdeno Chara's 1000th career NHL game.

On Sunday night, took their road trip a few miles down I-5. It was announced that the Bruins opted to rest Thomas and start Marty Turco at Anaheim's Honda Center. Reaction from Casa de Fenway was swift and unambiguous.

@NaokoFunayama RT: "Turco Time here in Anaheim" NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO *gasp* OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

— B G (@Fenway_Nation) March 25, 2012

With Turco's disastrous start in Tampa Bay this month in mind, it was easy to overlook his 24 career wins against Anaheim with the Dallas Stars. But it was also folly.

After a scoreless first period, the Bruins got on board thanks to a Zdeno Chara shot from out near the blue line. Chara's goal was followed up 1:22 later by a tally from Benoit Pouliot to give Boston the 2-0 lead. However, about 5 minutes later, the Ducks would get on the board thanks to a power play goal from Teemu Selanne. Selanne's goal lifted him to 4th all-time for career power play goals in the NHL, surpassing Luc Robataille.

In the 3rd, Anaheim looked as though they tied things up at 2-2 with a Matt Beleskey tally, but the goal was waved off after Andrew Cogliano was ruled in the crease. Shortly after that, the Bruins would take a 3-1 lead on a goal from Brian Rolston [who is now riding a 6-game point streak- NANESB]. Anaheim would then pull to within a goal on a Lubomir Vishnovsky tally. Much like Saturday's game in Los Angeles, the Bruins were able to hold off a frantic last-minute attack after the Ducks pulled goalie Jonas Hiller for the extra skater.

With the goal that was waved off earlier in the 3rd, Boston holds on to win by a 3-2 final and goalie Marty Turco gets his first win in a Bruins jersey. Turco made 25 saves on 27 shots while Anaheim's Jonas Hiller stopped 22 of 25 shots faced. The Ducks were 1-3 on the power play while the Bruins went 0-2.

The productive weekend in southern California also puts some distance between the Bruins and the Ottawa Senators- who had briefly overtaken them for first place last week- in the Northeastern Conference. Boston returns home on Tuesday night to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night- the game will be televised on the NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus) and gets under way at 7:30 ET.

RED SOX- Boston relief pitcher Bobby Jenks was arrested by police in Ft Meyers, FL for DUI and hit and run after striking a parked car outside a nightclub and getting pulled over.

Jenks told officers that he had taken some muscle relaxers before admitting "[I'll] be honest with you, I was just leaving Babes [nightclub] because I hit a car. I just had to get out of there."

Jenks appeared in just 19 games for the Red Sox, going 2-2 with a 6.32 ERA before being sidelined by back surgery. Last month, the Sox listed him as being on the 60-day DL.


NBA- The Celtic's 99-86 loss to the 76ers Friday night was an afterthought after Mickael Pietrus left the court on a stretcher after a collision late in the first half. Pietrus was rushed to the hospital, although he was able to leave later that evening. Although remaining on the DL, he was cleared to travel back to Boston to rejoin the team on Sunday.

Although Friday night's loss in Philly cost them a shot at first place, the Celtics made quick work of the Washington Wizards on Sunday, winning by an 88-76 final. The win still leaves them all of a ½ out of first place in the Northeast division once again.

On Monday night, the Celtics will travel to Charlotte to take on the 7-39 Charlotte Bobcats. The game gets underway at 7:00 ET and will be televised on CSNE.

OTHER CELTICS NEWS- Duke freshman Austin Rivers, son of Celtics head coach Doc Rivers, announced that he was leaving for the NBA after just one season. Austin averaged 15.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists this season. With the announcement, Rivers has reportedly signed an agent and has waived his eligibility for playing his sophomore year at Duke.

NCAA HOOPS- Although UConn, Harvard and Vermont all made early exits from the NCAA Tournament, the UMass Minutemen received a berth in the NIT tournament and have made it to the semifinals after beating Drexel by a 72-70 final last week. In the NIT semis, they will face the Stanford Cardinals on Tuesday. The winner will go on to face the winner of the Washington/Minnesota game in the west- also on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, the Final Four has been set, with Kansas, Louisville, Ohio State and Kentucky. Ohio State will take on Kansas on Saturday while Louisville faces Kentucky for the right to advance to the Tournament championship.

NCAA HOCKEY- Speaking of the number four, the Frozen Four is set and will include Boston College after shutting out Minnesota-Duluth by a 4-0 final this weekend. They will face the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the semifinals on April 5th while Union College will take on Ferris State.

Luck O'The Irish Sports Chowdah Update- C's Not So Lucky @ West Coast Tilt; B's Blow Late Lead, Get Past Philly; March Madness Brackets Busted Already

NHL- After a forgettable road trip and briefly being overtaken in the standings by the Ottawa Senators on Friday night, the Boston Bruins were hoping to snap a 4-game losing streak at home on St Patrick's Day.

For whatever reason, the day games have not been kind to the Bruins this season- last weekend's back to back losses to Washington and Pittsburgh were both matinees. And despite the promising start, Saturday's game seemed to be headed the same direction. Although the Bruins got out to the 2-0 lead in the first thanks to tallies by Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin, the visiting Flyers were able to chip away at that lead, getting on the board thanks to a Matt Read power play goal in the 2nd and knotting the contest up at 2-2 after a Jakub Voracek goal late in the 3rd.

Nothing was resolved in OT, so the game headed for a shootout. It was starting to appear as though the shootout wouldn't resolve anything either, with both Thomas and Bryzgalov allowing goals from the first two shooters each of them faced. Listening to the shootout on the radio, I had the feeling that whoever stopped a shot first would win, and while Patrice Bergeron was able to get the puck past Bryzgalov for the 3rd goal of the shootout, Thomas was able to stop Danny Briere's attempt to seal the Bruins win.

Through regulation and OT, Thomas stopped 27 of 29 shots faced while Bryzgalov turned aside 31 of 33 shots faced. The Bruins went 0-2 on the power play while the Flyers were 1 for 4 with the man advantage on Saturday.

The win- coupled with an Ottawa loss to Toronto on Saturday night- puts the Bruins back into first place in the Northeastern division. As of Sunday night, the Senators and Bruins are separated by a point.

The Bruins will next host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night. So far, the B's have a clean sweep of the season series. The game will be televised on NESN and gets underway at 7:00 PM ET Monday.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS- The Bruins have signed LW Shawn Thornton to a two year extention. Thornton was slated to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. THe extension is reportedly worth $1.1 million per season.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- The St Louis Blues are the first NHL team in either conference to clinch a playoff berth this season. The Blues 3-1 win over Tampa Bay on Saturday sealed the deal. Currently the Blues have 100 points, which is 8 more than the next closest team in the Central Division- the Nashville Predators.

NCAA HOCKEY- Boston College won the Hockey East tournament with a 4-1 win over the Maine Black Bears on Saturday night. Eagles netminder Parker Milner made 41 saves against Maine and Eagles freshman Johnny Guardeau had two goals and an assist to garner the tournament MVP honors.

Saturday's win would be Boston College's 3rd consecutive Hockey East Championship. The Eagles draw The US Air Force Academy in the first round of the NCAA Men's Hockey tournament next week. The matchup will take place this upcoming Saturday afternoon at Worcester at 4:00 PM ET.

NCAA HOOPS- If you filled out your brackets last week, chances are you probably wanted to rip them up, throw them out and start over again after a couple of first-round upsets knocked out some heavily favored schools in March Madness.

Most noteworthy was the #15 seeded Norfolk State Spartans took down #2 seed Missouri by an 86-84 final. This was Norfolk State's first trip to the NCAA tournament, but their run came to an end when they were blown out by Florida by an 84-50 final.

Not to be outdone, another #15 seed took down a heavily favored program when Lehigh beat Duke 75-70 on Friday afternoon, although Xavier would end Lehigh's run with a 58-70 loss on Sunday night.

UConn, Harvard and Vermont would all qualify for the NCAA tourney [with the Catamounts getting by Lamar 59-71 to get into the tournament- NANESB!] but all three New England schools wouldn't advance past the first round. UConn lost to Iowa State, Vermont lost to North Carolina and Harvard would lose to Venderbilt.

While the UMass Minutemen had to settle for an invite to the NIT tournament, they have managed to advance to the quarterfinals after beating Mississippi State in OT in the first round and Seton Hall in the 2nd round. They will next face Drexel at 7:00 PM Tuesday night in a game that will be televised on ESPN.

NFL- NFL's free-agency began last week with the Buffalo Bills having signed free-agent defensive end Mario Williams. Williams was the Texans #1 draft pick in the 2006 NFL draft. The contract is reportedly for 6 years and could be worth upwards of $100 million.

OTHER NFL NEWS- The Washington Redskins have spurred talk that they have their sights on former Baylor QB and last year's Heisman winner Robert Griffin III after trading with the St Louis Rams to get the #2 overall pick in the upcoming NFL draft.

The Redskins get the second overall pick in exchange for giving St Louis three 1st round picks and a second round pick.

NBA- Although the second half of the season has been much kinder to the Celtics than it has been the Bruins, the C's are still running into some trouble on their West Coast road trip.

While they did manage back-to-back wins against the LA Clippers and Golden State Warriors, their western tilt started off with a 97-94 loss to the Lakers at the Staples Center and back-to-back losses against Sacramento and Denver.

The C's are still in 2nd place in the Atlantic Division, only a game and a half behind the 76ers. Their road trip continues on Monday- although it will be alot less western- when they travel to Atlanta to take on the 26-19 Hawks for the first time this season.

Monday night's game gets underway at 7:30 ET and will be televised on Comcast Sports New England.

Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- Bruins Get 1st Set of Back-to-Back Wins Since All Star Break; C's Light Up Trailblazers

BOSTON BRUINS- David Krejci scored for the 5th time in the last 5 games and Greg Campbell broke a 19-game scoreless streak in the Bruins come-from-behind win against Buffalo on Thrusday night.

Although the Sabres would get on the board early with a Jason Pominville tally with less than 5 minutes remaining in the 1st, the Bruins would score 3 unanswered goals with Campbell tying the contest up at 1-1 in the second before Johnny Boychuck got the go-ahead goal in the 3rd and Krejci provided some insurance with his tally.

There was no Ryan Miller in net for the Sabres on Thursday- instead, backup Jhonas Enroth got the start between the pipes for Buffalo. Tim Thomas faced 20 shots and stopped all but one. Both teams went 0 for 1 on the power play.

Interestingly, Buffalo headed into Thursday night's contest tied with Washington for 9th place in the Eastern conference at 70 points. Winnipeg was in the 8th and final playoff spot with 72 points, but after Buffalo's 3-1 loss to Boston, Washington's 3-2 OT win over Tampa Bay and Winnipeg losing on the road 3-2 to Vancouver, the Caps and Jets are now tied for the 8th place in the Eastern Conference.

This is worth pointing out because the Caps are Boston's next opponent- the two teams will get together for a Saturday Matinee at the Garden at 1:00 PM ET on the NHL Network before Boston kicks off a 3-game road trip the very next day with another daytime affair- this time against Pittsburgh at the Consaul Energy Center. That game gets underway at 12:30 ET on Sunday on NBC.

Washington will be without the services of defenseman Mike Green, who the League suspended for three games after a hit to the head of Tampa Bay's Brett Connolly in the second period of Thursday night's game against the Lightning. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby could be returning to the ice as early as Sunday's game against Boston after suffering concussion-like symptoms earlier this year.



BOSTON CELTICS- Just two nights after getting routed in Philly, the Celtics rebounded big time against the visiting Portland Trailblazers thanks to 22 points each from Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Kevin Garnett chipped in with 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 10 points on the evening.

The Celtics led 65-30 at the half and led by as many as 43 points early in the 2nd half before pulling their starters- at which point the Blazers went on a 20-3 run and made the final score appear a little closer than it really was.

Boston wins by the final of 104-86 on Friday night. This is their last home game before embarking on an arduous, 8-game road trip starting out on the West Coast that kicks off with a 3:30 PM start against the Lakers at the Staples Center on Sunday afternoon. The Sunday game will be televised on ABC.



NCAA HOCKEY- Top ranked Boston College edged the UMass Minutement in Game 1 of the Hockey East quarterfinals on Friday night. Junior Pat Mullane and (senior) Captain Tommy Cross scored less than 40 seconds apart late in the second period to give the Eagles a quick 2-0 lead. UMass broke the shutout and got within a goal less than 7 minutes into the 3rd thanks to a goal from senior Daniel Hobbs after redirecting a slapshot from fellow senior Michael Marcou to beat junior Eagles netminder Parker Milner. However, Milner would allow no more goals and BC would hang on to win by a 2-1 final.

Milner stopped 26 of the 27 shots he faced Friday night while UMass freshamn Kevin Boyle recorded 16 saves in the Minutemen's losing effort.

The teams resume tournament play Saturday night at the Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA. Puck drops at 7:00 PM ET.

Super Bowl of Sports Chowdah- Patriots No Giant Slayers in Wild 4th Quarter; Mr Thomas Goes To Washington; C's Create Grizzly Scene at Garden;

SUPERBOWL XLVI: Well, this was a tough one to take even though it more or less came down to the final play.

After the weeks of hype and speculation over seemingly everything but the actual game, it was at long last time to play the damn game on Sunday and Superbowl XLVI kicked off on time.

The Giants got the ball to open up the big game, but were unable to score on the opening possession- their opening possession, at least. After getting as far as the Patriots 42, the Giants punted and managed to pin New England deep in their own end. The Patriots offense would have to start off on their own 6 yard line and on the first play, a pressured Brady would be flagged for intentional grounding in his own end zone, resulting in a safety and a 2-0 Giants lead.

The Giants managed to take a 9-0 lead after starting off on their own 22 and capping off the drive inside the Patriots 2 with a pass from Giants QB Eli Manning to WR Victor Cruz.

On their next possession, New England managed to get on the board after getting as far as the Giants 11 yard line early in the 2nd quarter and having to settle for a Gostkowski FG to make it 9-3 Giants.

As the clock was winding down in the 1st half, the Patriots were once again pinned deep in their own territory, starting out from their own 2 yard line with 4:03 left. They managed to move the ball all the way down to the Giants 3 yard line in just under 4 minutes before RB Danny Woodhead caught a short pass from Brady to put the Pats on top with 8 seconds left in the half.

The second half got off to a promising start as well, with the Patriots taking their opening possession of the 2nd half and moving the ball to the Giants 12 yard line before Brady connected with TE Aaron Hernandez to put the Patriots up 17-9.

Although not as quick as the Patriots, the Giants methodically began chipping away at the Patriots lead, coming away with FG's from Lawrence Tynes on their next two possessions to make it a one-point game.

Things didn't start to get really strange until late in the 4th quarter when the Giants started out from their own 12 yard line with 3:46 and on the first play, Manning heaved the ball to midfield only to have it connect with WR Mario Manningham by the narrowest of margins for a pickup of 38 yards. The play was under review for several minutes before the drive resumed at the 50.

After getting the ball inside the New England 10 yard line with about a minute to go in regulation and the Patriots losing a timeout on that challenge, the Giants were content to run one more play on 2nd and goal before bleeding out the clock and bringing out Lawrence Tynes to put the Giants up by one with virtually no time remaining in the game.

Instead, on 2nd and goal, Giants RB Ahmad Bradshaw inadvertently stumbled into the end zone after trying to throw himself down on the 1 yard line and let the clock run out. Although it did net the Giants 6 points, giving them the 21-17 lead, head coach Tom Coughlin was well aware that it would give New England the ball back with just under a minute left in regulation.

With the clock ticking down, two passes from Brady were dropped and he was sacked by DE Justin Tuck with 48 seconds left to bring up 4th and 16. Normally, most people would be thinking 'it's ovah', but Brady found WR Deion Branch for 19 yards and Branch in turn found the sidelines to stop the clock with 39 seconds left. Brady then found Hernandez for another 11 yards with 32 seconds remaining before snapping the ball while the Giants were still getting personnel off the field, killing the clock and moving the ball up five yards.

With five seconds left in SuperBowl XLVI, there was enough time for a Hail Mary that Brady heaved from the 50 yard line into the end zone. Alas, there was no 'Hand of Myra' to be seen that would somehow miraculously save the Patriots at the penultimate second. Instead, the ball jumped harmlessly off the fingertips of some Giants defenders in the end zone and fell to the turf just out of the reach of Rob Gronkowski.

The Giants win their 2nd Super Bowl in 4 years, once again getting past the Patriots in a game that was decided in the final minute. Giants QB Eli Manning was named the Super Bowl MVP and, to the surprise of many, now has more titles than older brother Peyton.



NHL: Virtually undetected on Superbowl Sunday was a series of afternoon games in the NHL [so as not to coincide with the kickoff of the the Superbowl- NANESB!]. The Boston Bruins were on the road at Washington D.C.'s Verizon Center for the first time since Tim Thomas' snub of President Obama.

Unlike the Bruins last trip to D.C., Thomas was actually between the pipes on Sunday and the Bruins actually came away victorious in Sunday's contest. The Bruins got out to a 2-0 lead in the first thanks to goals by Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand. After a scoreless 2nd, Tyler Seguin put the Bruins up 3-0 in the 3rd before the Caps got on the board late with a tally from Marcus Johansson to make it 3-1. Rich Peverly would get the empty netter in the final minute of regulation to make it a 4-1 Boston final.

The Bruins next travel to upstate New York to take on the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday evening. The game will be televised on the NBC Sports network (formerly Versus) and gets underway at 7:30 PM ET.

NCAA HOCKEY: Well- one good thing about the Patriots losing the Superbowl is that we don't have to worry about traffic to and from the Beanpot getting snarled by the inevitable victory parade.

Hard to believe, but the Beanpot college hockey tournament turns 60 this year. The doubleheader got underway on Monday with the BU Terriers dropping Harvard by a 3-1 final while Boston College took care of Northeastern by a 7-1 final.

This sets up the 21st meeting between BC and BU for the Beanpot with the Terriers holding a 12-8 advantage in the history of the tournament.

NBA: Don't look now [Lord knows I haven't- NANESB!] but the Celtics have been able to string together a modest win streak to put them now at 13-10. After squeaking past the Knicks on Friday, the C's handled the Memphis Grizzlies pretty easliy by a 98-80 final at home on Superbowl Sunday. The Celtics have two games remaining in their lengthy homestand including a game against the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday and Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday before hitting the road.