Ash Wednesday Sports Chowdah Update- Goalies From 2011 Stanley Cup Finals Highlight Netminder-Heavy NHL Trade Deadline

BOSTON BRUINS- Despite a lackluster start after the Olympic break, the Boston Bruins have been on a tear lately, winning three in a row after two consecutive losses coming out of the NHL's hiatus for the Sochi games.

After downing the New York Rangers by a 6-3 final at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night, the Bruins returned to the Garden on Tuesday where they faced off against former teammate Tim Thomas- possibly for the last time with the March 6th NHL trade deadline looming. Thanks to a hat trick from David Krejci, the Bruins would go on to win by a 4-1 final.

While there was some activity from the Bruins around the trade deadline, it paled in comparison to some of the other moves that day [more on that later- NANESB!]. Boston obtained young defenseman Andrej Meszaros from the Philadelphia Flyers for a third round pick on the 2014 draft that will automatically shifts to a second round pick should the Bruins advance to the Eastern Conference Finals this year. The Bruins also acquired former Oilers defenseman Corey Potter off of waivers. Potter had 3 goals and an assist in 33 games with Edmonton during the strike-shortened NHL season and hadn't played in the NHL since then.

On Thursday night, the Bruins got a degree of revenge on Washington when Tukka Rask turned aside all 16 shots he faced and the Bruins would go on to win 3-0 thanks to goals by Gregory Campbell and Loui Eriksson in the second and some insurance from Brad Marchand with about 90 seconds to go in the 3rd as he cored an empty-netter. After beating Boston by a 4-2 final on Saturday, the Bruins get some revenge and outshoot the Caps 42-16.

The Bruins will next head on down to the Sunshine State to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 PM and the game will be televised on NESN.





ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- The outdoor games for the NHL- better known as the Stadium Series- have wrapped up for the season. The month of March kicked off with the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins at a snow Soldier Field in Chicago for a nationally televised night game. Patrick Sharp broke the scoreless deadlock and put Chicago on the board first with a goal with 4:25 to go in the first while Jonathan Toews and Kris Versteeg added to the Hawks lead to make it 3-0 in the second. Pittburgh got on the board with a James Neal goal early in the 3rd, but Chicago would add two more- including another Toews goal to make it a 5-1 game.

Meanwhile, in Vancouver the following day, the Senators faced off against the Canucks [dressed as the pre-NHL Millionaires- NANESB!] for the outdoor Heritage Classic at the BC Palace. Although the host Canucks got out to a fairly quick 2-0 lead thanks to tallies by Jason Garrison and Zack Kassian, the Senators would go on to score four unanswered goals and best the struggling Canucks by a 4-2 final in what would turn out to be Roberto Luongo's final game in a Vancouver uniform.

FLORIDA PANTHERS- Which brought us to the tantalizing possibility that the two opposing goalies from the 2011 Stanley Cup Final would be teammates. On Wednesday, it was announced that the Florida Panthers had traded netminder prospect Jakob Markstrom and forward Shawn Matthais to Vancouver for Roberto Luongo and forward Steven Anthony. Although Luongo made his NHL debut with the New York Islanders in 1999, the following season he was traded to the Florida Panthers after they drafted Rick DiPietro as their goalie of the future.

While in Florida, Luongo set a franchise record for save percentage and shutouts [.931 and 7, respectively- NANESB!] during the 2003-2004 season. Two years later, Luongo set a Panthers record for career and single-season wins before being traded to Vancouver in June 2006. Despite several Vezina trophy nominations, Luongo's tenure in Vancouver will most likely be remembered with his remarks about Bruins goalie Tim Thomas Tim Thomas and 'pumping his tires'. Boston would go on to win the Stanley Cup after beating Vancouver at home in a decisive Game 7 that season.

Alas- it apparently wasn't meant to be, for the irony would've been too much for the hockey gods. Instead, within hours of the Luongo deal, Thomas was traded to the Dallas Stars for their backup goaltender, Dan Ellis. Thomas reportedly waived his no-trade clause and is widely expected to back up starting Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen.

ST LOUIS BLUES- There was plenty of wheeling and dealing that didn't involve the starting goalies from the 2011 Stanley Cup finals, however. The slumping Buffalo Sabres were widely expected to unload starting goalie Ryan Miller as the season went on- a month ago it was a question of whether or not he'd be traded from Buffalo before or after the Olympic break.

As it turned out, it was after. On Saturday, the Buffalo Sabres announced that both Ryan Miller and center Steve Ott were traded to the St Louis Blues in exchange for goalie Jaroslav Halak, forward Chris Stewart, prospect William Carrier, a 2015 first round draft pick and a conditional 2016 3rd round draft pick. Miller and Ott make the dramatic transition from one of the worst teams in the NHL to a bona-fide Stanley Cup contender.

On Sunday night, Miller made his debut with the St Louis Blues in Glendale, AZ as the Blues took on the Phoenix Coyotes. Although the Coyotes jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, the Blue scored four unanswered goals in the 3rd period to come away with the 4-2 win. Since then, the Blues have won two more games- a 4-2 home win against the Tampa Bay Lightning and 2-1 road win over the Nashville Predators- to give them a 3-0 record with Miller between the pipes.

SPRING TRAINING- Big Papi finally got off the schnide and broke an 0-8 slump on Friday as the Red Sox hosted the Atlanta Braves at Boston's Spring Training facility in Fort Meyers.

David Ortiz had a 4th inning double and Felix Doubront threw four shutout innings, allowing two hits while striking out three. The Red Sox broke a 1-1 tie with a 3-run uprising against RHP Cody Martin in the bottom of the 7th was enough to give Boston the 4-1 win- only their second win since the start of Spring Training.

Saturday's schedule will lead to all sorts of confusion as they play the Orioles at home AND in Baltimore's Spring Training Facility in split-squad action. The game at the O's park in Sarasota, FL gets underway at 1:05 PM ET while the second split squad game between Baltimore and Boston gets underway at 7:05 PM ET from Fort Meyers.


SPORTS ILLUSTRATED- In the closest thing we have to pin-ups these days, Sports Illustrated is out on the newsstands. Last year, it featured a fur and bikini-clad Kate Upton on the cover in Antarctica, but a photo shoot from this year's SI features the model defying gravity seven miles above the earth on a 727-200F meant to simulate weightlessness that astronauts would have to deal with in space [even in normal gravity, Upton's rack seems to defy the laws of physics, so a bikini-clad Kate Upton in zero-G probably goes above and beyond 'poetry in motion'- NANESB!].

According to a behind-the-scenes article, the weightlessness only lasts 30 seconds, but the company flying the plane can repeat these half-minute weightless intervals 11 times over a 90 minute timeframe. The aircraft hosting the shoot uses dedicated airspace off of Florida's west coast between 24,000 and 35,000 feet.

State of the Sports Chowdah Update- Mile High Clubbed, Broncos Stifle Pats in AFC Title Game; Take it Outside, NHL Kicks Off Stadium Series; Vonn-ed Farewell, Downhill Skiier Lindsey Vonn to Miss Sochi Games

Doug Pensinger- Getty Images

NFL- After trailing 24-0 at the half of their first meeting, trailing by 10 points against Denver at Mile high during halftime if the AFC Championship game might not have seemed so daunting at the half for New England- at least on paper.

However, outside of a 47 yard Gostkowski FG with just under 3 minutes to go in the half the Broncos managed to shut out New England. Even more worrying for the Patriots was the loss of CB Aqib Talib early in the game, which seemed to open up Peyton Manning's air attack even more.

Denver started the scoring late in the first quarter with a 27 yard Prater FG to make it 3-0. The Broncos then capped a 7-minute, 93 yard drive in the 2nd quarter with a rushing TD from TE Jacob Tamme to take a 10-0 lead with just under 8 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter. Inside of the two minute warning, the Patriots defense managed to keep to Broncos out of the end zone, but Denver got another 3 points thanks to a 35 yard Prater FG to make it 13-3 at the half.

After halftime, Denver added to their lead with another time-consuming drive that shaved more than 7 minutes off the clock and took the Broncos 80 yards. The drive was capped with a 3 yard completion from Manning to Demaryius Thomas for another Broncos TD to make it a 20-3 lead.

In fact, New England wouldn't manage to find the end zone until the 4th quarter and only after the Broncos had managed to tack another 3 points on to make it a 23-3 game. With just under 9 and a half minutes to go in regulation, Brady found Julian Edelman for a 7 yard TD reception and make it a 23-10 game.

On their next drive, the Broncos would get as far as the New England 36 and seemingly put the game out of reach thanks to a 54 yard Prater FG, giving Denver a 26-10 lead with 7 minutes to go.

The Patriots would get the ball back on their own 20 and Brady would cap the drive by making a 5 yard TD run himself but the subsequent two point conversion attempt failed, leaving it a 10 point game with just over 3 minutes left. All Denver really needed to do is get a few first downs and run out the clock- and that's exactly what happened as the Patriots burned their remaining timeouts to try and preserve the clock.

The win propels the Broncos to their first Super Bowl since the 1998 season (and Peyton Manning's first since 2006). Manning went 32-43 and threw for 400 yards on the day while Brady went 24-38 with 277 yards and one passing and one rushing TD. Although the Pats mostly kept Knowshown Moreno in check, but that made little difference as Manning's air attack seemed to open up even more after Talib's early departure.

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP- The Broncos would have to wait a little while to find out who they'd be playing at the Meadowlands in Super Bowl XLVIII. As it turned out, the NFC title game between Western division rivals Seattle and San Francisco would be much more competitive than the earlier AFC Championship game.

With Seattle taking a 20-17 lead on a TD pass from Russell Wilson to Jermaine Kearse earlt in the 4th, there was still plenty of time for the 49ers to come back- even when the Seahawks added to their lead with a 47 yard FG to make it a 23-17 game with just under four minutes to go.

The game-deciding drive got underway when the 49ers started out from their own 22 with just over 3 and a half minutes remaining. After moving the ball downfield and getting inside the Seattle Red Zone, Seahawks All Pro cornerback Richard Sherman tipped Colin Kaepernick's pass attempt to teammate Malcom Smith to clinch the game with 22 seconds left.

Of course, the actual game seemed to pale in comparison to Sherman's postgame interview with FOX Sports' Erin Andrews where he ripped Michael Crabtree as a 'sorry' receiver [it apparently was one of the few times Kaepernick attempted to throw to a receiver covered by Crabtree that day- NANESB!].

The win sets up a Big Game matchup between teams from two cities that- as others have pointed out- have recently legalized marijuana, lending new significance to the phrase Super Bowl.

Kickoff for Superbowl XLVIII is scheduled for Sunday, Feb 2nd at 6:30 PM ET from the Meadowlands in E. Rutherford, NJ and the game will be televised on FOX.

Elise Amendola

NHL- It's been a busy week for the Boston Bruins- a week in which good things come in sixes, apparently.

Over the weekend, they travelled to Philly where they beat the Flyers by a 6-1 final before heading to Uniondale, NY on Monday night and beat the Islanders by a 6-3 final. Tuesday night marked the Bruins return to the Garden as well as a homecoming of sorts for former Bruin and Catamount and 2011 Vezina and Conn Smythe trophy winner Tim Thomas, who resumed his NHL career earlier this year with the Florida Panthers.

The Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first thanks for goals by Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara before doubling their lead in the second with another Lucic tally and a power play goal by Reilly Smith to make it 4-0. The Panthers were able to get on the board in the closing seconds of the 2nd period thanks to a Bard Boyes tally. Four minutes into the 3rd period, the Panthers were able to cut the Boston lead in half thanks to a Dmitri Kulikov goal, making it a 4-2 game. However, that would be as close as the Panthers would get as Shawn Thornton and David Krejci would score for Boston to put the B's up 6-2.

Things got kind of testy towards the end of the game when Tim Thomas delivered a stick to defenseman Carl Soderberg's head in the closing seconds of the game. Thomas was given a high-sticking minor with only a few seconds to go when the game was already decided and Boston goes on the cruise to a 6-2 win over Florida.

This sets up an Original 6 matchup for Thursday night with the Bruins hosting the Montreal Canadiens at the Garden. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN and the NHL Network.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- For the 2013-2014 season, the New Year's Day Winter Classic didn't end with the Red Wings vs Maple Leafs game from the Big House in Michigan.

On Saturday night, the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings faced off in Dodgers Stadium for the first-ever warm weather outdoor regular season NHL game. The host LA Kings ultimately fell to their Orange County rivals by a 3-0 final.

But the outdoor games didn't end in the city of Angels. The very next day on the other side of the country, the New York Rangers began what would be the first of two games [interestingly one 'home' and one 'away'- NANESB!] at Yankee stadium. On Sunday afternoon, the Blueshirts were trailing the Devils 3-1 in the first period when they managed to score six unanswered goals on Martin Brodeur. On Wednesday night, the Rangers took on the Islanders as the 'away' team and broke a 1-1 deadlock in the 3rd with a go-ahead goal from Dan Carcillo in the 3rd to help the Rangers win and sweep the series at Yankee stadium.

There remains two more outdoor for the NHL this season- a Feb 1st matchup at Chicago's Soldier Field that pits the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks against the Pittsburgh Penguins and a March 2nd all-Canada contest between the Vancouver Canucks and Ottawa Senators at the BC Palace Stadium in Vancouver, BC.

SI Photo
WINTER OLYMPICS- Downhill Skier Lindsey Vonn announced that she will not be competing in the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, saying that an earlier right knee injury she suffered is taking longer than she anticipated to heal. Instead, the 2010 Gold Medalist will travel to Sochi as a correspondent for NBC and a spokesman said earlier this month that she is expected to undergo surgery.

Vonn took gold Gold in the downhill event at the 2010 Winter games in Vancouver as well as a Bronze in the Super G event. Lindsey also has gold medals in Super G and downhill from the 2009 Alpine World Skiing Championships in Val d'Isère, France.

Five Alive Sports Chowdah Update- Lester, Red Sox Bullpen Keeps Lid on Tigers Bats; Bird Watch- St Louis Advances to World Series; Bruins Encounter Some-Tim Familiar in Florida

Rick Osentoski- USA Today

RED SOX- After Wednesday night's lackluster start by Jake Peavy and Detroit's 7-3 win over Boston, the ALCS became a best of three series with the Tigers evening things up at 2 games each. Tigers manager Jim Leyland's shakeup of the Tigers lineup seemed to pay dividends for Detroit and they were hoping to keep that going for Game 5 on Thursday night.

The last time the Red Sox faced Anibal Sanchez, he didn't allow a single hit and the Tigers bullpen held Boston hitless until the bottom of the 9th in Game 1. Game 5 of the ALCS was a slightly different story. This time, the Red Sox didn't have to wait nearly as long for their first hit against Sanchez, starting with a 2-out single by Pedroia in the top of the first.

On Thursday night, the Red Sox were looking pull ahead in the series and got out of an early jam in the bottom of the first when Miguel Cabrera attempted to come home from second on a two out Jhonny Peralta single, but was cut down at the plate by David Ross to end the early Tigers threat.



The Red Sox got on the board in the top of the second thanks to a leadoff homer by Mike Napoli- a 3-1 offering that was blasted at least 440 feet into dead center. Johnny Gomes then reached first safely on a throwing error by Miguel Cabrera and after Stephen Drew struck out, Xander Bogaerts doubled to left to give the Red Sox had runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. David Ross then doubled to deep left, plating Gomes and moving Bogaerts to 3rd. Ellsbury then lined a hit off of Sanchez's glove that trickled to a halt on the infield grass behind the pitcher's mound between first and second, allowing Bogarts coming to home and giving the Red Sox a 3-0 lead. Shane Victorino then hit into a fielder's choice where David Ross plowed into catcher Alex Avila at the plate where he was called out. The inning ended when Pedroia grounded into a fielder's choice at shortstop.

Meanwhile, Lester had settled down, allowing only an Austin Jackson single in the bottom of the bottom of the 2nd. In the top of the 3rd, Napoli belted a ground-rule double and advanced to third on a Gomes groundout. Napoli then came home on a wild pitch by Sanchez to make it a 4-0 game.

Lester would then pitch two scoreless innings before Detroit got on the board thanks to a 2-out Miguel Cabrera RBI single. Detroit would then cut the Red Sox lead in half after Victor Martinez led off the inning with a walk to Victor Martinez before striking out Jhonny Peralta and allowing a single to Omar Infante. Lester was pulled for Junichi Tazawa, giving up a single to Barayan Pena before getting Austin Jackson to ground into a double play to end the inning.

Detroit would threaten again in the bottom of the 7th after Tazawa gave up back to back singles to Jose Iglesias and Torii Hunter. While a run did come home, whittling the Boston lead down to 1, the Red Sox got two much-needed outs when Miguel Cabrera hit into a double play. Craig Breslow would then come on in relief of Tazawa and get Prince Fielder to ground out and end the Tigers rally.

Meanwhile, Jose Veras was cruising after coming out of the Tigers bullpen, getting Napoli, Gomes and Drew out in order in the top of the 8th. After Breslow got Victor Martinez out with a groundout to leadoff the inning, manager John Farrell made the unconventional decision to bring Koji Uehara out of the bullpen for a 5-out save, striking out Jhonny Peralta and Omar Infante. While the Red Sox managed to threaten with runners on second and third with one away before Al Albuquerque struck out Victorino and got Pedroia to fly out to shallow center field.

For the bottom of the 9th, Uehara got three straight flyouts to end the ballgame, securing the Red Sox win and securing a 3 games to two advantage in the ALCS, winning by a 4-3 final. The Red Sox head back to Fenway needing just one more win to advance to the World Series and Clay Buchholz is scheduled to get the start against Max Scherzer for Game 6. First pitch is scheduled for 8:07 PM on Saturday and the game will be televised on FOX.

A couple of notes from Game 5- Mike Napoli went 3-4 with 1 homer and an RBI and crossed home plate twice, making him 6 for 16 with 2 homers and 2 RBI in the ALCS. Xander Bogaerts became the youngest starter in Red Sox history to appear in the postseason. All of Boston's ALCS victories have come by a margin of one run.


NLCS- Regardless of who wins the ALCS over the weekend, it will be a rematch of either the 2004 or 2006 World Series as the St Louis Cardinals took the deciding Game 6 of the NLCS by a convincing 9-0 final. Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw was roughed up, allowing 10 hits and 7 earned runs in just four innings of work while Cardinals starter Michael Wacha threw 7 shutout innings of two-hit baseball. Although the first two innings started out as a scoreless tie, the Cardinals broke the game open in the bottom of the third thanks to RBI singles from Carlos Beltran, Yadier Molina and Shane Robinson. Robinson's two out, 2-RBI single would be all the Cardinals needed, getting five more runs in the bottom of the 5th and having their bullpen throw two shutout innings in relief of former Texas A&M Aggie Wacha.

The Cardinals cruise to a 9-0 victory over LA and await the winner of this weekend's ALCS at Fenway after winning the National League championship series 4 games to two.

Alan Diaz- AP

BOSTON BRUINS- The Bruins came up short in that OTHER Detroit vs Boston game this week before embarking on a road trip that started off in the sunshine State.

While in Sunrise, the B's encountered a familiar face in the decidedly un-retired Tim Thomas, who signed on to a 1 year contract with the Florida Panthers after a late September tryout with the team.

In the first, the Bruins were able to notch two tallies past their former teammate- one from Danny Paille and a power play goal from Dougie Hamilton to give Boston a 2-0 lead.

After the first intermission, the Panthers got on the board and cut the Bruins lead in half with a Kris Versteeg goal for the only score of the 2nd period. Florida than got the game-tying goal with six minutes to go in regulation thanks to Jesse Winchester. Acquired in the Tyler Seguin trade with Dallas in the offseason, Reilly Smith notched his first goal with Boston after beating Thomas with 59 seconds to go in the game, giving Boston the 3-2 win as the Bruins held on for the win with less than a minute to go.

Boston goes on to win by the 3-2 final in Sunrise, giving them a 4-2 record in the young 2013/2014 season so far. Rask stopped 27 of 29 shots faced while Thomas turned aside 37 of 40 shots faced [even after Thomas left the Bruins, didn't think I'd be doing a game recap with Rask and Thomas in opposite nets- NANESB!] and Boston was 1-3 on the power play.

The Bruins will stay in Florida for their next game, heading over to Tampa to take on the 5-2 Lightning. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

Sports Chowdah Update for 1/16/12- It's Tebow-vah! Pats Get Big Win After 1st Round Bye; B's Start off Road Trip w/Southeastern Split; 49ers Grab Win

Jim Rogash/Getty Images

Q: What's the difference between Tim Tebow and Barack Obama?

A: One is a charlatan and a phony Messiah who had a bunch of people fooled after some convincing performances in Denver. The other plays football for the Broncos.

PATRIOTS: As it turned out, the rematch of the regular season game between Denver and New England wasn't even close.

After a week of buildup in which many who had previously had a hard time taking the Broncos and QB Tim Tebow had since jumped on the Tebowmania and seriously predicted Denver's miracle run to continue.

For the opening posesson of the game, the Patriots started out on their own 20 and drove down the field thanks to a 43 yard run by TE Aaron Hernandez followed by a short 7 yard Brady to Welker TD pass to take the early 7-0 lead.

The Broncos were able to get a pretty good drive going on their next posession, starting out on their own 24 and advancing as far as the Patriots 37 yard line before LB Rod Ninkovitch sacked Tim Tebow, forcing a fumble that Pats LB Brandon Spikes recovered.

The Patriots were able to capitalize on the turnover as Brady capped the drive off with a 10 yard TD Pass to TE Rob Gronkowski to make it 14-0 in favor of New England.

When Denver got the ball back, they managed to get the ball as far as mid-field before being stopped on 3rd and 5 and punting. However, after pinning New England inside their own 15 yard line, Broncos free safety Quentin Carter picked off a Brady pass attempt and returned the ball to the Patriots 24 yard line, giving Denver an extremely short field to work with. Denver's short drive was capped off with a 5 yard TD run from RB Willis McGahee to cut the Patriots' lead in half, making it a 14-7 game.

However, that's as close as it would get for the Broncos as New England would score 21 unanswered points in the remainder in the first half (including a 61 yard catch and run from WR Deion Branch and two TDs from Brady to Gronkowski).

In the 3rd quarter, Brady completed a 17 yard TD pass to Aaron Hernandez to make it a 42-7 game and tie an NFL postseaon record with Steve Young for most TDs in an NFL postseason game (the 49ers Steve Young accomplished this in Super Bowl XXXIX against the San Diego Chargers). For the remainder of the game, the Broncos and Patriots would swap Field goals, making it a 45-10 game.



Brady even got a decent punt off late in the 4th, but that was overshadowed by the donnybrook that took place immediately after the kick. However, Tebow-mania is done for the season and the New England Patriots will now host the Baltimore Ravens at Gilette Stadium next weekend. New England wins this one by a 45-10 final with Brady going 26 of 34, 363 yards, 6 TDs and one interception. Rob Gronkowski accounted for half of those TDs, with 10 catches on the day and 145 yards.

The following day, the Baltimore Ravens held on late to win against the Houston Texans at home to advance to the AFC Champtionship game against New England which will take place at 3:00 PM ET at Foxborough, MA and be televised on CBS.

OTHER PATRIOTS NEWS: Patriots owner Robert Kraft invited the family of Peabody, MA fireman James Rice to Saturday's game. Rice, an 11 year veteran of the Peabody FD, was killed in a December 23rd apartment fire and was laid to rest on December 30th.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: Even if you weren't a fan of the 49ers or Saints, the game that preceeded Saturday's Broncos/Patriots game was worth tuning in for.

The 49ers got off to an early and seemingly commanding 17-0 lead, but the Saints and Drew Brees was able to chip away at it heading into halftime trailing by just a field goal, with the score at 17-14. A fairly quiet 3rd quarter set up an absolutely chaotic 4th that saw no fewer than three lead changes in the final 4:02.

After the Saints took a 32-39 lead with 1:37 to go in regulation, it appeared as though the 49ers were attemtping to play for the tie and set up overtime. With 1:12 to go and starting from the own 15, 49ers QB Alex Smith managed to drive the team as far down as the Saints 14 yard line, setting up this play to TE Vernon Davis:


San Francisco goes on to win by a final of 36-32. This sets up an NFC Championship game at home against the New York Giants, who stunned the defending Superbowl Champion Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday by a 37-20 final.

Joel Auerbach/Getty Images

NHL: After a lackluster start to their most recent road trip this weekend [namely a 4-2 loss in Raliegh, NC to the Carolina Hurricanes that few people saw because it was taking place concurrently with the Patriots taking Denver to the woodshed- NANESB!], the Bruins continued their swing through the Southeastern Division on Monday night, facing the division-leading Florida Panthers in Sunrise, FL.

Despite getting outshot 9-1 to start off the first period, Patrice Bergeron got Boston on the board less than 90 seconds after the puck dropped for the opening stanza. Despite being outshot by a total of 12-6, the Bruins carried that slender 1-0 lead into the 1st intermission. Panthers defenseman Jason Garrison would tie things up at 1-1 after getting the puck past Tukka Rask in the 2nd.

The Bruins would then re-take the lead with a power-play goal from from Bergeron with about 5 minutes to go in the 2nd. However, with just a few seconds remaining in the 2nd, Panthers C Shawn Matthias knotted up things at 2-2 with an even-strength goal.

After a scoreless 3rd period and OT, the game went to a shootout, with the first two shooters from each team missing on their opportunities. Stephen Weiss made his opportunuty count and Patrice Bergeron got the Bruins first goal of the shootout. However, Mikael Samuelsson missed his shootout opportunity for the Patherns and David Krejci was able to ice the win with his shootout goal against Scott Clemmensen.

Tukka Rask turned aside 38 of the 40 shots he faced in regulation and OT while Clemmensen stopped 32 of 35 faced. Boston was able to convert on their only power play opportunity of the night while the Panthers went 0-2 with the man advantage.

Although the Bruins remain atop the Northeast Division as far as the standings go, they're a point behind two other teams in the NHL at the moment- neither one of them having faced Boston; the NY Rangers and St Louis Blues.

On Tuesday night, the Bruins will face the hard-luck Tampa Bay Lightning who have lost 7 in a row. Puck will drop at 7:30 PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

NBA: The Celtics woes continue as they have now dropped five striaght, losing to the Chicago Bulls on Firday night, on the road to the Pacers on Saturday and then getting dropped by an 88-97 final by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday.

The C's will try and snap their skid on Wednesday night, when they face the 4-10 Toronto Raptors at the Graden. The game will be televised on CSNE and tips off at 7:30 PM ET

Sudden Realignment Sports Chowdah For 12/8- House Subdivided, Massive NHL Shift Ahead; Go East Young Man! California, Idaho Schools To Join Big East

NHL: The Boston Bruins impressive streak of going without a regulation loss since October 29th came to an end on the frigid windswept Manitoba plains Tuesday night.

The B's were without the services of Tyler Seguin for their first trip back to Winnipeg since 1995. Seguin reportedly missed a team meeting on Tuesday morning and as a result was scratched from the lineup. Tim Thomas also had Tuesday night off, with Tukka Rask starting in goal.

The Jets got on the board first with a goal from LW Andrew Ladd late in the first. After a scoreless second, the Bruins managed to tie the game at 1-1 early in the 3rd with a tally from Shawn Thornton. However, about 90 seconds later Bryan Little would get the go-ahead goal for Winnipeg, which would turn out to be the game-winner.

Tukka Rask stopped 33 of 35 shots faced while Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec stopped 39 of 40 shots faced and both teams went 0 for 3 on the power play on Tuesday night.

Some home cooking didn't help the Bruins much on Thursday night either when they returned to the Garden for what amounts to a quickie 1-game homestand. Thursday night's game against the Southeast-leading Florida Panthers remained scoreless all the way until late in the 3rd period, when the Panthers got on the board thanks to a goal from Florida's Tomas Kopecky with 2:22 in regulation. With a little over a minute to go, the Bruins pulled Tim Thomas, but Kris Versteeg got the empty-netter to make it a 2-0 Florida lead with 52 seconds remaining.

Tim Thomas turned aside 28 of 29 shots faced while Florida goaltender Jose Theodore stopped all 40 shots he faced on the evening. Neither team scored on the Power play- with the Bruins getting 4 opportunities and the Panthers getting just one.

Since upending the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night, the Bruins have lost two in a row and have been overtaken in the Eastern Conference lead by both Florida and Philadelphia (Philly took care of the Penguins in a Keystone State matchup on Thursday night).

For their next game, the Bruins will travel to Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH to take on the Blue Jackets Saturday evening. Puck drops at 7 PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

Chart outlining the proposed conference realignment

NHL REALIGNMENT: The NHL Board of Governors authorized a radical new plan that would realign the entire NHL into four conferences instead of the current format of two conferences with three divisions each. The new alignment would take effect at the start of the 2012-2013 season and is pending the approval of the NHL Player's Association.

Under the proposal, the unnamed Conference the Bruins are in would resemble the current Northeast Division. Ottawa, Buffalo, Montreal and Toronto would be in the same Conference, but the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning would also be added.

The new format also guarantees that each team in the league would play each other at least twice- once at home and once on the road.

This was considered in part as a solution to the Thrasher's move to Winnipeg, yet still playing in the Southeast conference where the closest team is 1500 miles away. Initially, there was talk of solving this by having Winnipeg switch Divisions with Columbus or even Detroit (personally, I though trading places with Nashville would've made more sense).


ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: Just to let you know, Paulina Gretzky's twitter account is still showing signs of life (however sporadic) after numerous media reports claimed she was deleting the account.

NCAA FOOTBALL: With only one regular season game to go [Saturday's Army/Navy game from FedEx Field in suburban Washington D.C.- NANESB!], the complete 2011-12 bowl schedule has been released this week. Perhaps the biggest surprise (or disappointment if you're not an SEC fan) is Alabama playing Louisiana State for the BCS title game in New Orleans instead of an Oklahoma State/Louisiana State matchup.

As I rather glumly and dejectedly pointed out earlier this week, none of the New England BCS schools are bowl-eligible this season. Sadly, neither Army or Navy are bowl-eligible this season. The only service academy that's going to a bowl game this season is Air Force- they have Toledo on 12/28 in the Military Bowl at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C.

Without any further delay, I bring you this season's bowl-a-palooza:

Gildan New Mexico Bowl
Temple vs. Wyoming
Albuquerque, N.M.
University Stadium
Dec. 17/2 p.m. ESPN

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Ohio vs. Utah State
Boise, Idaho
Bronco Stadium
Dec. 17/5:30 p.m. ESPN

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
San Diego State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette
New Orleans
Mercedes-Benz Superdome
Dec. 17/9 p.m. ESPN

Beef O' Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl
Florida International vs. Marshall
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Tropicana Field
Dec. 20/8 p.m. ESPN

S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
TCU vs. Louisiana Tech
San Diego
Qualcomm Stadium
Dec. 21/8 p.m. ESPN

MAACO Las Vegas Bowl
Arizona State vs. Boise State
Las Vegas
Sam Boyd Stadium
Dec. 22/8 p.m. ESPN

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
Nevada vs. Southern Miss
Honolulu
Aloha Stadium
Dec. 24/8 p.m. ESPN

AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl
Missouri vs. North Carolina
Shreveport, La.
Independence Stadium
Dec. 26/5 p.m. ESPN2

Little Caesars Bowl
Western Michigan vs. Purdue
Detroit
Ford Field
Dec. 274:30 p.m. ESPN

Belk Bowl
Louisville vs. NC State
Charlotte, N.C.
Bank of America Stadium
Dec. 27/8 p.m. ESPN

Military Bowl Presented By Northrop Grumman
Toledo vs. Air Force
Washington, D.C.
RFK Stadium
Dec. 28/4:30 p.m. ESPN

Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl
California vs. Texas
San Diego
Qualcomm Stadium
Dec. 28/8 p.m. ESPN

Champs Sports Bowl
Florida State vs. Notre Dame
Orlando, Fla.
Florida Citrus Bowl
Dec. 29/5:30 p.m. ESPN

Valero Alamo Bowl
Washington vs. Baylor
San Antonio
Alamodome
Dec. 29/9 p.m. ESPN

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl
BYU vs. Tulsa
Dallas
Gerald J. Ford Stadium
Dec. 30/Noon ESPN

New Era Pinstripe Bowl
Rutgers vs. Iowa State
Bronx, N.Y.
Yankee Stadium
Dec. 30/3:20 p.m. ESPN

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl
Mississippi State vs. Wake Forest
Nashville, Tenn.
LP Field
Dec. 30/6:40 p.m. ESPN

Insight Bowl
Iowa vs. Oklahoma
Tempe, Ariz.
Sun Devil Stadium
Dec. 30/10 p.m. ESPN

Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl
Texas A&M vs. Northwestern
Houston
Reliant Stadium
Dec. 31/Noon ESPN

Hyundai Sun Bowl
Georgia Tech vs. Utah
El Paso, Texas
Sun Bowl
Dec. 31/2 p.m. CBS

AutoZone Liberty Bowl
Cincinnati vs. Vanderbilt
Memphis, Tenn.
Liberty Bowl
Dec. 31/3:30 p.m. ABC

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl
Illinois vs. UCLA
San Francisco
AT&T Park
Dec. 31/3:30 p.m. ESPN

Chick-fil-A Bowl
Virginia vs. Auburn
Atlanta
Georgia Dome
Dec. 31/7:30 p.m. ESPN

TicketCity Bowl
Houston vs. Penn State
Dallas
Cotton Bowl
Jan. 2/Noon ESPNU

Capital One Bowl
Nebraska vs. South Carolina
Orlando, Fla.
Florida Citrus Bowl
Jan. 2/1 p.m. ESPN

Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl
Ohio State vs. Florida
Jacksonville, Fla.
EverBank Field
Jan. 2/1 p.m. ESPN2

Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio
Wisconsin vs. Oregon
Pasadena, Calif.
Rose Bowl
Jan. 2/5 p.m. ESPN

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
Stanford vs. Oklahoma State
Glendale, Ariz.
U. of Phoenix Stadium
Jan. 2/8:30 p.m. ESPN

Allstate Sugar Bowl
Michigan vs. Virginia Tech
New Orleans
Louisiana Superdome
Jan. 3/8:30 p.m. ESPN

Discover Orange Bowl
West Virginia vs. Clemson
Miami
Sun Life Stadium
Jan. 4/8:30 p.m. ESPN

AT&T Cotton Bowl
Kansas State vs. Arkansas
Arlington, Texas
Cowboys Stadium
Jan. 6/8 p.m. FOX

BBVA Compass Bowl
SMU vs. Pittsburgh
Birmingham, Ala.
Legion Field
Jan. 7/1 p.m. ESPN

GoDaddy.com Bowl
Arkansas State vs. Northern Illinois
Mobile, Ala.
Ladd-Peebles Stadium
Jan. 8/9 p.m. ESPN

Allstate BCS National Championship Game
No. 1 LSU vs. No. 2 Alabama
New Orleans
Louisiana Superdome
Jan. 9/8:30 p.m. ESPN

OTHER NCAA FOOTBALL NEWS: The Big East Conference announced that Boise State and San Diego State Universities will be joining them as football-only members starting in 2013. The Broncos and Aztecs will be joining them from the Mountain West conference while the Big East will also add Houston, Southern Methodist and Central Florida will be joining them from Conference USA in all athletic programs starting in 2013.

[Between the University of Massachusetts Minutemen joining the Mid America Conference and the San Diego State Aztecs joining the Big East, I can't wait until the two teams get together for the 2013 'Piss Poor Geography' Bowl- NANESB!]

AP Photo

NFL: After leaving Thursday night's Browns/Steelers game in the second quarter with what was described as a high ankle injury, it looked as though Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger was done for the night, if not the next few weeks.

However, with a 7-3 lead, the Steelers were still very much in it even before Roethlisberger returned in the 2nd half. With 2:52 to go in the 4th quarter, Pittsburgh would pad their lead over the Browns thanks to a Roethlisberger pass to WR Antonio brown for a 79 yard pass and run for the end zone to make it 14-3, which also happened to be the final score.

The Steelers will have a much more difficult test next Monday when they play the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night football. San Francisco has already clinched the NFC West title.

OTHER NFL NEWS: Former San Diego Chargers linebacker Lew Bush- who was with the team during their sole Super Bowl appearence during the 1994 season- has passed away at the age of 42, dead from what the AP indicates is an apparent heart attack. A Washington State alumni, Bush played in the NFL for 9 seasons- six of them with the Chargers and the final three with the Kansas City Chiefs.

MLB: Former St Louis Cardinals 1st Baseman Albert Pujols is heading to Southern California. The Angels are said to have reached a deal with the Cardinals slugger for 10 years that's reportedly worth more than $250 million.

While many had projected the Cards star first baseman might be part of a revamped Florida Miami Marlins, Pujols decided to head west instead and joins other big money players on the Anaheim roster such as outfielders Vernon Wells or Torii Hunter.

Meanwhile, in South Beach, although the Marlins came up empty in their pursuit of Pujols, they did sign former White Sox starter Mark Buehrle to a 4 year, $58 million deal. Buehrle went 13-9 with a 3.58 ERA for the ChiSox last year. The Marlins also managed to sign former Padres closer Heath Bell and Mets shortstop Jose Reyes. Bell had 42 saves for the Padres last season with a 2.44 ERA and 51 strikeouts. Reyes had a batting average of .337 with 7 homers and 44 RBIs for the Mets last season.

Quickie All Star Sports Chowdah Break- Bruins Head Into All Star Break Atop Division; Celtics Start West Coast Trip

NHL- After finishing up their West Coast road trip with a 2-0 loss to Los Angeles, the Bruins had time for one more game at the Garden before the NHL all-star break on Wednesday night.

Before packing his bags and heading off to the NHL All Star Game in Raleigh, NC Tim Thomas had 34 saves in Boston's 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers. Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic each had goals for the Bruins as they managed to hold off a late flurry from Florida.

Thomas leads the league with a 1.81 Goals Against Average and a .945 save percentage, and the Bruins enter the All-Star break in third place in the Eastern Conference and 1st in the Northeastern conference. Besides Tim Thomas, burly Bruins defender Zdeno Chara is also heading off to the All Star Game.

The format for this year's NHL All Star game is different- instead of Team North America vs Team Europe or East vs West, two Captains (Erik Staal of the Hurricanes and Nick Lidstrom of the Red Wings) had a draft on Friday night. Zdeno Chara wound up on Team Staal while Thomas was selected for Team Lidstrom.

Chara and Thomas will stay in Raleigh and be rejoined by the rest of the team come Tuesday when they take on the Hurricanes at the RBC Center.

NBA- The Celtics wound up losing a physical Firday night game to the Phoenix Suns by an 88-71, the stage is set for a rematch of last season's NBA Finals on Sunday where the LA Lakers will host the Celtics.

Pre Holiday Sports Chowdah- Peyton's Misplaced; Recchi-ng Ball Hits NHL Milestone; BC, UConn Can Go Bowling; C's Oversee Net Losses

NFL: Wow....I've been meaning to get caught up on this for awhile now.

So...did any of you see that Colts/Pats game on Sunday? And with less than a minute to go in the 4th, Peyton Manning was all 'I think I'll put us in position for the game tying field goal or even get a game winning TD' and James Sanders was like all 'Nuh-uh!' and 'Yoink!' when he intercepted Manning's 1st and 10 pass attempt at the Pats 6 yard line?

Yeah- that was pretty awesome.

You know what else was awesome? When Danny Woodhead scrambled for that 36 yard TD run to make it a 28-14 New England lead towards the end of the third quarter. Seriously, thank you Jets for giving up on the diminutive RB and cutting him loose at the start of the season.

Anywhoo, granted that this is old news, but I thought worth re-visiting by virtue of the outcome. The Pats led by as much as 21-7 until the closing seconds of the first half and 31-14 early in the 4th quarter. However, New England would watch its once sizable lead evaporate when Peyton Manning put together two TD drives, each clocking in at about two and a half minutes and working on what could very well have been a 3rd touchdown drive were it not for Pat's safety James Sanders timely interception at the New England 6 yard line.

Seriously- even tho' Manning almost managed to dig himself the early hole with those two earlier interceptions, did anybody think that the Colts would jusr roll over like spayed cocker spaniel? Me neither...

New England hangs on to win by the final of 31-28- not pretty or the strongest of finishes, but certainly effective. Brady went 19-25 with 186 passing yards and two TDs. Danny Woodhead had 7 carries for 69 yards and the TD while Brandon Merriweather, Devin McCourty, and of course James Sanders, each had interceptions on the day.

The Pats will travel next to Ford Field to take on the Detroit Tigers on Thanksgiving Day at 12:30 PM ET, 9:30 AM Pacific

Joel Auerbach/Getty

Coming off of a brief 2-game skid in which they lost in overtime at home to the LA Kings over the weekend and were downed by the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 on Monday night, the Boston Bruins would continue their swing through the sunshine state in the hopes of halting their losing streak- or at least having Mark Recchi score his 1500th career point- while visiting the Florida Panthers Wednesday night.

Hmm...How about both?

After falling behind 1-0 late in the 2nd, the Bruins responded by scoring a shorthanded goal from Brad Marchand only 8 seconds into the third period to tie the game up at 1-1. Just under 3 minutes later, Recchi got the go ahead tally on an even strength goal as well as an insurance goal that came on a Bruins power play with 4 minutes remaining in the 3rd. Bruins win by the final of 3-1. Tim Thomas now has an 11-1-1 record after stopping 31 shots faced and Mark Recchi now becomes the 13th player to reach the 1500 point mark.

The Bruins will next take on the Carolina Hurricanes at noon Eastern on Friday, Nov. 26.

NCAA FOOTBALL: After dropping five straight, including four against ACC opponent, who would'vc thought the Boston College Eagles would be bowl-eligible?

But that's exactly what happened after BC's 17-13 win over Virginia on Saturday, although with one game remaining against Syracuse this season, it begs the question of whether or not BC will even get an invite.

Speaking of Syracuse, that's exactly who the UConn Huskies had as their opponent at an away game inside the Carrier Dome on Saturday night. With the 23-6 win, Connecticut is now bowl-eligilbe as well, with a 6-4 record. The Huskies will take on the Cincinnati Bearcats at home on noon Saturday before closing out regular season play on the road against the South Florida Bulls the following weekend.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: Two different ballparks were put to use in the offseason by the NCAA as football venues. Wrigley Field hosted it's first football game in nearly 40 years when the Wrigleyville Classic between Northwestern and Illinois. Less than 36 hours before kickoff, Big 10 officials announced that due to the tight confines of the East end zone up against a brick wall, plays would only be run towards the west end zone (Wrigley's 3rd base dugout). The only time there was any action in the West End zone was when Northwestern safety Brian Peters returned an interception 59 yards to the forbidden end zone in Northwestern's 27-48 loss to Illinois.

Halfway across the country, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish beat down the US Army Black Knights in the Bronx in a game that was primarily noteworthy for being the first NCAA football game in the new Yankee stadium. The 27-3 win for the Irish means that they are now bowl-eligible after garnering a 6-5 record while Army came into Yankee stadiun already bowl-eligible after their 45-28 win over Kent State on Nov. 13.

NBA: After losing two fairly close games to a Kevin Durant-less Oklahoma City Thunder and the Toronto Raptors, The C's won back-to-back games starting with a 99-76 blowout of the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of Wednesday's mathchup against the Nets was how well Shaq was playing (9-10 with 25 points and 7 of 13 from the free throw line) after losing Rajon Rondo to a hamstring injury while losing Delonte West to a broken right wrist in the 89-83 win over New Jersey.

The C's next game will be at home against the Toronto Raptors on Friday night

Campbell's Bitter Sports Chowdah Update- Bruins Be-Devil NJ, Rangers, Panthers; NHL Official's Damning E-Mails Unearthed; Fish Squished

NHL: It's been quite the week for the Bruins so far, both on and off the ice.

On Thursday night, the Bruins won their third straight game of the week after shutting out the Florida Panthers 4-0 at the Garden. Tukka Rask got his first win and first shutout of the season, stopping all 41 shots faced and Milan Lucic had a natural hat trick, scoring the first three goals on the night.

This would be the Bruins second shutout of the week, when Tim Thomas shut out the slumping Devils by a final of 3-0 on Monday night. On Wednesday night, the Bruins managed to survive a late rally by the NY Rangers- including a minute and a half of a Ranger's 5 on 3 man advantage late in the 3rd- to hold them off with Thomas stopping 24 of 36 shots faced and Mark Recchi getting what would turn out the be the game-winner just one minute and 10 seconds into the third. Boston won that one by a final of 3-2 on Wednesday night.

The three wins puts the Bruins back in 2nd place in the Northeastern conference (and 4th overall in the conference)- two points behind Montreal and four points ahead of Ottawa. The Bruins next game will be on Saturday night against the LA Kings at the Garden.

ELSEWHERE: For those of you who thought NHL Senior VP and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell was a vindictive douche with an axe to grind, some e-mails that were presented to an Ontario Labor Relations Board in a hearing for former NHL official Dean Warren have substantially backed up your claims.

Edmonton blogger mc79hockey has the specifics in which Campbell sought to pressure or sanction officials who made calls against his son Gregory Campbell (then of the Florida Panthers, now with the Bruins) back in 2007, and reveal a long-standing grudge against Marc Savard, whom Campbell coached when both were with the NY Rangers.

Perhaps even more damning is Colin Campbell's decision to let Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke off without a suspension after a cheap shot against Marc Savard last season in which Savard received a concussion and had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher. Separately, neither one of them is incriminating, but with Campbell's e-mails seeing the light of day now his inaction against Cooke seems to only be explained by some sort of grudge against Savard [the fact that Savard and Gregory Campbell are now teammates will make the next several weeks interesting, imho- NANESB!]

Without addressing the e-mails that were made public on Sunday, Campbell defended the e-mail correspondence to officials as 'typical hockey dad venting'.

Speaking of Marc Savard, head coach Claude Julien has stated that he could start practising with the team shortly, but isn't expected to return to the lineup until at least December.

NEW JERSEY: Former Habs, Bruins, Leafs and New Jersey Devils coach and Gatineau, Quebec detective Pat Burns passed away from cancer at a Sherbrooke, Quebec hospice on Friday. Besides coaching in the Junior leagues, Burns was the recipient of three Jack Adams awards and was at the helm in 2003 when the New Jersey Devils won their most recent Stanley Cup trophy.

NBA: Not quite as busy a week for the Celtics as it's been for the Bruins. With that said, the C's are 1 for 1 this week with the bench doing most of the heavy lifting in Boston' 114-83 win over the Washington Wizards on Thursday night.

Boston will next play host to the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Garden on Friday night.

NFL: More Thursday night action, although unlike last week, I think the phrase 'action' is a tad charitable as the Chicago Bears came into Miami and completely shut out a depleted Dolphins team, winning by a final of 19-0.

Sports Chowdah Recap for Feb 13-16: USA Hockey- Swiss Miss; The Mask Slips? Recchi-ng Ball Takes Down Florida, C's Capitalize in Sacramento

NEW OLYMPIC POLL UP:Just curious to see which country visitors to NANESB! think will bring home the most Olympic medals from Vancouver.

2010 WINTER OLYMPICS: Men's Hockey- Team USA got off to a 1-0 start, besting Switzerland 3-1 in the Men's Hockey opener. Anaheim's Bobby Ryan got one past Ducks teammate Jonas Hiller late in the first to get on the board. Ryan Malone and David Backes added to the lead in the second and Ryan Miller's shutout bid fell by the wayside when Switzerland's Roman Wick got one past him for their only tally of the game. Miller stopped 14 of 15 shots in the USA win. The USA's last Olympic Men's Hockey win came four years ago to the day in Torino with a 4-1 victory against Kazakhstan.

The IOC has ordered USA Goalies Ryan Miller and Jonathan Quick to remove or cover slogans from their masks that they deemed 'advertising, demonstrations or propaganda'. In Ryan Miller's case, the offending slogan is 'Miller Time', which is a play on the old Miller ads. However, the IOC also wants the name Matt Schoals- a cousin of Miller's who died of cancer- removed from his mask. Miller has agreed to cover the 'Miller Time' from his mask but plans on fighting the IOC over the Matt Schoals inscription.

(Eddie Kotz/LA Kings)

Jonathan Quick's mask features a bald eagle wearing GI-style dog tags, a fighter jet, an Apache helicopter with the USA Hockey logo emblazoned on top and 'Support the Troops' on the back. Apparently the IOC has deemed 'Support the Troops' as propaganda and have ordered Quick to cover it. Quick says he chose to honor the military and a childhood friend who did two tours in Iraq and is now a Connecticut police officer with the mask. Both Miller and UMass Alumni Quick can appeal to the US Olympic Committee and the IIHF. An IIHF official said that the slogan could be interpreted as propaganda according to IOC Rule 51 or simply offering moral support.

"If we go too hard on that we could be seen as insensitive,” said IIHF spokesman Szymon Szemberg.

[H/T Wyatt Earp]

Other Olympic Hockey Scores:

Men's- Russia 8- Latvia 2

Canada 8- Norway 0

Women's- Finalnd 5- Russia 1 (Sunday)

USA 12- China 1 (Sunday)

Sweden 6- Slovakia 2 (Monday)

Canada 10- Switzerland 1 (Monday)

Finland 2- China 1

USA 13- Russia 0

NHL: Before the Olympic break, the Bruins added to their win streak with a come-from-behind win against the Florida Panthers to make it four in a row. Nick Tarnasky put the Panthers on the board first, and although David Krejci would tie the game up at 1-1 five minutes later, Stephen Weiss notched a power play goal towards the end of the 1st period to put Florida up 2-1. There was no additional scoring until the third, when 42-year old veteran Mark Recchi got one past Tomas Vokun to tie the game at 2-2 and eventually send the contest into overtime and a shootout. A lackluster 0-3 in the shootout on the season, Recchi got off the schnide in the eighth round of the shootout by deeking Vokun and shooting high, giving Boston the win. The win puts Boston one point of Montreal for 3rd in the Northeastern Division and 7th in the Eastern Conference heading into the Olympic break. Tuukka Rask, starting his 6th consecutive game, made 26 saves in regulation and overtime while stopping six of 8 shots faced in the shootout.

The Bruins will remain idle until Tuesday March 2nd when they host the Canadiens

NBA Coming off an All-Star Break at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX in which the Eastern Conference topped the West 141-139, The NBA got back to games that count in the standings Tuesday night and the Celtics resumed their road trip at ARCO arena in Sacramento, breaking a 2-game skid with a 95-92 win over the Kings.

The C's got alot of help from their bench early, getting 34 points (including 10 from Rasheed Wallace) in the first half. Still, Doc Rivers was probably cringing at 12 relatively easy shots that weren't made and another 11 that were blocked by Sacramento. Paul Pierce had 17 points, including going 5-5 from the free throw line in the C's win.

Boston's next matchup is against the Lakers at LA's Staples Center Thursday night.