Millions Without Electricity as Northeast Socked by Early Snowstorm

Williamstown, MA looking more like a Christmas card thanHalloween this weekend. AP Photo

Much of the northeast and mid-Atlantic region was socked by an unusually early snowstorm this weekend, knocking down tree branches, shutting down schools, airports or highways and leaving millions without electricity. Some officials say that it could be up to a week before electricity is fully restored in some areas.

From West Virginia to Maine, residents were digging themselves out from as many as 32 inches of snow in some places. Governors throughout the region declared a state of emergency as utility crews and personell worked to restore power, open up roadways and remove falled tree limbs.

In Connecticut, Governor Malloy ordered 900 cots and food brought to Hartford's stranded travellers at Bradley International Airport. Travellers on a Jet Blue flight that was diverted from Newark to Bradley International were stranded on the tarmac for nearly 7 hours with no food, water or functioning bathrooms. Firefighters and paramedics came on board to treat a parapalegic who had trouble with the circulation in his legs before the remaining passengers were eventually bussed to the terminal.

In New York City, Central Park was closed after a woman was injured from being hit by a falling tree limb. Crews have been working to chip the fallen trees and reopen the park in time for the New York City marathon, despite as little as one inch falling on Manhattan. However, the snow was wet and heavy and many of the trees were thought to have been weakened from Tropical Storm Irene passing through in late August.

In Western Massachusetts, as many as 700,000 people were without power after the snowstom. The Berkshire county town of Peru had already received a record amount of snow, with 32 inches being dumped on the Western Massachusetts hilltown before Halloween.

Today's Train of Thought- The Strates Story, September 7, 2011

Today's train of thought takes us to Connecticut for a yearly- yet seemingly timeless- ritual in the western corner of the Nutmeg state.

Since the Great Depression, the Orlando, FL based James E Strates carnival train has been travelling up and down the east coast. The train typically consists of 50 flatcars, 10 sleeping cars and a generator car.

One fairly recent stop that the current 61-car train added to its East Coast tour in the last decade is the Danbury City Fair. And for the Strates carnival train, the way in and out of Danbury is the Housatonic Railroad's line between Danbury, CT and Pittsfield, MA. Acquiring the line incrementally throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, the Housatonic earns its keep by hauling paper products, limestone, plastics, liquefied natural gas, lumber and construction debris on a near daily basis- not bad for a line that both Guilford and Conrail seemed more than willing to leave for dead.

However, in addition to the near-daily freight on the Canaan running track Interchanging with the CSX in Pittsfield, MA and Providence & Worcester in Danbury, each summer brings the sight of the unique and colorful Strates Carnival Train through the rolling hills of Western Massachusetts and Northwestern Connecticut.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Dave Jacobs caught Housatonic GP35M #3603 leading a trio of EMDs south with the distinctive Strates trainset at River Rd in Cornwall, CT in June 2007 as the line parallels its namesake river.

East Coast Braces for Hurricane Irene's Approach

Tourists and truck drivers evacuating North Carolina's Outer Banks by ferry. Photo: Chuck Beckley- New Bern Sun Journal

A mandatory evacuation order for the outer banks of North Carolina is expected to go into effect Friday as Hurricane Irene gained strength while approaching from the south.



Workers from the North Carolina DOT were inspecting the aging Bonner Bridge after Tuesday's magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Virginia- the bridge links North Carolina Route 12 from Cape Hatteras to the mainland and is a key evacuation route. Further inland, residents jammed the aisles of local stores and markets in order to stock up on food, fuel, water, generators and other supplies.



At least 180 flights to and from major east coast airports have been cancelled with Irene's expected arrival. Amtrak trains south of Washington D.C., already hobbled by slow orders from host railroads Norfolk Southern and CSX after Tuesday's earthquake in Virginia, were cancelled while travellers were awaiting word on any possible service disruptions on the busy Northeast Corridor.



To the north, the governors of Virginia, Maryland, New York and New Jersey have declared states of emergency in advance of Irene's landfall. The US Navy sortied more than two dozen vessels from the huge Norfolk Naval station, including the aircraft carrier Dwight D Eisenhower, while further north, four attack submarines were dispatched from their Groton, CT base to ride out the storm in deep water. Naval aircraft was being flown further inland to ride out the storm.



Officials in New York City are considering evacuations of low-lying areas in a worst-case scenario among other preparations.

The city is making preparations to open 65 evacuation centers, seven special medical needs shelters and 75 general population shelters. These facilities can hold roughly 71,000 people; there are about 272,000 people living in the area most likely to be affected.



Officials recommended residents put together a supply kit, including drinking water, a flashlight, a battery-operated radio and a whistle

The Philadelphia Phillies have rescheduled Sundays game against the Florida Marlins to be played on Sat. In Boston, Sunday's scheduled game against the Oakland A's will likely also be moved to a Saturday doubleheader. Aug 27th as a doubleheader and the Orioles are discussing doing the same with their weekend series against the Yankees. In Maine, the Maine Eastern Railway announced that they were cancelling trains for Sunday, Aug 28th.



All these precautions and preparations are underway despite the uncertainty of where exactly Irene is supposed to make landfall. Numerous projections show her coming ashore anywhere from North Carolina's Outer Banks to Cape Cod while possibly increasing to Category 3 in the process.



Even if the eye of the storm misses the most densely populated areas, there could still be extensive damage to metropolitan areas thanks to heavy rains and winds in the storm's outer bands. If Irene does strike New England, she will likely be the first significant hurricane to strike since Hurricane Gloria in 1985. Like Gloria, it's also entirely possible that Irene could make landfall multiple times.

Hot and Cold Sports Chowdah Update- Black and Bleu at the Garden; Lakers Drain Celtics; Stirring the Beanpot

Two Boston sports institutions going up against arch rivals in the regular season, but with buzz- both before and after- more reminiscent of the postseason.

Did I already mention how fortunate I consider myself to be a New England sports fan at this point in history?

The undercard

NHL: If there was only one B's game to be nationally broadcast this whole season, Wednesday night's home game against arch rival Montreal would've been the one.
Apparently last week's game against Dallas was just a warm-up. Nothing like some Original 6 brawling- and not just figuratively- to get the blood going, huh?

With Montreal starting to close the gap in the Northeast division, the folks over at VS network thought Wendesday night's game was important enough to be boradcast on their network coast-to-coast (even though they were just carrying the TSN feed).

And man oh man was I glad I was able to tune in.

A good chunk of the first period seemed to feature the Bruins spending a disproportionate amount of time in Montreal's end of the ice, but with Montreal getting the better shots on goal (however infrequent). My perceptions changed somewhat after the 13 minute mark in the 1st when Brad Marchand and Dennis Seidenberg each scored 22 seconds apart (Seidenberg's tally coming off of a high bounce that the Montreal defener tried to corrall by swatting at with a stick). So Boston heads into the 1st intermission with a 2-0 lead.

Now on most nights, you'd be in pretty good shape if you could manage to get two by Montreal's Carey Price- especially if your own backstop is shutting them out. Not so on Wednesday night. The following video clips say it much better than I could-


For those of you who want to jump straight into the fisticuffs, hockeyfights.com was thoughtful enough to archive the melee towards the very end of the 3rd.


Most teams have every reason to expect to come out on top in a contest where they get six past Tim Thomas, but not Wednesday night. Both teams combined for 14 goals and 182 penalty minutes- nearly twice what was assessed in last week's game vs Dallas. As you can see from the video evidence, it's no exaggeration when I say that Boston absolutely beat the Habs down by a final of 8-5. The brawl at the end was simply the exclamation point.

The save percentages of both Price and Thomas also took a beating, with the Montreal backstop stopping 26 of 34 shots faces and Thomas stopping 27 of 33 shots faced. Micheal Ryder had two goals (one of them on the power play) and Milan Lucic had two goals (one of them shorthanded) and an assist on the night while Marchand, Seidenberg, Nathan Horton and Adam McQuaid also had tallies for the B's.

The win gives Boston a little bit more breathing room against the Canadiens (still the next closest team in the Northeast standings), and the Bruins lead over Montreal in the Division standings after Thursday night was 3 points after Montreal lost in a shootout to the NY Islanders but still got the 1 point.

The original 6 mania will continue this weekend when the Bruins have a home-and-away series against the Detroit Red Wings, with the first half taking place in the TD Banknorth Garden on Friday night at 7PM ET and be broadcast on NESN and the NHL Network.

The second half of the weekend series will take place at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Sunday afternoon, 12:30 PM ET- this game will be nationally televised on Comcast's NBC network.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS: Marc Savard is expected to miss the remainder of the season with a concussion. Savard had been sidelined with another concussion after being hit by former teammate Matt Hunwick in the Jan 22nd game against Colorado.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: Eureka! I think the Nashville Predators have devised one of the most devious and effective methods of luring NHL talent to Music City- it's even more effective than the Underpants gnomes' business model!

Phase one would be to send out fetching starlets along the lines of Carrie Underwood to romance forwards like....oh...I dunno....Mike Fisher. Then, after the wedding, honeymoon, and a few atrocious seasons in the division's basement playing in the Canadian capital, you're hot, popular and musically talented spouse gets it in your head that perhaps you would be better off elsewhere- maybe somewhere closer to where she spends a good deal of the year. Like....oh...say Nashville, TN. And since your team is dead last in the conference, and Nashville happens to have a team that's doing pretty good this season (trailing the Red Wings by 5 points for #2 in the Central divison and 5th overall in the Western conference) it sounds like to good a deal to pass up.

Well played, Predators.....well played. [Now all that's left is to convince them that Nashville is in dire need of lazy, talentless bloggers and I'm sure a stampede of country music starlets will be stampeeding a path to my doorway- NANESB!]

The Predators acquired Mike Fisher in a trade that will send a 1st round draft pick and a conditional pick to Ottawa. Fischer was tied for the lead in scoring for the Sens with 14 goals and 10 assists in 55 games this season, and the Predators are hoping he'll be ready in time for Friday night's game against Colorado.


NBA: I have to confess, I was intentionally holding off on doing another sports update until after Thursday night's Lakers/Celtics game- a move that didn't pay off despite getting off to a promising start.

Most noteworthy was Ray Allen surpassing Reggie Miller to become the NBA's all time career leader in 3 pointers, with 2,561 on Thursday night (see above). After hat, it was kinda downhill for the C's.

Although Boston took a 53-45 lead into halftime, Kobe Bryant scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half as LA rallied to come from behind after trailing by as many as 15 points in 1st. Pau Gasol had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers while the only player in green on Thursday to score more than 15 points was Ray Allen- with 20.

The lack of offense in the 2nd paved the way for a 92-86 Lakers win at the Garden. This is Boston's 2nd loss in a row after losing 94-89 at Charlotte on Monday night. The Celtics will next host the Miami Heat on Sunday afternoon at the Garden, 1 PM ET on ABC. The C's and the Heat are tied for first place overall in the Eastern conference.

NCAA HOCKEY: The 2011 Beanpot got underway on Monday, with Northeastern making their presence felt in a 4-0 thumping of Harvard in the opening game.

This was immediately followed by the BC Eagles getting by the BU Terriers in OT thanks to Eagle's Junior Tommy Cross scoring the game winner 3:17 into the extra period.

The games Monday set up a BC/Northeastern final for the 2011 Beanpot on Valentine's Day.

AHL HOCKEY: Following the lead of the NHL and the Syracuse Crunch, the Connecticut Whale (formerly the Hartford Wolfpack- the NY Ranger's AHL affiliate) has set up an outdoor rink at UConn's Rentschler Field in E. Hartford, CT. The rink will be used for outdoor junior and high school games as well as a Whalers/Bruins alumni game leading up to the Feb 19th game where the Whale will host the Providence Bruins.

OTHER AHL NEWS: A Connecticut judge has ordered an East Hartford man to apologize and 10 days of community service after he tackled and punched Pucky, the Whale mascot.

MLB: Never mind that rodent in Pennsylvania! Truck Day was this week, which means that Spring was right around the corner. The 'official' Red Sox truck (which, unsurprisingly, has a corporate sponsor) carrying the team's equipment left Fenway for Ft, Meyers, FL on Tuesday.


NCAA FOOTBALL: This video of UConn reserve quarterback Johnny McEntee has been circulating around the web. Heavily edited showboating or an appeal to get more playing time- what's your call?

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.