Sports Chowdah W/a Shot of 7 And 7: BRUINS WIN GAME 7, ADVANCE TO STANLEY CUP FINAL FOR FIRST TIME IN 21 YEARS; Oh Yea- The Red Sox Played Today, Too

Prince of Wales Trophy Presentation- Boston Bruins Photo

NHL: WOW! Remember when Game 7s DIDN'T live up to the hype? Didn't seem that long ago, did it?

This was such a hard series to call, with the B's shutting out the Lightning one game and allowing five unanswered goals in the next. As much as I wanted to be an insufferable douchenozzle and boldly predict a Boston win, I was genuinely uncertain about the possible outcome of the series. Both teams had eerily similar circumstances heading into the Eastern conference finals as well; finishing the regular season with 103 points, playing 7 games in the first round and then sweeping their next opponent in 4.

Credit where credit is due, Philly blogger Wyatt Earp totally called it earlier this week in the comments section. I was in denial due to Boston's fairly recent (and painful) history of Game 7 choke-itude that looked set to repeat itself as the Tampa Bay Lightning held off the Bruins to win by a 5-4 final and force a decisive Game 7 at the Garden in Boston on Friday night.

With that said, Game 7 got underway at the Garden on Friday night with the Vancouver Canucks awaiting the winner.

It seemed as though the Bruins had been peppering Lightning netminder Dwayne Roloson with shots on goal almost immediately. In fact, Roloson turned aside all 29 shots he faced in the first two periods while Tim Thomas stopped 17 shots on goal in the same timeframe to make it a scoreless game in the 3rd. After the way the first two periods had gone, it was hard to believe after the Bruins gave away a 3-0 lead in Game 4, but one was left with the feeling that whoever scored first would win Game 7.


Enter Nathan Horton, who tallied the series-winning goal in overtime of Game 7 against the Montreal Canadiens. And thanks to some superb defense and Tim Thomas between the pipes, Horton's tally would be the only goal of the evening. Thomas stopped all 24 shots he faced on Friday night while Roloson very much kept the Lightning in the contest, turning aside 37 of 38 shots faced.

Total penalty minutes in Game 7? Zero.

The shutout is Tim Thomas' second of the series (and third career postseason shutout) while Nathan Horton's game-winner was his 8th goal of the 2011 playoffs.

The Eastern Conference champions will next take on the Vancouver Canucks for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC at 8PM ET, 5PM PT on Wednesday, June 1st. The game will be broadcast on NBC.

MLB: After scoring 14 runs in back to back games (a 14-2 win to close out the series in Cleveland and a 14-1 thrashing of the Tigers to start the 4-game series at Detroit's Comerica Park), the Red Sox were held to a mere 6 runs on Friday night, with Boston getting on the board thanks to Jacoby Ellsbury coming home on a wild pitch from Tigers starter Rick Porcello in the 1st. Although Detroit would get out to a 2-1 lead, Boston would take the lead right back thanks to a huge 3rd inning that saw a solo homer from Ellsbury, a Kevin Youkilis 2-RBI double and a 2-run homer from Carl Crawford.

Venerable knuckleballer Tim Wakefield got the start for Boston and went 7 full innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits. Papelbon would give up a leadoff single to Victor Martinez in the bottom of the 9th followed by an RBI double off the bat of Jhonny Peralta, but would get the next 3 outs to close out the 6-3 Boston win.

Clay Buchholz (4-3; 3.30 ERA) will get the start for Saturday night's game while the Tigers have called up pitching prospect Andy Oliver (4-3; 3.31 ERA with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens this season) after starter Phil Coke went on the DL with an ankle injury earlier this week.

Granted it's not even Memorial Day, but the Red Sox have made their way into first place in the AL East with Friday night's win, one game ahead of the Yankees and a game and a half up on the Rays. Not bad after that horrendous 0-6 start that had Red Sox haters and fans alike getting ready to bury the 2011 Red Sox.

Faustian Cuppa Chowdah, May 24th 2010: Sox Get Some 'Tek Support in Cleveland; Lightning Rod- Thomas Gives Up Early Goal, Shuts Out TB for 58 Min.

NHL: Just when you think you might have things figured out, guess again!

Unable to hold onto a pretty commanding 3-0 lead over the weekend, the Bruins went down 1-0 early against the Lightning on Monday night. Simon Gagne would get one past Tim Thomas just 1 minute and 9 seconds into the first to give Tampa the early lead. But unlike Saturday, that would be it.


Playing to a full house that included the C's Rajon Rondo and Pats head coach Bill Belichick, the Bruins would rally in the second, pulling even on Nathan Horton's even strength goal four and a half minutes into the period and taking the lead on a Brad Marchand tally around the 16 minute mark.

Tampa would furiously try and get one past Thomas in the 3rd to get the equalizer, but Thomas managed to turn aside all of them, even when starter Mike Smith was pulled for the extra attacker late in the 3rd. Rich Peverly would give the B's the breathing room they needed with all of 13 seconds remaining in regulation after scoring an empty-netter.

Dwayne Roloson did not get the start in net Monday- Lighting head coach Guy Boucher went with Mike Smith between the pipes. Over the weekend, Smith did not allow a goal after Roloson had given up three in the 1st period. However, on Monday Smith allowed two goals on 19 shots while Tim Thomas turned aside all but one of the 34 shots he faced.

The Bruins win Monday night by a 3-1 final and lead the series 3 games to 2. The Eastern Conference finals shifts back to Florida for Wednesday night, with a 8PM ET puck drop- the game will be televised on VS and the CBC.

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: The Bruins or Lightning now know who they'll be going up against once the Eastern Conference finals are wrapped up.

It might've taken double OT on Tuesday night to secure the series win against the San Jose Sharks, but the Vancouver Canucks needed all of five games to advance to the Stanley Cup finals after winning the Western Conference finals 3 games to 1.

Kevin Bieksa scored a wobbly knuckler 10 minutes into the second OT in Vancouver Tuesday night to send the Canucks to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1994.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: The Hennepin County Medical examiner's office released a report that NY Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard died from an accidental mix of alcohol and the painkiller oxycodone. Boogaard was a few months shy of his 29th birthday at the time of his May 13th death and had his season ended b a concussion earlier this year.

MLB: After getting 7 and ⅓ innings from Clay Buccholz Monday night, the Red Sox bullpen could not manage to hold onto a 2-1 lead, giving up 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th. Although JD Drew and Jed Lowrie would get 1-out singles in the top of the 9th, the game ended when OF Carl Crawford grounded into a double-play.

Tuesday night featured a matchup between Josh Beckett and Fausto Carmona that was a little more reminiscent of the 2007 ALCS.

Although the Tribe would get on the board first with an RBI single from OF Ezequiel Carrera in the bottom of the 2nd, the Red Sox would take the lead in the top of the 3rd and then add to it in the top of the 7th after Big Papi led off the inning with a double and Jason Varitek hit a 1-out homer to right field to make it 4-1.

Cleveland would get a run back in the bottom of the 9th thanks to a 1-out Travis Buck solo homer off of Papelbon. 1B Matt LaPorta belted another Papelbon offering pretty deep to left, but that ended up being out #3 and the Red Sox hang on to win by a final of 4-2.

Tomorrow's day game will wrap up the 3-game series before the Sox move on to Detroit. Jon Lester (6-1; 3.68 ERA) will get the start against Mitch Talbot (1-0; 1.46 ERA). The game gets under way from Jacobs Field (I consider 'Progressive' a slur) at 12:05 PM ET.

Post Armegeddon Sports Chowdah Update- Cubs Wrap Up 1st Visit to Fenway in 93 Years With Rude A-Wake-ening; Light Strikes Fast, Often

MLB: Doomsday predictions come and go, but the Chicago Cubs coming to Fenway Park? That's a once-in-a-century event!

On Friday night, Game 1 handily went to the Red Sox by a 15-5 final. Saturday was the Cubs turn to bat around, putting up 8 unanswered runs in the top of the 8th in their 8-3 win. Armegeddon notwithstanding, that left Sunday night (complete with a pregame ceremony honoring New England servicemen and women) as the rubber game.


The venerable Tim Wakefield got the start and went 6 and ⅔ strong innings, allowing one run on just four hits while getting run support in the form of a pair of sacrafice flies in the bottom of the 4th and a solo homer by Jarrod Saltalamacchia in the bottom of the 5th, all off of Cubs starter James Russell. The Red Sox would then get some insurance in the form of a 2-out, 2-RBI Kevin Youkilis triple that plated Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez in the bootom of the 7th. Papelbon would close out the Red Sox 5-1 win in the top of the 9th and the Red Sox win the first meeting between the two clubs since 2005 (and 1st at Fenway since the 1918 World Series).

The Red Sox will next travel to Jacobs Field on Monday to take on AL-Central leading Cleveland Indians where Clay Buchholz (4-3; 3.42 ERA) will get the start against the Tribe's Justin Masterson (5-2; 2.52 ERA). The game will be televised on ESPN2 with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05 ET.


NHL: Two days after shutting out the Tampa Bay Lightning on the road, the Boston Bruins found themselves out to an early 3-0 lead but unable to hold off a frenetic Tampa Bay rally.

Patrice Bergeron would get two goals (one unassisted, one shorthanded) in the first along with a Micheal Ryder tally to get out to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period (Dwayne Roloson was yanked for Mike Smith between the pipes for Tampa) but that would be it as the Lightning got on the board with a pair of Teddy Purcell goals a little over a minute apart about 7 minutes into the 2nd. Sean Bergenheim would get the game-tying goal just before the 11 minute mark and the 3rd period would close out tied at 3-3.

The Lightning would then take the lead in the 3rd on a Simon Gagne goal, also about 7 minutes in. The game would then be iced for Tampa on a Martin St Louis empty-netter to make it a 5-3 final for the Lightning.

The series heads back to Boston with things knotted up at 2-2. The puck will drop at 8:00 ET and the game will be televised on VS and the CBC

TGIF Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- Tiger By the Tail, Sox Sweep 2-Game Series, Await Cubs; Thomas Shuts Out Lightning

Last night was one of those nights where I consider myself fortunate to be a Boston fan, where I had to choose between the Bruins in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals or the Beckett-Verlander matchup at Fenway. For those of you wondering, I ended up flipping between both.



NHL: After scoring 10 goals in the last 2 games, it only seemed like a matter of time before the Tampa Bay Lightning would manage to find their way to the back of the net during Thursday night's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. However, this would be a little different as it was Boston's turn to score first, getting out to the early 1-0 lead on a David Krejci goal one minute and 10 seconds into the 1st period.

And surprisingly, that was all the scoring that would take place in Thursday night's game up until Andrew Ference gave the B's some insurance at about the 8 minute mark of the 3rd period to make it a 2-0 game.

That would be the final as Tim Thomas stopped all 31 shots he faced from the Lightning. Dwayne Roloson stopped 23 of 2 in the losing effort on Thursday.

Patrice Bergeron returned to the lineup, getting just under 20 minutes of playing time on Thursday night while Tyler Seguin had about 13 minutes total.

Game 4 will get underway at 1:30 ET on Saturday afternoon at Tampa Bay and will be broadcast on NBC.

MLB: OK.....So Carl Craword is barely hitting over .200. But let is not be said that he has a flair for the dramatic.

With the matchup of Beckett and Verlander, you'd think that Thurday night's game would be the one with the 1-0 final. However, Beckett would give up a run in the top of the 2nd on an Andy Dirks RBI single and have to work out of a bases loaded jam before Boston managed to get a run of their own on a JD Drew sac fly to deep left that plated Youk in the bottom of the inning.

As the game progressed however, Justin Verlander would give up solo homers to JD Drew and David Ortiz to give the Sox a 3-1 advantage.

Beckett, however, was pulled in the 6th out of an abundance of caution on Terry Francona's part. Beckett had been compaining of neck pain earlier and with two starters already on the DL, the manager erred on the side of caution and went to the bullpen. Detroit got two back in the top of the 8th with solo homers from Brennan Boesch and Miguel bacrera to know things up at 3-3, but the Tigers were hving bullpen issues of their own when Detroit reliever Al Albuqueque loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th with nobody out. Although he got pinch-runner Jose Iglesis out at home on a Jed Lowrie fielder's choice, that still left the bases loaded for Carl Crawford, who managed to hit it over center-fielder Austin Jackson's head for the walk-off 4-3 win.

On Firday, the Red Sox will host the Cubs at Fenway for the first time since 1918 (throwback uniforms for Saturaday's game were revaled earlier today). Doug Davis (0-1; 1.80 ERA) is expected to get the start for the Cubbies while Jon Lester (5-1; 3.28 ERA) will go for the Sox.

OTHER SOX NEWS: With Lackey and Matsuzaka on the DL and Beckett leaving Thursday's game early, it was reported the Red Sox had agreed to terms on a minor league contract with righty Kevin Millwood who had opted out of an earlier minor league deal with the NY Yankees.

On Firday, it wsa confirmed that the Sox had acquired 25 year old lefty Franklin Morales (0-1; 3.86 ERA) from the Colorado Rockies for cash or a player to be named later. To make room for Morales in the bullpen, the Red Sox designated the struggling Hideki Okajima for assignement.

Mid Week Cuppa Sports Chowdah- Bruins Catch Seguin Wind, Even Series at 1-1; Here There Be Tygers; Twins Legend Killebrew Passes Away

RED SOX: As it turned out, Tuesday night's home game against Baltimore was rained out, so those of us interested in seeing how Wakefield would fare as a starter this season would have to wait a little longer.

On Wednesday night, it looked as though the weather would continue to play havoc with Boston's schedule a fairly dense fog moved into the area before the ballpark was hit with a deluge late in the scoreless game against the Detroit Tigers. The grounds crew rolled out the tarp in the top of the 8th, but barely a half hour later the game resumed. After relieving starter Clay Buccholz, Daniel Bard threw exactly one pitch before the game was suspended but came right back out and retired the side in order.

Carl Crawford managed a 2-out walk in the bottom of the 8th and went from 1st to home when Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a double to left center to score the game's only run. Like the weather, Papelbon's 9th wasn't pretty but it was good enough for the save in the 1-0 game.

Buccholz threw a career high 127 pitches in 7 innings of work while Detroit starter Phil Coke (who hadn't allowed a Red Sox batter past first base) needed only 78 pitches for as many innings.

Thursday night's game has all the makings of a pitcher's duel as Josh Beckett (3-1; 1.75 ERA) goes up against Detroit's Justin Verlander (4-3; 2.91 ERA) who no-hit the Toronto Blue Jays earlier this month for his second career no-hitter.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: Daisuke Matsuzaka went on the 15-day DL this week with what Red Sox medical staff are calling a sprained elbow ligament. The Japanese right-hander will be re-examined after 2 weeks and could miss up to a month.

Sports Illustrated photo

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: One of the first-ever Minnestoa Twins, hall-of-Famer Harmon Killebrew, passed away from esophegeal cancer at his home in Scottsdale, AZ on Tuesday. The 74 year old was born in Payette, ID and was said to have built up his strength by hauling around paint and 10 gallon pails of mils on the family farm in Idaho.

Killebrew is 11th on baseball's all-time home run list and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of fame in 1984 some 10 years after calling it a career.

The Twins will hold a public memorial at Target Field on May 26, while a public service will be held in Peoria, AZ on Friday. Killebrew will reportedly be laid to rest in his Idaho hometown in a private service on May 23rd.

BOSTON BRUINS: Tuesday night's game started off with that sinking 'uh-oh!' feeling for Bruins fans when the Tampa Bay Lightning got one past Tim Thomas 13 seconds into the game for the quick 1-0 lead. The Lightning would head off to the 1st intermission holding a 2-1 lead, with Nathan Horton getting a rare power play goal for Boston.



However, the second period saw Boston rally thanks in large part to a pair of goals from first round draft pick Tyler Seguin, who notched the game-tying tally not even 50 seconds in. David Krejci would put the B's up 3-2 while Seguin managed to add to the lead with his 2nd goal of the night some 4 minutes later. Vinny LeCalvier would then score to bring the Lightning back within 1 goal, but Micheal Ryder would notch an even strength goal at the 16:16 mark and a power play goal with 19 seconds left in the 2nd to make it a 6-3 game.

Although playing with a lead was still something new and novel for the Bruins in the Eastern conference, it was starting to look as though that 3 goal lead might not be enough in the third when Steven Stamkos and Dominic Moore managed to score for the Lightning to make it a 1-goal game. However, the Bruins would hang on to win by a final of 6-5. However, the Bruins were able to run off the clock and hang on to win by the 6-5 final, evening up the Eastern conference finals at 1-1.

Tim Thomas stopped 36 of 41 shots faced while Dwayne Roloson was yanked after allowing the 6th goal. With Patrice Bergeron out of the lineup, Tyler Seguin stepped in and had 2 goals and 2 assists while Micheal Ryder had 2 goals and an assist.

As many other NHL observers have pointed out, this creates something of a dilemma for when Patrice Bereron is ready to come back- do you continue riding the hot hand in Seguin, or go with the veteran? Good problem to have, at least...

The series resumes on Thursday night at the St Pete Times Forum in Tampa, FL. The game will be carried on VS and gets underway a 8:00 PM ET.


ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: 28 year old NY Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard was found dead in his Minneapolis apartment over the weekend. Boogaard had sustained a season-ending concussion a few months earlier. A cause of death has yet to be determined, as the results for an autopsy are expected to take two more weeks.

BOSTON CELTICS: Head coach Doc Rivers travelled to Florida to undergo surgery, returning to Boston on Tuesday. The team said that the operation was to remove a benign polyp from Rivers' throat and that doctors have declared him cancer free.

Back Home Sports Chowdah Update- B's Knockin on 7's Door; Suns Come Out Late in Beantown

And I don't mean this Seven's, either [although if you happen to be in Beacon Hill, I highly recommend stopping by- NANESB!]

The Bruins put the finishing touches on a perfect 6-0 road trip on Tuesday night thanks to a shutout performance by Tukka Rask backed by a single goal from Nathan Horton in the 3rd period in Ottawa on Tuesday night.

If you're the superstitious type, then it would be worth nothing that the last time the Bruins went on a perfect 6-0 road trip was during the 1971-1972 season- the last time the B's hoisted the Stanley Cup in Boston [But as we all know, Boston fans aren't the least bit superstitious, right?- NANESB!]

On Thursday night, they would try and make it 7 wins in a row with their first home game since the day after Valentine's Day against the Southeast Conference leading Tampa Bay Lightning.

If the Bruins wanted to make it 7 wins in a row, they would have to climb out of a 1-0 hole to do it. Eric Brewer broke the scoreless deadlock 4 minutes into the 2nd period with a goal to put Tampa Bay on to 1-0. Pruins call-up Steve Kampfer managed to knot the game at 1-1 about 2 minutes later and the contest would enter the 3rd period that way.

Although he was pulled in an earlier contest against Boston, Lightning goalie Mike Smith had a pretty strong showing on Thursday night. However, with 3:42 left in regulation, Milan Lucic was able to get a bouncing puck past Smith to make it a 2-1 game. The Bruins were able to hold off a late charge from Tampa Bay after the Lightning pulled Smith and hung on to win by the final of 2-1, good for their 7th win in a row.

Tim Thomas stopped 27 of 28 shots faced while Tampa's Mike Smith turned aside 26 of 28. The win vaults Boston past Tampa for 2nd place in the Eastern Conference, 3 points behind Philly (who lost to Toronto on Thursday). The Bruin's next game will be at 7PM ET on Saturday night at Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Arena against the Penguins.

NBA: The Celtics homecoming on Wednesday night wasn't quite as triumphant as the Bruins, but they came out on top nonetheless. At first blush, the C's 115-103 win might've looked like a commanding performance (and it was, taking a 20 point lead into halftime), but Boston had to hold off a late rally from the Phoenix Suns, with the visitors threatening to close the gap to less than 10 points late into the 4th.

Kevin Garnett played like a man with something to prove (imagine that) racking up 28 points and 11 rebounds against Phoenix. Ray Allen had the next highest point total with 19 in Wednesday night's win.

The C's next game will be at home in Friday night against the Golden State Warriors at 7:30 PM ET

MLB: Friday marks the first contest between the Boston Red Sox and NY Yankees at New York's Spring Training facility in Tampa, FL. Both teams are coming into Friday's game sporting a 2-3 record. Bartolo Colon will be auditioning for a slot in the Yankees rotation while Clay Buchholz will get the start for the Sox.

After a high profile and ugly feud with manager Ozzy Guillen, former White Sox closer Bobby Jenks made his Red Sox debut in Thursday's 2-0 loss to Philly, allowing a hit and not earned runs.

Josh Beckett is back and will likely throw a bullpen session on Friday and may start another game as early as Tuesday. During his return to City of Palms park, Beckett presented coaching assistant Ino Guerrero (his 'assailant' after getting hit in the head w/a ball during BP and treated for mild concussion symptoms) with a fluorescent orange construction worker's vest.

End of Decade Sports Chowdah Update- Whack A Bowl; Pats Rout Bills, Secure 1st Round Bison; C's Winning Streak Snapped? Must be Magic; B's Head South

NEW POLL UP: What a decade, huh? For those of you so inclined, I'm wondering what your thoughts are regarding the defining moment in New England sports between 2000 and the end of 2010. The best part is that there's just so much to choose from (I'm even leaving a few out for the sake of brevity). C'mon people! Celebrate diversity!

But with that said, I have some catching up to do. Between my shuttling around between Cape Cod and the southern tier of New York state as well as waiting out the blizzard this week, I was able to follow some of the NFL action on the radio (not so much the NHL, NBA or many of the Bowl games).

NFL: To hardly anybody's surprise, the Patriots came into Sunday's game at Orchard Park and routed the Buffalo Bills. The 34-3 win came thanks in part to two TD receptions by Buffalo native son and Pats TE Ron Gronkowski. New England was helped considerably by seven Bills turnovers, including five from QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. Brady was 15 for 27 with 3 TDs on the day while Gronkowski had 54 yards on 4 receptions, including two TDs.

New England will close out the regular season with a home game against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday at 1PM ET.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: The NFL commissioner decided to postpone Sunday night's game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings at Philly's Lincoln Financial Field as the region was in the teeth of a massive snowstorm.

The game was rescheduled to Tuesday night as many cities across the Northeast were digging themselves out from the global warming blizzard [OK...what is it about the Vikings- an indoor team, no less- and snowfall this season? You know those cartoon characters that are sometimes walking around with a rain cloud over their head? Substitute the solitary cloud for a blizzard dumping 3 feet of snow overnight and that would be the 2010 Vikings- NANESB!].

Last week's Sunday night game featured the nationally televised Sunday Night debut of one surprising NFC North QB in Green Bay's Matt Flynn. But there would be no Sunday Night game. There would be no Brett Favre on Tuesday.....or Tavares Jackson for that matter. Instead, the Vikings 6th round draft pick from the University of Alabama-Birmingham- Joe Webb- got the start for the beleaguered and depleted Vikings on Tuesday.

You'd think that even with most of their starters healthy, the Vikings wouldn't have stood a chance against the NFC East leading Eagles. Lord knows I did, but I watched anyways. As it turns out, I was glad I did as Minnesota staged a stunning come-from behind rally thanks to RB Adrian Peterson and the rookie Joe Webb.

The Eagles got out to the early 7-0 lead, but with less than a minute to go before halftime, Philly QB Micheal Vick fumbled as he was sacked by Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield. Winifield then scooped up the loose ball and returned it 45 yards to paydirt to tie the game at 7-7. The Vikings would then score on their first 2 posessions of the 2nd half, getting a FG off the foot of Ryan Longwell and a rushing TD from Joe Webb to take a 17-7 lead. The Eagles would take about five minutes to march down from their own 47 to score a TD of their own and close the gap to 14-17. But that would be it for the Eagles while the Vikings got another TD from Adrian Peterson to put them up 24-14, in what could only be described as a stunning upset given the way how easily the Eagles handled other (and better) NFC teams this season.

That would be the final from a snowy Philadelphia, and as the Brett Favre era no doubt comes to an end in Minnesota, I'm sure the Vikings fans had to have liked what they saw in QB Joe Webb who went 17-26 with 195 yards (as well as 6 rushes for 31 yards and a TD)



NCAA HOOPS: I normally leave the NCAA Basketball coverage to others, but I couldn't let the UConn Women's Basketball team breaking the all-time NCAA Hoops record for regular consecutive wins (either men's or women's) set by the late John Wooden's UCLA Bruins Men's Basketball between 1971-74 pass without mention. The Huskies 89th straight win came against #22 Florida State on December 21st at Hartford's XL Center, with UConn downing the Gators by a 93-62 final to break the 88 straight win mark set by Wooden's Bruins (Wooden's Grandson was present at the game).

The Huskies women's team is in the midst of a west coast road trip where they handled the University of the Pacific Tigers for win #90 by an 85-42 margin in Stockton, CA. Their next game will be a rematch of the 2010 NCAA Women's Championship between UConn and the #8 Stanford Cardinals on Thursday night. Stanford's lady Cardinals currently have a streak of their own going- 51 straight home wins- and was actually the last team to defeat UConn- an 82-73 win in the NCAA semifinals in April 2008.

NHL: Well, while I was away the Boston Bruins clawed their way back to the top of the Northeast Division and are working on a win streak of their own. Apparently getting out of town ahead of blizzard and heading to Florida was just what the B's needed (although they have been burned by Southeast Division opponents before).


One night after Blake Wheeler scored the only shootout goal (and a flukey one at that) to beat the Florida Panthers by a 3-2 final, the B's travelled to Tampa to take on the Lightning. Tim Thomas turned aside 31 shots and the venerable Mark Recchi got the game-winning goal on a power play with 20 seconds remaining in the 3rd. Micheal Ryder, Brad Marchand and Steve Kampfer also tallied goals for Boston in Tuesday night's 4-3 win (Ryder's also coming on the power play).

The Bruins trip through the Southeast will continue Thursday night as they travel to Atlanta to play the Thrashers for the second time in a week- Boston beat Atlanta 4-1 on Dec 23rd at the TD Banknorth Garden.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: Preparations have been well underway for the 2011 NHL Winter Classic at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field on New Year's Day. There are some concerns about the integrity of the ice surface as the weather forecast for the Pittsburgh area is calling for temperatures in the high 40s/low 50s and rain showers for New Years Day.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are scheduled to take on the Washington Capitals on Saturday at 1PM ET, although both the league and NBC has said they'd be willing to delay the start of the game.

NCAA FOOTBALL: I have some catching up to do as far as this is concerned. As I'm writing this, it looks as though the Army Black Knights are going to hold off a 2nd half rally by the Southern Methodist Mustangs to win by a 16-14 final for their first Bowl win since I was in the Army.

As disappointing as the first trio of Bowl games were, there were some good ones to follow those up. Interestingly, this included some of the bowl games whose corporate names lent themselves to easy ridicule and derision (i.e the Beef O'Brady Bowl, Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl).

Here are some of the finals:

12/21- Beef O'Brady Bowl:
Southern Mississippi 28- Louisville 31

12/22- MAACO Bowl:
#20 Utah 3- #10 Boise State 26

12/23- SD County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl:
Navy 14- San Diego State 35

12/24- Hawaii Bowl
#24 Hawaii 35- Tulsa 62

12/26- Little Cesar's Pizza Bowl
Florida International 34- Toledo 32

12/27 Independence Bowl
Air Force 14- Georgia Tech 7

12/28 Champs Sports Bowl
#22 West Virginia 7- North Carolina State 23

Insight Bowl
#14 Missouri 24- Iowa 27

12/29 Military Bowl
East Carolina 20- Maryland 51

Texas Bowl
Illinois 31- Baylor 14

Alamo Bowl
#16 Oklahoma State 36- Arizona 10

12/30 Armed Forces Bowl
Army 16- Southern Methodist 14.

Pinstripe Bowl
Kansas State 34- Syracuse 36

A couple of random notes- Thursday's win for the Black Knights was their first bowl appearence since 1996.

The Little Cesar Bowl was the first ever appearance (and win!) for Florida International.

The SDSU Aztecs appeared in their first bowl game since 1998 and the win over Navy was their first Bowl win since the 1969 Pasadena Bowl (against Boston University).

The rest of the games for Thursday include the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl (Kansas State vs Syracuse), the Music City Bowl (North Carolina vs Tennessee) and the Holiday Bowl (#17 Nebraska vs Washington).

Friday's slate of games include the Meineke Bowl (South Florida vs Clemson), the Sun Bowl (Notre Dame vs Miami-FL), the Liberty Bowl (Central Florida vs Georgia) and the Chick Fil-A Bowl (#19 South Carolina vs #23 Florida State).

NBA: Humbug! The Celtic's winning streak was snapped on Christmas day at Orlando by an 86-78 final. The C's then swung through the Midwest where they beat the Pacers 95-83 before losing to the Detroit Pistons by a 104-92 final.

OTHER CELTICS NEWS: GM Danny Ainge announced Thursday that Kevin Garnett could be out for up to two weeks with a strained right calf after undergoing an MRI.

Shaquille O'Neal was fined $35,000 by the NBA this week after comments questioning NBA officiating and calling the referees 'control freaks'.

Point Guard Rajon Rondo is listed as day-to-day with a sprained ankle and has been out since the December 15 game against the NY Knicks. Doc Rivers said there was some swelling on the ankle that would make his return to Friday night's home game against the New Orleans Hornets questionable.

Weeknight Sports Chowdah Helping- 8 Is Enough For B's; Blocked Kicks Be-Devil #23 Arizona; Cubs Legend Santo Passes Away; Mind in the Qatar

NHL: He's baaaaaack!

A day after blanking the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 on the road, the Bruins returned to the TD Banknorth Garden to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning. And on Thursday night, they had Marc Savard back in the lineup for the first time in 23 games.

But Savard's return was almost an afterthought as the Bruins simply demolished the Lightning by an 8-1 final. Lightning netminder Mike Smith was pulled after allowing five goals on 21 shots faced and replaced with Dan Ellis- who allowed 3 goals in 10 shots faced.

Victor Headman got the only goal of the night from Tampa and Tampa's Steven Stamkos- tied with Sidney Crosby for the most NHL goals- was scoreless in his 4th straight game.

David Krejci opened the scoring at about the 11 minute mark of the first and had two goals and an assist on the night. Perhaps surprisingly given the high score, there were no hat tricks on the night. Dennis Seidenberg, Milan Lucic, Shawn Thornton, Blake Wheeler, Mark Recchi and Michael Ryder also had goals in Thursday night's rout. Tim Thomas even notched an assist while turning away 37 of the 38 shots he faced.

The Bruins will head north next to take on the last-place Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

OTHER NHL NEWS: Buffalo Sabres owner Tom Golisano is reportedly in talks with Pennsylvania businessman Terry Pegula regarding the sale of the team. Golisano founded payroll processing company Paychex [NASDAQ: PAYX] in the early 1970s and acquired the Sabres in 2003. In May of 2009, Golisano announced that he would be moving to Florida to escape New York's high taxes.

NFL: Love or hate him, the revival of Michael Vick's NFL career continued on Thursday night's game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Houston Texans.

Vick went 22 for 33 in passing with two TD's, along with a rushing TD and another 40 yards rushing in Philly's 34-24 home win over the Houston Texans. Although they trailed at halftime by a 20-10 margin, the Texans would pick up some momentum and take a 24-20 lead in the 4th before Vick rushed for one TD and found Owen Schmitt for an insurance TD with just over 4 minutes left in the 4th.

The win gives the Eagles an 8-4 record and puts Philly in sole possession of 1st place in the NFC East at the moment.

NCAA FOOTBALL: I did manage to tune in for this one, believe it or not. Although leading for awhile, the Arizona State Sun Devils were kept out of the end zone until well into the 4th quarter.

After taking a 6-0 lead into halftime, the Sun Devils trailed on the Arizona Wildcats first touchdown of the game and the 3rd quarter would close out with Arizona up 14-6 although the Sun Devils would cap off another drive with a FG to open up the 4th. Taking advantage of a Wildcats turnover mid field, the Sun Devils marched down the shortened field on a five and a half minute drive for their first TD of the game- and a successful 2 point conversion made it a 17-14 Sun Devils lead.

With 7 minutes left in the 4th, the Wildcats would turn it over again, this time failing to convert on a 4th and 1 at their own 29 yard line. However, they did manage to keep the Sun Devils out of the end zone. Arizona State had to settle for yet another Thomas Weber FG to put them up 20-14. The Wildcats would get the ball back with just under 3 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter and start off in good field position thanks to a 43 yard return from Travis Cobb. Arizona QB Nick Foles would then make a series of quick passes for gains of anywhere from five to 15 yards before scoring the game-tying TD with 33 seconds remaining in regulation, but Wildcats kicker Alex Zendejas missed the point after attempt, leaving the game tied at 20-20 and forcing overtime.

For the first overtime, the Wildcats and Sun Devils would trade field goals. Arizona State would lead off the 2nd OT with only their 2nd touchdown of the night, and while the Wildcats would respond in kind, Zendejas would miss the point after attempt for the 2nd time. Sun Devils win in double OT by the final of 30-29 and Airzona State is now bowl-eligible.

All in all, not bad for a Thursday night game. Slow start, but very interesting 4th quarter that I was able to catch thanks in large part to XM radio and ESPN3.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: The first official Bowl matchup of the 2010-2011 Bowl season has been announced, with the Navy Midshipmen taking on the San Diego State University Aztecs in the 2010 Poinsettia Bowl on December 23rd 2010. Since Qualcomm stadium is not even a few miles from the SDSU Campus and there are several Naval bases in and around the city of San Diego, this would almost be like having TWO home teams going head-to-head.

NBA: Ray Allen went 1-6 from 3 point territory on Wednesday night, but nailed one with 10 seconds left in regulation as the Celtics nearly squandered a 96-80 lead in the 4th quarter against the Trailblazers and hung on to win 99-95. Basically, that was a third of Allen's scoring on the night, since he went 3-12 and was held to just 9 points- still, timing is everything.

Paul Pierce led the scoring on the night with 28 points- including going 4 for 5 from 3 point range- for Boston's 5th win in a row.

The C's will play host to the Chicago Bulls next on Friday night.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NBA: Well....so much for LeBron James' much ballyhooed return to Cleveland. The flagging Miami Heat rebounded big time in their stopover at Quicken Loans arena on Thursday night, with ex-Cav James getting 38 points on the night. This one wasn't even close, with the Heat running away with it by a final of 118-90.


MLB: WGN Radio in Chicago is reporting that former Cubs 3rd baseman and current broadcaster Ron Santo has passed away at the age of 70. Starting in 1960, Santo played 14 seasons in Chicago and had a career .277 batting average with 342 home runs.

He began his broadcast career with the Cubs in 1990 and was an unabashed homer who would draw a following because of his emotion and enthusiasm rather than a polished or matter-of-fact broadcast style. In 1971, Santo revaled that he suffered from type 1 diabetes and by 2002, he had to have both legs amputated

WORLD CUP SOCCER: The small Persian Gulf state of Qatar was announced as the surprise winner for hosting the 2022 World Cup Tournament by FIFA- the sport's governing body- beating out the USA, Japan, Australia and South Korea.

Qatar would be the first Muslim country to host a World Cup tournament and the tiny emirate has pledged to undertake around $50 billion in infrastructure improvements leading up to the tournament.

OK....a couple of things. What exactly are the laws in Qatar regarding alcohol consumption? Also- Do you see these young women?
Are they going to have to cover up in accordance with Islamic law in some countries? Because if so, FIFA might as well have just shot themselves in the foot (both feet if Qatar plans on being 'dry' through 2022). It literally has taken alluring and sultry Latinas to coax me to even feign an interest in soccer long enough to humor them, and if the female fans are now required by the host country to dress up like Bedouin tents, then what exactly is the point? If I were so inclined, I might as well take in a 2022 World Cup game in front a jumbo public TV screen in Buenos Aires, rubbing elbows with Porteñas clad in powder blue and white paint and not much else. And I suspect there will be more than a few actual fans of the game asking themselves the same question and coming to the same conclusion.

I know not every country in the Gulf reigon is as strict as Saudi Arabia, but this still begs the question regarding exactly how strict the rules are in Qatar.

[Hat tip to Marty McFly and Centaur of C2 for the updates of the Sabres and Ron Santo, respectively]