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Bruins Affiliate with Maine Mariners

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BOSTON-PORTLAND (Maine) – The Maine Mariners hockey club announced its become the ECHL affiliate of the Boston Bruins. The Mariners had previously been affiliated with the New York Rangers since they joined the ECHL in 2018. The affiliation agreement with the Bruins completes the “trifecta” of Portland-Boston affiliations, with the Portland Sea Dogs and Maine Celtics (formerly Maine Red Claws) having existing agreements with the Boston Red Sox and Boston Celtics, respectively. Boston is less than a two hours drive from Portland, and the Bruins fanbase makes up the majority of the NHL rooting-interest in the state of Maine.

“We can’t wait to bring live hockey action back to Portland this fall, and we know that Mariners fans will be thrilled to watch players from the Bruins organization playing right here in Maine,” said Mariners President Danny Briere.

The Mariners will be affiliated with the Providence Bruins at the AHL level. Ironically, Providence represents the original Maine Mariners AHL franchise. The AHL’s Mariners were Bruins affiliates from 1987 until 1992, when the franchise was relocated to Rhode Island. The Boston Bruins are among the oldest NHL franchises based in the United States, founded in 1924. Like the Rangers, they are one of the “original six” NHL teams. They are six-time Stanley Cup Champions, most recently in 2011.

“The Boston Bruins are excited to establish an affiliation agreement with the Maine Mariners of the ECHL,” said Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney. “The Bruins and Maine Mariners have a long player development history, as well as having a passionate fan base in Portland and throughout the state of Maine. We are looking forward to building a strong working relationship with Comcast Spectacor, Daniel Briere, and the coaching staff of the Mariners.”

The Bruins have had an ECHL affiliate since 1991.

Red Sox Come From Behind (Again)

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BOSTON – Simply put, this season the Boston Red Sox are winning games they are not supposed to win.  Monday night against the Kansas City Royals, the Sox trailed 5-1 entering the bottom of the 2nd inning before scoring one run in the 2nd inning, three runs in the 4th, and another run in the 6th inning. Outfielder Hunter Renfroe homered twice, including the game-winning blast to spot the Red Sox their 6-5 come-from-behind victory. It was the club’s 26th such win this season.

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The victory, combined with a weekend sweep of the New York Yankees, allowed Boston a “W” in each of the last four games and lifted the club to a season-high 17 games above .500 (previous: 15 games, 3 times).

Renfroe led the way, going 2-for-4, with two runs scored, the two HRs, three RBI. He  hit a two-run HR in the 4th inning, cutting the Sox’ deficit to 5-4, then hit a go-ahead solo homer in the 6th inning.  It was his 13th career multi-HR game and what made Monday night special was the fact the HRs had projected distances of 439 feet (4th inning) and 434 feet (6th inning). Overall, his 11 HR this season have averaged 419 feet (4,608 total feet).

Kiki Hernandez went 2-for-3 with a run scored on his lead-off homer. He hit a solo HR to lead off the bottom of the 1st for the second consecutive game, his ninth career leadoff homer and his third in 2021.

The Royals lost their 6th straight game and are (1-6) to start the current 10-game road trip.

Boston closer Matt Barnes converted his 17th save of the season (20 save opportunities, 85%), retiring all three batters faced in a scoreless 9th inning.

 

Celtics Make it Official

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BOSTON – (Source: Official News Release) – The Boston Celtics made it official today and named former NBA veteran Ime Udoka as the franchise’s next head coach, making him the 18th head coach in the organization’s 75-year history. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“I would like to welcome Ime, Nia, Kez, and Massai to the Boston Celtics. Among the many outstanding qualities that Ime brings to the table are his character, humility, and competitiveness. He has a relentless work ethic and a vast array of experiences as a player and coach,” said Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens. “He’s a leader that is warm and demanding, and we are so excited that he has chosen to join us in pursuit of Banner 18.”

Udoka joins the Celtics franchise after spending the last nine NBA seasons as an assistant coach between San Antonio (2012-13 to 2018-19), Philadelphia (2019-20), and Brooklyn (2020-21). Teams that Udoka has served as an assistant coach on have qualified for the playoffs in all nine seasons, with one of those years resulting in an NBA championship (Spurs, 2014).

In addition to his coaching experience in the NBA, Udoka was also an assistant coach for Gregg Popovich and the USA Basketball Men’s National Team in 2018.

“It’s an honor to be a part of the historic Celtics franchise. Coaching this talented roster and working alongside Brad makes it an ideal situation,” said Udoka. “I’d like to thank (team managing partners) Wyc (Grousbeck), Steve (Pagliuca), and Brad (Stevens) for entrusting me with this opportunity. I look forward to getting started right away.”

Udoka played 12 years of professional basketball, including seven seasons in the NBA from 2003-04 to 2010-11. He averaged 5.2 points on 41.7% shooting (35.6% 3-PT), 2.9 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 18.1 minutes in 316 career games with San Antonio, Portland, Sacramento, New York, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Udoka also represented Nigeria in international competition throughout his playing career, earning bronze medals in 2005 and 2011 at the African Championships.

“Ime stands out as a person of integrity, accomplishment, energy, and insight,” said Celtics team co-owner and Governor Wyc Grousbeck. “He has worked with some of the best and is ready to take the next step forward. I look forward to having him as our head coach.”

“Ime’s passion for basketball and coaching is extraordinary,” said Celtics team co-owner and Alternate Governor Steve Pagliuca. “He is respected by players and coaches throughout the league for his empathy, humility, and deep knowledge of the game. We are thrilled that he will be coming to Boston to lead our team.”

A native of Portland, OR, Udoka, 43, began his collegiate career at Utah State University Eastern (1995-97) before transferring to the University of San Francisco (1997-98) and finishing up at Portland State (1999-00).

Bruins Sign Blidh

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BOSTON – Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney announced the club signed forward Anton Blidh to a one-year, two-way contract with an NHL cap hit of $750,000.  Blidh, 26, has played five seasons for the Bruins. In 2020-21, the 6-foot, 185-pound forward skated in 10 games, scoring one goal. In 38 career NHL games, Blidh has recorded two goals and one assist.

Blidh has appeared in 278 games with the Providence Bruins since coming to North America in 2015, totaling 46 goals, 42 assists, a plus-31 rating and 247 penalty minutes.

The Molnlycke, Sweden native was originally selected by the Bruins in the sixth round (180th overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

Celtics Trade Walker; Begin to Rebuild

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BOSTON – The Boston Celtics are reportedly trading guard Kemba Walker, the No. 16 overall pick in the 2021 draft and a 2025 second-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for center-forward Al Horford, 7-2 center prospect Moses Brown and a second-round pick in 2023, according to ESPN.

The trade would be new Celtics head of basketball Operations Brad Stevens‘ first move as GM after he was recently promoted from his head coaching position.

Walker joined the Celtics in 2019, the same offseason Horford departed from Boston in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. Horford played three prior seasons with the Celtics after beginning his career in Atlanta. The oft-injured Walker averaged 19.9 points and 4.8 assists in two seasons with the Celtics. His contract calls for payment of $34 million, $36m and $37m over the next three years.

Horford can be expected to provide veteran leadership in an otherwise youthful Celtics locker room and ease the team leadership role from that of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Horford’s NBA contract calls for $27.5 million, $27m and $26.5m in 2022-23, but only $14.5m of that amount is guaranteed in the final year.

In addition to re-shaping a chemistry-lacking roster, Stevens is also in search of the next Celtics head coach. In recent days, the NBA has experienced a drastic upheaval of head coaches with longtime head coach of the Dallas Mavericks and head of the NBA Coaches Association Rick Carlisle unexpectedly stepping down from the Mavericks Thursday. Carlisle played for the Celtics in the mid-1980s. In addition, Scott Brooks was unable to come to terms in Washington DC and Stan Van Gundy was relieved of his duties in New Orleans. Veteran coach Mike D’Antoni is available as are former Portland Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts, former Indiana coach Nate Bjorkgren and former Orlando coach Steve Clifford.

Red Sox Earn an Off-Day

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BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox eased into a single day break Thursday with a three-game winning streak but a (6-4) record over their last 10 games, but claimed a two-game mini-series sweep over the struggling Atlanta Braves and are (9-4) over their last 13 games.

The pair of 10-8 victories over the Braves indicated some of the symptoms facing the Sox starting rotation. In the opener against the Braves, SP Garrett Richards allowed  six runs, four earned. Richards holds a 4.36 ERA, overall, but in his last three starts (14 innings pitched), the right hander has allowed 26 hits and 11 earned runs.

Wednesday night’s starter, Eduardo Rodriguez, began the season 5-0 with a 3.82 ERA and .260 opponent batting average over his first six (33.0 IP, 33-for-127, 14 ER) games. He then went 0-4 with a 8.49 ERA and .331 opponent average over his six starts (29.2 IP, 41- for-124, 28 ER) leading into the Braves game. The Sox posted an early 5-0 lead for Rodriguez but the left hander gave up four runs off six hits and a walk, and allowed Atlanta to erase a five-run deficit to 5-4.

The trend was contagious for Martin Perez as he’s allowed 11 runs in 3.1 innings pitched in his last two starts and Nick Pivetta  who coughed-up six runs in his last start.

Starting pitching woes aside, the Sox are currently a season-high 15 games above .500 at (42-27) after concluding a testy 17 consecutive game-day stretch, all against 2020 MLB Playoff teams. They’ll pick it up again Friday night at Kansas City for a three-game series against the Royals.

Nick Pivetta, Martin Perez and Nathan Eovaldi will start for Boston over the weekend before the club earns another rare off-day this Monday.

 

 

While We’re Young (Ideas) & Notes

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The most telling “official” sponsorship package in all of sports might be the “official window” company for every sports franchise. The official window might determine the “window of opportunity” and just when the windows open and close for your local professional club.

Maybe you can blame it on the quick-changing New England weather, but here in Boston, the windows seem to be closing all too often these days. When quarterback and team leader Tom Brady departed from the New England Patriots and tight end Rob Gronkowski soon followed him to Tampa Bay, the window of opportunity closed on the Patriots, like a guillotine at Marie Antoinette’s execution.

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This spring, the double-hung windows at TD Garden were shuttered quite abruptly, as both the Boston Celtics of the NBA and the Boston Bruins of the NHL took early exits from their respective league playoffs.

After winning their 17th NBA Championship in 2007-08, the Celtics have remained (mostly) competitive with the exception of missing the NBA Playoffs in 2013-14. Boston made NBA Eastern Conference Finals appearances in 2016-17, 2017-18, 2019-20 (in the NBA Bubble).

This season, they advanced through a first-ever NBA Play-In game but lost to the Brooklyn Nets, 4-games-to-1, in the first round of the playoffs. Soon after, the Celtics accepted the retirement papers from their head of basketball, Danny Ainge, and decided to move their talented head coach, Brad Stevens, up the ladder to head-up basketball ops as GM.

While the Celtics’ core is young, strong and capable, team chemistry, size and frequent injuries remain as obstacles in front of the Celtics in order to advance in future NBA Playoffs. The window of opportunity for the current team seems to be closing before they could make it to the NBA Finals.

On the ice rink along Causeway Street, the Boston Bruins are realizing a similar fate.

Last season, the Bruins finished the “normal” season leading the NHL and in prime position for the approaching 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Then, the Coronavirus hit, and the Bruins lost momentum, and re-started by going 0-3 in the NHL bubble ‘seeding round.” The Bruins regained some confidence with a strong showing in the 2020 first round with a 4-1 series win over the Carolina Hurricanes but fell flat and dropped their second-round series to eventual champion Tampa Bay, 4-1.

This season, the Bruins finished third in a re-configured “East,” then won a competitive first-round series against the tough Washington Capitals before being eliminated, 4-games-to-2, against the upstart New York Islanders.

Suffice to say, the core of the Boston Bruins team is aging from the Stanley Cup Championship of 2011 and Stanley Cup Finals appearance and losses to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013 and St. Louis Blues in the spring of 2019.

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“Every year, as you don’t achieve your goal and the further you go in your career, you get to realize it’s a year closer to retirement,” said veteran center and team captain Patrice Bergeron after the Bruins were eliminated. “So, obviously, it’s tough. From one year to the next, it’s always a missed opportunity and you want to keep going at it. It’s hard. As you get older, you know that you don’t have that many chances to achieve your goal and have a team that can actually compete for a Stanley Cup, so it’s always disappointing. About changes, I’m not sure. It’s not up to me. You always want to keep the same group and I feel like we have a great group here. We’ll see what happens.”

Unfortunately, in the world of sports, we all know what happens.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: For the Boston Bruins, the status of starting goalkeeper Tuukka Rask will be a key factor. Rask will soon have surgery for a torn labrum in his hip. The surgery will be scheduled within a month and recovery time could take five or six months from there. While some have speculated that Rask might test the free agent market upon return, much like former Bruins captain Zdeno Chara (now with the Washington Caps), Rask confirmed this week that it’s the Bruins or retirement. … “I’m not going to play for anyone else than the Bruins,” said Rask. “This is our home. We have three kids. The kids enjoy it here. They have friends in school. We have friends. At this point of my life and my career, I don’t see any reason to go anywhere else, especially with the health I’m looking at now and a recovery time of five or six months. Hopefully it works out that I recover well and we can talk about contracts when the time is right for that,” he concluded.

TRACK & FIELD AND TRACK SOME MORE? – According to The Japan Times, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee plans to use GPS as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The GPS tracking devices are not intended to monitor the real-time whereabouts of people from overseas, but to trace and confirm their movements retroactively in the event infections are confirmed, Toshiro Muto, the Olympic Organizing Committee CEO said. … He told reporters that everyone entering Japan from abroad, including athletes, officials and members of the media, will be required to submit plans for their first 14 days in the country and turn on the GPS function on their smartphones. … “We’re not going to be tracking every single movement,” he told a news conference. “I want to trust they will follow the rules first.” … The system for possible COVID-19 contact tracing came at a high cost. Japan’s digital transformation minister Takuya Hirai said the development cost for the app was $35 million, according to the Tokyo-based newspaper Nikkei.

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Red Sox Defeat Marlins, 5-3

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BOSTON – Red Sox second baseman Christian Arroyo knocked-in two runs with a single in Boston’s half of the fourth inning, and the Sox defeated the Marlins 5-3 for their fifth straight victory.

Boston outfielder Alex Verdugo added two hits including an RBI double for the Red Sox, who were coming off their first three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium since June 2011.

Starling Marte hit a solo homer and had two base hits for Miami, which left 14 baserunners on base. It was the Marlins’ ninth loss in the last 10 games.

The Marlins completed a nine-game, 11-day road trip with just one win, with the first two losses coming in Fenway Park.

The Red Sox are a season-high 14 games over .500 at 37-23. The matchup was a makeup of the May 30 game that was rained out, with the conditions vastly different. The game-time temperature at Fenway Park was a stifling 90 degrees. When the Marlins were previously in town, it was chilly and rainy for the three days.

Red Sox Win in 10; Sweep Yankees

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BRONX – Boston all-star shortstop Xander Bogaerts laced a two-run single with two outs in the 10th inning and the Boston Red Sox completed a three-game sweep of the struggling New York Yankees by holding on for a 6-5 victory at Yankee Stadium.

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Red Sox slugger Bobby Dalbec opened the 10th with a walk on a pitch that resulted in New York hitting coach Marcus Thames screaming from the dugout and the ejection of bench coach Carlos Mendoza.

The Red Sox had runners at second and third following a sacrifice bunt by Christian Arroyo, and Bogaerts provided for Boston’s lead when he hit a 2-1 slider off Luis Cessa (1-1) to the gap in left-center field to give Boston a 6-4 lead.

Bogaerts had given the Red Sox a 4-3 lead with a sacrifice fly in the eighth, and his double gave Boston its first three-game sweep in New York since June 7-9, 2011.

The Red Sox blew a 4-3 lead when closer Matt Barnes (2-1) allowed a game-tying double to Gleyber Torres in the ninth. He stranded runners at first and third by striking out pinch hitter Rougned Odor on a full-count pitch that replays showed was outside and resulted in the ejection of New York third base coach Phil Nevin by plate umpire Gabe Morales.

Boston’s Phillips Valdez hit Clint Frazier with his first pitch of the 10th, got a double play on Miguel Andujar and allowed an infield single to Tyler Wade to make it 6-5. Wade took second on a throwing error by Marwin Gonzalez and, following an animated mound visit from manager Alex Cora, Valdez retired DJ LeMahieu on a groundout for his first career save.