Boston

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – In the depths of a freezing cold winter, there are two things New Englanders can count on to brighten their spirits. Groundhog Day and Fenway Truck Day. No matter what forecast that damn rodent, Pennsylvania Phil, has in store, when the Boston Red Sox equipment truck is loaded up on Van Ness Street and begins its 1,480 mile trip to Jet Blue Park in Fort Myers, Florida.

Groundhog Day is (today) Sunday, February 2 while Fenway Park Truck Day is (tomorrow) Monday, February 3. The truck will be loaded starting at 7:00am and is scheduled to leave around 1:00pm. This will be the 28th straight year that Milford native Al Hartz will drive the 53-foot truck, which will carry an assortment of baseball equipment and supplies, including:

• 20,400 baseballs
• 1,100 bats
• 200 batting gloves
• 200 batting helmets
• 320 batting practice tops
• 160 white game jerseys
• 300 pairs of pants
• 400 t-shirts
• 400 pairs of socks
• 20 cases of bubble gum
• 60 cases of sunflower seeds

The celebration of Truck Day has been a Red Sox tradition since 2003, signaling the unofficial start of Spring Training. Boston’s Pitchers & Catchers report on Wednesday, February 12 while other Major League clubs report anywhere from February 9 (Chicago Cubs – traveling to Tokyo for games against the LA Dodgers – March 18/19) through February 13. For the most part, full squad workouts begin Monday, February 17. The Dodgers have scheduled their first spring training dates for February 11/15).

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Boston is a tough town, known very much as a “Hockey Town,” but it’s also a large community of figure skating families as nearly every single New England Mom or Dad has memories of taking the youngsters to the local rink (outdoor or indoor) with the kids dreaming of skating for Olympic gold. New England, along with the rest of the Figure Skating world community – a very tight knit group – are all mourning the loss of legends, friends and family in the freak airplane accident. American Airlines Flight 5342 and a Blackhawk military helicopter collided less than a mile from the runway at Washington DC’s Reagan National Airport where the Wichita to DC flight was within seconds of landing safely. Instead, all souls aboard both the jet and helicopter experienced true horror and immediate death. Then, another air catastrophe in the same week as a Medivac transport jet crashed in North Philadelphia, killing all six aboard the Learjet 55. They were all Mexican nationals returning home after a child was treated in Philly.

The American Airlines regional air flight originated in Wichita, Kansas just a few days after the U.S. Figure Skating Championship and subsequent Development Camp, held for the most promising young skaters in the country.

Two Boston area teenage skaters, two coaches and two parents from The Skating Club of Boston (Norwood, MA) were on the flight that crashed Wednesday into the Potomac River in DC after a midair crash with an Army helicopter, the club confirmed. A total of 14 members of the US skating community were aboard among the 67 passengers and crew.

Ice skating coaches and former world champions Evgenia Shishkova and VadimNaumov were aboard the flight from Wichita, coming home from the camp that followed the national championships, which ended last Sunday. Shishkova and Naumov were both coaches at The Skating Club of Boston, and had been with the club since 2017, according to Doug Zeghibe, the club’s executive director.

Shishkova and Naumov were a married couple, settled in Boston, who competed for Russia in pairs skating in the 1994 Winter Olympics and placed fourth. Later, they won their gold medals ‘94 World Championship.

The young skaters were identified by the club as Spencer Lane and Jinna Han and they were accompanied by their mothers, Christine Lane and Jin Han. All six were a constant presence at the skaking club, often 10-plus hours at a time, six days a week.

The Skating Club of Boston is the third-oldest club in the country and is a founding member of U.S. Figure Skating. In 2020, the club closed its Soldiers Field Road facility it had occupied since 1938 and moved to a fabulous three-rink headquarters in suburban Norwood, Massachusetts. Unlike most New England ice rinks, the Skating Club is dedicated 100% to figure skating, as opposed to sharing the ice time with men’s and women’s hockey.

The club has a rich history as home of Tenley E. Albright, the first American woman to win gold medals at the Worlds (1953) and Winter Olympics (1956). After her skating career, Dr. Albright went on to study medicine at Harvard Medical School where she held a faculty appointment as Lecturer in the Program of Surgery.

The great Dick Button also skated at Boston when he was enrolled at Harvard. A native of Englewood, New Jersey, Button, a five-time World Champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. Button, who later became a fixture of American figure skating coverage as a TV network color commentator, was the only male skater to simultaneously hold the Olympic, World, North American, European and US National Championship titles.

Button passed away this week at the age of 95, providing the figure skating community another kick in the teeth as they mourn some 20 deceased colleagues, six from the Boston area.

BAD MEMORIES: The horrific Wichita to DC plane crash reminded some of the February 15, 1961 crash that killed 18 members of the U.S.A. world figure skating team, along with sixteen coaches and relatives of the skaters. Those dear souls were lost when Sabena Flight 548, traveling from New York’s Idlewild Airport to Brussels, crashed on approach to Brussels.

TIDBITS: The NHL, according to ESPN, is expected to significantly raise its team salary cap over the next three seasons, according to a memo the League and the NHL Players’ Association sent to teams. … According to the memo, obtained by ESPN, the salary cap for 2025-26 will rise to $95.5 million, with a floor of $70.6 million. In 2026-27, it is projected to increase to $104 million with a floor of $76.9 million, and in 2027-28, it will again go up to $113.5 million with a floor of $83.9 million. … The NHL’s current salary cap is $88 million with a floor of $65 million. … The minimum team salary or ‘floor’ is important to keep teams from operating at an incredible low salary in years when they feel they can not be competitive.

The Washington Wizards are experiencing their second 16 consecutive loss streak of the 2024-25 season. The first was November 2 through December 5 and the current losing streak began January 3. (The Wizards faced the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis as press time was calling).

Super Bowl LIX commercial spots on FOX Sports are going for $8m. Just think of the good one could do with $8m bucks.

TOP NBA COACHES, RANKED by TL: There’s been a list of the “best” NBA coaches floating around. It’s pretty good, but here’s a TL Sunday Notes version to ponder. The thoughts are for the whole body of work, over their careers, for the Top 6 and a tip of the hat to the younger generation in the second half dozen:

1. Erik Spoelstra, Miami
2. Gregg Popovich, San Antonio (heavy on the body of work side, and a get well soon)
3. Steve Kerr, Golden State
4. Nick Nurse, Philadelphia
5. Rick Carlisle, Indiana
6. Tom Thibodeau, NY Knicks

THE NEXT GREAT CROP of NBA COACHES:

1. Ime Udoka, Houston
2. Joe Mazzulla, Boston
3. Mark Daigneault, Oklahoma City
4. Ty Lue (he’s actually been terrific for a while), LA Clippers
5. Kenny Atkinson, Cleveland
6. Mike Malone, Denver

THIS JEST IN: The National Hockey League just announced that Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak was named the NHL First Star of the Month for January. Pastrnak led the NHL in scoring in January, totaling 11 goals and 13 assists for 24 points. The 27-year-old recorded points in 12 of the team’s 14 contests, with four three-point games. Pastrnak started February even hotter than January as he registered his first hat trick of the season and an assist to lead the Bruins to a 6-3 win over the visiting New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon.

The 6-foot, 200-pound winger has played in all 53 games with the Bruins this season, notching 24 goals and 37 assists for 61 points overall. He leads the team in goals, assists, points, points per game (1.15) even strength goals (18), even strength points (47), power play goals (6) and power play points (14) this season.

Currently in his 11th season with the Bruins, Pastrnak has skated in 727 career NHL games, totaling 372 goals and 416 assists for 788 points with a plus-135 rating. The Havirov, Czech Republic native was originally drafted by Boston in the first round (25th overall) of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

YOU CAN’T MAKE IT UP: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver asked by radio mogul Dan Patrick for “the wildest ideas” about the game cited discussions on awarding only two free throws for fouls on three-point field goal attempts. Then, Silver noted that he was in the minority on another idea. That being reducing the NBA game to a 40-minute game, with four 10-minute quarters. Silver cited the fact international basketball (FIBA) rules call for 40 minutes. … Repercussions from a change to a 40-minute NBA game is the fact every NBA record, dating back to 1946, would be signed, sealed and engraved into the books. Team game records, scoring records, most or fewest points scored, rebounds, assists and everything in between would be enshrined. The NBA would need to begin a new record book as Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game mark would be chiseled into stone.