By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk
BOSTON – The Polar Vortex has been doing cartwheels all around North America as the glaciers melt in the Northern 51st. With it, the ice surrounding our homes is deeper, darker and as dense as the ice at TD Garden, where Team Canada recently defeated the U.S. of A. in overtime of the championship game of the 4 Nations Tournament
4 Nations was missing the sanctioned Russian Federation team and possibly the next best, the Czech Republic, for sure, but for an NHL contrived mid-season tournament, the event(s) in Montreal and here at TD Garden in the cold North End couldn’t have gone better, sans the injuries sustained by Charlie McAvoy, the Bruins’ best defenseman and Florida Panthers star forward Matthew Tkachuk who sat out Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken because of a lower-body injury. Panthers coach Paul Maurice announced Tkachuk’s absence after the pregame morning skate. Tkachuk first experienced discomfort during the 4 Nations, when he helped lead the United States to the tournament final.
McAvoy had “an infection in his right shoulder” and suffered “a significant injury to his AC joint” during Team USA’s 4 Nations opener last week, the Bruins said. He was released from the hospital on Thursday and is reportedly on a week-to-week timeline to return.
With McAvoy out, the Bruins’ new top backline pairing heading into the second half of the regular season will be Nikita Zadorov and Andrew Peeke. Recent call-up Michael Callahan is skating on the second pairing with Brandon Carlo, while Parker Wotherspoon, who has not played since January 30, is on the third pairing with Mason Lohrei.
Boston has an uphill climb, as they’ve dropped to sixth place in the NHL’s Atlantic Division, but they remain only one point behind the Detroit Red Wings for the final Wild Card spot. The Bruins are the fourth worst team in the Conference in +/- goal differential.
Down the hallway, the Boston Celtics are among the top three teams in the Eastern Conference but trail the Cleveland Cavaliers for the coveted top spot. Not surprisingly, the New York Knickerbockers are only two games behind Boston in the loss column. Even though the Celtics have won eight of their last nine games, the Sunday, Feb 23 (today) 1pm game against the Knicks at TD Garden will be a key indicator for the second half of the NBA season. The Knicks are coming off a 142-105 thrashing at the hands of the Cavs.
Similarly, on February 8, the Celtics slapped the Knicks’ ears with a 131-104 lesson at Madison Square Garden. Jayson Tatum put up 40 points in that game to anchor the Celtics’ scoring effort. Guard Payton Pritchard had 25 points off the bench. … NY Knicks ‘glue’ man, Josh Hart, has been sidelined with patellofemoral syndrome, a painful knee condition.
In other NBA news, San Antonio’s amazing All-Star center Victor Wembanyama will be sidelined for the rest of the season due to deep vein thrombosis (blood clot) in his right shoulder. His injury pretty much buries the Spurs underneath the four Western Conference play-in teams but assures them of another substantial pick in the NBA Draft.
All in all, we’re coming down the homestretch, and I don’t mean at rain-soaked Daytona.
If you’re watching the calendar and awaiting the great sports days of the spring, you’re not alone. We’re only 22 days away from the first pitch of the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season, as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs have the honor of opening the season in Tokyo. In doing so, the great fans in Japan will see some combination of the outstanding Japanese pitching trio of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and newcomer Roki Sasaki, while Chicago is likely to throw SP Shota Imanaga in the opener. … The rest of the MLB teams open their 2025 season on or about Thursday March 27 with the Red Sox at Texas. … It’s 40 days and 40 nights until Opening Day at Fenway Park in Boston.
SPRINGTIME SPORTS CALENDAR
- February 22 – MLS Regular Season begins
- March 2 & 5 – Atlantic Sun and Big South Tournaments begin
- March 9 – Daylight Savings Time begins
- March 11-15 – ACC Basketball Tournament (Charlotte)
- March 12-15 – BIG EAST Conference Tournament (MSG)
- March 16 – NCAA Selection Sunday
- March 17 – St. P☘️trick’s Day
- March 18-19 – MLB Regular Season begins (in Tokyo, Japan) (LAD/CHI)
- March 20-21 – NCAA Basketball First Round (Play-In is March 18-19)
- March 20-21 – Hockey East Semifinals and Championship (TD Garden)
- March 27-28 – NCAA Sweet 16
- April 3-6 – NCAA Women’s Final Four (Tampa Bay)
- April 4 – Boston Red Sox home opener vs. St. Louis (2:10pm)
- April 5-7 – NCAA Men’s Final Four (San Antonio)
- April 10-13 – The Masters (Augusta, GA)
- April 10-12 – NCAA Frozen Four (St. Louis)
- April 15-18 – NBA Play-In Tournament
- April 19 – NBA Playoffs begin
- April 20 – NHL Playoffs begin
- April 21 – Patriots’ Day (Boston Marathon/Red Sox @11:10am)
- May 24-26 – NCAA LAX Final Four (Foxboro, Mass)
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The 4 Nations Face-Off concluded on Thursday night with Canada defeating the USA, 3-2, in overtime. According to ESPN and Nielsen, the championship game delivered 9.3m viewers, ESPN’s largest audience for ice hockey, ever. The previous high on any broadcaster was 8.9 million for NBC’s telecast of Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues. During the USA loss to Canada, the ESPN audience peaked at 10.4 million viewers and gave the network its largest non-NFL or college football viewership on the network’s platforms since the 2024 NBA Finals.
Former New England Patriots QB Tom Brady purchased part of a Foxborough-based trading card retailer and wants to help it score new business, according to the Boston Business Journal. … The Pats’ GOAT acquired a 50% stake in CardVault and is lending his name to the company, which will be known as CardVault by Tom Brady, according to the news release issued this week. The company did not disclose specific terms of the deal. … CardVault sells sports trading cards and other sports collectibles through its stores at TD Garden in Boston, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, and at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.
TIDBITS: “The Trade,” as it is now known, seems to be one of those occurrences in sports where everyone “knows where they were” when they heard the news. While it’s not of the level of Michael Jordan leaving the NBA in his prime for minor league baseball, the Dallas Mavericks’ trade of Luka Dončić for LA’s Anthony Davis (and other assorted goodies) just stopped the NBA/sports world in its tracks. … Mavericks great Dirk Nowitzki was in – get this – The Maldives, vacationing with family, when “his phone blew up,” according to the franchise’s all-time best player. … In the truly global NBA, the news of the trade travelled 10,022 miles in a matter of seconds.
Is Boston Brewin’ or is it just another cup of coffee? Brad Marchand, captain of the Bruins, winning member of Team Canada at the 4 Nations tournament and a six-time NHL All-Star, is launching a new business – his own brand of ground coffee. Brad’s Brew will soon be available at 90 Market Basket grocery stores in New England, according to a news release issued this week. … The coffee comes in medium and dark roast blends and is roasted by a family-owned business, Boston’s Best Coffee, which is based in South Easton.
The 2014 NBA Rookie of the Year, Michael Carter-Williams of Syracuse University, is hoping to land a WNBA franchise for Boston, whether it’s through expansion or being a destination for a current team that wants to move. Williams is part of the Boston Women’s Basketball Partners group that is spearheading the initiative. The group hasn’t submitted a bid to the WNBA, although it has talked with the third party the league hired to handle the expansion bidding process. “The main objective is to get a team in Boston,” said Carter-Williams to the Associated Press earlier this week. “It doesn’t matter if it’s an expansion team or a team that wants to sell and move to Boston.” … The hint was being dropped to the nearby Connecticut Sun franchise, playing out of the Mohegan Sun resort in Uncasville, Connecticut – about a 107 mile drive from TD Garden. Should the Sun wish to set up in Boston, complete with its loyal following and NESN broadcasting deal. … The WNBA already announced three expansion teams that will start play over the next two years, with Golden State beginning this summer, followed by Toronto and Portland starting in the summer of 2026. … One other expansion franchise is expected in 2027, and that will come from a long list of bidders, including Cleveland (again) – where are the Rockers? – Detroit (again) – where are the Shock? Houston (again) – where are the champion Comets? They’re all lined up along with Philadelphia, Kansas City and Nashville, among others.
THIS JEST IN: Where’s Johnny Damon when you need him? …Why? …It’s “Bring back the beards to the Bronx” year for the New York Yankees. Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner declared “well groomed beards” would be permitted in declaring an end to the franchise’s longstanding policy that allowed mustaches but not beards or unruly sideburns.
“In recent weeks I have spoken to a large number of former and current Yankees – spanning several eras – to elicit their perspectives on our longstanding facial hair and grooming policy, and I appreciate their earnest and varied feedback,” Steinbrenner said Friday morning in a statement. “These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years. Ultimately the final decision rests with me, and after great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward. It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.”
The policy on player appearance includes the length of their mane — stating “hair cannot touch the uniform collar” — and came about in 1976. When George Steinbrenner died in 2010, his daughter and Yankees managing partner, Jennifer, insisted the team’s rule not be changed. … A generational shift that came too late for infamously shaggy stars such as Damon and Randy Johnson takes effect immediately.
IS IT COINCIDENTAL timing or part of a plan, as Steinbrenner claimed? Yes, there is at least one current Yankees player who appreciates the razor relief. New closer Devin Williams reported to Tampa with the goatee look he’s had for several years. When the topic of the facial hair policy came up, Williams was coy and said only “we’ll see” when pressed on his plans for altering his appearance.
CAN’T MAKE IT UP: PGA Tour pro Blades Brown made the cut at the 2025 Mexico Open at Vidanta World. To do so, he shot 68-69 for -5 when the cut came at -3. Brown made his PGA Tour debut about a month ago at the American Express at LaQuinta. Since then, it’s been a challenge. “I mean, I’m hitting a lot of golf balls. The weather back in Nashville isn’t amazing right now, but I’m super happy to come down here to Mexico and speak some Spanish,” said Brown. “I took Spanish four years in high school, so I’m really happy I chose that over Latin. I’m having so much fun here at the resort and I can’t wait for the next two days.”