This week, I will focus on the first individual award of the column: the Vezina Trophy.The Vezina Trophy is awarded to the best goaltender of the NHL season.
As the New Balance Grand Prix returned to Boston, thousands of fans packed the stands of the TRACK at new balance on Sunday to see the athletes set to compete at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
On Feb. 3, the world tuned in to view a historic college basketball rivalry clash. Two conference foes, their campuses within driving distance, reignited a feud that had seen hundreds of memorable iterations. The home team, donning blue, packed the arena with loyal fans who anxiously awaited a season-defining matchup as the campaign’s crunch time neared.
News that ace pitcher Corbin Burnes was being traded from the Milwaukee Brewers to the Baltimore Orioles was about the last thing I expected to see on Thursday night. It was looking very much like the 2021 NL Cy Young winner would be in Milwaukee until at least the trade deadline. Instead, the Orioles swung one of the biggest offseason moves in franchise history.
Typically, a two-game weekend for the Tufts women’s basketball team features 80 minutes of gameplay. However, to the delight of basketball fanatics, the Jumbos’ slate this past weekend lasted 95 minutes, thanks to a triple-overtime thriller against the Middlebury College Panthers and a nailbiter against the Williams College Ephs. Though the results were mixed, the Jumbos’ weekend was undoubtedly action-packed.
In the spring edition of ‘In the Crease,’ I will be predicting NHL awards, mostly individual awards. However, this week, I will focus on team awards: the Stanley Cup champion and the Presidents’ trophy.
With a win at home against Bates College the weekend prior, the Tufts men’s basketball team was ready to take on Williams College and Middlebury College over the weekend. Both games had important implications for the NESCAC, especially for the Jumbos as their conference record sat at 1–3. In the last seven years, no team has won the NESCAC with a conference record worse than 7–3, making losing more than three games extremely detrimental to championship hopes.
It’s getting to that time of year when teams either separate themselves as clear tournament teams or fall below expectations. Not only is this a crucial time for teams but also for the people coaching them.
The Tufts swimming and diving program returned to competition after winter break with back-to-back meets against Bates College on Friday and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Saturday. Both the men’s and women’s teams won decisive victories over the Bates Bobcats; the men’s team also defeated the MIT Engineers.
MLB’s TV policy is asinine. For a league that ostensibly wants (and actually needs) to grow the game of baseball, they sure do enjoy making it hard for fans to watch it. Right now, the money MLB makes from regional sports networks is more important to them than making the game more accessible.
For the Tufts men’s hockey team, the weekend was defined by an essential before-and-after with their third-period comeback on Saturday. The Jumbos were shut out 2–0 against Williams College on Friday, and when they were down 1–0 after the first two periods against Middlebury College on Saturday, there was a real concern that the same outcome would happen again.
On Saturday, Tufts women’s basketball traveled to play the Bates Bobcats, where the Jumbos lost on a heartbreaking buzzer beater. The game ended 62–60.
Men’s basketball returned to Cousens Gymnasium in triumphant fashion on Saturday, notching a commanding win in their third consecutive conference matchup. Coming off of a disappointing road stint that saw two losses in the opening games of NESCAC play, the Tufts Jumbos burst onto their home court reinvigorated and proceeded to flatten the Bates Bobcats in front of a robust crowd of spectators.
From sprinting through the sprinklers at Camp Nou during the 2010 Champions League semifinals to conquering Pep Guardiola’s Messi-inspired Barcelona dynasty, José Mourinho has nearly done it all. The self-proclaimed “Special One,” who once entered his dressing room hidden in a laundry basket due to a stadium ban has come a long way from translating in press conferences and is regarded as one of the greatest managers ever.
Exactly one year ago, the Jumbos men’s hockey team’s weekend slate consisted of the same two opponents, the Trinity Bantams and the Wesleyan Cardinals, as it did this year. On Jan. 20 and Jan. 21, 2023, the Jumbos fell 6–0 to the Bantams and 5–4 to the Cardinals. But it’s a new year, and the Jumbos, who went into the weekend undefeated since Nov. 26, are a new team. So, expectations and excitement for their road trip to Connecticut were sky-high.
With just under two months left until March Madness, college basketball is heating up with news. Here are my favorite storylines from this week.
After years of stability, life is moving pretty fast at One Patriot Place. The immutable Bill Belichick is gone, replaced by a fresh face, Jerod Mayo, who represents the dawning of a new era for the franchise without quite relinquishing all ties to the Patriot Way. Suddenly, with a new head coach for the first time since 2000, an apparent opening in the front office and the disappointment of a 4–13 season behind them, uncertainty seems to be the new status quo.
While most of the school was enjoying their last weekend of winter break, the women’s basketball team played in two NESCAC games against Amherst on Friday and Hamilton on Saturday. Tufts split the weekend, winning against Hamilton but losing to Amherst in two close games.
Now that we are just over halfway through the regular season, it’s fitting to start predicting who will grace the 2023-24 All-America First Team in college hoops. While a lot could change, here are my picks for the time being, along with an honorable mention.
The Tufts men’s basketball team was in a winning mood after its win at home against Clark University, knowing its next six games were away. The first three against UMass Dartmouth, University of Saint Joseph and No. 5-ranked Keene State were all wins. The squad then headed to the Kingsmen Classic just after Christmas to Thousand Oaks, Calif., where they were scheduled to take on California Lutheran University and UT Dallas. Tufts took its first loss of the season, losing to Cal Lutheran 70–66, before bouncing back to beat UT Dallas 84–72.
