The streak is dead. Long live the streak. The CVU girls' high school basketball team has won four consecutive Division one championships, and while capturing those crowns, had not lost a single game. How many in a row? Ninety-six. 96 consecutive wins and counting, until last night, when the Redhawks' incredible run was ended by Rice Memorial in a come from behind 37-33 win.
Leah Larivee nailed a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left and that gave Rice a lead it would not relinquish and a history-snapping snapshot as Rice came back from a 22-14 halftime deficit to shock CVU in just their second game of the season. It was perhaps fitting the the Green Knights were the team to end the streak, because they were the team that beat CVU in the D-1 championship game back in 2012 before the remarkable 96-game winning streak was born.
Burke Mountain Academy Ski Club graduate Mikaela Shiffrin won her second career FIS World Cup Slalom race yesterday, finishing first in Semmering, Austria. It's Shiffrin's first World Cup Giant Slalom win since 2014, as she edged out France's Tessa Worley, and with the win Shiffrin is now in second place overall for the Giant Slalom world cup standings, 55 points behind Worley.
In boys' high school hockey at the Niskayuna Tournament in Schenectady, La Salle won the tournament, edging Essex yesterday 4-3.
The Boston Bruins went into Columbus facing the hottest team in hockey last night, the Blue Jackets winners of twelve in a row, and win number thirteen looked like it would be an easy one for Columbus when they quickly built up a 3-0 lead halfway through the first period.
The Bruins have been here before, far too many of their starts plagued by miscues, and fire wagon-style scrambling in the defensive zone, and so it was in front of Tuukka Rask, especially on the first goal when Scott Hartnell was left all alone in front of Rask to collect a rebound of a shot from the point for an easy put-back. To the Bruins credit, though, they came to life after the 3-0 deficit and by the end of the second period had tied the game at three on goals by David Backes, Austin Czarnik, and David Krejci. It would have been nice to get out of Ohio with at least a point for a regulation tie, but the comeback went for naught when Nick Foligno scored a power play goal midway through the third period and the Bruins couldn't get the equalizer past Sergei Bobrovsky in a 4-3 loss. It was Bobrovsky's first win against the Bruins in eight tries and the first time Columbus has defeated Boston this season. Their winning streak has extended to thirteen games and the Bruins need to play with the jkind of drive and intensity they did after they fell behind by three when they're not trailing. Who knows, if they could, they might even be able to cobble together a winning streak of their own.
The NY Rangers were winners last night 4-3 over the Ottawa Senators, thanks to their new defenseman Nick Holden, who scored twice including the game winner early in the third period. Derek Stepan had the other two goals for the Rangers, who came back from a 3-1 deficit to get the win at Madison Square Garden and nip a two game losing skid in the bud. Back-up goalie Antti Raanta looked shaky in the early going, letting in the first two Ottawa shots that came his way, but settled down to make 33 saves and get the win.
In the NBA, the Boston Celtics took on the Memphis Grizzlies for the second time in a week. The first contest went Boston's way in overtime but no extra frame was needed this time around as the Celtics rode a 23-point night from Avery Bradley to a 113-103 win in Boston. Isaiah Thomas added 21 points and the Celts didn't look a gift horse in the mouth, making 19 of 21 chances from the charity stripe. Gerald Green had a nice game off the bench for Boston, scoring a season high 19 including nine in the fourth quarter. Marc Gasol had 26 points for Memphis in the losing effort.
