Divisional Round Weekend Preview

Divisional weekend in the NFL has arrived. We are now down to eight teams left, all chasing the biggest prize in pro football. We got a couple of teams seeking their first world title, while a couple of others are seeking their first tiles in a long time. So let's not waste anymore time. Here's how we see the Divisional Round going down.

Buffalo Bills vs Denver Broncos 4:35PM CBS
Its a battle of two teams with a storied past in this league. Buffalo has an edge of sorts going into the playoffs, because they have a chance now to take advantage of not having their arch nemesis in the way in Kansas City. But this has a different feel to it for Buffalo as they aren't hosting a playoff game this year, which seems to be a different look for them. They got a little lucky in getting by Jacksonville last week, but they are facing the best team in the AFC this year. The only question mark for me with this is can the Broncos handle the pressure?

Pick: Broncos 30, Bills 24

San Francisco 49ers vs Seattle Seahawks 8:15PM Fox
A tough battle of division foes from the NFC West. Seattle is the best team in the NFC for a reason this year. What's making this pick easy for me is how banged up the Niners are. If San Francisco was a healthier team, this would be a much harder game to pick and a much different story.

Pick: Seahawks 27, 49ers 14

Houston Texans vs New England Patriots 3:05 PM ABC/ESPN
The New England Patriots seemed to have found their footing again as one of the best teams in the AFC. This is not to take anything away from what the Houston Texans have done during the course of the season, but lets be real here. Houston got very lucky they beat Pittsburgh last week. They keep making those same kind of mistakes again this week, the season ends.

Pick: Patriots 34, Texans 21

Los Angeles Rams vs Chicago Bears 6:40 PM NBC
This could be another close battle for the Bears this weekend with the Rams coming into town. And it's going to be a cold one in Chicago, which is going to play a factor into this one. But Matthew Stafford can handle it, having played in it for years in that division when he was in Detroit. Chicago had better find their run game again this week or this could be a long weekend.

Pick: Rams 27, Bears 10

Major Milestone In Tampa Bay

Coaching in sports. You have to be good at what you do to be able to coach in the National Hockey League. In fact, there have been 401 people that have coached at least one game at that level. Thirty two of those people have done that more than 1,000 times. Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper is one of those guys. He hit that mark before the end of 2025. Now he has reached another milestone.

Monday night, in a win over the Philadelphia Flyers, Cooper won his 600th game as an NHL head coach. Cooper got 600 wins in his 1,005th game, 2nd fastest in NHL history. Only one man, the great Scotty Bowman, got to that milestone faster. Bowman did it in 1,002 games. With that 600th win, Cooper becomes the 25 coach in history to reach that mark and is the 5th active coach to hit that number. Todd McLellan, Lindy Ruff, Paul Maurice and Joel Quenneville are the others.

Cooper’s record and numbers speak for themselves. 1.005 games coached, 600 wins (and counting for both), career .640 win percentage during the regular season. Two Stanley Cups, four total finals appearances 88 wins in 155 playoff games behind the bench. Since Cooper took over behind the bench late in the 2021-13 season, Tampa has never had fewer than 40 wins in a season (they had 36 wins in 2021 but that was the COVID shortened season). Also in that time, the Lightning have only missed the playoffs once. Those are all eye popping numbers. It speaks to how great of a coach Jon Cooper is. He knows how to get the best out of the players that he has. He knows when to push the right buttons and he can get the best out of what he is given.

Cooper had the best response when asked about hitting that milestone. “You get 600 wins ... it probably means you've had a lot of really good players. Ultimately, I've had a bunch of really good players, and they've made me look good."

Congratulations to Jon Cooper on hitting the major milestone!

Wild Card Weekend Predictions.

The opening weekend has arrived. We started this journey back in September with 32 teams all making the chase for a Lombardi Trophy. Now we are down to fourteen teams. Those teams start a month long chance for the biggest prize in all of professional football. So lets not waste any more time. Here's how we see wild card weekend going down in the NFL.

Los Angeles Rams vs Carolina Panthers (Saturday 4:30PM)
The road team, on paper, might be the better team in this matchup. Sure Carolina gets home field here because of winning the division. But they played in a bad division this year, which is evident by their under .500 record. I'm not saying that there isn't any talent on this Carolina team, because there is. The difference is, the talent level is much higher on the Rams. They are a more balanced and deadly team, at least on paper. We all know that might not always translate to the field. It also isn't helping that the Panthers limped into their division title and playoff spot.

Pick: Rams 35, Panthers 21

Green Bay Packers vs Chicago Bears (Saturday 8:30PM)
This is going to be a more intriguing matchup coming in. IT's the first time in five years the Bears have even made the post season, and they haven't won a playoff game since 2010. So there's added pressure enough in this one. It's even tougher that they hosting divisional rival in Green Bay. Both teams are stumbling into the playoffs, with each team coming in on small losing streaks. It just has that feeling coming into this one like playoff experience wins out here. Chicago doesn't have that, where Green Bay does. There's no doubt it going to be a tight game, but experience wins out here.

Pick: Packers 27, Bears 24

Buffalo Bills vs Jacksonville Jaguars (Sunday 1PM)
Jacksonville is coming into this as one of the hottest teams in football. And Buffalo had finally started to find their game at the end of the season. Sure, they aren't as hot as Jacksonville, but they started to get rolling at the right time. After hitting a bit of a bump in the road in the middle of the year, Buffalo won five of its final six to close the year out. This may end up being a battle of the ground game by the time all is said and done come Sunday afternoon. That being said, as good as the Jags are, experience get an edge here.

Pick: Buffalo 30, Jacksonville 20

San Francisco 49ers vs Philadelphia Eagles (Sunday 4:30PM)
Philadelphia has to come into this one as a more of a favorite, just given their past playoff record. After all, they are the defending world champions and have been in the big game twice in the last three seasons. But this year feels a little different going into it. The last couple of times the Eagles made the playoffs with under twelve wins, they got beaten in the opening round. It maybe a different result this year, but given the trend I'm not so sure. And the team they playing in the 49ers finished 12-5. IN most divisions that'd be a great finish. But given how tight the NFC West was this year, it only got them 3rd place. Doesn't really matter this time of the year. Given the things that have happen to the Niners this year, they just feel like a more resilient team going in.

Pick: 49ers 24, Eagles 17

Los Angeles Chargers vs New England Patriots (Sunday 8PM)
For the first time since 2019, the New England Patriots rule atop the AFC East. New England finished with 14 wins and a three game winning streak to close out the year. Nothing against the Chargers, who had a fine season, but this one feels like it going to be a romp. And probably the only romp of the weekend.

Pick: Patriots 27, Chargers 10

Houston Texans vs Pittsburgh Steelers (Monday 8:15PM)
This is going to be the tightest, most evenly contested game of the entire weekend. Yes a post season experience edge has to go to the Steelers. There's no doubt in anybody's mind that the Houston Texans come into the weekend as the hottest team in all of football. This comes down to who can get the ball last, and who makes the fewest mistakes.

Pick: Texans 17, Steelers 14

New Shutout King On Long Island

Now that's the way to come back from an injury. Ilya Sorokin has been out of action since December 19th with a lower body injury. His first game back was last night against the New Jersey Devils and it was a historic one. It was a 45 save shutout in a 9-0 win over the Devils. The shutout was Sorokin’s 26th in his career, all with the Islanders. Not that big a deal for most goalies. But in this instance, it is. All 26 of those shutouts have come with the Islanders, breaking the franchise record of 25. Chico Resch had the record, but that is no more.

There’s quite a bit to unpack here with all of this. First off, there’s the record itself. In the 53 year history of the Islanders franchise, thirty one goalies have recorded at least one shutout. The franchise as a whole has shut out their opponents 1398 times. Out of those 31 goalies, only three have recorded 20 or more shutouts, Billy Smith (22), Chico Resch (25) and Ilya Sorkin (26). When you think about some of the guys that have played in an Islanders sweater, that’s an eye popping number. And when you think about some of the guys that have defended the goal for the Islanders, that’s even more amazing a number.

As for the man who now has the record in Sorokin, he will go down as easily a top three goalie in the history of this franchise. He’s already 3rd in wins with 138 (and counting) as of this writing. He trails only Resch and Billy Smith for the record. Smith’s going to be hard to catch at 307 wins. Resch, who had 157, he should be able to pass if he could stay healthy. His goals against is 2.57 good for 9th in team history, the save percentage is at .916 which is good for 5th.

There’s some in the fanbase who love Sorokin, me included, while there are others who think he’s overpriced and not as good. Sure, he’s had moments when he hasn’t looked like that great a netminder. Every goalie during their career is going to have those stretches. There’s also times where he looks like he’s worth every single penny this team is paying him and then some. Sorokin has had stretches where he has carried this hockey club.

I don’t think he’s ever going to pass, or be mistaken for, Billy Smith. He can come close if he can help lead the Islanders to the promise land and win a Cup. Yes, there’s more to it than just one guy in the nets. But anybody who’s followed the game knows that great goaltending can carry a franchise. And Sorokin does have that ability, should he be able to stay healthy. And we saw that in his first game back against the Devils to break the record.

The sky is the limit for Sorokin. And I can’t wait to see where it takes him. Congratulations to Ilya Sorokin, the new Islanders shutout king!

Going For Gold

Olympic Gold. One of the great things that any athlete strives for. Hockey players are no different. The only other prize in the sport that players strive for, aside from the Stanley Cup of course, is gold at the Olympics. The 2026 games in Milano will feature NHL talent for the first time since Sochi in 2014.

Every NHL team is sending players to the Olympics. Here's the full list of every player from every team that's going to the games, and the country they will represent.

Anaheim Ducks: Leo Carlsson (Sweden), Lukas Dostal and Radko Gudas (Czech Republic), and Mikael Granlund (Finland)

Boston Bruins: Henri Jokiharju (Finland), Elias Lindholm (Sweden), Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman (USA), and David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha (Chez Republic)

Buffalo Sabres: Rasmus Dahlin (Sweden), Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (Finland), and Tage Thompson (USA)

Calgary Flames: Rasmus Andersson (Sweden) and Martin Pospisil (Slovakia)

Carolina Hurricanes: Sebastian Aho (Finland), Frederik Andersen and Nikolaj Ehlers (Denmark) and Jaccob Slavin (USA)

Chicago Blackhawks: Teuvo Teravainen (Finland)

Colorado Avalanche: Joel Kiviranta and Artturi Lehkonen (Finland) Gabriel Landeskog (Sweden) Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Devon Toews (Canada) Martin Necas (Czech Republic) Brock Nelson (USA) 

Columbus Blue Jackets: Elvis Merzlikins (Latvia) and Zach Werenski (USA)

Dallas Stars: Thomas Harley (Canada) Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, Roope Hintz and Mikko Rantanen (Finland), and Jake Oettinger (USA)

Detroit Red Wings: Dylan Larkin (USA), Lucas Raymond (Sweden) and Moritz Seider (Germany)

Edmonton Oilers: Leon Draisaitl (Germany) and Connor McDavid (Canada)

Florida Panthers: Uvis Balinskis (Latvia), Gustav Forsling (Sweden), Seth Jones and Matthew Tkachuk (USA), Anton Lundell, Niko Mikkola and Eetu Luostarinen (Finland), and Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart (Canada)

Los Angeles Kings: Joel Armia (Finland), Kevin Fiala (Switzerland), Adrian Kempe (Sweden), and Drew Doughty and Darcy Kuemper (Canada)

Minnesota Wild: Jonas Brodin, Joel Eriksson Ek, Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt (Sweden), Matt Boldy, Brock Faber and Quinn Hughes (USA), and Nico Sturm (Germany)

Montreal Canadiens: Oliver Kapanen (Finland), Juraj Slafkovsky (Slovakia), Nick Suzuki (Canada), Alexandre Texier (France)

Nashville Predators: Filip Forsberg (Sweden), Roman Josi (Switzerland), Juuse Saros and Erik Haula (Finland)

New Jersey Devils: Jesper Bratt and Jacob Markstrom (Sweden), Jack Hughes (USA), Simon Nemec (Slovakia), Ondrej Palat (Czek Republic), Timo Meier, Nico Hischier, and Jonas Siegenthaler (Switzerland)

New York Islanders: Bo Horvat (Canada)

New York Rangers: J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck (USA), and Mika Zibanejad (Sweden)

Ottawa Senators: Lars Eller (Denmark), Nikolas Matinpalo (Finland), Jake Sanderson and Brady Tkachuk (USA), and Tim Stutzle (Germany)

Philadelphia Flyers: Rodrigo Abols (Latvia), Rasmus Ristolainen (Finland), and Travis Sanheim (Canada)

Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby (Canada), Erik Karlsson and Rickard Rakell (Sweden), and Arturs Silovs (Latvia)

San Jose Sharks: Macklin Celebrini (Canada) and Alexander Wennberg (Sweden)

Seattle Kraken: Philipp Grubauer (Germany), Kaapo Kakko and Eeli Tolvanen (Finland)

St Louis Blues: Philip Broberg (Sweden), Jordan Binnington and Colton Parayko (Canada)

Tampa Bay Lightning: Oliver Bjorkstrand (Denmark), Erik Cernak (Slovakia), Zemgus Girgensons (Latvia), Jake Guentzel (USA), Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel and Brayden Point (Canada), and Victor Hedman and Pontus Holmberg (Sweden)

Toronto Maple Leafs: Oliver Ekman-Larsson and William Nylander (Sweden) and Auston Matthews (USA)

Utah Mammoth: Clayton Keller (USA), and Olli Maatta (Finland)

Vancouver Canucks: Teddy Blueger (Latvia), Kevin Lankinen (Finland), Elias Pettersson (Sweden), and Lukas Reichel (Germany)

Vegas Golden Knights: Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin (USA), Jonas Rondbjerg (Denmark), Mitch Marner, Mark Stone and Shea Theodore (Canada)

Washington Capitals: Martin Fehervary (Slovakia), and Logan Thompson and Tom Wilson (Canada)

Winnipeg Jets: Kyle Connor and Connor Hellebuyck (USA), Josh Morrissey (Canada), and Nino Niederreiter (Switzerland)

NFL Clinching Scenarios Week Eighteen

The last week of the NFL Season has arrived. We still have some seeding and division titles on the line heading into the final two days. So here's what has to be done to clinch everything on the final weekend of the season.

AFC:
Clinched: Denver Broncos (AFC West), New England Patriots (AFC East), Jacksonville Jaguars (Playoff spot), Buffalo Bills (Playoff spot), Houston Texans (Playoff spot), Los Angeles Chargers (playoff spot)

Denver Broncos ( vs LA Chargers)
-Denver can lock up top seed and home field throughout with a win OR losses by New England and Jacksonville. vs

New England Patriots (vs Miami Dolphins)
-New England can lock up the top seed and home field throughout with a win AND a Denver Loss

Jacksonville Jaguars (vs Tennessee Titans)
-Jacksonville can clinch the AFC South with a win OR a Houston Loss
-Jacksonville can grab the top seed and home field throughout with a win AND losses by Denver and New England

Houston Texans (vs Indianapolis Colts)
-Houston can clinch the AFC South with a win AND a loss by Jacksonville

Pittsburgh Steelers vs Baltimore Ravens (Sunday Night Football)
-Winner of this game wins the AFC North

NFC:
Clinched: Seattle Seahawks (playoff spot), San Francisco 49ers (playoff spot), Chicago Bears (NFC North), Los Angeles Rams (playoff berth), Philadelphia Eagles (NFC East), Green Bay Packers (playoff berth)

San Francisco 49ers (vs Seattle)
-San Francisco can win the NFC West, top seed, and home field throughout with a win

Seattle Seahawks (@ San Francisco)
-Seattle can win the NFC West, top seed, and home field throughout with a win or tie

Carolina Panthers (@ Tampa Bay)
-Carolina can win the NFC South with a win OR an Atlanta win

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (vs Carolina)
-Tampa Bay can win the NFC South with a win AND an Atlanta loss

2025 Year In Sports

2025, what a year in the sports world! We saw big plays from big names, and boneheaded plays and statements made by the p[layers. There's a lot that went down over the last 365 days. So lets get right into it. Here's what has happened over the last year in sports.

Tennis:
Australian Open: Jannik Sinner, Madison Keys
French Open: Carlos Alcaraz, Coco Gauff
Wimbledon Championships: Jannik Sinner, Iga Świątek
US Open: Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka

NASCAR:
Daytona 500: William Byron
Coca-Cola 600: Ross Chastain
Southern 500: Bubba Wallace
Brickyard 400: Chase Briscoe
NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Kyle Larson

Golf:
Masters Tournament: Rory McIlroy
PGA Championship: Scottie Scheffler
U.S. Open: J. J. Spaun
Open Championship: Scottie Scheffler

Football:
College Football National Championship: Ohio State defeated Notre Dame 34-23
Super Bowl LIX: Philadelphia Eagles defeated Kansas City Chiefs 40-22

Basketball:
Women's National Championship: UCONN defeated South Carolina 82-59
Men's National Championship: Florida defeated Houston 65-63
NBA Finals: Oklahoma City Thunder defeated Indiana Pacers in Seven Games

Baseball:
World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers defeated Toronto Blue Jays in Seven Games

Hockey:
Women's National Championship: Wisconsin defeated Ohio State 4-3 in Overtime
Men's National Championship: Western Michigan defeated Boston University 6-2
Stanley Cup: Florida Panthers defeated Edmonton Oilers in Six Games

In Memorium:
-Al MacNeil (NHL 89)
-Gus Williams (NBA 71)
-Bob Uecker (MLB 90)
-Jeff Torborg (MLB 83)
-Tom McVie (NHL 89)
-Dick Button (Olympics 95)
-Fay Vincent (MLB 86)
-Dick Jauron (NFL 74)
-Mike Lange (NHL 76)
-George Forman (Boxing 76)
-Hulk Hogan (Wrestling 71)
-Tommy Helms (MLB 83)
-Steve McMichael (NFL 67)
-Ed Van Impe (NHL 84)
-Jim Irsay (NFL 65)
-Jim Marshal (NHL 87)
-Gerry Philbin (NFL 83)
-Alex Delvecchio (NHL 93)
-Bobby Jenks (MLB 44)
-Ryne Sandberg (MLB 65)
-Davey Johnson (MLB 82)
-Ken Dryden (NHL 78)
-Bob Goodenow (NHL 72)
-Eddie Giacomin (NHL 86)
-Bernie Parent (NHL 80)
-Doug Marin (NFL 36)
-Nick Mangold (NFL 41)
-Lenny Wilkins (NBA 88)
-Michael Ray Richardson (NBA 88)
-Larry Brooks (Writer 75)
-Greg Biffle (NASCAR 55)