Good Morning all as it’s Thursday and April is moving along in a fast pace motion. It has been acrazy busy week so far with practices and break up events.More on that later.

Hey John,Larry , Tom where is everybody?

Baseball is in full swing and it is crazy the Fenway sellout shame has finally came to end. We don’t have hear about it and you can actually get a ticket at face value or below for a Red Sox game. Off course them not sellout is no big deal they will still go over 2 million fansand not selling out is 33, 000 in a 38,000 seat stadium. Unlike Tampa where it's easier to count who is in attendance then it is to count empty seats.

The Red Sox started out pretty hot 4-2 road trip and then winning again on opening day. The Baltimore Orioles came back late in the 9^th last night and hammered new closer Joel Hanrehan welcome to the American League Joel. The Orioles scored 5 in the Ninth including one ona Wild Pitch a 20 year old Manny Machado hit a 3 run blast to cap it off. Chris Davis also had a ninth inning home run. I’m suspecting the 2013 may have afew of these nights but that’s baseball.

John Lackey is back on the  DL with a right bicep strain. It looked like his damn arm was falling off when it happened . he should be fine. Jackie Bradley JR. seems to be struggling a bit his this kid was the hot story in camp and after watching him a few times I bought in. However, I think he may end up going down and then coming back up later in the year.

Rob Gronkowski looks like he will be going under the knife again due to infection in his surgically repaired arm. They may have to take the plate out. Is Gronk one of those guys that will end up being he could have been great but injuries killed his career? Who are the guys that fall in that category on your list?

NHL UPDATE

The Penguins have clinched the Atlantic Divison. They will be the number one seed in the East. I have to ask did the Rangers upset their own Applecart by trading Marian Grabonik? The Rangers are sitting in the eigth seed after a win last night . Thet are two points a head of Winnipeg. Take notice the third place Capitials have had the hot hand lately they are 8-1-1 in their last ten including a 5 game win streak. The Bruins got spanked a little last Saturday against the Canadiens but has shown some much needed offense beating the Canes 6-2 on Monday and The Devils 5-4 last night.

LIL Warrior Update

The boys season came to a crushing end on Saturday. They lost to ahot Nashua team 5-0. The boys skated there Butts off and just couldn’t get it going. They went down 1-0 and the got behind 2-0 on power play. Nashua played well. This was the most fun group of kids I have ever been lucky enough to coach. They were fun and they all wanted the play all the time.

One of the really coolest things happened after the game. A kid from the Nashua team all sweaty after changing out of his uniform. He came into our locker room myself and the guy I coach with were the last two all the kids had cleared out. He came up to us shy and timid and said hey coach can you tell Caleb thank you for me. This kid and Caleb had a lot of back and forth and pushing in all 4 games we played them this season.

The kid went down in the playoff game and Caleb was the kid who gave him in encouragement. I talked to the kid from Nashua’s parents afterward they were as proud as peacocks of the kid. They said that Caleb fustrated this kid tono end all year. That’s the class of Hockey at a young age. We told Caleb’s parents what happened  as well. Mrs Lanz did a very cool thing for the coaching staff she had all the kids sign a team picture for each of the coaches. The season ended with a Banquet on Tuesday turned in Lil Lanz’s #44 Jersey and it’s time to move into baseball and lax. One last lil Lanz story he some how conned teenage anti sport daughter Lanz to play NHL on the XBOX with him. She came out and said he had  his guy and whole bunch of guys with funny names that I couldn’t prounce.He apparently loaded the team with Superstars with Russian and Swedish last names.

On Sunday Middle Lanz had his first Lax game in the 7/8 grade divison understanding for the past 3 or 4 years there have been 3 teams in this group since 4^th grade and they have only lost 2 regular season games combined in that time frame both by 1 goal. The field narrowed to two teams this season both lost and I’m not sure the kids knew how to handle it. Middle Lanz’s team came off with the deer in the head light look. To their credit they played a great first half not so good in the second half.

Has anyone checked the price of a baseball lately. Middle lanz has moved into Sr Little League which is the equivilent of Babe Ruth. I bought him a nice bat for Christmas that he can't use. They have to use BBCore (Ball to Bat Co efficent resolution) Bats  these are composite and aluminum bats that act like wood bats more or less. It takes the pop out of the bat so the ball does come off s fast. The prices on them are crazy. Finally found a discontinued model. It was still expensive but not has bad as some of the others.

Another week has gone by but what a bust sports week. MLB has started and we have a final 4 as well, of course the NHL trade deadline has came and gone.

Tuesday night I was watching the dodgers play the Giants and heard for the first time in a very long time the tones of Vin Scully doing the game. Vin doing the game alone as he has done for many years but he is still a great artist when he calls a baseball game , you can see what’s happening but he still paints an eloquent picture as he describes the action in a sort of cadence that many of today’s play by play guys lack. Yeah his voice seems a bit older and a bit more tired but he still is as sharp as a tack and does a great job.

Yu Davirish almost gets a perfect game right out of the gate against the Houston Astro’s. It was spoiled in the 9^th with 2 away. The Rangers combined for 43 strikeouts in the three game set with Houston to set a new major league mark for most strikeouts in the first three games. That is with a big Astro in on Sunday.

Meanwhile Jackie Bradley JR. made his MLB debut on Monday with three walks and a stolen base. Last night Bradley got his first major league hit knocking in a run andscoring a pair as. The Red Sox start the season 2-0 in the Bronx. Don’t worry all you Red Sox and  Yankee haters they will finish out of the mix.

NHL Update

trades found on NHL.com but the opinions are mine.

The trading deadline has come and gone and a few guys were on the move.

Jaromir Jagr will wear Black and Gold again but this time not as a Penguin as a Bruins maybe the 41 year old will give the bruins the scoring punch they need. The Bruins also got Wade Redden from the players for a 7^th rounder. The Blues getting Jay Bouweester from Calgary who I thought the Bruins would go after to help out  Zdeno Chara. The Blues also got Jordan Leopold from the Sabres.

The biggest deal of the day was Gaborik to Columbus as the Rangers dealt him with a pair of defenseman  Steve Deleslie and Blake Parlet for John Moore and a couple of Dereks. Derek Dorsett and Derick Brassard. This was probably the biggest deal of the day. Trading a consistent 40 game scorer.

Minnesota got  Jason Pommeville from Buffalo and in return the Sabres got John Larsson and Goalie Matt Hackett and a draft pick a 4^th rounder.

There were a bunch of moves beside Minnesota involving goalies as well. Philly and Columbus traded Netminders as Mike Leighton will be a Blue jacket and George Mason becomes a Flyer. Meanwhile the Senators traded Goalie Ben Bishop to the Bolts for Cory Conacher. There were abunch of other moves as e=verybody is trying to fill a need andf ramp up for the playoffs as always a pretty active past couple days for deals.

Final Four

You know who they are. Michigan(Go Blue) Syracuse, Louisville and Marquette.

LIL Warrior Update

The boys finished the regular season with a win of Nashua Friday Night finishing 18-6-3. It was a chippy game the boys had a 5-0 lead and Nashua battled back to 6-3. lil Lanz got beat playing defense for one of the Nashua goals. The boys played the first round of the playoffs last night had a 3-0 lead and let  their opponents back into the game hey tied it at 3 and the boys got a pair of goals late and took the first round 5-3. They will play Saturday a win there they will play for a league Championship on Sunday.

That’s all folks ==

It’s another Thursday, and we are just days away from the baseball season.  It always brings a feeling of a new season. Here in New England we finally are getting a break from winter weather with temps in the high 40’s and low 50’s. Feels good just to get outside.

Sports the NCAA Tourney heats up once again today and everybody is routing for Florida Gulf Coast to beat Florida. Indiana and Louieville still the front runners. I never count Tom Izzo and Michigan State out especially at Tournament time. We will have our final four by Sunday evening no selection show you simply win and you are the show.

The Boston Red Sox have one controversy as they break camp. Do they bring Jackie Bradley Jr who has had a great spring training North with them. If they leave Bradley down for a 11 days and the Red  Sox would get an extra year before he reaches free agency which would be 2019.

I think they need to bring this kid up now and not worry about 2019. So much could happen between now and then a freak injury, They find out he can’t hit major league pitching or he is a superstar and he earns his free agent cash. You never know.

The legend has coached his last game Jack Parker has retired . The Terriers lost to Umass Lowell in the Hockey East finals 1-0. It ended Parkers 40 year career has BU’s coach. The Terriers wasted no time hiring Dave Quinn who played for Parker from 1984-88 and was also an assistant at BU. Currently Quinn is an assistant with the Colorado Avalanche and will take the helm at BU once the Avalanche end their season.

NHL UPDATE

The President hosted both the LA Kings and the LA Galaxy at the white house this week. Both teams did some exercise with kids on the west lawn.

Guys on neither team pulled a Tim Thomas all went and all were honored and viewed it as honor as they should.

The Lightning fired Head Coach Guy Boucher on Sunday. He only had one year as a professional coaching. He is being replaced with Jon Cooper of the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch a Lightning affiliate.

Move over the Blackhawks and watchout for the Penguins who have won 13 straight. They just take care of business.

The trade deadline is Wednesday and the Jerome Igimla watch is on. The Flames will be sellers and as mentioned last week the Bruins maybe buyers. The Bruins need a scoring punch as of late but at what cost? Iginla could help in the short run but he maybe to high priced for the market and maybe for the Bruins. Je can help but he isn’t the player he use to be. I did hear the possibility of Nathan Horton  and draft picks but it’s a rumor.

LIL Warriors UpDate

The boys played 3 games in 4 days they went 2=1 . The lost last Thursday 6-2 and won on Saturday 6-2 and on Sunday 9-2. They have one game left in the regular season. Interesting thing happened on Saturday myself and the two guys I’m coaching with were in the locker room before the game * am game at that, The entire coaching staff from our opponents the Hawks came in to congragulate us on beating the first place team a few weeks ago. They were classy guys and a lot of mutual respect went on. On Sunday the Red Raider coaches who we have had great games with this season also were very complementary saying who our kids have really gotten better The Red Raiders are the next town and our Natural rivals but they have a classy coaching staff and agreat bunch of kids as well. Playoffs start next Wednesday and finish on Sunday .

I’ll keep you posted. The entire team skated last night in a two hour tryout half were trying for a Pee Wee team next age level up. The other half trying for a higher Squirt team. Lil Lanz held his own with the Pee Wees doing a great job against some really good players.

That’s all for today.

I have to say we have a new Pope. I'm not deeply religious and the only church I go to Sunday is the church of Football. I found the Conclave fascinating , I have seen it before but didn't get into it. I like the fact that everybody had to wait and there was no instant media. I also got a big kick out of how the media handled it . It was like a sporting event with odds and then when Pope Francis came out the guy was describing his clothing, I have expected him to say with Red shirts and white numbers going from left to right on your radio screen. I wish pope Francis luck.

 It’s Thursday and I’m feeling a wee bit sad, as the Patriots let Wes Welker go to the Broncos for 2 years 12 million. They offered  Welker 2 years 10 million with incentives. The Patriots did go out and sign Danny Amendola 5 years and 31 million dollars. Let’s face it the writing was on the wall and somebody in Foxboro didn’t want Welker back.

The Patriots get a guy who is 5 years younger but not as durable as Welker. Amendola needs to stay healthy for this to be a good deal for the Patriots.

As far as Welker goes , he won’t miss a beat with Peyton throwing to him instead of Tom. There has been a lot of talk that he is a system guy. But I think he is just a tough son of a bitch. I really think if any of the top QBs throw to this guy he will perform.

This raises several questions as well. How much did Brady know when they restructured his contract.? The assumption in the Boston media was he did so to save Welker. Sometimes the Patriots are more secretive of the inner workings than the cardinals at the conclave. As we know the media is often wrong. With the deals that close  I wonder if Welker was pissed at the Patriots or vise versa? They don’t air their dirty laundry for that matter they don’t air their clean laundry either. Finally ,I wonder if the Patriots put a price tag on Welker at what they valued him at and refused to move from that value? It is hard to tell because they blow a lot of black smoke out the chimney in Foxboro.

The Red Sox seem or should be regretting resigning David Ortiz as his Achilles seems to be an arrow that is ripping the Sox. As they have a DH problem now and it very well could be Mike Napoli opening day at DH. He would probably be the best fit and perhaps Mauro Gomez plays first for a while. You never seem to know with the Red Sox and it is a game of wait and see.

NHL Update

This week in the NHL . The playoff picture has been come pretty clear in the West. The Blackhawks, Ducks and the Kings coming on strong. In the East it will be a while before the fog clears. The Bruins are the leaders of the pack but have had their struggles of late. Falling to the Canadiens, Capitals and Penguins and squeaking by the Senators in a shootout. The Penguins have been strong offensively and lacking on defense. I think both the Bruins and the Penguins are probably 1 and 2 in the east but it’s very tight with no eminent power coming out.

Lil Warriors update

Never show this to a bunch of youth Hockey kids. Because theyw ere all doing at the beginning of practice.

The lil Warriors came out strong this week and moved themselves with in striking distance of first place. They are only percentage points back with 5 games left. These kids will end up playing more games than the NHL.

Saturday during the day there were little league tryouts and every kid from the lil warriors said coach I’m pumped up for tonight. They played the first place team that we tied once and lost 9-5 . This  was it and they rose to the occasion winning 10-7. All seven goals for the other team were scored by the same kid who should be playing a few levels above. I actually ran into a dad I knew from a neighboring town playing in the same league and he was talking about the same kid. He was the whole show by our guys just outworked them and out hustled them for the win.

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It’s Thursday again here at the Gab, time flies when your having fun or when your extremely busy. It was a crazy weekend between Hockey and Basketball. We had senior night Friday where the 8^th graders compete in various basketball skills, Sunday it was as we refer to it Super Sunday where the Championship game is played for each grade level starting with first and second grade girls at 8:30 am and ending around 6Pm with the 7 and 8^th grade Boys Championship. It’s a long day but a fun town event. There is about 1,000 kids in the program.

Here it comes the NHL Update

This says it all about the NHL of late

NFL

A few weeks ago Tom Brady restructured his contract to create cap space.for the Patriots which works out to be 7.2 million. Many here believe he did this so the Patriots retain Wes Welker. I think if Welker tests the free agent market he will be gone. Of course this will allow the Patriots to go get a big receiver a Randy Moss type tall and quick. Of course I have a feeling a deal with Welker is in place or nearly in place. However Welker has had some grumbles some justifiable some not but according to afew news outlets he has got beyond the fact that he didn’t start opening day and only caught 5 passes that day. It isn’t clear if his grip is with Bellichick or Josh Mcdanniels.

Brady’s restructuring probably pissed a few people off in the union and no doubt a few agents as well. Brady is doing for the team. He has more money then he will ever need and I believe he married money as well.

That all being said I know Joe Flacco isn’t the most popular Quarterback but does anybody really blame the guy for taking the money he got in his new contract. I guess especially in Football guys have to make it when they can and as much as they can. If somebody is willing to pay , can’t blame a guy fo taking the cash. If the guy doesn’t live up to expectations is it his fault or the guy that over paid him. Maybe the guy had one good season and the GM or the Owner thought he would be a good fix. The guy doesn’t work well in that system or the good year was a fuke. Who knows but I just can’t get on a player in any sport for making huge money.

It’s Conference Tourney time and my Northeastern Huskies are the number one seed in the CAA. If they win the CAA they get a tourney bid  they may sneak in anyway.I usually look forward to the Big East Tourney. This year I’m really looking at the Big Ten. The games have been unbelievable.

Lil Warriors Update.

The boys lost 3-1 on Saturday but we were down 3 players. They were in basketball semi finals. That ended a 4 game winning streak. The guys had chances and should have walked out with a 1-1 tie. The second goal the ref blow the whistle when Jake our goalie rolled to get up the puck was a cross the line it was called a goal. Not sure but I think Jake moved the puck when he got up and the play should have been dead. The third goal was a fluke we scored on ourselves. Kid tried to backhand it out and it the post of the net and bounced in.Their season was supposed to end Saturday but the league just added 5 more games in March.

Lil Lanz has a big mouth, he went into the locker room Saturday saying he was going to the Hockey East Game between BU and Vermont. It was suppose to be just me and him everybody else was busy. IT ended up myself and the two other coaches brought our sons and another kid on the team to the game. We had a blast. It was really funny between periods one of the teams we played a few times played a mini game. Our guys were like why aren’t we out there. The second place Warriors play the first place team this week. Who we are 0-1-1 against. The boys at practice last night want this.