5-2 Losses

I have a nephew that plays hockey on a travel team, and yesterday they were in town to play the local team in the same league. I didn’t expect much from the Lexington squirts team (the Thoroughbreds) since this isn’t really a hockey town. But the ‘Breds are quite good and beat the Columbus Blue Jacket squirts twice, both by the score of 5-2. These teams will get together again in Columbus next weekend.

The real Blue Jackets also lost by the score of 5-2, this time to Buffalo. It ended an 8-game winning streak for Columbus. With the Sabres being the worst team in the east, it is easy to look past them.

The Kentucky men have looked much better lately in home wins over Texas A&M and Georgia. Four of the next five games are on the road. Florida remains unbeaten in SEC play. With the Cats only having one loss, they stay within striking distance.

The Ohio State men hit rock-bottom in a six-point loss at Nebraska, a team they had beaten by 30 points earlier in the month. The Bucks rebounded Thursday night with a win over Illinois, but OSU is not playing with confidence right now. Michigan’s win at Michigan State last night leaves the Wolverines as the only unbeaten team in Big Ten play.

The Kentucky women lost to visiting Alabama after routing them in Tuscaloosa earlier in the month. Today they were behind Arkansas by 10 in the second half, but won by 10. The Ohio State women split two games with the Michigan schools, and are still below .500 in  Big Ten play. Believe it or not, the Buckeyes have still not won a conference game at home.

We’ve had a lot of cold weather in January, but not much snow until this week. About three inches fell Tuesday morning, then 4-5 yesterday. Temperatures have been near 50 today, but another major cold spell will be coming in soon.

Six In-A-Row

The Blue Jackets’ win streak is now up to six games, with home wins over Tampa Bay and Washington last week, and a shootout win last night in Buffalo. There are three teams in the east with 52 points, which would be enough for the second wild-card spot if the season ended today. This week Columbus has three home games, and they need to keep up the momentum.

It got worse for the Ohio State men with Thursday night’s 63-53 loss in Minneapolis. Tomorrow, the Buckeyes will visit Nebraska, a team they beat by 31 points just 15 days ago. The Michigan schools are a combined 11-0 so far in the Big Ten to lead the pace in early conference play.

The Kentucky women held on for a 73-71 win in Auburn this afternoon, despite shooting less than 50% at the free throw line. But it is good to see the ladies above .500 in the league after the two early losses. Home games against Alabama and Arkansas are coming up.

The toughest game of the week was UK’s overtime loss in Fayetteville on a last-second dunk. The guys came back and beat Tennesse yesterday in Rupp. Home games with Texas A&M and Georgia are coming up this week. Only Florida is still undefeated in league play.

A Rough Week for the Buckeyes

The Ohio State men entered the week ranked third in the nation, but suffered two defeats. Tuesday, the Bucks fell behind by 17 in East Lansing, but battled back to send it to overtime. But the Spartans used a couple threes late in OT to pull out a 72-68 win.

Today, OSU lost at home to Iowa 84-74. The Hawkeyes have one of their best teams in years, and they have been looking for a signature win. They got one today. The game was close early, then the Bucks took a nine-point lead in the second half. But it was all Iowa after that.

The Ohio State women are struggling through a rebuilding year. But they have pulled off a couple interesting upsets. First was an 89-78 win over 17th ranked Purdue. A loss to Michigan followed. Then, yesterday, the Bucks traveled to Bloomington and beat #22 Indiana 70-51. So OSU is more competitive in conference play than I expected.

The Kentucky women lost two-in-a-row, starting with last Sunday’s home loss to Florida. The Cats went on the road to South Carolina Thursday night, and lost 68-59 to the #10-ranked Gamecocks. Moments ago, Kentucky wrapped up an 80-69 home win over Missouri. Tennessee also lost just now, in Nashville.

I said in my previous post that the Blue Jackets need to get a run going before the Olympic break. Nicely, Columbus has won three in-a-row since then. After a 4-3 shootout win in Madison Square Garden, Sergei Bobrovsky got his second shutout of the year as the Jackets beat Carolina. Last night Columbus traveled to Winnipeg and won 6-3 after scoring four goals in an 8 1/2 minute stretch of the second period. The Jets fired coach Claude Noel today.

Our area was not immune from the cold weather earlier in the week, although the snowfall ended up being insignificant. After temperatures in the 50s over the weekend, we got down to -5 F on Tuesday morning. This weekend we have rebounded back to the 50s.

Best Wishes for a Prosperous 2014!

I hope all readers have an excellent new year!

As is the case in much of the country, we will have near-record cold here within a day or so. It is in the 50s now, By this time tomorrow, temperatures will probably have fallen more than 50 degrees.

The Blue Jackets managed to avenge the embarrassing loss to Philadelphia that I mentioned in my previous post. They’ve played .500 hockey since then. Both regular goaltenders are back healthy again, and a number of other players are back after injuries. Tomorrow night Columbus travels to New York to play the Rangers. After that, the Jackets have 9 of the next 12 games at home. They are going to have to crank it up a bit, and get closer to playoff position before the Olympics break.

The Ohio State men went to Madison Square Garden and came from behind late to beat Notre Dame 64-61. The Bucks opened Big Ten play on New Year’s Eve at Purdue, broke open a close game and won 78-69. Saturday’s rout of Nebraska leaves the Buckeyes at 2-0 in the league.

The Ohio State women are rebuilding this year, but opened Big Ten play with an upset win over #17 Purdue. The Bucks play Michigan later today.

The Kentucky men won the annual big game against Louisville 73-66. The Cats have the weekend off, and will play Mississippi State Wednesday.

The UK women played Duke before a sellout crowd in Rupp Arena, but lost for the first time this season 69-61. After a nice win in Tuscaloosa. the Cats play Florida this afternoon.

I had a chance to visit the Aetna & Baker City HO-scale model railroad layout for a few days after Christmas. Checkout my You Tube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/ku4a/videos for some new videos. You’ll also see some of my recent broadcast-band catches there as well.