MLS, as a league, has a bit of a habit of hiring and firing the same coaches over and over again.  Case and point: 15 of 18 currently employed MLS head coaches have previously coached with a different MLS club, either as a head coach or as an assistant. Not all were fired, necessarily.  There are cases like that of Greg Vanney and Wilfrid Nancy, where their performance as manager attracted the attention of a deeper pocketed club. There’s a logical reason for coaching carousel in MLS.  Attaining a high level of performance, while also navigating the draconian MLS roster regulatio ..read more

The Bruins and Maple Leafs faced off in another instant classic on Saturday night. The latest installment between the two rivals featured 77 shots on goal, 82 hits, a two goal comeback, last second equalizer and a frantic overtime. While Boston left Scotiabank Arena with both points, they also left with an increasingly concerning trend; The Bruins have an empty net problem. Auston Matthews’ second goal of the game forced overtime with just five seconds left in regulation. It was the third time this season that Boston conceded a game tying goal with the opposing goalie pulled.  According t ..read more

Heading into Thanksgiving week, the Bruins were riding high. Fresh off back-to-back 5-2 victories over Buffalo and Montreal, Boston sat atop the NHL standing at 13-1-2. However, since then the B’s have been fed a big helping of humble pie, dropping three of their last four games. Boston started the week with a quick Florida road swing, which also happened to be the Dad’s Trip. Facing the Tampa for the first time this season, the B’s squandered a chance for both points when they had no business taking either. The Lightning outshot Boston 47-27, and if not for Jeremy Swayman it would have been a ..read more

Early in the year — in pre-season, I wrote an article with my “bold-predictions” for the 2023 season.  Bold predictions are supposed to be somewhat unlikely, but technically possible.  At the end of the year, I think it’s instructive to look back and review how I fared. For one thing, it’s always funny to look back at Fresh-Faced-And-Full-Of-Optimism-Andy.  To see him before the rigors of another Revs season squeezed the optimism out of him.  Of course things were going to fall apart!  It’s foolish to assume anything else, given the Revs track record. For another thin ..read more

Matthew Poitras has deservedly received plaudits for his performance so far in his rookie season with the Bruins, but he’s not the only debutant making an impact. Fellow rookies Johnny Beecher and Mason Lohrei each scored their first NHL goals during a 3-2 win in Dallas on Monday night. The goals came back-to-back in the first period and enabled Boston to cruise to a win. The ice-breakers came in just the third NHL game of Lohrei’s career, and Beecher’s twelfth. The three rookies took very different paths to Boston and are all contributing in different ways.  Poitras, the youngest of the ..read more

It took an unexpected eleven games, but the Bruins were finally handed their first regulation loss of the season on Saturday night. Facing the Red Wings for the second time in a week, Boston couldn’t hold a third period lead in Detroit and fell 5-4. The Bruins were missing Charlie McAvoy in the rematch, who was the First Star in Boston’s 4-1 win on October 28th. McAvoy is currently serving a four game suspension for an illegal hit to the head of Florida defenseman Oliver-Ekman Larsson. It was looking to be a repeat performance for Boston early on, with two goals in the first ten minutes. Van R ..read more

The Revs lost their opening playoff match against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.  Even given the new (and weird) playoff structure in MLS, that still means it’s do-or-die time for the Revolution.  Any playoff loss from here on will spell an end to the Revs season. Perhaps, given how things have gone over the past few months, that may actually be a welcome occurrence. Curious to see something. Given how the last few months have gone and with coaching staff up in the air… Would you feel a sense of relief if the #NERevs lost next Wednesday, ending their season? Or would you feel a ..read more

Much to the chagrin of the rest of the hockey world, the Boston Bruins demise has been greatly exaggerated…. again. The 2023-24 NHL season is just over two weeks old and the Bruins are one of just three teams yet to lose a game. The defense and goaltending have been as advertised, leading the NHL with just seven goals allowed through six games. Ullmark and Swayman have picked up where they left off last (regular) season, with both sporting Save %s above .950. What has been the biggest surprise so far is the offense. Goal scoring was a question mark for the Bruins heading into this year, but so ..read more

Decision day 2023 came and went this past Saturday.  In spite of a late season collapse, New England had already clinched a playoff berth.  That didn’t mean there was nothing to play for, however. The New England Revolution: Need to beat the Philadelphia Union at home + Need CF Montréal on the road to beat the Columbus Crew .. To clinch a spot in the top 4 … Decision Day … Next Weekend ! #NERevs | #MLS pic.twitter.com/af88K5yEdl — Caleb Pongratz (@CalebPongratz10) October 15, 2023 As a result of their poor performances in recent weeks (1W-1D-4L over their previous 6 matches), they ..read more

A few weeks ago I was honored with a guest spot on the Revolution Recap Podcast.  During the show, host Greg Johnstone and I took a look at the remaining schedule and endeavored to predict how many could be ‘possible wins’.  As optimistic as I tried to be, the schedule was replete with playoff caliber opponents, in good form.  We came to the conclusion that there were possibly no winnable games left, and that has turned out to be true so far. Most recently, New England lost a second consecutive 3-2 road decision, this time against Nashville SC.  This follows a pair of losse ..read more