The NHL calendar says the playoffs don't start for another two weeks, but you could fool at least four teams in the eastern conference for whom every game from now until the end of the season is essentially, a playoff game to make the playoffs.

The Norwich men's hockey team is once again champions of NCAA division three hockey. The Cadets won the program's fourth title and first in seven years Saturday night, beating Trinity 4-1 in upstate New York.

The Boston Bruins could not stand their good fortune against the Tampa Bay Lightning last night, blowing three different leads at home of 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 in an ultimate 6-3 loss in a game they really had to have to keep a secure spot in the race for the playoffs.

In the NHL, the Boston Bruins were idle last night but two games were played that have an effect on their fortunes, and neither outcome was good for the Black and Gold.

The Boston Bruins are entering into their annual stretch of Groundhog Day hockey. The reference being to the Bill Murray film in which he lives the same day over and over before learning how to free himself from the existential shackles of an unexamined life. Whether the Bruins are learning anything that will free them from a path to playoff hockey exile remains to be seen.

The Boston Bruins needed this one. But so did the team chasing them down. In the end, it was the pursuer who had the final word as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins 4-2 in Toronto last night, a win that pulls the Leafs within just one point of the Bruins for third place in the Atlantic division, with a game in hand on Boston.

The Plattsburgh State Cardinals are champions of women's division three hockey for a record breaking fourth time in a row, but they were less than a minute away from having that streak snapped in Michigan last night.

The 21-game winning streak is over. The upset bid came up short. But no one in the UVM men's basketball locker room was hanging their heads after the thirteenth-seeded Catamounts fell to number four Purdue in Milwaukee in the NCAA tournament last night.

In the NHL, the Boston Bruins went into the Calgary Saddledome last night looking to keep the high-flying Flames from setting a franchise record for most consecutive wins. Calgary was on a ten-game winning streak, but they'll have to start over as the Bruins came away with an impressive 5-2 victory.

In the NHL the Boston Bruins face the hottest team in the league right now and an old friend when they skate against the Flames in Calgary tonight. Former Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton is part of the blue line corps for the team that's won ten games in a row heading and has vaulted itself into the upper regions of the playoff bubble when just a month ago they looked like a lock for a no-show.