Hockey star Hilary Knight's road to Olympic gold included a whistle stop or two in Stamford with a "beer league."

 The winter Olympics cannot pass without my mentioning a microscopic Stamford link to the victorious U.S. women's ice hockey team.

U.S. women's team captain Hilary Knight played a couple of games about a decade ago in the north rink at Chelsea Piers athletic complex in our city’s Cove neighborhood. Her road to Olympic gold culminated  Thursday (Feb. 19) when the Americans defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime of the final game of the women's hockey tournament before a worldwide audience in Milan Cortina, Italy. Ms. Knight scored the goal that sent the game into overtime.

Hilary performed on a smaller stage before she ascended to the apex of women's hockey. A couple of hundred fans and I saw Ms. Knight and her Boston Pride play in December 2015 against the then-Stamford-based Connecticut Whale at Chelsea Piers. The teams were among the four founding members of the defunct National Women’s Hockey League, which claimed to be the first professional women’s hockey league in North America to pay its players. 

The Whale battled the Pride a couple of more times in 2016 at Chelsea Piers during the NWHL’s inaugural season. The financially troubled league folded in 2023 as the seven-team Premier Hockey Federation. Hilary called her now former employer a “glorified beer league” while some of her colleagues refused to play in the PHF and demanded a new, fiscally solid league. 

They got what they asked for. About three years ago, the Professional Women’s Hockey League swallowed the Pride, the Whale and the rest of the PHF by purchasing the league and its intellectual properties, thereby sinking it. My beloved Whale and the  pod squad, cetacean generation and beluga brigade puns that the team mascot spawned now lie in the Davy Jones locker of hockey obscurity. The PWHL, meanwhile, has grown from six teams in its first season (2024-25) to eight in Canada and the United States in 2025-26.

In addition to the Olympic team, Hilary plays for the Seattle Torrent of the PWHL. The league’s New York Sirens played a couple of games in Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport and maintained a practice facility at Chelsea Piers in their first season. The Sirens currently play home games in Newark, N.J.

That’s all I’ve got for a local angle for this year’s winter Olympics. Sports writer Roger Cleaveland of the Waterbury Republican American had a bigger and better Connecticut connection to Ms. Knight. Mr. Cleaveland told us about Hilary playing girls hockey at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford. She scored 53 goals during her senior year in 2006-07. This will be the fifth and final Olympics for the 36-year-old Ms. Knight, according to Roger’s Feb. 1 story in the Republican American, Stamford Advocate and other Hearst Connecticut newspapers. 

Here’s an epilogue. During the end-of-game handshake Thursday between the Americans and Canadians, some Canadian players could tell their fellow North Americans they don't want to become our 51st state, as President Trump has proposed. No, Canada! Annex your beautiful country to Greenland and Denmark instead.

What fun sports media would have every time they cover a college or professional event above the 49th parallel. “The Canadiens are trailing the Rangers 5-1 on their home ice, Marv. Something is rotten in the state Denmark.”

                                      —  Let me quit while I’m ahead —

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Who is going to win Super Bowl LX? I rounded up XV of the usual suspects to get some unique answers.

 



Hello, folks. Thanks for tuning in, just in time for my inaugural Super Bowl predictions post.

The post’s format and theme are based on the annual Super Bowl prognostication column that the late Bob Kennedy had written in the Stamford Advocate for more than 30 years. 

I remember watching Bob in the 1960s, covering high school football, basketball and baseball games with his pen, clipboard, blue plaid Madras shirt and perennial smile.

Little did I know I would be working with him in the Advocate newsroom for about 25 years while he was sports editor. 

After Bob retired from the Advocate in the early 2000s, he wrote the Super Bowl column for the Hey, Stamford! Blog, which his son, PJ Kennedy operates. Bob passed away in 2021 after a long battle with Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s. PJ now writes the big game prediction post in his blog, along with stories about Super Bowl events and caterers.

He honors his father’s legacy and promotes local happenings and businesses quite well. Let’s see if his unofficial 73-year-old apprentice comes anywhere close. 

First, we need background basics. The Seattle Seahawks of the NFL's National Football Conference (NFC) take on New England Patriots of the league’s American Football Conference (AFC) in Super Bowl LX (60) at 6:30 PM Eastern Standard Time Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. The projected starting quarterbacks are Sam Darnold for the Seahawks and Drake May for the Patriots from Foxborough, Mass.

Here's the opening kickoff, so to speak.

Rich Lee, community volunteer and former business editor of the Stamford Advocate:

I'll go with the Seahawks, 31-20. They have a more explosive offense, plus, Maye might have an injured shoulder. Our church pastor is hosting a game watch party, and he is a big Seahawks fan.

Jerry Zezima, nationally syndicated humor columnist and author of eight books, none of which have made the New York Times bestseller list:

I am standing pat on the Pats, not just because my hometown of Stamford is in New England, but because I want to replace Tom Brady as the G.O.A.T., the Geezer Of All Time.

Paul Scutti, hometown Stamford:

Both teams have very good defense and quarterbacks. Patriots are getting 4 1/2 points. Seahawks win but do not cover the point spread. If you bet, take the Patriots and the points.
Whoever makes the most mistakes: Penalties, interceptions, fumbles, will lose a tight game.

I am not a gambler. So I hope my readers understand the science of betting.

David Ruden, director of operations for the Ruden Report sports website. 

The Patriots have had a magical rebound season and they offer up one more surprise. Patriots 21, Seahawks 17.

Jamie Heenehan, retired environmental lawyer; graduate of the former Stamford Catholic High School:

 I am writing this from the greater Philadelphia area - home to the reigning Super Bowl champs, the Philadelphia Eagles (something I can still say for the next 80+ hours). While both the Seahawks and Patriots have a good D, Seattle has the better offense - especially with the Pats' QB, Drake Maye recovering from an injury in the AFC title game. So I think Seattle will win.
But I'll be rooting for New England, as my sister lives in Easton and her whole family are Patriots fans. Indeed, my niece lives in Boston. However, our friend and classmate, (former Stamford resident) Chuck Hinman, lives in the Seattle area and even got to one of the Seahawk playoff games. So if Seattle wins, that's good, too. What I most want is just a fun, exciting game. 

Mark Roche, retired Stamford firefighter; SCHS alumnus:

Got to go with Seattle with their defense. And let's not forget our classmates in the Northwest, Tim Doyle and Chuck Hinman. 

This is starting to look like an SCHS alumni newsletter. Before I switch to a Rippowam High School graduate, I need to insert more background history.
In the Spygate scandal, the NFL levied several hundred thousand dollars in fines against the Patriots and then-head coach Bill Belichick for videotaping New York Jets’ defensive coaches’ signals from an unauthorized location  during a game in 2007.

In Deflategate, the NFL accused then-Patriots quarterback 
Tom Brady of deflating footballs to make them easier to catch during the Patriots’ win over the Indianapolis Colts during the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 18, 2015. As a result, the NFL suspended Brady for the first four games of the 2016 NFL season. The league fined the patriots $1 million and took two draft picks away from the team in 2016.

Tom Brady was an executive producer of the “The Roast of Tom Brady,” which aired on Netflix May 5, 2024. The live, unedited show featured celebrities telling jokes about Brady and the Patriots. Brady’s ex-wife Gisele Bundchen and former girlfriend Bridget Moynahan were angered by the jokes. Brady said he would not do another roast because the first one negatively affected his children.

I could have tossed this next respondent out of the blog and saved a lot of work. But I took one for the team. And that is pretty interesting trivia, even for non-sports fans.


Tom Healy, artist; Rippowam High School alumnus:

“Seattle is going to win. I can’t root for New England because of Spygate and Deflategate and because Tom Brady did his own roast, then regretted it.”

This next respondent caused me to do even more work and dig up stuff from the Super Bowl archives. 

In Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1, 2015, the New England Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. The game is famous for its shocking finish, where rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler intercepted a Russell Wilson pass at the goal line with 20 seconds remaining to thwart an almost certain Seattle touchdown.

In October 2019, an ESPN microphone caught Sam Darnold, then quarterback of the New York Jets, saying he saw ghosts during a 30-0 loss to the Patriots. He meant that the Patriots overwhelming defense caused him to see activity that was not really there on the field.


Brian McDermott, assistant treasurer, Senior Men’s Association of Stamford:

Pats 28 - Seahawks 24, same score as their 2015 Super Bowl encounter.  Once again the Seahawks will be 1 yard away from winning the game in the final seconds. Having learned a lesson from 2015, this time, on the final play, QB Sam Darnold attempts to hand off the ball to running back Kenneth Walker III. However, on the play, the Patriots blitz, and blitzing cornerback Christian Gonzalez pulls off his mask and reveals himself to actually be Malcolm Butler. Darnold, now certain he is again seeing ghosts, passes out and fumbles the ball, which is recovered by Butler as the game ends.   

Skyler Healy, Brooklyn resident; head of operations at an events and media company in Manhattan:

The Seahawks are going to win. They have a better all-around team and fewer weaknesses (than the Patriots) and they have the best wide receivers corps in the league. 
 

Brendan Duffy, SCHS and UConn graduate; engineer and entrepreneur: 

The Seattle Seahawks are going to win 34-10. My rationale in making this prediction is three-fold: 

1) my prediction is entirely a gut instinct based on hearsay, some of it issued by people I know and whose opinions on sports I trust.
2) (according to) 57 sports analysts at ESPN surveyed about who will win: Seattle 47, New England 10.
3) (The Patriots’) dynasty is over.
Their new, young QB has promise, but he’ll probably excel once he’s with another team.

I need some women in this blog to show I'm not sexist.


Diane Didelot, retired; graduate of SCHS and Southern Connecticut State University:

I am cheering for the Patriots and QB Drake Maye!  I saw him for the first time during the AFC Championship game against the Denver Broncos and was instantly a fan!  He is a real team player and handled the pressure of that game with incredible talent and grit. This was his rookie season and he surprised everyone!  

If the game is not very exciting, I might change the channel to Hallmark or Netflix!
Go, Pats!!!!.

I might change the channel myself, especially during the halftime show. I don't want to watch Blue Bunny, Bugs Bunny, Bad Bunny or whatever his name is.

James LoRusso, retired; former resident of Stamford: 

I’m pulling for the Pats to further prove that the guy with the raggedy sweatshirt (Bill Belichick) had nothing to do with them winning even a single Super Bowl.

Southern Connecticut residents Alan Murray, journalist and author; Lori Murray, Ph.D.; global affairs consultant and Yale graduate who once taught at the U.S. Naval Academy:


On behalf of Alan and myself - we have never and would never - miss a Super Bowl. It would be un-America to miss the greatest football match-up of the year, the best commercials of the year and the best opportunity of the year to eat food not good for you, guilt free!  

The Murrays did not speculate on the outcome of the Super Bowl. But anyone who has read this far will be more concerned about the 5 to 10 minutes of their lives that they recently lost while reading this rather than the Murrays’ prediction.

Dr. Murray taught at the Naval Academy. The midshipman or midshipwoman who graduates last in their class academically at the academy is called the anchorman or anchorwoman. 

Now, the anchorman of journalism will give his Super Bowl prognostication. 

Peter Healy, aspiring blogger; has been trying to write a book for about 43 years:

I expect the Patriots to win, 31-27. I remember them as the Boston Patriots of the old American Football League. This might pop up on a quiz show or online trivia game some day. The Boston Patriots never had their own stadium while in the AFL. They played at Fenway Park, Boston University, Boston College and at Harvard Stadium.

And the present-day Patriots have third-string quarterback Tommy DeVito, No. 16. I regard Tommy, who played for the New York Giants and lived in New Jersey, as the Rocky Balboa of professional football. 
I would love to hear a sports reporter ask Mr. DeVito, “Will you call it a career after this Super Bowl, Tommy?”
“No, Marv. I would like to stick around for another four seasons.”

Another Tommy (real name Gaetano) DeVito from New Jersey sang with The Four Seasons. Frankie Valli should sing the national anthem at Super Bowl LX. 
Yes. This is a stall tactic. But I believe the Patriots will prevail, despite what the experts say, because upsets happen. If they did not, any geek off the street could fill out a perfect March Madness basketball bracket. 
In reality, the odds of picking all 63 games correctly are about 1 in 9.22 quintillion, or slightly better than the odds of me having a date on a Saturday night in 2026. I can still remember the name of the girl I took to a quintillion at the Stamford Yacht Club in 1968. Oh. No! That’s a cotillion!

It's time to quit while I'm ahead. Enjoy the big game, folks. If you happen to enjoy it too much, call a taxi or an Uber.

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