Telegraph Sports Reporter Tom KIng.

Here are some tids and bits on Father’s Day Weekend that just comes up too quick, because then summer hits warp speed:

• Father’s Day Weekend was supposed to be chock full of sports besides just golf and baseball.

Sure, the U.S. Open and Red Sox dominate, but what the heck happened to the Boston Bruins? We already expected the Celtics to be eliminated, but didn’t expect the massive changes with the retirement of Danny Ainge and promotion of Brad Stevens, creating a coaching vacancy.

But we thought the Bruins would have made much more noise in the Stanley Cup Playoffs that are going on later than normal (though not as late as last year) thanks to pandemic scheduling.

The New York Islanders had other ideas. They got more physical than Boston and the Bruins suffered with their third and fourth lines, and injuries decimated their defense and goaltending. It certainly seemed like Jeremy Swayman would have made a logical choice over Tuukka Rask in Game 6, but coaches are hesitant to start a rookie over a veteran, and Cassidy was no exception.

But the Bruins don’t deserve a ton of criticism. This is not the 1970s, ’80s or even 1990s. The time of dynasties like the old Islanders and Edmonton Oilers, and old time Montreal Canadiens are done. This group won a Stanley Cup, and played in two other Cup finals, and probably should have won it all two years ago. It hasn’t been a bad run with today’s standards. Give it one more year, which is pretty much what the team’s brass said this week they were leaning toward doing.

• The spring sports season produced five champions: the Nashua North boys and girls Division I track titles, the Bishop Guertin boys and girls lacrosse titles, and the Campbell girls softball title. Which one was the most impressive? They all had impressive aspects. No one fully expected the Titans to win either title; perfect storms had to happen, and they did.

The other three were more or less expected, but were surprising in how they happened. First, no one thought the BG girls could dominate Pinkerton the way they did, 20-3. Perhaps no one thought Exeter would give Bishop Guertin as hard a time in the boys lacrosse final (9-7). And no one thought Campbell would bash Hopkinton by 12 runs in the finals, but we probably should have. That’s why high school championship games are just great stages for great peformances, often unexpected ones.

• Here’s the likely outcome of the Stephon Gilmore mini (camp) drama with the New England Patriots: A two-year extension worth some $13-14 million a year. It makes sense for both parties, unless Gilmore wants a home run like the one he received a few years ago out of nowhere from New England.

The Patriots spent a ton of dough in the off-season, beefing up their roster to win now. Having Gilmore as their No. 1 corner gives them the best chance to win now, period, if he’s healthy. But here’s the thing: He needs to prove that to the Patriots before they come through with the money, and that is why it’s likely he’ll show up for training camp if there is some understanding he can show he’s over the partially torn quad he suffered late last season and he can still play at the level he was at prior to the injury.

And, looking at the quarterbacks with no pads, etc., sure, rookie Mac Jones looks good. But really, it’s impossible to tell. However, he’s got an accurate arm, for certain.

• Favorite high school moment of the 2020-21 school year: Every single one. Because it was a major accomplishment that we were able to witness them all, because it took a lot of work, effort, planning sacrificing, and great decision making for them to take place in the first place.

Happy Father’s Day, Dads. Hit ’em straight for all 18.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.