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Patriots fans can now turn their attention to other things

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Jan 17, 2022

So now what?

How will all of you New England Patriot diehards re-focus your attention after Saturday night’s complete Wild Card playoff collapse at the hands of the Buffalo Bills?

There will be a period of mourning, for sure, and some bisecting and disecting to keep you occupied for a bit.

But it’s a long, cold winter, and the Super Bowl is now in mid-February, and it’s going to be really hard to watch Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski frustrate the opposition again in the NFC like they did on Sunday against the not-ready-for playoff-time Philadelphia Eagles. Had to be tough to take watching that one after Saturday night’s Buffalo Beatdown.

There’s the Boston Bruins, who are red hot and under everybody’s radar. But the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which they certainly look like they’ll make, are three months away. The Olympics are coming up, but is that going to do it? There won’t be much baseball news with the lockout, and you’re dreaming if you think spring training is starting in February.

Ahhh, but locally there’s a lot to follow, especially this week. Today’s high school schedule may be limited with the weather, but if not there’s a lot of hockey on the schedule, including a twinbill at Skate 3 between Alvirne-Milford vs. Merrimack and Bishop Guertin vs. Arlington Catholic. Check the schools’ websites before venturing out, though.

On Wednesday evening the Bishop Guertin girls hockey team gets a good test with Concord the opposition at Hudson’s Cyclones Arena.

Still on BG, there will be a huge girls hoop game on Thursday at Pinkerton Academy in Derry when the Cardinals take on the Astros, and do so as the underdogs for the first time in awhile. Have you seen the Pinkerton scores? Their closest game was 20 points vs. Dover. The Cardinals then have to take on another solid out-of-state team when familiar foe Mercy of Middletown, Conn.comes to town for a Saturday afternoon meeting.

But the night before that, on Friday, we have the annual Battle of the Bridge girls-boys basketball doubleheader – something we haven’t seen in two years. Now, it won’t have the usual intense atmosphere with a full house at North’s Titans Gym, but it should be entertaining nonetheless. With only one win apiece, the North and South girls teams will be hungry for a win and North is one of the better Division I boys teams but South always gives the Titans a battle.

The week after will be wrestling and hockey’s turn.

And remember, Division I and II hoop ends early, so while all the Super Bowl hype is going on, thanks to the Patriots’ inferior performance on Saturday night you won’t have your attention diverted from the first couple of rounds of the state basketball tournaments.

So there’s plenty to watch around the area. Plenty to keep your mind off the fact the Patriots had no answer defensively for Bills quarterback Josh Allen, were dominated physically and just no match for Buffalo. And you wonder about their future.

“Last night’s game was the least competitive game that we played (this season),” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “So again, is that what we are, or is that a bad night? We’ll see when we start playing again next year, I guess.”

Hopefully there will be a lot to occupy your sports mind between now and then, and we’ve given you a few things to get you started.

Tom King may be reached at @Telegraph_TomK on twitter, or tking@nashuatelegraph.com

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