Here’s a few tids and bits to try to help you get through the winter blahs that automatically come with January:

First the Battle of the Bridge basketball will have to wait a week thanks to bad weather,,but tell you what, there is just always something about these Nashua High School North-South encounters.

But in the last year, besides boys soccer, there has been nothing like the hockey Battle, as we saw 10 days ago with South’s scintillating 2-1 win over North-Souhegan. It was the third straight one-goal, dramatic game between the two, two of them in OT and the third won in the final seconds of regulation.

“It always seems that when these two teams come together, it’s great hockey,” South-Pelham coach Jordan Sarracco said. “Both of them step to another level. They want to win, they want to beat each other.”

It was the first Bridge experience for new Saber-Titans coach Ashton Rome.

“You’re close, you want to be the better team in the city,” he said. “Those games are always tough, it doesn’t matter. One team could be far better than the other, but they end up being close games anyway. It comes down to who wants to battle harder, who wants the game more.”

The best thing? They see each other again on Feb. 20, President’s Day, at 4 p.m. at Conway Arena. Don’t miss it.

—- All hearts should go out to the people at Merrimack High School, who lost a student in a fatal road accident over a week ago and then their girls track coach Shawn Croteau suddenly earlier this week. Just awful. But kudos to the girls track team that competed hard with heavy hearts at UNH on Saturday, led by Kailey Dillon. A special, tough group.

—- On hand, we wonder at times when Bill O’Brien suddenly became this great offensive wizard. The Texans were good, not great, under O’Brien.

On the other hand, he pretty much would be the perfect choice as the next Patriots offensive coordinator because of this big factor: He worked with Mac Jones at Alabama; legend has it Jones taught O’Brien the playbook. That familiarity alone should help Jones feel more comfortable with the offense, as long as he remembes who the boss is, right?

To be honest, it still boggles the mind how the Patriots and Bill Belichick mismanaged the whole offense. If you watched some of the Wild Card games, the Patriots certainly could have cracked that group.

—- If you look at the winter sports teams at Rivier, the best in these eyes is the women’s basketball squad. They have a great one-two punch in former rivals Hannah Muchemore (Bishop Guertin) and Lyric Grumblatt (Manchester Memorial), but don’t discount post player Bea Stafford, a transfer from Umaine-Farmington. The problem? The Raiders tend to struggle agaisnt bad teams on the road, as they fell to Anna Maria over a week ago and then Colby-Sawyer this past Tuesday. Once they learn how to win those games, they may become one of the GNAC’s best.

“And,” head coach Deanna Purcell said, “everyone is coming back next year.”

Meanwhile they’re enjoying this year, especially Saturday’s win when Grumblatt scored her historic 1,000th career point. To find out why it was historic, read the Rivier Roundup on today’s site.

— Wow, the Bruins really, really, really didn’t like playing for Bruce Cassidy in the last couple of years, did they? Cassidy did a fabulous job, but hints were dropped this past week as to why

David Pastrnak took his brief one-year exodus to play in Europe. And it was pretty obvious that Patrice Bergeron wasn’t coming back if Cassidy was.

However, be verrrrry careful when the players run the show. Let’s see if Jim Montgomery,who has been incredible guiding this team, gets what he needs out of his players in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

— If you need a break from NFL football , then head over to the Colligadome today at 2 p.m. to see the top ranked teams from New Hampshire and Massachusetts do battle, Bishop Guertin vs. Bishop Feehan of Attleboro, Mass. The Cards have won their two out of state games by double figures, but this one is going to be the real deal. And it counts in the New Hampshire standings don’t forget. It’s an afternoon start and you’ll only miss the first quarter of the Bills-Bengals AFC Divisional Round game that starts at 3 p.m. Enjoy.

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