Even though we are, as Commentist Don T said, looking for proof that “the offseason is not an eternal state”, we are being treated to some excellent end-of-season drives in other sports. It’s not football, but it should keep the interest of most casual, or Boston, sports fans in the 28 days leading up to the NFL draft. Kaep staying with the Niners is not news, but surrender on all sides.

Hockey:

NHL:

The NHL is in the home stretch, with 5 games remaining for most teams. While the big news is that no Canadian teams will be in the playoffs for the first time since forever, there are plenty of factors to keep things interesting. Here are the matchups if things started today:

West:                                                     East:

• Minnesota @ Dallas                          NY Islanders @ Tampa
• Chicago @ St. Louis                          Boston @ Florida
• Nashville @ Anaheim                        Philadelphia @ Washington
• San Jose @ LA Kings                        Pittsburgh @ NY Rangers

That’s some good hockey right there. Plenty of speed, scoring, and hate to make the first round a must-watch. If you watched the Flyers-Caps game last night, just picture 7 games of that. The only remaining contenders for a wild card spot are Colorado in the West and Detroit in the East. Otherwise, it’s all about positioning and home games at this stage of the season.

College:

The “Frozen Four” will be played in Tampa (?!) this year on April 7 & 9. The semis are:

• Boston College Eagles vs Quinnipiac Bobcats
• Denver Pioneers vs North Dakota Fighting Hawks

Gotta say, I’d be rooting for an Eagles – Hawks final, if only to read barstoolsports after BC loses. A HAWK IS A LESSAH BAHD!

Basketball:

College:

The Final Four is this weekend, for both the men and women. The men are Saturday/Monday; the women are Sunday/Tuesday. (Starting next year, the women will be Friday/Sunday.) They both hold equal promise to be really good or really bad.

NBA:

The NBA is down to 7-8 games remaining. The West is a runaway for both Golden State and San Antonio, who still play each other twice more before the end of the season. The drama will be around if the Warriors can get to 73 wins, and if the Spurs will try and stop them or rest up for the probable Conference Finals in June. Playoff spots 5-8 are also up for grabs, with 6 teams in contention for those four spots. Like the West, the East has three tiers: the Cavs & Raptors as the top-2; seeds 3-6 in flux; and four teams in contention for the 7 & 8 spots. The Finals should be another Cavs-Warriors matchup, but it could easily be the Spurs or Raptors spoiling those plans.

With that in mind, let’s go down to the field. Goose?

NHL: (10 games scheduled)

• Rangers @ Hurricanes – 7:00
• Predators @ Penguins – 7:00
• Coyotes @ Stars – 8:30

NBA: (6 games total)

• Bulls @ Rockets – 7:00
• Clippers @ Thunder – 9:30
• Celtics @ trail Blazers – 10:00

Ronnie Corbett died today. I grew up watching “The Two Ronnies” on Canadian TV in the 1970s, so it’s a bit like losing a Python. They weren’t as risque, obviously, but it still worked as British humour. Here’s one of their more famous bits.

https://youtu.be/Cz2-ukrd2VQ

I guess death can be fatal.