The most memorable games played on New Year’s Eve

Not solely was this bout notable that it was held on New 12 months’s Eve, however inside the historical past of sports activities in North America. On this night time in Coral Gables, Fla., the nice Jake LaMotta was knocked down for the only time in 106 fights that spanned his legendary career. It got here courtesy of Danny Nardico, described as a “combating marine,” who floored LaMotta early within the seventh spherical of a match that was shortly referred to as after by his nook. LaMotta would struggle simply three extra instances earlier than retiring for good, whereas Nardico’s legacy was decided on this New 12 months’s Eve in Florida. 

With six NFL championships and 4 Tremendous Bowls, the best — and sure most memorable — sport in Green Bay Packers historical past got here on New 12 months’s Eve 1967 — in any other case generally known as the “Ice Bowl.”  With a visit to Tremendous Bowl II on the road, temperatures greater than minus-30 levels (with the wind) and the Lambeau Area turf primarily frozen strong, Inexperienced Bay’s Bart Starr adopted a Jerry Kramer block into the tip zone for a 1-yard rating within the waning seconds of the fourth quarter, after the Cowboys went forward on Lance Renzel’s 50-yard TD go from Dan Reeves, to present the hosts an eventual 21-17 victory, in keeping with lore. Starr and three Dallas gamers, George Andrie, who returned a fumble for a landing, Willie Townes, and  Dick Daniels, suffered frostbite.

It was a memorable Notre Dame moment,and one amid frigid temperatures. Undefeated however underdogs to the top-ranked Crimson Tide, Notre Dame wasn’t phased. In a extremely aggressive, as an alternative back-and-forth contest, Alabama went forward 23-21 with 9:33 remaining within the fourth quarter when Mike Inventory caught a 25-yard landing go from Richard Todd. Nevertheless, Notre Dame marched down the sector and took the lead by way of Bob Thomas’ 19-yard area objective with 4:26 to play within the sport. The Irish protection held, beautiful the mighty Crimson Tide and their devoted.

This New Year’s Eve spectacle on the ice was always going to be more than an exhibition that was a part of the Soviet tour. Held on the famed Montreal Discussion board, lots of these in attendance, or who watched from afar, have dubbed this the greatest hockey game ever played. Maybe as a result of these have been the 2 best hockey groups on the planet on the time. Full of lots of the franchise’s legends, Montreal led 2-0 on targets by Steve Shutt and Yvon Lambert. The Habs held a 3-1 benefit within the second interval, however Ken Dryden struggled in objective, and the Soviets finally tied the sport. Famed Soviet netminder Vladislav Tretiak proved to be the star of the night time with a 35-save efficiency.

New 12 months’s Eve ’83 proved to be fairly an entertaining day of playoff soccer within the NFL. First, the second-seeded Dolphins have been the defending AFC champions, noticeable favorites over the wild-card Seahawks, and led 13-7 at halftime. Nevertheless, Seattle turned three second-half Miami turnovers in 13 factors and Curt Warner, who rushed for 113 yards, scored each of his touchdowns after halftime to help the visitors pull off the upset. The Dolphins, in the meantime, turned the ball over 5 instances on the day.

Hours after the Seahawks shocked Miami, the 49ers needed to rally to prevent visiting Detroit pull off the day’s second playoff road win in a matchup of NFC division winners. Behind backup quarterback Gary Danielson, the Lions greater than held there personal as three Eddie Murray area targets and two fourth-quarter landing runs from Billy Sims gave them a 23-17 lead within the waning minutes of the sport. However, Murray additionally missed a pair of area targets within the fourth. San Francisco’s Joe Montana hit Freddie Solomon for a 14-yard landing with 1:23 remaining in regulation and Ray Wersching’s further level proved the distinction. 

Perhaps the most infamous sporting event played on the New Year’s Eve. There was loads of intrigue with this matchup even earlier than the thick fog rolled in off Lake Michigan and encompassed Soldier Area, so even these on the sector couldn’t see the sport motion. It was Mike Ditka towards his former defensive coordinator, now Eagles coach, Buddy Ryan. The Bears by no means trailed and compelled 4 turnovers, together with three Randall Cunningham interceptions, most notably by Maurice Douglass, who burned down the sideline into the fog with followers not figuring out whether or not he scored a landing or not. It might need been probably the most memorable NFL sport no one might witness. 

Houston received the 2 regular-season conferences with Pittsburgh, and there was no love misplaced between venerable Steelers coach Chuck Noll and brash Oilers’ boss Jerry Glanville. A pair of Ernest Givins fourth-quarter landing catches from Warren Moon put Houston up 23-17 with a bit greater than 6 minutes to play within the sport. Nevertheless, Pittsburgh pressured additional time on Merril Hoge‘s 2-yard rating. After Rod Woodson recovered an Oilers fumble in additional time, Gary Anderson linked on his fourth area objective of the sport, from 50 yards, to give the Steelers the victory in this gritty battle.

Speak about ushering within the new 12 months with some offensive fireworks. This high-scoring contest between the Empire State rivals featured eight targets mixed within the third interval, 69 mixed photographs and 26 penalties issued. Buffalo’s Alexander Mogilny and Yuri Khmylev every recorded a hat trick, whereas teammate Pat LaFontaine had 5 assists. Fellow Sabre Brad Might also posted the notorious “Gordie Howe” hat trick with a objective, an help and a struggle. New York netminders Mike Richter and John Vanbiesbrouck mixed to make simply 22 saves. 

It may be argued that extra drama concerned these groups earlier than the sport than throughout. Off-field points by some Hokies gamers and the way forward for coach Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech made headlines. Texas had a 30-year-old participant utilizing an assumed title and out of faculty eligibility, and the Longhorns claimed the latter proved to be a severe pre-game distraction for a squad with one loss and a tie and was using a six-game successful streak. The Hokies’ Brian Still caught six passes for 119 yards with a touchdown and returned a punt for a score, and Virginia Tech stymied the Texas offense en path to closing the season on a 10-game successful streak after beginning 0-2.

This was a barnburner and an effective way to shut out the 2011 school basketball calendar 12 months. Ohio State was the second-ranked staff within the nation, whereas the Hoosiers was additionally a top-20 program. It was a detailed contest all through. The Buckeyes, behind 16 factors from Aaron Craft and 15 with 9 rebounds courtesy of Jared Sullinger, shot 49 p.c, however dedicated 17 turnovers. None larger than when Craft threw the ball away together with his staff up 70-69, which was a go-ahead reverse layup from Victor Oladipo with 36 seconds left in regulation. 

These hockey followers exterior of Montreal or South Florida seemingly do not keep in mind this regular-season contest that proved one of many most controversial game’s of the campaign . First, Panthers followers have been displeased with the 7 p.m. Japanese begin time, which was switched from 5 p.m. to accommodate Canadian tv. However would seemingly impede the host supporters’ New 12 months’s Eve celebration followers. On the ice, third-period targets from Florida’s Shawn Matthias and Tomas Fleischmann ended the 1-1 stalemate on an evening when Canadiens star P.Okay. Subban was allegedly the recipient of a racial slur from Florida’s Krys Barch, who acquired a 10-minute sport misconduct for the incident that was reportedly heard by linesman Daren Gibb. Subban apparently by no means heard the taunt, however the scenario dominated the postgame and resonated for a time. Barch acquired a one-game suspension.

Each of those school soccer heavyweights entered the ultimate sport of 2012 at 10-2. However, LSU was favored and led 24-13 coming into the fourth quarter, although it managed 219 complete yards on the night time. Nevertheless, the Tigers lastly received severe within the ultimate interval, scoring 12 unanswered factors, together with a 12-yard landing go from Tajh Boyd to DeAndre Hopkins with 2:47 remaining. Boyd and Hopkins connected once more on 4th-and-16 with a 26-yard passing play to maintain the sport’s ultimate drive alive. Chandler Catanzaro then kicked a 37-yard field goal as time expired for Clemson’s comeback victory.

This wasn’t a very good option to ship out the 12 months for 2 of faculty basketball’s brightest blue bloods from the ACC. We begin with ninth-ranked North Carolina, which suffered losses to ranked groups in Indiana and Kentucky prior, and confronted a Georgia Tech squad that might lose 16 video games in 2016-17. Nevertheless, on this afternoon in Atlanta, the Tech protection was the story, because the Tar Heels shot 33.3 p.c, together with 5-of-26 from 3-point vary, and dedicated 20 turnovers. Georgia Tech, which overcame a three-point halftime deficit, recorded 15 steals and received 26 factors from Josh Okogie.

Whereas the Tar Heels struggled in Georgia, Duke was simply as depressing in Blacksburg. The fifth-ranked Blue Devils entered 12-1, however have been held to 41.8 p.c taking pictures, made simply 5 3-pointers and went a dismal 14-of-22 from the free-throw line. In the meantime, the Hokies made a scorching 55.2 p.c of their photographs and went 8-of-13 from a distance en path to the huge victory. Justin Bibbs‘ 18 factors led six Virginia Tech gamers in double figures. 

The marathon facet of an NBA common season does not all the time produce many memorable video games on a constant foundation. Nevertheless, on this New 12 months’s Eve, the Lakers and Rockets played as if they didn’t want 2017 to end . The visiting Lakers shot 50.5 p.c for the sport and led 72-65 at halftime. They led by as many as 17 and received 29 factors, 15 rebounds and 6 assists from Julius Randle, however he, Jason Hart (26 factors) and Tyler Ennis (20 factors, 11 assists) every fouled out. In the meantime, the Rockets received again within the sport because of James Harden, who completed with 40 factors and 11 assists, and Chris Paul, who had 28 and 10 dimes. However, it was P.J. Tucker‘s rebound and layup (his solely factors of the night time) with 5.7 seconds remaining within the second additional time that broke a 142-142 tie. 

This was not the prettiest of NBA video games. Neither the Bulls or Pacers shot higher than 42 p.c. Nevertheless, three gamers posted double-doubles, and Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan hit some of the memorable photographs within the regular-season historical past of the franchise. With the Bulls down 106-105 within the waning seconds of regulation, and following a Pacers miss, Chicago’s Coby White (24 factors), received the rebound whereas on the ground. DeRozan then calmly dribbled up the ground and simply to the suitable of the highest of arc, however properly behind, threw up a one-footed dagger that went in as the buzzer sounded. 

Sure, UConn would go on to win the 2023 nationwide championship, however on this New 12 months’s Eve, Xavier was the better team,and handed the Huskies their first loss after opening 14-0 . Led by 16 factors and 11 rebounds from Zach Freemantle, the Musketeers usually annoyed UConn throughout this spirited affair. Trailing by some extent at halftime, Xavier shot 53.8 p.c for the sport and went 23-of-28 from the free-throw line, the place UConn had simply 9 makes an attempt, making 4. Thus including to the frustration of Huskies coach Dan Hurley, who acquired a technical foul throughout a key stretch of the second half. Xavier closed on a 9-2 run.

Michigan was 13-0 and believed this to be a nationwide championship-caliber staff. The Wolverines, who boasted a protection that allowed a median of 13.4 factors, have been 7 1/2-point favorites towards the upstart Horned Frogs, who have been coming off a loss to Kansas State within the Large 12 Championship sport. TCU jumped to a 14-0 lead and by no means trailed whereas amassing 488 yards, together with 263 on the bottom. Michigan additionally allowed Quentin Johnson to file 163 yards on six receptions and a landing whereas pulling off the upset. Now, Horned Frogs, we can’t convey up the nationwide championship sport.