BOSTON — Tom McVie, who coached the Winnipeg Jets to the 1979 World Hockey Association championship over Wayne Gretzky’s Edmonton Oilers in the final year before the franchises were absorbed into the NHL, has died. He was 89.

McVie was also the Jets’ first coach in the NHL and the New Jersey Devils’ second after they moved from Colorado in 1982. He also coached the Washington Capitals, compiling an overall NHL record of 126-263 with 73 ties in parts of eight seasons from 1975-92.

The Trail, British Columbia, native joined the Bruins as an assistant coach in 1992 and got his name on the Stanley Cup as a team ambassador when it won the 2011 championship.

“Tom was a huge part of our Bruins family, having served as coach, scout and ambassador for more than 30 years,” said Boston president Cam Neely, whose playing career overlapped with McVie’s coaching tenure. “His hockey mind, colorful personality, gruff voice, and unmatched sense of humor livened up every room he entered, and he will be dearly missed.”

McVie made his NHL head coaching debut when he succeeded Hall of Famer Milt Schmidt in Washington on New Year’s Eve in 1975, but he never finished higher than fourth before heading to the WHA. He took over the Jets, whose roster included a 40-year-old Bobby Hull, and won the 1979 Avco World Trophy.

“Coach McVie was an historical figure in Winnipeg’s pro hockey history as the coach of the last team to ever win the Avco Cup in the World Hockey Association, as well as the first coach in the team’s National Hockey League history back in 1979,” the Jets posted on X on Monday.

“Tom’s personality, voice, and knowledge of the game transcended his title and time in our city as the team made the transition from the WHA to the NHL. His ability to tell a story only added to the legend of the hockey club’s arrival on the big stage. We’d like to extend our deepest condolences to the many friends and loved ones of Coach McVie.”

McVie told The Boston Globe after joining the Bruins organization in 1992 that he was proud to be a hockey lifer.

“If I wasn’t coaching hockey,” he said, “then I’d probably be driving the Zamboni.”

McVie also coached in the AHL for New Jersey, working for the then-Utica Devils. They have since been renamed the Utica Comets, who honored him in a Monday social media post, calling McVie “a legend of the sport and our community,” and adding that “Tom was an outstanding leader, and an incredible human being.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Fisher College is mourning the loss of a student who was killed in a hit-and-run crash in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood over the weekend, the school confirmed Monday.

Two women were struck by a car on Washington Street at Lenox Street around 8:30 p.m. They were taken to the hospital where one woman, identified by the school as Taylor Wilkinson, died of her injuries.

“This is an unimaginable loss, and our hearts go out to her family, friends, and all who had the privilege of knowing and loving her,” the statement from Steven Rich, president of Fisher College, reads.

Wilkinson, 20, graduated from the Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers in Boston in 2023, and began classes at Fisher the same year, according to Rich’s statement. She was a sophomore at Fisher, majoring in management with a concentration in fashion merchandising. She leaves behind a twin sister, who is also a student at Fisher.

Grief counseling services are available through the school’s Counseling Center and Health Services Department.

“In the days ahead, we will work closely with Taylor’s family to find meaningful ways to honor her memory. We will share further details as plans are finalized. For now, let us come together as a community to offer solace to those who are grieving and to reflect on the values of kindness, compassion, and unity that Taylor embodied,” Rich wrote.

Police continue to investigate the crash. The vehicle that struck Wilkinson is described as a dark-colored, compact Mercedes SUV, left the scene. The SUV is believed to have damage to its front grille and a front light, and missing the right side-view mirror. Anyone with information about the vehicle or its driver is asked to call police at 617-343-4470 or the anonymous tip line, 1-800-494-TIPS. Tips can also be texted to police anonymously by sending the word “TIP” to the number 27463 (CRIME).

At his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021, 78-year-old Joe Biden gave a 21-minute speech crafted by a team of speechwriters that included Pulitzer-winning historian Jon Meacham. Biden called for national unity; referenced Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and Arlington National Cemetery; quoted St. Augustine and the Bible; and ended by asking God to bless America and our troops.

The address had its eloquent moments, though because inauguration speeches have become largely formulaic, it probably could have been written by the use of artificial intelligence.

Later today, Jan. 20, 2025, 78-year-old Donald Trump will give his Second Inaugural Address. Eight years ago, he gave a 1,433-word speech that lasted 16 minutes. In it, he focused on the “American carnage” that he believed had been caused by “a small group of politicians in the nation’s capital” who had ignored “the forgotten men and women of our country,” failed to prioritize the doctrine of “America first,” and lacked “a total allegiance to the United States of America.” He said his presidency would change all that.

Like Biden and most past presidents, Trump ended by saying he would rely on God in his leadership of the nation and claimed his goal would be to achieve national unity.

As we look back at the last eight years and compare the words in the last two inaugural addresses against the deeds that transpired over the course of the two men’s presidencies, some important questions come to mind.

Will Trump suffer cognitive decline between the ages of 78 and 82 as Biden did?

Will Republicans, with their slim majorities in the House and Senate, be able to achieve Trump’s objectives, or will they be so divided, as congressional Democrats were for much of Biden’s presidency, that they can’t achieve their desired agenda?

Will Trump listen to the advice of others during his second term, or will he be a force only unto himself like he was before?

Does the rest of the world have high hopes, complete dread or something in between for how America’s foreign policy will unfold during Trump’s second term?

Strong, hopeful inaugural messages often become empty promises when a president’s performance fails to hit the mark. Not surprisingly, the best remembered phrases from the prior inaugurations have come from our greatest presidents. Why? Because they had the wherewithal to follow through on their opening-bell aspirations, and their speeches were most definitely not formulaic.

George Washington in 1789, speaking to a fragile new nation that sought to establish a better form of government: “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”

Thomas Jefferson in 1801, speaking to a polarized country reeling in the aftermath of the recently expired Sedition Act and a narrow election result that had required six days and 36 ballots in the House of Representatives before it was resolved: “Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.”

Abraham Lincoln in 1861, when seven states had already seceded from the union and a civil war loomed: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when touched again, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, speaking at the height of the Great Depression as he planned to implement his New Deal programs: “First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

John F. Kennedy in 1961, speaking at the height of the Cold War as he planned to move forward with his creation of the Peace Corps in an effort to build American prestige in developing countries: “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

The words from history’s inaugural addresses can only have lasting impact when a president does what it takes to fulfill the promises contained in his opening message, as Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Kennedy succeeded in doing.

As with his and Biden’s prior addresses, Trump’s speech today will be praised by many and criticized by many soon after he delivers it. But his ultimate legacy will be judged by history solely on the basis of his deeds.

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