The 2022 NCAA men’s Frozen Four is set to get underway Thursday from TD Garden in Boston, Mass., with the Michigan Wolverines, Denver Pioneers, Minnesota State Mavericks and Minnesota Golden Gophers vying for college hockey’s top prize.
The first semifinal features a duel of No. 1 seeds as Michigan and Denver are set to face off with some of the top prospects in hockey.
Watch Michigan take on Denver Thursday at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT followed by Minnesota taking on Minnesota State at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT streaming on TSN.ca and the TSN App.
Michigan boasts a star-studded lineup, including a pair of top defencemen in Owen Power, the No. 1 pick by the Buffalo Sabres at the 2021 NHL Draft, and Luke Hughes, who was taken fourth overall in the same draft by the New Jersey Devils.
Power has three goals and 32 points in 32 games this season for Michigan and skated for Team Canada at the Beijing Olympics and the World Junior Championship, where he became the first Canadian defenceman to net a hat trick before the tournament was cancelled.
“He’s the best prospect outside the NHL,” said TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button on Power. “He does it all. He’s in full control of the game at every moment. That’s a No. 1 defenceman.
“His intelligence, his ability to size up each and every situation, know how to handle it, how to take advantage of it, is what makes him so good. There’s no area he doesn’t excel in.”
Hughes is looking to follow in the footsteps of his older brothers [Vancouver Canucks defenceman] Quinn and [Devils centre] Jack to the NHL. The co-champion of the NCAA’s Big Ten rookie of the year, Button sees a different player in Luke, who had 17 goals and 39 points in 40 games this season.
“Luke is not like his brothers,” said Button. “He has this daring quality about him in the game and I love it. Luke competes hard defensively, he’s not loose defensively, he makes tremendous plays defensively but he’s a really impactful player.
”No question in my mind he’s going to be a star in the NHL just like his brothers.”
Up front, Matty Beniers and Kent Johnson carry a large part of the offence for Michigan. Taken second overall by the Seattle Kraken and fifth overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets respectively at the 2021 NHL Draft, both players have had seasons that have taken them all over the world.
Johnson participated at the World Juniors and Beijing Olympics for Team Canada alongside Power and with eight goals and 37 points in 31 games this season, Button sees a lot of similarities between Johnson and a current rookie phenom in the NHL.
“He’s got an imagination and creativity about him that is very similar to Trevor Zegras,” said Button. “There’s no play that Kent Johnson, No. 1 doesn’t think he can make. No. 2, isn’t willing to try.”
Beniers lent his talents to Team USA this season, suiting up at the World Juniors and Olympics for the Americans.
“High, high RPMs is where Matty’s motor runs,” said Button. “He’s smart, he’s skilled, he’s highly competitive but his ability to do whatever is required, he can play centre or wing, he can be a top scorer or a checker, penalty killer or power play guy.”
For Button, he considers Denver to be the sleeper team in this year’s Frozen Four. While the Pioneers didn’t have a great start to the season, including four straight losses in late October/early November, they are a team that improved as the season went on.
Up front, Denver is led by Hobey Baker finalist Bobby Brink, who led the NCAA in scoring this season with 56 points in 39 games.
“He’s a hockey player,” said Button on Brink, who was selected in the second round by the Philadelphia Flyers at the 2019 NHL Draft. “Every time you pick up your head, Bobby is in the middle of everything. He’s got a fiery competitive spirit. The whole is far greater than the sum of the parts.”
Joining Brink up front is Carter Savoie, a fourth-round pick (100th overall) by the Edmonton Oilers at the 2020 NHL Draft. As a sophomore, he was fourth in the NCAA in goals with 22.
“He’s an outstanding goal scorer,” Button said of Savoie’s game. “He doesn’t need many chances to score goals. He might be like Mike Hoffman. He’s got that goal scoring mentality.”
The second semifinal features an all-Minnesota matchup with the University of Minnesota taking on Minnesota State.
The Golden Gophers boast Matthew Knies, a Toronto Maple Leafs second-round pick and captain Ben Meyers, a Hobey Baker finalist.
“He’s such a well-rounded, skilled, powerful, smart [player],” said Button on Knies. “He can play a power game, he can play a skilled game. He can play left wing, he can play centre. He just has this innate ability to assert himself in so many different ways.”
Meyers, who is currently an undrafted free agent, also suited up for Team USA at the Beijing Olympics, where the 23-year-old had two goals and two assists in four games for the Americans.
“I think Ben is such a poster person for it doesn’t matter where you were at 18,” said Button. “He’s continuously progressed as a player to the point where he’s now considered one of the best college players. He’s quick, he’s fast he’s on the puck. He’s always attuned, always at the ready.”
State rivals the Minnesota State Mavericks don’t have a lineup bursting with top-end NHL prospects but with an older lineup, Button notes they have a maturity to their game.
In net, the Mavericks have a Hobey Baker finalist in goaltender Dryden McKay, who posted a .928 save percentage and 1.28 goals-against average in 41 games this season. He also became the NCAA men’s leader in shutouts with 34.
At 6-foot and 183 pounds, McKay doesn’t have the size many scouts look for in modern NHL goaltenders, but Button doesn’t see his size being a deterrent for the undrafted free agent.
“He does two things exceptionally well. Keep the puck out of the net and win,” said Button. “Don’t rule him out. He does things better than so many other goaltenders that might fit the mould.
“All I know is technically he is good, the foundation of his skill is good. If he was 6-foot-2 he would not be playing on Thursday, he would’ve been signed long ago. In the net, he’s a game changer.”
Now in his third season for Minnesota State is forward Nathan Smith, whose rights were acquired by the Arizona Coyotes from the Winnipeg Jets at the trade deadline. A third-round pick in 2018, Button says Smith has made noticeable strides in his development.
“I’ve watched Nathan for a long time and the first thing I’m going to say about Nathan is the improvement he’s made in his game with respect to skating, quickness and pace of play have just been nothing short of significant,” said Button. “It has led to him having a greater, wider impact on the game.”
Smith had 19 goals and 50 points in 36 games this season and had two points in four games with Team USA at the Olympics.
The semifinal winners will face off in the Frozen Four final on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT streaming live on TSN.ca and the TSN App.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
