Canada was embarrassed 6-0 by Russia and also lost star winger Alexis Lafrenière to an apparent knee injury on a disastrous night for one of the tournament favourites at the world junior hockey championship Saturday.
The projected No. 1 pick at the 2020 NHL draft, Lafrenière was hurt early in the second period with the Canadians already down 3-0 as he cut to the net on a power play.
The 18-year-old bumped into Russian goalie Amir Miftakhov after being knocked slightly off balance by defenceman Yegor Zamula, his left knee twisting awkwardly underneath him as he fell to the ice.
“We don’t know yet,” Canadian head coach Dale Hunter said when asked about the extent of the injury. “He’s being evaluated.”
Lafrenière, who had a goal and three assists in Canada’s wild 6-4 victory over the United States on Thursday to open the under-20 event, lay writhing in pain, clutching the joint before being attended to by the team’s trainer inside a stunned Ostravar Arena.
WATCH | Team Canada’s Alexis Lafrenière suffers injury after collision with goalie:
Team Canada forward Alexis Lafreniere needs to be helped off the ice after a collision during the 2nd period of Canada’s game against Russia at the world juniors. 1:12
The native of Saint-Eustache, Que., didn’t put any weight on the knee as he left the ice with the help of teammates and went straight to the locker-room.
“He’s been a big part of this team for a long time, but you can’t use excuses,” Hunter said. “The Russians had a good game. We just have to learn from it and move on.”
Canadian forward Ty Dellandrea said it was tough to see Lafrenière go down.
“On and off the ice, he’s a leader,” he said. “We all know what kind of player he is.”
Saturday’s dismantling marked the first time since Dec. 27, 1998, that Canada was held scoreless at the world juniors — snapping a streak of 134 straight games.
Nikita Alexandrov, with a goal and an assist, Alexander Khovanov, Pavel Dorofeyev, Nikita Rtischev, Yegor Sokolov and Grigori Denisenko scored for Russia, which rebounded in impressive fashion from a 4-3 upset loss to the host Czech Republic on Boxing Day.
Miftakhov, who started in place of Yaroslav Askarov after the 17-year-old phenom was pulled in that one, registered 28 saves for the shutout.
Daws draws the hook
Nico Daws allowed four goals on 17 shots for Canada before getting the hook in favour of Joel Hofer, who finished with 20 saves.
Along with the loss of its best player, Saturday’s performance surely ranks as one of the worst for Canada in the event’s 44-year history.
In other Group B action, Germany stunned the Czechs 4-3 for the country’s first victory at the tournament since 2013.
The Canadians, Russians, Czechs, Americans and Germans all sit with 1-1 records in what was dubbed a “Group of Death” in the buildup. Canada will look to regroup Monday against upstart Germany, while Russia and the U.S. meet Sunday.
Canada fell 2-1 to the Russians in the final round-robin game of last year’s tournament in Vancouver and Victoria, setting up a tough quarterfinal matchup with Finland. The hosts subsequently lost that one 2-1 in overtime to finish a disappointing sixth on home soil.
Coming off that emotional victory over the U.S., where they fell behind 2-0 in the first and scored late after blowing a 4-2 lead, the Canadians were once again on the back foot early.
Khovanov opened the scoring just 1:44 in when Daws couldn’t track a shot off his blocker and fell backward as the puck came to a rest just over the goal line.
Canada had a couple chances at the other end, but the Russians made it 2-0 at 10:14 when Dorofeyev found himself alone in front to roof a backhand past a down-and-out Daws.
Russia’s Nikita Alexandrov scores on Canada goaltender Nico Daws during their 6-0 victory at the World Junior Hockey Championship on Saturday. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)
The Canadians, who have won the world juniors a record 17 times, then killed off a penalty, but Rtischev scored from the slot at 13:43 to make it 3-0.
Daws was whistled for tripping less than a minute later and Jacob Bernard-Docker went off for holding the stick to hand the Russians a 5-on-3 power play for 49 seconds, but Canada held firm after giving up three goals on five American power-play opportunities on Thursday.
After losing Lafrenière early in the second on a man advantage, the shell-shocked Canadians gave up a fourth goal when Alexandrov swept in front and tucked a shot past Daws, who is playing in his first-ever international tournament, at 2:18 to end the netminder’s night.
Also green on this stage, Hofer made a couple saves after joining the fray, but Sokolov tipped a point shot home with 6:51 remaining in the second and the rout was truly on at 5-0.
Last year’s bronze medallists kept coming, and Denisenko scored off the rush with 3:36 left in the period before jumping against the boards in celebration near one of the Maple Leaf flags dotting the pro-Canadian crowd.
The desperate Russians were the better team from start to finish after losing to the Czechs, but goaltending was Canada’s biggest question mark coming into the tournament in Ostrava and Trinec, now along with Lafrenière’s uncertain status, that remains the case.
To put things in perspective, the Canadians gave up four goals in four round-robin games last year.
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.
