New-look Grand Slam of Curling series kicks off under new ownership

TORONTO – With just two regular-season games remaining, Toronto FC sits on the MLS playoff bubble with no room for error. Even two wins may not be enough to return to the post-season for the first time since 2020.

“It’s doable,” said English midfielder Matty Longstaff. “We definitely have a good chance. We’ve just got to concentrate on (Wednesday) and make sure we win.”

Toronto (11-17-4, 37 points) hosts the playoff-bound New York Red Bulls (10-7-14, 44 points) on Wednesday before entertaining league-leading Inter Miami on Saturday (19-4-8, 65 points).

TFC currently sits eighth in the Eastern Conference, which offers a door into the post-season.

The eighth- and ninth-place teams meet in a playoff wild-card game, with the winner moving on to face the first seed — likely Miami — in the best-of-three first round.

Toronto has teams nipping at its heels, however.

Tied on points with Philadelphia and CF Montreal (both 9-12-10), Toronto is ahead in the standings due to more wins (the first tiebreaker). Atlanta and D.C. United are a further three points behind.

All four chasing teams have a game in hand on Toronto.

Coach John Herdman prefers to see the TFC glass half-full while focusing on the controllables.

“Two great opportunities at home,” he said after training Tuesday. “That’s what we’ve been saying to the players. Put (out) everything here. Don’t leak any energy on anything else other than what you (can) influence.”

“Then it’s about the intensity and effort we’re willing to show up with,” he added. “I keep saying the teams we’re playing against, these matches mean more to us than it does them.”

Toronto’s last trip to the post-season was a short one, upset 1-0 by expansion Nashville at the first hurdle.

TFC’s regular-season record since is a dismal 30-73-31. But 11 of those wins have come this season under Herdman, who took over the team last October.

Whatever happens this week, it’s a step forward for a club that went 4-20-10 in finishing last in the East in 2023.

While Toronto can’t be eliminated from playoff contention Wednesday, it will be in a world of trouble if it loses. Even if it then beats Miami, it would have to hope that Philadelphia and Montreal lose two of their three remaining games.

Miami can claim the Supporters’ Shield, which goes to the team with the best regular-season record, by winning at Columbus on Wednesday. Toronto will no doubt be rooting for a mid-week Miami victory in the hope that coach Tata Martino, with first place already secured, might leave Lionel Messi and other stars behind for the trip to Toronto.

TFC will then have to watch the season play out from the sidelines. By luck of the draw, it is the lone side to have a bye Decision Day, the regular-season finale on Oct. 19.

A season that kicked off with great promise — TFC had a 3-1-1 start and did not concede until the fourth game of the season — has turned into a streaky, unpredictable campaign.

Unable to deliver consistently in recent weeks, Toronto has gone 4-4-1 in league play since emerging from a nine-game, seven-week winless run (0-7-2). TFC is winless in its last three league outings (0-2-1), outscored 5-1.

Offence has been a major issue, with Toronto averaging a meagre 1.22 goals a game. TFC ranks 23rd in goals, 25th in shots, 23rd in shots on target and 27th in corner kicks.

With eight goals apiece, Federico Bernardeschi and Prince Owusu are tied for the team lead. Lorenzo Insigne is next with four goals, a poor return for the league’s second-highest salary at US$15.4 million.

Bernardeschi missed a penalty in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Chicago and has not scored in his last 16 games in all competitions dating back to late June. The Italian had 13 goal contributions (eight goals, five assists) in his previous nine league appearances.

Insigne has three goals in his last 18 appearances dating back to mid-June and has been blanked in his last five outings. While he has suffered through a list of health issues — he is questionable Wednesday with a calf injury — the 33-year-old Italian has seemed out of sorts for much of the season.

On Saturday, after coming on in the 88th minute, he inexplicably passed on taking a close-range shot with only the Chicago goalkeeper to beat. Instead, he sent a pass into traffic that snuffed out the threat. Then, in stoppage time with the degree of difficulty ratcheted up, he hammered a spectacular long-distance free kick off the goalpost.

Another chapter in the conundrum that is Insigne. And with the former Napoli star misfiring, opponents have been able to shut down Bernardeschi.

Coming off a 5-1 loss to rival New York City FC, the Red Bulls are winless in six (0-3-3) and have just one win in their last 11 (1-3-7) since a 3-0 victory over Toronto on June 22. Despite the lopsided NYCFC defeat, other results meant the Red Bulls clinched a playoff berth, becoming the first club in league history to make the post-season in 15 straight seasons.

The New Yorkers are unbeaten in their last 10 meetings with Toronto (7-0-3) — not counting a July shootout loss in Leagues Cup play that followed a scoreless draw in regulation.

TFC has failed to score in the last five meetings and has not beaten the Red Bulls since July 2019, a 3-1 decision at BMO Field.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024

TORONTO – Teresa Resch likes to put her time and energy into organizations that go beyond the surface level.

Resch was officially named the president of Toronto’s new WNBA expansion team in May and will be one of the keynote speakers this week at Elevate, a Canadian tech conference that emphasizes using innovation to better the world.

The parallels she saw between WNBA Toronto and Elevate are what led her to agreeing to speak at the conference on Thursday.

“Ultimately, this team, WNBA Toronto, yes, it’s a basketball team, but we are about way more than basketball, and I think in the same way that’s Elevate,” she said last week. “So yes, it’s a technology conference, but it’s about way more than that.

“You look at all the different speakers, it’s really a gathering of people who are passionate, who are innovative, who are really game changers. You want to surround yourself with people like that.”

Resch and Jayna Hefford, the senior vice president of hockey operations for the PWHL, will be speaking at Toronto’s Meridian Hall in a panel moderated by TSN’s Kayla Grey on Thursday afternoon.

They will be discussing the rapid rise of women’s professional sports over the past three years.

“More than anything, there’s so much excitement in this marketplace for basketball,” Resch said in a video call from her office. “I can’t wait to share that with some of these people that are maybe new to the game, who are just starting to pay attention and be able to share our story in a more robust way.

“I’m really looking forward to speaking to this audience.”

Resch is also looking forward to building her front office.

Whitney Bell was named WNBA Toronto’s chief marketing officer and Lisa Ferkul the team’s chief revenue officer last Wednesday. Resch said that she would begin her general manager search in earnest after the WNBA’s current post-season ends no later than Oct. 20.

“I think the biggest thing that we get to do is we get to name this team. We get to build a brand identity,” said Resch, noting that WNBA Toronto did a team name campaign over August. “That was incredible. We got all kinds of inspiration and submissions from across Canada and really the world.

“There’s 98 different countries that interacted with the site, which is pretty incredible (…) now we are going through the process of design.”

WNBA Toronto has a podcast called “Bringing Home the W,” which gives behind-the-scenes details on its name selection process.

Coca-Cola Coliseum, the arena that will be home to WNBA Toronto and the PWHL’s Toronto Sceptres, will also undergo back-of-house renovations to better support those teams before the basketball team has its inaugural season in 2026.

Resch was the Toronto Raptors’ vice president of basketball operations and player development before leaving the Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment property to become the first hire for the new WNBA franchise.

Because Elevate is usually at the same time as Raptors’ training camp, Resch often missed most of the tech conference. She was able to catch a couple of presentations over the years, however, including tennis superstar Venus Williams and former United States First Lady Michelle Obama.

“It was right when (Obama’s) book had come out,” said Resch, referring to “The Light We Carry.” “That was really great to hear her.

“I think I took a page of notes that I will sometimes reference back to.”

Raptors team president Masai Ujiri wished Resch luck at the NBA team’s media day on Monday and announced Tyla Flexman as her replacement.

“A tough loss with Teresa, but she’s gone on to do bigger and better, and Tyla has come on to do bigger and better with us,” said Ujiri. “I think Teresa did an incredible job, and Tyla will even take it to another level.

“I am so excited, so excited for my girl, Teresa, with her new job and where she is, I think she will do great, and it’s a blessing for us to have that team in Toronto.”

Flexman was formerly a member of Canada’s national women’s field hockey team.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.

CALGARY – Rookie Samuel Honzek continued his scoring tear on Monday with a brilliant short-handed effort as the Calgary Flames beat the Seattle Kraken 4-3 in overtime.

The 19-year-old Slovak, who was the Flames’ first-round pick, 16th overall in 2023, sits alone atop the NHL’s pre-season scoring leaders with seven points (including two goals) in five games.

Brayden Pachal, Blake Coleman, and Nazem Kadri — with the game-winner on a slick setup from Andrei Kuzmenko — also scored for Calgary (5-0-1), which has yet to lose in regulation.

Eeli Tolvanen, Ville Ottavainen and Shane Wright replied for Seattle (1-3-1).

In his first full game after playing two periods in each of his first two starts, Dan Vladar — coming off off-season hip surgery — made 30 saves for the win.

At the other end, Joey Daccord made 23 stops for the Kraken.

Tied 2-2 after the first period, Seattle had multiple chances to take the lead early in the second when Calgary took four penalties in the first six minutes.

But not only did the Flames kill off the extended power play time for the visitors that included a pair of two-man advantages, Honzek ignited the home crowd with his highlight-reel goal at 6:33.

Sprung on a 1-on-1 by Yegor Sharangovich’s breakout pass, Honzek skated down the right wing through the neutral zone and into the Seattle end where he used his 6-foot-4 frame to power his way around defenceman Vince Dunn, then as he cut across the front of the net, he neatly eluded Daccord’s poke check before tucking the puck in while falling to the ice.

Honzek, who turns 20 on Nov. 12, played last season with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants where injuries limited him to just 33 games in which he had 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists).

After taking the lead, the penalty barrage in the second continued for the home side with Blake Coleman’s penalty with seven seconds left — Calgary’s sixth minor of the period — finally costing them with Wright scoring 39 seconds into the third to tie it 3-3.

Seattle opened the scoring 3:18 into the game when Rasmus Andersson’s turnover was grabbed by Chandler Stephenson, who promptly sent a backhand pass into the slot that was buried by Tolvanen.

After Calgary surged in front on goals less than four minutes apart by Pachal and Coleman, the visitors tied it with 15 seconds remaining in the period when Ottavainen’s long slapshot eluded Vladar.

BARRIE BATTLING

Picking up a pair of assists for the Flames with secondary helpers on both first period goals was defenceman Tyson Barrie, who is in Flames’ camp on a professional tryout. The 33-year-old has three assists in three games. Barrie has played 809 career NHL games and should he sign with Calgary, would join his fifth NHL organization. He played last season for Nashville.

UP NEXT

Kraken: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.

Flames: Visit the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2024.

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