TORONTO — In a year that’s been full of unique circumstances, the 2020 CFL Draft found a way to stand out, too.
With teams, league officials and players all working and watching from home, the BC Lions played a big part in making it a memorable night. They traded up from the third spot to get Calgary’s first overall pick and used it on linebacker Jordan Williams. The first-ever regional combine participant to go first overall, Williams became the first linebacker to kick off a draft since Winnipeg took <a href="https://www.cfl.ca/players/henoc-muamba/158169/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-ga-category="Clicks – Article" data-ga-action="article-player-link" data-ga-opt-label="Henoc Muamba“>Henoc Muamba in 2011. He’s also just the fifth linebacker to ever go first overall.
“I’m absolutely surprised. I didn’t know there were trades that happen. I thought the CFL was one through nine and that’s what you get,” Williams said about an hour after becoming a Lion.
“This is surreal. I can’t even quantify how I feel right now.”
“Watching him on film, he flies around. When he gets to the ball carrier he makes tackles,” Lions GM Ed Hervey said.
“When you see him he runs through tackles, he makes plays, his presence is felt. Running a 4.5 (second) 40, being as athletic as he is…watching his tape we felt he was the No. 1 overall pick. He brings a level of intensity and athleticism and we felt he was too good to pass up.
“We weren’t sure he’d be there at three, so we decided to take a shot. If we would have stayed at three we would have been fine but we felt like there was an opportunity to take a chance at it.”
The Lions used their second-round pick (15th overall) to take quarterback Nathan Rourke. The six-foot-two, 209-pound Oakville, Ont. native and Ohio University product became the highest drafted quarterback since Jesse Palmer, who also went 15th overall, in 2001. You’d have to go back 49 years to Bob Kraemer being taken seventh overall by Winnipeg in 1971.
“I’m really excited we were able to get him,” Lions head coach Rick Campbell said of Rourke.
“Regardless of nationality, he was a really good player at Ohio University. He’s so productive and a winner and he’s got really good feet, too.”
In three years with the Bobcats, Rourke led the team to bowl game wins each season. He finished his career there after a win at the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in December with 7,457 passing yards and 2,639 rushing yards. That versatility impressed the Lions.
“I think that brings a different dynamic to the CFL,” Campbell said.
“I won’t make any proclamations, other than to say it’s a great opportunity for him to come up here and have a guy like <a href="https://www.cfl.ca/players/mike-reilly/131087/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-ga-category="Clicks – Article" data-ga-action="article-player-link" data-ga-opt-label="Mike Reilly to learn under. Most guys that come up here need time to not be thrown into the fire.”
Sticking with a theme of their off-season, the Toronto Argonauts went with a local player with the second overall pick, taking Mississauga, Ont.’s Dejon Brisset from the University of Virginia. The six-foot, 195-pound receiver had a quiet fifth year at Virginia, after a standout season with the Richmond Spiders in 2017. He pulled in 63 receptions for a team-leading 896 yards and seven touchdowns before he was injured three games into his senior season in 2018.
Dropping back to the third overall pick, Calgary got the guy they wanted, in Southeastern Louisiana defensive end Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund. The six-foot-two, 250-pound Dartmouth, N.S. native felt he had some good conversations with the Stamps over the last month abut was still surprised to find out he’d be making a move out West to Calgary.
“They didn’t really give me any indication,” Adeyemi-Berglund said of the Stamps’ interest. “Besides the fact that I had a good relationship with the coaches and the scouts, I thought I would be there. I’m happy with the way that things worked out.”
A second-team all-Southland Conference selection in 2019, Adeyemi-Berglund had 61 tackles including 16 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and four pass breakups in 13 games at Southeastern Louisiana. The Stamps are getting a productive player and a consistently great student. The pre-med major was an all-academic team selection in 2018 and 2019 and made the conference commissioner’s fall academic honour roll in 2016 and 2017.
One of the surprising trends from this year’s draft was the lack of offensive linemen taken early. There were four taken in the first round, but none in the second, making for the lowest total o-lineman taken through two rounds since 2010.
Buffalo’s Tomas Jack-Kurdyla was the first o-lineman chosen on Thursday night, going fourth overall to the Edmonton Eskimos. He was followed up by Guelph’s Coulter Woodmansey at fifth overall. After the Ottawa REDBLACKS nabbed Laval defensive back Adam Auclair at sixth, the Saskatchewan Roughriders took Saskatchewan Huskies OL Mattland Riley seventh.
Having gotten one o-lineman in the first round, Hamilton used its second North Dakota defensive end Mason Bennett with the eighth pick. The Argos closed out the first round by taking Regina Rams offensive-lineman Theren Churchill at ninth.
NFL-BOUND CANADIANS GET SOME OPTIONS
At last week’s NFL draft, six Canadian players were either selected or signed post-draft deals. That drove their names further down the CFL draft, but five out of the six still heard their names called. After signing with the L.A. Rams, Brown DL Michael Hoecht went to Ottawa with the first pick in the second round. After Montreal Carabins DB Marc-Antoine Dequoy signed with the Green Bay Packers, his former head coach, Danny Maciocia, used his first pick as the Montreal Alouettes’ GM to take him 14th overall.
Calgary used its third-round pick (21st overall) on receiver Rysen John, who signed with the New York Giants and Montreal went one pick later and chose offensive lineman Carter O’Donnell with the 22nd pick, after the Red Deer product signed with the Indianapolis Colts.
Saskatchewan took DL Neville Gallimore went 71st overall, just in case things don’t work out for the Ottawa native with the Dallas Cowboys, who took him 82nd overall.
The highest chosen NFL player out of the Canadian lot, Pittsburgh Steelers second-round pick Chase Claypool, went unselected by a CFL team.
ALS KEEP IT LOCAL
When he was hired as the Als’ GM in January, Maciocia said that drafting and/or recruiting and keeping Quebec-based players would be a focus of his. In his first draft, he chose three Carabins and two Concordia Stingers out of his 10 picks. Here’s a breakdown:
2nd Round:DB Marc-Antoine Dequoy, Montreal (14th)
2nd Round: DL Cameron Lawson, Queen’s (16th)
3rd Round: OL Carter O’Donnell, Alberta (22nd)
3rd Round: DL Marion Beniot, Montreal (25th)
4th Round: LB Brian Harleimana, Montreal (33rd)
6th Round: OL Andrew Becker, Regina (49th)
6th Round: LB Jersey Henry, Concordia (51st)
7th Round: SB Vincent Alessandrini, Concordia (60th)
8th Round: DL Brock Gowanlock, Manitoba (66th)
8th Round: RB Colton Klassen, Saskatchewan (69th)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
