Canada scored four power-play goals in a dominant first period Tuesday to beat the Czech Republic 7-2 and finish first in Group B at the world junior hockey championship.
Joe Veleno, in his return from suspension, Nolan Foote, Barrett Hayton and Connor McMichael scored on the man advantage in a span of nine minutes 49 seconds, making the tournament hosts pay for a complete lack of discipline at the tightly called under-20 international event.
After the Czechs pushed back with two quick goals in the second from Vojtech Strondala and Libor Zabransky inside a raucous Ostravar Arena, Liam Foudy and Dylan Cozens, on another power play, put the game out of reach.
Jared McIsaac rounded out the scoring in the third.
Joel Hofer got his second consecutive start in goal for the Canadians, who will face Slovakia in the quarterfinals Thursday.
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Hayton and Cozens each added three assists for the 17-time gold medallists on New Year’s Eve. Veleno added two helpers of his own.
Czech goalie Lukas Parik found himself in a shooting gallery early, stopping just 5 of the 9 shots he faced before leaving with a lower-body injury after McMichael scored Canada’s fourth. Nick Malik, the No. 3 netminder with starter Lukas Dostal already hurt, came on in relief.
Canada finished the preliminary round with a 3-1 record — the only blemish coming in an embarrassing 6-0 loss to Russia in its second game.
The other quarterfinal matchups will see Sweden meet the Czechs, the United States take on Finland and Switzerland tangle with Russia.
Russia beat Germany 6-1 in Group B’s early game, while the Swedes beat Slovakia and the Swiss upset the Finns to grab second in Group A. As the last-place teams in their respective pools, Germany and Kazakhstan will play a best-of-three relegation series for a spot at next year’s event in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta.
1:57 Christmas road hockey game still going strong
Christmas road hockey game still going strong
Veleno, who was back in the lineup after serving his one-game ban for a head-butting incident, got things started at 4:41 when he caught Parik out of position after Hayton’s initial shot was blocked on Canada’s first man advantage.
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With the energetic home fans whistling in hopes of causing a distraction, Foote then blasted a one-timer upstairs for his third on another power play at 9:57 before Czech forward Otakar Sik was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for spearing Canadian defenceman Bowen Byran in the groin.
Another penalty made in a two-man advantage, and Hayton scored his third just 20 seconds later at 13:29 — a goal that just crossed the line despite Parik’s best efforts and needed a video review of more than seven minutes.
McMichael then got in on the action just 61 seconds later when he popped home his second at the side of the net to tie a tournament record with four power-play goals in one period as the large pockets of Canadian support among the sellout crowd of 8,693 celebrated.
Canada was once again without star winger Alexis Lafreniere, the projected No. 1 pick at the 2020 NHL draft, but assistant coach Andre Tourigny said Tuesday morning that the reigning Canadian Hockey League player of the year went through some warmup stretching with teammates and looked “really good.”
Coached by former NHLer Vaclav Varada and minus injured star forwards Jan Jenik and Jan Sir, the Czechs made it 4-1 when Strondala, who was only added to the roster Tuesday, jumped on a Hofer rebound at 11:10.
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1:55 Calgary post-secondary students play hockey for mental health
Calgary post-secondary students play hockey for mental health
Zabransky then scored his fourth of the world juniors 14 seconds later when Canada couldn’t get the puck deep at the offensive blue line, but Foudy took advantage of a strange bounce off a dump-in to score his second just 10 seconds after that.
Cozens then got in on the action, deflecting a point shot on yet another man advantage 56 seconds later.
McIsaac scored Canada’s seventh midway through the third.
After surrendering a combined 10 goals in two games to open the world juniors — including an eye-popping six against Russia in the country’s worst defeat in tournament history — Canada put in a much better effort in Monday’s 4-1 win over Germany.
2:41 YouTube Rewind 2019: Canadian superstars, 4-year-old hockey players and Gordon Ramsay
YouTube Rewind 2019: Canadian superstars, 4-year-old hockey players and Gordon Ramsay
Hofer got the call in that one ahead of Nico Daws, who allowed eight goals on 50 shots in just over four periods of action, with Canada wobbling after that defeat to Russia.
The 19-year-old from Winnipeg steadied things for a fragile group with an 18-save performance — including three big stops in the second period with his team up 1-0 — and was handed a second-straight start 24 hours later.
Hofer came in having played both ends of a back-to-back six times this season for the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks, with a 5-1-0 record in the first game and a perfect 6-0-0 mark in the second.
NEW YORK – Toronto Blue Jays reliever Chad Green and Canadian slugger Tyler O’Neill of the Boston Red Sox were named finalists for the Major League Baseball Players’ Association’s American League comeback player award on Monday.
Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet was the other nominee.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. were named player of the year finalists.
The award winners, selected via player voting, will be named Saturday before Game 2 of the World Series.
Green, who missed most of the 2022 and ’23 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was a high-leverage option for the Blue Jays this past season and filled in at closer over the second half of the campaign.
The right-hander converted his first 16 save opportunities and finished the year with a 4-6 record, 17 saves and a 3.21 earned-run average over 53 appearances.
O’Neill, a native of Burnaby, B.C., also endured back-to-back injury-plagued seasons in ’22 and ’23.
After being traded to the Red Sox in the off-season, O’Neill set an MLB record by hitting a homer in his fifth straight Opening Day. He finished with 31 homers on the year and had an OPS of .847.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
NEW YORK – Florida Panthers centre Sam Reinhart was named NHL first star of the week on Monday after leading all players with nine points over four games last week.
Reinhart had four goals, five assists and a plus-seven rating to help the Stanley Cup champions post a 3-0-1 record on the week and move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
New York Rangers left-winger Artemi Panarin took the second star and Minnesota Wild goaltenderFilip Gustavsson was the third star.
Panarin had eight points (4-4) over three games.
Gustavsson became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and had a 1.00 goals-against average and .962 save percentage over a pair of victories.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson won’t finish the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.
He’s injured again, and the Browns have new problems.
Watson ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, collapsing as he began to run and leading some Browns fans to cheer while the divisive QB laid on the ground writhing in pain.
The team feared Watson’s year was over and tests done Monday confirmed the rupture. The Browns said Watson will have surgery and miss the rest of the season but “a full recovery is expected.”
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year after just six starts.
The 29-year-old went down Sunday without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson crumpled to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
He immediately put his hands on his helmet, clearly aware of the severity of an injury similar to the one Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained last year.
As he was being assisted by the team’s medical staff and backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson grabbed a ball to begin warming up, there was some derisive cheers and boos from the stands in Huntington Bank Field.
Cleveland fans have been split over Watson, who has been accused of being sexually inappropriate with women.
The reaction didn’t sit well with several Watson’s teammates, including star end Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who was appalled by the fans’ behavior.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury,” Garrett said. “Man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones for my glass house.
“Ultimately everyone’s human and they’re disappointed just like we are, but we have to be better than that as people. There’s levels to this. At the end of the day, it’s just a game and you don’t boo anybody being injured and you don’t celebrate anyone’s downfall.”
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston also admonished the uncomfortable celebration.
“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day,” he said. “The way I was raised, I will never pull on a man when he’s down, but I will be the person to lift him up.
“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly and now he has to overcome another obstacle. So I’m going to support him, I’m going to lift him up and I’m going to be there for him.”
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s tumultuous time with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks and five overall to Houston in 2022 to get him, with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam approving the team giving Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year $230 million contract.
With a solid roster, the Browns were desperate to find a QB who could help them compete against the top AFC teams.
The Browns had moved on from Baker Mayfield despite drafting him No. 1 overall in 2018 and making the playoffs two seasons later.
But Watson has not played up to expectations — fans have been pushing for him to be benched this season — and Cleveland’s move to get him has been labeled an abject failure with the team still on the hook to pay him $46 million in each of the next two seasons.
Watson’s arrival in Cleveland also came amid accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Texans. Two grand juries declined to indict him and he has settled civil lawsuits in all but one of the cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the league’s personal conduct policy before he took his first snap with the Browns. The long layoff — he sat out the 2021 season in a contract dispute — led to struggles once he got on the field, and Watson made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
Cleveland signed veteran Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs.
Before Watson got hurt this year, he didn’t play much better. He was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers for a Cleveland team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game and is back in search of a franchise QB.
