Sports

Brendan Shanahan speaks on new Maple Leafs, team growth and the next step for Auston Matthews – TSN

Published

4 years ago

January 12, 2021

On the eve of another Maple Leafs’ regular-season opener, team president Brendan Shanahan met virtually with reporters on Tuesday to discuss a range of topics, including why the Leafs’ only goal this year should be a championship run.

“I think it’s important for our players not to focus on any other threshold than the ultimate one,” Shanahan said. “Just about every team starting the season in the league is competing for the Stanley Cup, [and that’s] going to be played out on the ice. It’s not going to be said here today or decided here today what threshold we would consider a success or not a success [other than a Cup win].”

As the Leafs wrapped up their final day of on-ice activities before facing Montreal on Wednesday, Shanahan shared his thoughts on what Toronto has done to this point in preparation for the 56-game season ahead, and how it can take steps forward as a franchise.

On whether Toronto will follow the Ottawa Senators’ lead and present a proposal to the Ontario government allowing fans into the building this season

“Those aren’t conversations that we’re having at this time. In Toronto, we’re focused on getting started in Scotiabank Arena without fans present as the games. We look forward to the day that [fans] are in the arena. When they are in the arena, the more important point is it’s a reflection that our community as a whole must be doing a whole lot better. When our fans are able to safely come back, that’ll be dictated by Toronto Public Health, the Ministry of Health for Ontario and Health Canada.”

On making Leafs into a Cup contender

“When you look at some of the changes that were made, player acquisitions and the messaging that [head coach Sheldon Keefe] has put out from the very start of training camp to our players, [we’re] talking about increased physicality, talking about habits, talking about competitiveness and talking about a structure that we will build from the very first day of training camp through the regular season, in the hope that you are laying a foundation for habits that Stanley Cup championship teams in the past all possess. And the regular season this year is incredibly important for all of us. It’s going to be a sprint. It’s a unique situation on and off the ice as well. But I think aside from trying to battle and position yourself and lay down those foundations and those habits in the regular season, it is all done with the intent of having success in postseason as well.”

On what’s needed to get Toronto past the first round of the playoffs

“I said several years ago that the easy part is coming up with a plan and the hard part is sticking with it. But I think that’s what you just have to do. You just have to keep looking for ways to improve, looking for ways to evolve, looking for ways to grow, being attentive to the game, and where the game is evolving, because you have to look [at it all because] what might be working for you in one year might need to be adjusted the next. You just keep going back to the well and you keep trying until you’re successful, and then, of course, you hope that leads to a big run. And that’s sticking with it and sticking to it. It’s obviously a much better solution than holding up and saying that this is too hard and we’re just going to not try anymore because it’s just too hard.”

On Keefe putting his mark on the Maple Leafs

“He identified a few things in his first off-season as the head coach. He had a hand in some of the players that were brought in that he wanted. He was specifically looking at some of the things that he felt our team lacked, and that our team needed to improve. Obviously, there’s also focus on the players that were coming back, just the growth of them as well as professionals, [with] habits that we feel can bring you success in the regular season. His messaging from the very beginning of camp is all done with the intention of having a very strong regular season. If we do those things, then I think that we can become a more consistent team and that’s important to us. We’ve seen games in the past where we will play and [think] that the style in which we played on that particular evening was a game that was elite, and you can win in the playoffs with that kind of game. I think with the growth and our team evolving and becoming real pros at that consistency comes with that, and that’s what you see with the previous Stanley Cup winners. So that’s what we want to get to.”

On how free agent additions like Joe Thornton, Wayne Simmonds and Zach Bogosian will impact the team

“I’m really pleased that there were some guys who came back to Toronto, came back to their hometowns. I think that’s not always been the case in the past, but we had some guys that wanted to come here and be a part of this. There’s a great passion here in Toronto and we feel very fortunate to play here. This is something that we’re all committed to doing, and to have more people come aboard and join that quest for us was important. So, to be very specific, adding guys like Joe, Bogosian, Simmonds; they’re all coming here for a reason to add to the group that we already have and to create other elements and take us to the next level. That’s the hope.”

On what’s next for Auston Matthews

“He’s an elite-group scorer in the National Hockey League, but I think what impresses so many people about his game is how well-rounded it is. He’s taken a real interest in becoming as they say a 200-foot player, a complete NHL hockey player. That is the kind of player that you can put on in any situation. I like the fact that Sheldon is introducing penalty killing to his game here, I think it’s a great message for the team that your best players are not only expected to score goals, but they’re also expected to defend as well. You look at a guy like Mitch Marner, I would put Mitch in that same company as a guy that is an elite offensive player but also really developing into an elite defensive player. So that’s an important aspect for our team.

“We know we can score. We know that we have also a lot of very skilled players that not only can play well defensively, but are developing that side of their game so that we can become a team that’s more difficult to score against. That’s an important part of our growth.”

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Source link

Sports

Canada’s Marina Stakusic falls in Guadalajara Open quarterfinals

Published

6 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

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.

Source link

Sports

Kirk’s walk-off single in 11th inning lifts Blue Jays past Cardinals 4-3

Published

6 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

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.

Source link

Sports

Stampeders return to Maier at QB eyeing chance to get on track against Alouettes

Published

6 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

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.

Source link