Backlund, Wolf lead Flames to 3-1 win over Kings

TORONTO – Shea Weber and David Poile’s stories have been intertwined for more than two decades.

Poile drafted Weber when he was general manager of the Nashville Predators and eventually handed him the captaincy.

He also shipped the star defenceman out of town in a blockbuster trade.

Now both are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Weber joined Pavel Datsyuk, Jeremy Roenick, Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell as the 2024 inductees in the player category Monday. Poile and Colin Campbell entered as builders.

“There’s so much to be grateful for when playing this game,” Weber said during his speech. “And it’s not just the big moments, grinding out a playoff win or taking home Olympic gold. It’s in the small — seemingly routine — moments that matter the most.”

The 39-year-old from Sicamous, B.C., whose career ended prematurely because of a long list of injuries, has been unable to play since helping drag Montreal to the 2021 Stanley Cup final.

Weber registered 589 points in 1,038 games with the Canadiens and Nashville Predators. He added 42 points in 97 playoff contests.

“My love for the game remains strong,” he said. “Even if my body didn’t hold up as long as I had hoped.”

Weber’s career trajectory changed in June 2016 when Poile traded him to the Canadiens for fellow blueliner P.K. Subban in a stunning one-for-one swap.

Weber thanked Montreal’s ownership, management and fans for giving him “a chance to play in the most passionate hockey city” he’s come across.

“I think I should be thanking David Poile for that, too,” Weber added with a wry smile as former teammates, including Carey Price, looked on from the audience.

Poile touched on his career wheeling and dealing across 41 years in the NHL as a GM, including the advice he received while working under Cliff Fletcher before moving into the big chair.

“He sat me down and bluntly told me, ‘David, if you are ever so lucky to become a general manager, you will know what it feels like to trade a player, uproot his family,'” Poile recalled. “Little could we have known at that time that I would go on to make the most trades ever in the history of the National Hockey League.

“But I always remembered Cliff’s message.”

The Toronto native started as an NHL executive with the Atlanta and Calgary Flames before becoming general manager of the Washington Capitals in 1982. Poile then joined the expansion Predators in 1997 to become GM, a position he held until retiring in 2023.

“I have poured my heart and soul into the game,” Poile said. “But hockey has given me and my family so much more.”

Datsyuk, 46, put up 918 points in 953 games with the Detroit Red Wings. He added 113 points in 157 playoff contests that included Stanley Cup victories in 2002 and 2008.

The Russian centre with majestic skill was also a four-time Lady Byng Trophy winner as the NHL’s most gentlemanly player and captured the Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward on three occasions.

Datsyuk, who along with Weber was enshrined in his first year of eligibility, played five seasons in the KHL after leaving Detroit in 2016 and represented his country at five straight Olympics, capturing gold in 2018 and bronze in 2002.

“Being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame is a tremendous honour,” Datsyuk said. “(An) honour I couldn’t even dream of.”

Darwitz, 41, suited up for the United States at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 Olympics, winning two silver medals and a bronze. The forward out of St. Paul, Minn., also competed at eight world championships, securing three gold medals.

Wendell, 43, twice represented the U.S. at the Winter Games, winning silver in 2002 and bronze in 2006. The forward from Brooklyn Park, Minn., grabbed six medals at the world championships and was the first American captain to capture tournament gold.

“The greatest thing about hockey was not winning championships or medals,” Wendell said. “But the people that I got to meet along the way.”

Campbell’s hockey life has included time as a player, coach and, for the last 25 years, a senior executive vice-president with the NHL. He helped spearhead the league’s centralized video review hub that’s now the standard across much of the North American sporting world.

The 71-year-old from Tillsonburg, Ont., also won the Stanley Cup in 1994 as an associate coach with the New York Rangers.

Roenick, 54, banked 1,216 points in 1,363 games with the Chicago Blackhawks, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks. The colourful, Boston-born winger added 122 points (53 goals, 69 assists) in 154 playoff contests.

“I love this game,” said an emotional Roenick. “It’s been such a huge part of my life for most of my life.”

Roenick, who won silver at the 2002 Olympics, had to wait 12 years to get his hall call.

“Thank you for the fans all over the world,” he said. “I loved playing in front of you. I loved lifting you out of your seat. I loved having you yell at me and boo me.

“It was the greatest compliment you can ever have.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2024.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tyreek Hill caught a short touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa in the third quarter, and the Miami Dolphins snapped their three-game NFL losing streak with a gritty 23-15 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night.

Rookie receiver Malik Washington rushed for his first NFL touchdown on the opening possession of a much-needed turnaround game for the beleaguered Dolphins (3-6), who had lost three games by a combined 10 points since their last victory on Oct. 6. Miami had lost six of seven since its opener, all but ruining a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations.

The Dolphins’ solid defence stepped up impressively at SoFi Stadium, forcing two turnovers and keeping the Rams out of the end zone despite yielding 327 yards.

Matthew Stafford passed for 293 yards and rookie Joshua Karty kicked five field goals for the Rams (4-5), whose three-game winning streak ended with a major offensive regression. Los Angeles failed to score a touchdown for only the eighth time in coach Sean McVay’s eight seasons, and it couldn’t score an offensive touchdown for only the second time in four years when Stafford was in uniform.

Tagovailoa passed for only 207 yards, but he made a series of big throws while the Dolphins converted six third downs, most of them at key moments. Tagovailoa was 9 of 12 for 137 yards on third downs alone.

Hill had three receptions while playing through a wrist injury, and Jason Sanders kicked three field goals.

After scoring 76 points in its three straight wins, Los Angeles failed to score a touchdown for the first time since Nov. 5, 2023, at Green Bay while Stafford was injured.

Puka Nacua had nine catches for 98 yards, and Cooper Kupp made seven receptions for 80 yards.

Miami needed less than three minutes to score first. After Tagovailoa hit Jaylen Waddle for 36 yards on third and long, Washington — a sixth-round pick from Virginia — took a pitch 18 yards for a score on his second career rushing attempt.

Los Angeles’ offence managed just 27 yards on its first five drives, and Stafford threw an interception in his sixth straight game when Anthony Walker Jr. dived to catch a tipped ball right before the first quarter ended.

Tagovailoa threw his first interception since Sept. 12 to Christian Rozeboom in the second quarter, but Kyren Williams fumbled on the Rams’ next play. Rams rookie Jared Verse sacked Tagovailoa and recovered the fumble at the Miami 36 four plays later, but the Rams could only manage a field goal.

After Karty missed a 57-yard field goal attempt when a false start wiped out his successful 52-yarder in the third quarter, the Dolphins drove from midfield for Hill’s 1-yard TD catch and a 17-6 lead.

Los Angeles drove to the Miami 4 in the fourth quarter, but McVay settled for a fourth field goal that made it a one-score game with 6:31 to play.

Miami’s Odell Beckham Jr. then made a key catch for a first down in the stadium where he badly injured his knee while winning the Super Bowl with the Rams three seasons ago, and the Dolphins drove for Sanders’ 50-yard field goal with 2:38 left.

SAVING FLORIDA

Miami’s win saved the state of Florida from what would have been an unprecedented 0-12 weekend by its NFL and college teams at the FBS and FCS levels.

It also meant that the Dolphins, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville didn’t combine to go 0-3 for a third consecutive week for what would have been the first time since Florida became a three-team NFL state in 1995.

The state’s FBS teams went 0-6 this weekend, and Florida’s three FCS schools all lost as well.

INJURIES

Dolphins: CB Kendall Fuller got hurt on the fourth play of the second half and went into the concussion protocol. … RT Austin Jackson (knee) went on injured reserve hours before kickoff. The Southern California product shouldn’t be out for the season, coach Mike McDaniel said.

Rams: With Rob Havenstein (ankle) sidelined, RT Joe Noteboom (ankle) started in his first appearance since the season opener, but struggled against Miami rookie Chop Robinson.

UP NEXT

Dolphins: Host the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.

Rams: Visit the New England Patriots on Sunday.

— AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.

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TORONTO – Canada must defend itself against an emerging Russia in the High Arctic, says one of Canada’s most decorated veterans, a man who helped defeat Germany in the Second World War.

Richard Rohmer, an honorary lieutenant-general and former major-general in the Canadian Armed Forces, took a breather inside Queen’s Park on Monday after helping lead Remembrance Day ceremonies outside.

The 100-year-old was a reconnaissance fighter pilot in the war, helped attack the Germans from the sky on D-Day and in 1945 took out a key bridge in Holland, leaving the retreating Germans without an escape route.

Adolf Hitler’s army surrendered soon after that.

Rohmer is now sharing a warning for Canadians about the freedoms they enjoy.

“We’re starting to get great messages now about the need to defend our High Arctic against the Russians who are sitting on the other side of the water,” he said.

“And it’s time we started to defend ourselves, which we don’t.”

Over the summer, the Pentagon warned of increasing Russian destabilizing activities in the Far North, along with more naval co-operation between Russia and China in the area.

Climate change is also leading to worries about Canada’s sovereignty in the North, a vast, remote area that may become more accessible to Russia and China as the Arctic Ocean thaws.

“We have to build up our forces again,” said Rohmer, who flew 135 missions in his P-51 Mustang during the Second World War.

“It’s good for Canadians to learn about the military on days like this so that we can start to get more interest among the young people.”

An image of the famed plane was etched into the Veterans’ Memorial wall outside Queen’s Park in 2006.

But Rohmer was unable to accomplish one final mission: get the name of the wall engraved on the side facing the legislature, which is currently blank.

So during his speech, he asked Premier Doug Ford to step up.

“It is the Veterans Memorial wall and a few words, letters, somehow, premier, on that side would be helpful to let all strangers know — when they appear and see this wall, they don’t know what it is,” he said.

“At the moment, it’s just a blank wall, but the premier is the kind of man who likes to get things done and I’m giving him another suggestion.”

Ford smiled and nodded.

Nearly 150,000 Allied troops stormed the French beaches on D-Day, including 14,000 Canadians. About 359 Canadians were killed that day and another 5,000 died in the ensuing months of battle.

Rohmer, a lawyer and prolific author, returned to Normandy this year for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. He was part of D-Day and played a critical role in Germany’s defeat.

In the lead up to the end of the war in 1945, Rohmer was an artillery specialist as a fighter pilot. One day, he had instructions to take out a key bridge held by the Germans in Holland with a “super heavy artillery gun,” he said.

As he zeroed in on a bridge on the Meuse River in Venlo, he took heavy enemy anti-aircraft fire.

“I was shot at a lot,” he said with a grin.

He pulverized the bridge.

“But I finally knocked the bridge down overnight and that was the last bridge that the Germans had to get out,” Rohmer said.

“So that caused the German army to ultimately surrender.”

Next May, Rohmer plans to return to the Netherlands, where he finished his tour of duty.

“I want to be there for May the fifth, the day the war stopped and Holland was liberated,” Rohmer said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2024.