CALGARY — Oh boy, how we’ve missed you, Battle of Alberta.
Fast, crisp, 4-3 hockey.
Big, edgy hits, with great quotes post-game.
And a hell of a fight… Oh, wait.
“He’s just a young punk that has to figure that aspect out in the game,” Edmonton’s Zack Kassian said of Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk, after another Flames-Oilers game where Tkachuk played uber-physical yet refused an invitation to fight. “It’s sad because he’s a pretty good player but he’s a (expletive).”
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The truth is, Tkachuk is exactly what this latent rivalry has lacked for so long — a skating, hitting, turtling stick of dynamite that ignited the Battle of Alberta once again on Saturday. He tracked down Kassian in the first period and labelled him, sending Kassian’s helmet flying.
Then Tkachuk took a long, hard run at the Oilers winger in the second period, as Kassian came around the net and was engaged with a Flames defenceman. Kassian insisted he had no problem with being hit hard — “I love that stuff!” — but frowned on the fact Tkachuk would not engage him in a fight after the second hit.
“If you’re going to hit like that you have to answer the bell every once in a while. Especially one, two, three in the game,” said Kassian. “In the third he followed me into the corner, right? He’s clearly trying to target me, which I like. I’m standing here. I love that stuff.”
Kassian likes Tkachuk’s game — who doesn’t? He doesn’t approve of Tkachuk’s unwillingness to fight, questioning Tkachuk’s courage with a euphemism that has replaced the word “chicken” in the hockey vocabulary.
“It’s sad because he’s a pretty good player but he’s a (expletive), to be honest. Straight up. That’s the definition of it. Wouldn’t fight me two years ago. Said I was a fourth-liner. Now I have 13 goals.
“What’s the excuse now?”
The worst part for Edmonton? Kassian received a double-minor, the Flames made it 4-3 with a power-play goal 39 seconds into the third period, and the Oilers couldn’t muster another goal.
So, Dave Tippett, should Kassian have come up swinging after that hit?
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“I’d like to see him get a number,” the Oilers head coach said. “You’re in a tight game, it’s 3-3, get a number and deal with it later. Deal with winning the game.”
Then he added. “I wish we could have killed the penalty for him.”
There won’t be a player on this Oilers team who will speak ill of Kassian, a player who protects all of them on the few occasions such actions are required in today’s game. Now, as Tkachuk shows us, pretty much everything we’ve come to know about honour among big men is nonexistent in today’s NHL.
What are our thoughts? Glad you asked.
The hit that caused Kassian to come up swinging is sneaky dirty — which we are fine with, because it didn’t injure anyone. But when you track a player coming around the net, who is engaged with a checker, and you meet him on the other side with a huge hit, well, that is a hit the league has actively tried to remove from the game.
“It’s like Raffi Torres-style,” Kassian said. “If you’re going to hit like that you have to answer the bell once and a while. I’m not the first guy to say that.”
Personally? I’m fine with the hit, despite the league’s wishes. It wasn’t a head shot and Tkachuk didn’t leave his feet.
But if you’re going to throw the hit, and continually label the biggest man on opposition, one should engage that player when he comes up fighting.
If you want any respect from your fellow players, that is.
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Or the referees, who declined to throw Kassian out of the game because they know the game within the game. Or the linesmen, who allowed Kassian to rag-doll Tkachuk, raining 10 unanswered punches on the Flames winger while he tried to protect his head, gloves cemented on.
“I’d have liked to have seen the linesmen get in there a little earlier,” said Flames interim head coach Geoff Ward.
He’d never say it, but we’re betting he wouldn’t mind seeing his young gun show a little more honour. But whatever — the Battle of Alberta has always been at its best when no one cares about honour or codes, or what anyone on the other team thinks about them.
The offshoot of all this was the most emotional Edmonton-Calgary game in ages, or since the last time Tkachuk stirred things up and turtled.
Now, the run-up to a pair of games on Jan. 28 and Feb. 1 will be pure gold.
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
