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Bedard aims to join Gretzky, Crosby, McDavid in playing for Canadian junior hockey team at 16 – Global News

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The half-dozen who played for the Canadian junior men’s hockey team at age 16 is sprinkled with names like Gretzky, Crosby and McDavid.

Connor Bedard of North Vancouver, B.C., wants to join that group at selection camp in Calgary.


Connor Bedard skates during a practice at the Canadian World Junior Hockey Championships selection camp in Calgary, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021.


THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

It’s a tall order for an underage teen to compete against more mature players at the world under-20 championship.






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Connor Bedard invited to Team Canada’s world junior selection camp


Connor Bedard invited to Team Canada’s world junior selection camp – Dec 1, 2021

The first Western Hockey League player to be granted “exceptional status” and enter the WHL at age 15, Bedard led the Regina Pats in scoring with 14 goals and 10 assists in 24 games in his second season upon arrival at selection camp.

READ MORE: Connor Bedard invited to Team Canada’s world junior selection camp

Bedard had yet to turn 16 when he contributed seven goals and seven assists in seven games to Canada’s world men’s under-18 title in April.

The five-foot-nine, 180-pounder is among 20 forwards at the junior team’s selection camp that concludes Monday when Canada’s 25-man roster is unveiled.

“He has to be among the top 22 players is what he has to do,” Canadian head coach Dave Cameron said. “He has to be who Connor Bedard is, which is really good with the puck. He’s a gifted player. He has to come in and show it against this age group.”


Connor Bedard skates during a practice at the Canadian World Junior Hockey Championships selection camp in Calgary, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021.


THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Canada starts the world under-20 tournament in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta., on Dec. 26 against the Czech Republic.

READ MORE: Selection camp starts with roster changes for Canadian junior men’s hockey team

It seems Bedard has a long runway to play for Canada’s juniors in the future given his age, but those chances are limited if the NHL club that drafts him in 2023 decides to keep an 18-year-old Bedard on its roster.

“You come in with the intention to make it,” Bedard said. “These guys are a couple years older and the best players in the country.

“It’s a short camp. It’s going to be a couple of games and obviously a few practices. In that short time, just try to show them my game and how I can help the team win a gold medal.”

Canada’s campers will face a U Sports squad in games Saturday and Sunday. Both defenceman Lukas Cormier and forward Mason McTavish skated Friday.

Cormier’s flight to Calgary was delayed and McTavish stayed off the ice Thursday awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test.

Wayne Gretzky (1978), Eric Lindros (1990), Jason Spezza and Jay Bouwmeester (2000), Sidney Crosby (2004) and Connor McDavid (2014) played for Canada’s juniors at 16.

McDavid turned 17 a week after the tournament ended. Bouwmeester is the lone defenceman in the group and was the youngest at 16 years two months and 29 days.

Kingston Frontenacs forward Shane Wright was invited to last year’s selection camp in Red Deer as a 16-year-old, and was released.

That camp was interrupted by a 14-day hotel quarantine for all players after two tested positive for COVID-19, so time for the Burlington, Ont., forward to prove himself was compressed.

Wright, who was Canada’s under-18 captain and Bedard’s teammate, is back at age 17.

“Just the disappointment of not making that team, going into the camp my goal was to make that team and it wasn’t the case,” Wright said. “So I think just use that as motivation to make the team this year.”

Wright and Bedard are among seven players granted major junior hockey’s “exceptional status” which for the last 16 years allows an underage player to enter those leagues if they meet certain criteria.

Current Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad, McDavid, Sean Day and Wright were granted exceptional status by the OHL. Joe Veleno is the lone QMJHL player to receive that designation.

READ MORE: Regina Pats’ Connor Bedard named Western Hockey League’s top rookie for 2020-21

A 15-year-old Bedard compiled 12 goals and 16 assists in 15 games for the Pats in a 2020-21 season shortened by the pandemic.

The OHL didn’t operate, so Wright says he used the time to build up his strength and power.

“That’s a big part of my game I’ve really improved on,” he said.

He led Canada with a goal and two assists in the under-18 final in Texas, and tied Bedard for a team-leading 14 points in the tournament.

© 2021 The Canadian Press

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Whitecaps, Timbers to face off in play-in match in Portland

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VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps will begin their post-season campaign with a play-in game against the Timbers in Portland on Wednesday.

The ‘Caps (13-13-8) ended the regular season with a 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake on Saturday and finished eighth in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference standings.

The eighth and ninth spots from each conference meet in a play-in game this week, with the winner going on to face the No. 1 seed in the first round of the playoffs.

Each eighth-place team was set to host the play-in game, but Vancouver announced Friday that its home stadium, B.C. Place, is not available, so the club will cede home-field advantage to Portland (12-11-11), the ninth-place team.

The ‘Caps and Timbers split their three-game series during regular-season play, with each side taking a win, a loss and a draw.

The first round of the MLS playoffs is set to begin next weekend.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.

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Real Salt Lake beats visiting Whitecaps 2-1 to set single-season club record for points

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SANDY, Utah (AP) — Diego Luna scored a tying goal in the 73rd minute and Real Salt Lake added another on an own goal for a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night to set a single-season club record for points.

Real Salt Lake (16-7-11) secured the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference and will face Minnesota in the first round of the Major League Soccer playoffs. RSL reached 59 points this season, topping the 2012 team with 57.

Vancouver (13-13-8) will play the Portland Timbers on Wednesday in a wild-card game for a chance to play top-seeded LAFC.

Luna settled a long cross from Braian Ojeda before taking four touches to slot home a shot inside the far post for his eighth goal of the season.

RSL went ahead in the 83rd when Vancouver goalkeeper Isaac Boehmer misplayed a lofted ball that rolled into the back of the net.

Vancouver midfielder Ryan Gauld opened the scoring in the 58th to become the first player in club history to produce multiple seasons with at least 10 goals and 10 assists.

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Juan Soto’s 3-run homer in 10th sends Yankees past Guardians 5-2 and into World Series for 41st time

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CLEVELAND (AP) — Juan Soto’s arrival last winter was supposed to be that move that pushed the New York Yankees back to the top.

They’re one step away.

Soto hit a three-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning and the Yankees advanced to their 41st World Series — and first in 15 years — by beating the Cleveland Guardians 5-2 in Game 5 of the AL Championship Series on Saturday night.

Baseball’s biggest brand is going back to October’s main stage.

Soto, who was acquired in a seven-player trade from San Diego in December, pushed the Bronx Bombers into position with one big swing.

This was why he came, for this moment and for so many more.

“We’re right where we belong,” said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who pulled off the deal for Soto.

The Yankees will try to win their 28th title against either the New York Mets or Los Angeles Dodgers. Game 6 of the NL Championship Series is on Sunday at Dodger Stadium.

In the third consecutive tight game in three nights at Progressive Field, Austin Wells walked with one out in the 10th and Alex Verdugo followed with a grounder to Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez, whose soft toss to the bag was dropped by rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio for an error.

Hunter Gaddis struck out Gleyber Torres and had Soto in a 1-2 count before New York’s stylish outfielder sent a shot over the wall in center. Soto danced down the first-base line and paused to celebrate with his teammates before circling the bases.

“I was just saying to myself, `You’re all over that guy. You’re all over that guy. He ain’t got anything,’” said Soto, who moved alongside his manager, Aaron Boone, as the only New York players to homer in an extra-inning, series-clinching win.

Luke Weaver got the final three outs with Lane Thomas flying out for the last one, which was caught by Soto.

“We get to play for a world championship,” Boone said. “That’s pretty sweet.”

The 25-year-old Soto is eligible for free agency this winter, and Yankees fans chanted “Re-sign Soto!” during the postgame festivities. He’s expected to get a contract upwards of $600 million, and his heroics in Game 5 may have raised his price.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer and was named ALCS MVP as the Yankees took care of the Guardians in five games. It wasn’t easy.

New York won the first two at Yankee Stadium without much fanfare or any major drama. However, it was a different story in Cleveland as all three games at Progressive Field were nail-biters.

The Guardians rallied to win Game 3 on two, two-run homers in their last two at-bats, and the Yankees held on to win Game 4 after blowing a four-run lead.

“This was a rollercoaster and we were able to just keep punching back,” Stanton said. “We know there’s much more work to do and it’s only uphill from here and we got to get it done.”

Cleveland just didn’t have enough and a surprising season under first-year manager Stephen Vogt ended just short of a World Series. The franchise remains without a title since 1948, baseball’s current longest drought.

“There’s only one team that gets to win the last game of the year, and unfortunately it’s not going to be us,” Vogt said. “But we accomplished a lot as a group. We got better. We worked extremely hard. I couldn’t be more proud of this group. We just didn’t get quite as far as we wanted to.”

The Yankees are back in the World Series, back where their fans expect them to be every year.

The club’s 82-80, fourth-place finish in the AL East last season led to some “soul searching as an organization” during the winter, according to Boone, who has been widely criticized but is one of just three managers to take New York to playoffs in six of his first seven seasons.

While the team’s core stayed mostly intact, getting Soto in a blockbuster trade on Dec. 7 — New York sent five players to San Diego for the three-time All-Star — accelerated the team returning to title contender.

“That was a good day,” Boone said with a laugh before the game.

Stanton’s 446-foot rocket into the left-field bleachers tied it at 2 in the sixth and chased Tanner Bibee, who had struck out New York’s dangerous DH in his first two at-bats and held the Yankees scoreless for the first five innings.

It was Stanton’s fourth homer in this series — his third in three days — and his 16th in the postseason, moving him into fourth place on the club’s career list behind Bernie Williams (22), Derek Jeter (20) and Mickey Mantle (18).

Before the game, Boone was asked what makes Stanton so good.

“He can hit it harder than anyone, first of all,” Boone said. “So there’s the physical nature of what he does that’s different than just about everyone in the world.”

But Boone went on to compliment Stanton’s discipline at the plate, “his approach, his process, how he studies guys.”

“There’s something that he does when he gets familiarity with people on top of being very physically gifted,” Boone said.

The Guardians took a 2-0 lead in the fifth off Carlos Rodón on Steven Kwan’s RBI single with two outs. But Cleveland missed a big chance for more, leaving the bases loaded when Lane Thomas grounded out on the first pitch to him from Mark Leiter Jr.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes (elbow strain) had another successful live batting practice session. The reliever remains on track to join the Yankees on their World Series roster. Boone said Cortes would throw again early next week. Cortes went 9-10 with a 3.77 ERA in 30 starts.

___

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