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Call of the Wilde: Boston Bruins rout Montreal Canadiens

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It’s the pivot point of the season for the Montréal Canadiens. A five-game road trip will go a long way in deciding whether the Canadiens are contenders or pretenders. One of the best teams in the NHL, the Boston Bruins, humbled the Canadiens outshooting them 44-22 and winning 5-2.

Wilde Horses 

If this is what the next five games look like, be afraid. One week after beating the Bruins, Boston exacted its revenge easily. It was a game very much like the Vegas Golden Knights contest Thursday, but this time they didn’t have goalie Adin Hill to take advantage of.

Hill was terrible allowing Montreal to stay in the Vegas game right until the end. Jeremy Swayman wasn’t as forgiving. Swayman is tops in the league with a .944 save percentage. He had little trouble with the Canadiens who had few high danger chances.

Jake Allen was the best in red, white and blue, but it must be discouraging for the coaching staff when the stand-out is the goalie over and over again.

The highlight for Montreal was Juraj Slafkovsky scored his second goal of the season as he one-timed a pass from behind the net by Nick Suzuki. Slafkovsky also got the second assist on Jonathan Kovacevic’s late marker. Slafkovsky has improved in his last two weeks of games.

Wilde Goats 

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Domination by the Bruins. It was one of those nights that it felt like the rebuild has a long way to go. Rather than belabour that sad reality, straight to the hope that the future will be better in the Wilde Cards.

Wilde Cards

The Canadiens may be in the process of the strangest outcomes in draft history. In the midst of year three of the rebuild, Montreal’s draft world is unexplainable — the Biblical “the last shall be first and the first shall be last comes to mind”.

Montreal chose at number one and number five in consecutive years. Players chosen in those slots become regular NHLers 95 per cent of the time, yet we don’t know if either are going to be stars. Juraj Slafkovsky is playing better, but we surely can’t call two goals in a quarter of the season a lock. Meanwhile, David Reinbacher is not lighting it up in the Swiss League either.

While that is a little nerve-wracking at the moment, they’re both still in their teens, and their windows for big success remain wide open. However, wouldn’t it be nice if your favourite team had two top-five picks and there was, at least, one can’t-miss in there right now?

The oddest thing in the rebuild is the club may become competitive due to so many later selections showing potential well above their draft pick number.

Former NHL General Manager Craig Button said that if Lane Hutson were 5 foot 11, he would have been considered as the first pick overall with his skill level. Guess what? Hutson has grown to that height.

Hutson was drafted a lowly 62nd overall. All he has done since then is break Brian Leetch’s NCAA scoring record last season with 48 points in 39 games. This season he is on a similar pace with 8 goals and 14 points in 11 games playing just shy of 30 minutes per game.

If Montreal didn’t land a true number one pick at number one in 2022, according to Button, they may have landed him at 62.

In the same draft, the Canadiens chose Filip Mesar scoring at a two points-per-game pace with a massive 18 points. Mesar is suddenly unstoppable for the Kitchener Rangers. He had another three points on Friday night.

Another top team in the OHL is the Peterborough Petes. Their top player is Owen Beck at a point-per-game. He also looks like he will be an NHL regular.

Joshua Roy has played a mere 14 games in the American Hockey League, yet he is second in the league in scoring with 18 points. Roy was taken in the fifth round. The world is upside down.

Sean Farrell is now finding his way after a slow start with 12 points in his first 14 AHL games.

Logan Mailloux is a plus player in his last seven games amassing seven points. The only defender drafted this decade doing better than Mailloux in the AHL is Brandt Clarke who was taken eighth overall by Los Angeles.

It does not matter where the stars are found in a draft. It just matters which team picked the player. Nikita Kucherov and Patrice Bergeron became stars and won cups despite being taken outside the first round.

The conventional route, without a doubt, is top picks become stars.  Statistically, 70 per cent of the league’s stars are picked within the first ten picks of a draft. However, it isn’t going to bother anyone if the Canadiens find their stars and success with the other 30 per cent.

Hutson, Mesar, Mailloux, Roy, Farrell, and Beck could be the stars, or maybe it is Slafkovsky or Reinbacher who do find their top pedigree in the end. It doesn’t matter where they were picked, only that they are Montreal Canadiens.

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PWHL MVP Spooner set to miss start of season for Toronto Sceptres due to knee injury

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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.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Champions Trophy host Pakistan says it’s not been told India wants to play cricket games elsewhere

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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.”

Pakistan hosted last year’s Asia Cup but all India games were played in Sri Lanka under a hybrid model for the tournament. Only months later Pakistan did travel to India for the 50-over World Cup.

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.

___

AP cricket:

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Dabrowski, Routlife into WTA doubles final with win over Melichar-Martinez, Perez

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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.

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