Captain Atiba Hutchinson, on the verge of his 39th birthday, and young gun Jonathan David ensured unbeaten Canada kept rolling towards Qatar 2022.
Their two very different goals produced a gritty 2-0 win over El Salvador on Wednesday — the sixth straight victory for the Canadian men, who remain atop the eight-team standings in the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
It was the latest chapter in a remarkable story that is enlarging a Canadian soccer bandwagon that grew substantially last summer when the women’s won Olympic gold.
Coach John Herdman said he reminded his players before the match that there’s “a whole country behind you now.”
“‘So when it gets tough out there, just know that people are there, And keep pushing through, because there’s 30-odd million back home waiting to go to Qatar. And never forget that,'” he told them.
With three games remaining, Canada (7-0-4, 25 points) has a four-point cushion over Mexico and the U.S. (both 6-2-3, 21 points). Panama (5-3-2, 17 points) stands fourth, with Costa Rica (4-3-4, 16 points) fifth.
Come the end of March, the top three countries will represent North and Central America and the Caribbean in Qatar. The fourth-placed finisher will face an Oceania team in an intercontinental playoff to see who joins them.
Canada emerged with a maximum nine points from the three-game, seven-day FIFA window following 2-0 victories over Honduras, in San Pedro Sula, and the U.S., in Hamilton.
“The boys have executed. They’ve had that clarity and the confidence is there,” said Herdman. “There’s a real confidence that we’re going to find a way and get the job done. So today was just another step … It’s going to happen, we know it going to happen.”
Wednesday results essentially means Canada can finish no lower than fourth. And it shows no signs of finishing anywhere but first.
The Canadian men are now 13-0-4 through three rounds of qualifying, outscoring their competition 50-6.
Canada wraps up qualifying play at Costa Rica on March 23, at home to Jamaica on March 26 and at Panama on March 29.
Herdman said he and his squad, while holding their emotions in check apart from a jubilant post-game tweet showing a snippet of the locker-room celebration, have already visualized the headlines that will accompany the country’s first qualification for the men’s World Cup since 1986 — and only the second ever.
Hutchinson, who turns 39 on Feb. 8, spoke to the media after the game with a poster behind him showing Canadian players under the slogan “Fear Nothing.”
“The team is fearless. There’s nobody that we fear now,” said the soft-spoken Besiktas midfielder, who brought his Canadian men’s record caps total to 92. “We know that we can go up and play against anybody in this region. And that’s because we stick together and we know and trust in each other.”
A prickly El Salvador side made life difficult with a choppy, physical game filled with fouls on a warm, humid night at Estadio Cuscatlan before some 10,000 fans.
There were challenges off the field, as well.
Herdman revealed that four staff members and three players had tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of leaving for El Salvador. He said all were doing well.
The breakthrough came in the 66th minute when substitute Cyle Larin beat a defender and sent a cross that a diving Hutchinson headed at goal from close-range. The ball hit the foot of the post and came back first off defender Eriq Zavaleta and then Hutchinson’s body past a stranded goalkeeper Kevin Carabantes, who was unable to claw the ball away when he finally located it.
“It hit off the post and after that I don’t know what happened. I think it bounced off my shoulder and found its way in the back of the net somehow,” said Hutchinson, who had made a lung-busting run to get in front of goal. “Obviously a very lucky goal, but it crossed the line.”
The Salvadorans did not put a shot on goal until stoppage time with Canadian goalkeeper Milan Borjan reaching high to palm away a long-distance ball that somehow found the target.
David’s 93rd-minute goal was remarkable in its own right. With the home side pressing, he anticipated an El Salvador throw-in in the Canadian end and intercepted the ball, taking it off his thigh as he race towards the Salvadoran end while Carabantes, who had been near midfield, backed hurriedly towards his goal.
Four touches later, with two defenders trying in vain to reach him, David chipped the ‘keeper for his 20th international goal in 27 appearances.
The Canadians came into the contest knowing that a win combined with other results could see them qualify for Qatar. That would require Panama lose to Mexico, the U.S. lose to Honduras and Costa Rica lose or draw against Jamaica.
But the 11th-ranked Americans torpedoed that scenario earlier in the evening with a 3-0 win over No. 76 Honduras in frigid conditions in St. Paul, Minn.
There was some doubt Canada’s game might go on with the El Salvador players releasing an open letter during the day saying they would not play over a bonus dispute with their football Federation. But they recanted soon after.
While No. 70 El Salvador (2-6-3, nine points) came into the game sixth in the standings, it had shown it was no pushover at home, having tied the U.S., Honduras, Jamaica and Panama with a lone loss to visiting Mexico.
Herdman made six changes to his starting lineup with Hutchinson, Stephen Eustaquio, Liam Millar, Junior Hoilett, Doneil Henry and Scott Kennedy slotting in. Defender Steven Vitoria was suspended.
Eustaquio, who just signed on loan at FC Porto, missed the first two games in the wake of Portuguese reports that he had tested positive for COVID.
While Canada had more of the ball in the first half, the home side began to make more inroads into the Canadian end as the half wore on, albeit without really threatening.
A drink from the crowd landed near Millar as he prepared to take a first-half corner for Canada. The next time, police with riot shields held them up behind Millar as he prepared to take a corner.
Herdman sent on Larin, Tajon Buchanan and Alistair Johnston in the 57th minute. And it paid dividends, with Larin posing real problems for the Salvadorans.
Canada came into the game with a 9-5-4 all-time record against El Salvador and won 3-0 when they met last September in World Cup qualifying play at Toronto’s BMO Field. It was 2-2-2 in games in El Salvador before Wednesday, last winning there in December 1996.
Canada remains without Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies, who has been sidelined by myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, after testing positive for COVID-19. The 21-year-old from Edmonton has shown his support for the team by enthusiastically livestreaming on Twitch as he watches Canada’s games.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2022
CALGARY – The Calgary Flames have re-signed defenceman Ilya Solovyov and centre Cole Schwindt, the NHL club announced Wednesday.
Solovyov signed a two-year deal which is a two-way contract in year one and a one-way deal in year two and carries an average annual value of US$775,000 at the NHL level.
Schwindt signed a one-year, two-way contract with an average annual value of $800,000 at the NHL level.
The 24-year-old Solovyov, from Mogilev, Belarus, made his NHL debut last season and had three assists in 10 games for the Flames. He also had five goals and 10 assists in 51 games with the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers and added one goal in six Calder Cup playoff games.
Schwindt, from Kitchener, Ont., made his Flames debut last season and appeared in four games with the club.
The 23-year-old also had 14 goals and 22 assists in 66 regular-season games with the Wranglers and added a team-leading four goals, including one game-winning goal, in the playoffs.
Schwindt was selected by Florida in the third round, 81st overall, at the 2019 NHL draft. He came to Calgary in July 2022 along with forward Jonathan Huberdeau and defenceman MacKenzie Weegar in the trade that sent star forward Matthew Tkachuk to the Panthers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
KING CITY, Ont. – Oman scored 10 runs in the final over to edge Nepal by one wicket with just one ball remaining in ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 play Wednesday.
Kaleemullah, the No. 11 batsman who goes by one name, hit a four with the penultimate ball as Oman finished at 223 for nine. Nepal had scored 220 for nine in its 50 overs.
Kaleemullah and No. 9 batsman Shakeel Ahmed each scored five in the final over off Sompal Kami. They finished with six and 17 runs, respectively.
Opener Latinder Singh led Oman with 41 runs.
Nepal’s Gulsan Jha was named man of the match after scoring 53 runs and recording a career-best five-wicket haul. The 18-year-old slammed five sixes and three-fours in his 35-ball knock, scoring 23 runs in the 46th over alone when he hit six, six, four, two, four and one off Aqib Ilyas.
Captain Rohit Paudel led Nepal with 60 runs.
The 19th-ranked Canadians, who opened the triangular series Monday with a 103-run win over No. 17 Nepal, face No. 16 Oman on Friday, Nepal on Sunday and Oman again on Sept. 26. All the games are at the Maple Leaf Cricket Ground.
The eight World League 2 teams each play 36 one-day internationals spread across nine triangular series through December 2026. The top four sides will go through to a World Cup qualifier that will decide the last four berths in the expanded 14-team Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Canada (5-4) stands second in the World League 2 table. The 14th-ranked Dutch top the table at 6-2.
Oman (2-2 with one no-result) stands sixth, ahead of Nepal (1-5).
Canada won all four matches in its opening tri-series in February-March, sweeping No. 11 Scotland and the 20th-ranked host Emirates. But the Canadians lost four in a row to the 18th-ranked U.S. and host Netherlands in August.
Canada which debuted in the T20 World Cup this summer in the U.S. and West Indies, is looking to get back to the showcase 50-over Cricket World Cup for the first time since 2011 after failing to qualify for the last three editions. The Canadian men also played in the 1979, 2003 and 2007 tournaments, exiting after the group stage in all four tournament appearances.
The Canadian men regained their one-day international status for the first time in almost a decade by finishing in the top four of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Playoff in April 2023 in Bermuda.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024
PENTICTON, B.C. – Rick Tocchet has already warned his Vancouver Canucks players — the looming NHL season won’t be easy.
The team made strides last year, the head coach said Wednesday ahead of training camp. The bar has been raised for this year’s campaign.
“To get to the next plateau, there are higher expectations and it’s going to be hard. We know that,” Tocchet said in Penticton, B.C., where the team will open its camp on Thursday.
“So that’s the next level. It starts day one (on Thursday). My thing is don’t waste a rep out there.”
The Canucks finished atop the Pacific Division with a 50-23-9 record last season, then ousted the Nashville Predators from the playoffs in a gritty, six-game first-round series. Vancouver then fell to the Edmonton Oilers in a seven-game second-round set.
Last fall, Jim Rutherford, the Canucks president of hockey operations, said everything would have to go right for the team to make a playoff push. That doesn’t change this season, he said, despite last year’s success.
“The challenges will be greater, certainly. But I believe the team that we started with last year, we have just as good a team to start the season this year and probably better,” he said.
“As long as the team builds off what they did last year, stick to what the coaches tell them, stick to the system, stick together in good times and bad times, this team has a chance to do pretty well.”
Some key players will be missing as Vancouver’s training camp begins, however.
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin announced Wednesday that star goalie Thatcher Demko will not be on the ice when the team begins it’s pre-season preparation.
Allvin did not disclose the reason for Demko’s absence, but said the 28-year-old American has been making progress.
“He’s been in working extremely hard and he seems to be in a great mindset,” the GM said.
Demko missed several weeks of the regular season and much of Vancouver’s playoff run last spring with a knee injury.
The six-foot-four, 192-pound goalie has a career 213-116-81 regular-season record with a .912 save percentage, a 2.79 goals-against average and eight shutouts across seven seasons with the Canucks.
Allvin also announced that veteran centre Teddy Blueger and defensive prospect Cole McWard will also miss the start of training camp after each had “minor lower-body surgery.”
Vancouver previously announced winger Dakota Joshua won’t be present for the start of camp as he recovers from surgery for testicular cancer.
Tocchet said he’ll have no problem filling the holes, and plans to switch his lines up a lot in Penticton.
“Nothing’s set in stone,” he said. “I think it’s important that you have different puzzles at different times.”
The coach added that he expects standout centre Elias Pettersson to begin on a line with Canucks newcomer Jake DeBrusk.
Vancouver inked DeBrusk, a former Boston Bruins forward, to a seven-year, US$38.5 million deal when the NHL’s free agent market opened on July 1.
The glare on Pettersson is expected to be bright once again as he enters the first year of a new eight-year, $92.8 million contract. The 25-year-old Swede struggled at times last season and put 89 points (34 goals, 55 assists) in 82 games.
Rutherford said he was impressed with how Pettersson looked when he returned to Vancouver ahead of camp.
“He seems to be a guy that’s more relaxed and more comfortable. And for obvious reasons,” said the president of hockey ops. “This is a guy that I believe has worked really hard this summer. He’s done everything he can to play as a top-line player. … The expectation for him is to be one of the top players on our team.”
A number of Canucks hit milestones last season, including Quinn Hughes, who led all NHL defencemen in scoring with 92 points and won the Norris Trophy as the league’s top blue liner.
Several players could once again have career-best years for Vancouver, Tocchet said, but they’ll need to be consistent and not allow frustration to creep in when things go wrong.
“You’ve just got to drive yourself every day when you have a great year,” the coach said. “You’ve got to keep creating that environment where they can achieve those goals, whatever they are. And the main goal is winning. That’s really what it comes down to.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
