Sports

Canada exorcises Venezuela demons to book FIBA World Cup spot

Published

2 years ago

November 11, 2022

You had to be there.

I was among the few that were lucky enough — or unlucky enough — to watch first-hand one of the most excruciating losses in the history of the Canadian senior men’s basketball team.

Sept. 11, 2015, Mexico City, if you need specifics.

Anyone who cared about Canadian basketball was about to raise a celebratory beer — the cold frothy head just inches from hitting the hatch when they stumbled on some loose laundry and fell face first into the coffee table — beer and broken glass everywhere.

Just like that, the party was over. Canada was up seven with three minutes to play against Venezuela, Olympic berth on the line. Then came a cavalcade of turnovers, missed shots, miracle opponent threes and a phantom foul at the buzzer that was the difference in the game.

[brightcove videoID=6315363807112 playerID=JCdte3tMv height=360 width=640]

Everything that has happened since has been about recovering the momentum Canada was building. The first wave of Canada’s golden generation looked poised to make the 2016 Olympics after missing them in 2004, 2008 and 2012.

Flash forward seven years and the Canadian men’s Olympic drought is now at five Olympic cycles and counting.

So yeah, having a chance to advance to the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup by beating Venezuela on home soil, in Edmonton?

The prospect was sweet for Canada Basketball chief executive officer Michael Bartlett over the phone from Alberta.

“Doing it in Canada was nice, it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do that on home soil. Doing it with this winter core, the group that started this [qualifying] journey last November just shows how our roster consistency strategy is working and doing it against Venezuela would be nice because we’ve had some tough beats against them,” said Bartlett, who has been charged with creating the business infrastructure to both support Canada’s podium quest and leverage the knock-on effects if and when it happens.

“And there are a lot of people in the program who remember that and were a part of it. We wanted this one. It’s been circled on the calendar.”

And now they can put an ‘x’ through it: Nov. 10, 2022, marks the spot.

Canada gained some measure of revenge with a thorough 94-56 win over Venezuela on Thursday that clinched its year-long quest to qualify for the 2023 World Cup — which will be played in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines in August and September — in front of a sold-out crowd at the Flair Airlines Hangar at the Edmonton Expo Centre.

Canada improved to 9-0 with three games left to play to remain the only undefeated team in qualifying while Venezuela fell to 7-2.

Canada had six players in double figures in scoring, led by Kassius Robertson who had 16 on perfect 6-of-6 shooting, while two more players chipped in with eight points in a perfectly balanced attack. Canada held the visitors to 34.4 per cent shooting and owned a 20-10 edge on the offensive boards. Canada led 46-31 at halftime and blew the game open with a 24-11 third quarter.

The game very nearly didn’t happen. Venezuela was late getting its visa applications submitted and was only cleared to travel to Canada on Wednesday. The team flew from Mexico to Vancouver on Thursday and then connected to Edmonton landing three hours before the tip.

When they arrived they were greeted by -15C weather — or about 35C colder than it had been in Caracas on Thursday.

Serves them right. For years it’s been Canada travelling to far-flung places to play in hostile environments. Having the Sorels on the other foot feels good for a change.

It was fitting too that a Canadian team featuring stalwarts from the ‘winter core’ — the group of more than 20 athletes that have made themselves available for the qualifying windows that NBA players aren’t able to play — were the ones that got it done.

Canada wouldn’t have made it this far without them. Sure, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Kelly Olynyk led Canada to blowout wins in the summer qualifying windows, and Canada will be looking to Jamal Murray, RJ Barrett and other members of the summer core to join them next summer, but it’s been the likes of Robertson, Phil and Thomas Scrubb, Trae Bell-Haynes and others that have been in the lineup game after game.

Advancing to the 32-nation World Cup is just one step, of course.

Being the first team in the Americas allows Canada to get a head start on planning the logistics for next summer: training camp accommodations and details, exhibition games and the like. Every bit of certainty helps.

The ultimate goal is a place in the 12-team Olympic field in Paris in 2024. The surest way for Canada to manage that is to be among the top two teams from the Americas at the World Cup.

Failing that there is the opportunity to play in and win one of the last-chance Olympic Qualifying tournaments in the summer of 2024 that will determine the final four spots in the field.

But Canada doesn’t want to come in through the back door. There’s been too much time, too much effort, too much money and too much hope invested in building a program that can compete with the world’s best on the brightest stages, any time, any place. It’s been proven on the women’s side and it’s been proven in age-group basketball. It’s just the talent-rich senior men’s category that hasn’t been able to put it all together.

The loss in 2015 was the first in a string of heartbreaks: A close miss in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in 2016; a disappointing 21st- place finish at the 2019 World Cup, the loss to the Czech Republic in overtime at the last-chance Olympic qualifier in Victoria that kept Canada out of the most recent Summer Games in Tokyo.

It’s time for Canada to make its mark.

“I get it. For people who have been following this program for a long time, they’re going to say ‘prove it’,” says Bartlett. “Well, the World Cup gives us a chance to say prove it before we go to the Olympics and prove it again.”

“… Nothing would be better than giving the county a reason to cheer,” says Bartlett. “It’s the coolest thing ever.”

The Canadian men’s team got another big step closer on Thursday and put to bed an old demon in the process.

Source link

Sports

Red Wings sign Moritz Seider to 7-year deal worth nearly $60M

Published

4 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.

The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.

Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.

He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.

Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.

Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.

The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.

Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.

Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.

___

AP NHL:

Source link

Sports

Veterans Tyson Beukeboom, Karen Paquin lead Canada’s team at WXV rugby tournament

Published

4 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

Veterans Tyson Beukeboom and Karen Paquin will lead Canada at the WXV 1 women’s rugby tournament starting later this month in the Vancouver area.

WXV 1 includes the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations (England, France and Ireland) and the top three teams from the Pacific Four Series (Canada, New Zealand, and the United States).

Third-ranked Canada faces No. 4 France, No. 7 Ireland and No. 1 England in the elite division of the three-tiered WXV tournament that runs Sept. 29 to Oct. 12 in Vancouver and Langley, B.C. No. 2 New Zealand and the eighth-ranked U.S. make up the six-team WVX 1 field.

“Our preparation time was short but efficient. This will be a strong team,” Canada coach Kevin Rouet said in a statement. “All the players have worked very hard for the last couple of weeks to prepare for WXV and we are excited for these next three matches and for the chance to play on home soil here in Vancouver against the best rugby teams in the world.

“France, Ireland and England will each challenge us in different ways but it’s another opportunity to test ourselves and another step in our journey to the Rugby World Cup next year.”

Beukeboom serves as captain in the injury absence of Sophie de Goede. The 33-year-old from Uxbridge, Ont., earned her Canadian-record 68th international cap in Canada’s first-ever victory over New Zealand in May at the Pacific Four Series.

Twenty three of the 30 Canadian players selected for WXV 1 were part of that Pacific Four Series squad.

Rouet’s roster includes the uncapped Asia Hogan-Rochester, Caroline Crossley and Rori Wood.

Hogan-Rochester and Crossley were part of the Canadian team that won rugby sevens silver at the Paris Olympics, along with WXV teammates Fancy Bermudez, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan and Taylor Perry. Wood is a veteran of five seasons at UBC.

The 37-year-old Paquin, who has 38 caps for Canada including the 2014 Rugby World Cup, returns to the team for the first time since the 2021 World Cup.

Canada opens the tournament Sept. 29 against France at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver before facing Ireland on Oct. 5 at Willoughby Stadium at Langley Events Centre, and England on Oct. 12 at B.C. Place.

The second-tier WXV 2 and third-tier WXV 3 are slated to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 12, in South Africa and Dubai, respectively.

WXV 2 features Australia, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales while WXV 3 is made up of Fiji, Hong Kong, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Samoa and Spain.

The tournament has 2025 World Cup qualification implications, although Canada, New Zealand and France, like host England, had already qualified by reaching the semifinals of the last tournament.

Ireland, South Africa, the U.S., Japan, Fiji and Brazil have also booked their ticket, with the final six berths going to the highest-finishing WXV teams who have not yet qualified through regional tournaments.

Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team WXV 1 Squad

Forwards

Alexandria Ellis, Ottawa, Stade Français Paris (France); Brittany Kassil, Guelph, Ont., Guelph Goats; Caroline Crossley, Victoria, Castaway Wanderers; Courtney Holtkamp, Rimbey, Alta., Red Deer Titans Rugby; DaLeaka Menin, Vulcan, Alta., Exeter Chiefs (England); Emily Tuttosi, Souris, Man., Exeter Chiefs (England); Fabiola Forteza, Quebec City, Stade Bordelais (France); Gabrielle Senft, Regina, Saracens (England); Gillian Boag, Calgary, Gloucester-Hartpury (England); Julia Omokhuale, Calgary, Leicester Tigers (England); Karen Paquin, Quebec City, Club de rugby de Quebec; Laetitia Royer, Loretteville, Que., ASM Romagnat (France); McKinley Hunt, King City, Ont., Saracens (England); Pamphinette Buisa, Gatineau, Que., Ottawa Irish; Rori Wood, Sooke, B.C., College Rifles RFC; Sara Cline, Edmonton, Leprechaun Tigers; Tyson Beukeboom, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England);

Backs

Alexandra Tessier, Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, Que., Exeter Chiefs (England); Alysha Corrigan, Charlottetown, P.E.I., CRFC; Asia Hogan-Rochester, Toronto, Toronto Nomads; Claire Gallagher, Caledon, Ont., Leicester Tigers (England); Fancy Bermudez, Edmonton, Saracens (England); Julia Schell, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England); Justine Pelletier, Rivière-du-Loup, Que, Stade Bordelais (France); Mahalia Robinson, Fulford, Que., Town of Mount Royal RFC; Olivia Apps, Lindsay, Ont., Lindsay RFC; Paige Farries, Red Deer, Alta., Saracens (England); Sara Kaljuvee, Ajax, Ont., Westshore RFC; Shoshanah Seumanutafa, White Rock, B.C., Counties Manukau (New Zealand); Taylor Perry, Oakville, Ont., Exeter Chiefs (England).

—

Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

Source link

Sports

Vancouver Canucks star goalie Thatcher Demko working through rare muscle injury

Published

4 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.

The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.

He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.

Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.

He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.

Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.

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

Source link