After finishing 40-30-12 last season, much of the fanbase was promised an improved performance in 2022-23, especially with head coach Bruce Boudreau at the helm for his first full campaign. But instead, the opposite has occurred thus far, with tempers boiling over this past weekend.
The Canucks, who opened this season with five straight road contests, returned to Rogers Arena on Saturday for their home-opener against the Buffalo Sabres. It was supposed to provide optimism for a team that had gone 0-3-2 out of the gate. Unfortunately, it was met with continued frustration instead.
Buffalo jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes and didn’t look back, ultimately securing a 5-1 victory over Vancouver. In the later stages of the game, some fans voiced their displeasure by littering the ice with jerseys in protest of the team’s early efforts.
Following another crushing defeat, captain Bo Horvat spoke to reporters and was asked about the home crowd throwing jerseys onto the ice. His comments, however, probably won’t ease the pain that fans are currently experiencing.
“My jersey got thrown on the ice last year and I’ll never forget that for as long as I play,” Horvat explained. “It’s something that hits home, and when you see it again happening this year, it definitely sucks. But I understand their frustration.
“We haven’t really given them much to cheer about. It’s been a lot of years in the rebuild stage and… at this point in the season, it just feels like it’s never going to happen, like we’re never going to win again.”
For a team that’s winless through six games, this damning response likely isn’t something you want coming from your dressing room. It is the opposite, actually.
But it’s tough to blame Horvat for being honest about feeling this way. After all, the Canucks became the first team in NHL history to lose four straight games after holding a multi-goal lead in each contest earlier this season, according to Sportsnet Stats.
Bo Horvat offered some bleak words after Canucks fans once again launched jerseys to the ice during a humiliating loss to the Sabres in their home opener. (Getty)
J.T. Miller, who has been at the center of Vancouver’s struggles, shared his own thoughts on the fans’ choice to dispose of their well-earned team merchandise.
“If they want to throw their sh*t on the ice it’s up to them… If they want to come to the game, spend all that money and throw their gear on the ice that’s up to them,” Miller said.
And Horvat isn’t the only Canucks player feeling frustrated over the club’s miserable start. Teammate Curtis Lazar, who grew up rooting for this franchise, believes fans deserve better than the product they’ve witnessed this season.
“I feel like it’s warranted by the way we played, especially near the end of the game,” Lazar said. “Every game this year we’ve had our chance to win (in the third period) and our response hasn’t been there. That’s an area that we need to find that urgency and come together within this dressing room.
“The fans are passionate; that’s the great thing about playing here. They want to see a response, and we want to see a response ourselves. You can talk about those external things, the fans and what everyone’s probably saying about us, but it comes down to what we have in this dressing room. We do believe we have a good team — a lot better than we’ve been showing. But it’s what I said to you before: Words are one thing, actions are another.”
That sentiment runs strongly throughout the organization, particularly with Boudreau, who questioned his players’ professionalism during Saturday’s post-game press conference. The 67-year-old coach is demanding more of his players amid the club’s six-game losing skid.
No one could’ve imagined this terrible start for the Canucks, especially not after they finished 32-15-10 under Boudreau last season. If anything, most experts assumed they’d hit the ground running, not fall flat on it.
But with 76 games remaining, there is still plenty of time for Vancouver to turn this ship around, although that likely needs to occur sooner rather than later to avoid a third straight summer without playoff hockey.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
