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Canucks’ continued turnovers vs. Canadiens amounting to tough fix – Sportsnet.ca

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It says something that as bad as the Vancouver Canucks were with the puck on Monday, the team has played worse during their erratic start to the National Hockey League season. But no game was more disappointing than their 6-2 implosion against the Montreal Canadiens.

The Canucks surged into Montreal after four-straight wins, and on Saturday played their best game of the year, dominating the Winnipeg Jets in a 4-1 victory in a place that had been like Death Valley (with snow) to them.

And only nine days removed from their atrocious three-game series at home against the Canadiens, who pumped in 17 goals mostly by letting Vancouver hurt itself with turnovers, the Canucks knew acutely how important it was on Monday to take care of the puck in Montreal.

The Canucks would show off their rediscovered selves: the direct, smart team that plays to its strengths and makes it difficult on opponents.

And then they gift-wrapped a pile of goals for the Canadiens, whose only difficulty was keeping track of their scoring. Make it 23 goals in four games, and a fifth game looming Tuesday like a root-canal appointment for the Canucks.

Canucks head coach Travis Green and his staff essentially had an intervention with Vancouver players after that dismal series with Montreal. Now, they need another.

“Games like tonight probably frustrate me more than others because … as good a team as they are, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot again,” Green told reporters. “And that can drive you crazy as a coach. The saying, the definition of insanity is repeating the same things over and over and expecting different results, that was kind of the story tonight.

“You turn over the puck against this team, you’re going to lose. You’re soft in puck battles, you’re going to lose. They’re a quick team, they work hard, they’re structured, they’re deep. (But) we’d already played them three times.”

That’s what made the fourth game worse than the others.

Knowing what they knew, having game-planned for Monday by emphasizing the need to play quickly and simply and, for goodness sakes, to stop passing to players dressed in uniforms other than their own, the Canucks still scattered pucks as if they were throwing rice at a wedding. Or sowing seeds for defeat.

It was almost unfathomable.

The first goal started as bad luck — the puck skipped off a broken stick and past J.T. Miller for the Canadiens’ outnumbered rush — and ended with bad defending as Vancouver had plenty of bodies back but no one checking Nick Suzuki, who scored from the top of the crease. Sixty seconds into the game.

As last-man back, Adam Gaudette fumbled the puck into a turnover that allowed Artturi Lehkonen to beat goalie Braden Holtby on a breakaway and make it 2-0 at 6:10. Short-handed.

Quinn Hughes’ weak rim around the boards was intercepted and turned into Jeff Petry’s goal late in the first. Brendan Gallagher made it 4-1 on another breakaway at 7:15 of the second period after a turnover by Jalen Chatfield, and Petry scored again just 75 seconds later after Miller gave away the puck up ice, coasted on the backcheck, and defencemen Hughes and Chatfield somehow played a four-on-three into a two-on-zero. And in between these two catastrophes, Holtby stopped Tyler Toffoli on another breakaway.

Holtby couldn’t make enough saves, but that kind of play in front of him is unsalvageable.

“They’re quick, they get on you fast,” Green said of the Canadiens. “As a player, you know it’s coming and you have to be ready for it, you have to be able to handle it. But then it’s also decision-making. You try to make plays standing still, you try to make cross-ice plays inside the blue line, it’s a recipe for disaster.

“The part for me that’s frustrating is we knew that coming into the game.”

As bad as they were in the first period, the Canucks surrendered only 10 shots and still trailed by just two goals. And then they were worse in the second. That was their response.

“You have to make better plays with the puck when you’re in those high-danger areas than we did tonight and than we have done, so far,” veteran defenceman Nate Schmidt said.

A newcomer to the Canucks after spending his career on winning teams in Washington and Las Vegas, Schmidt said players have to remember how hard it is to win, and understand that one bad period can’t turn into a bad game or worse.

“Good teams have periods like that,” Schmidt said of the Canucks’ first. “It’s very normal, especially on the road. You have periods like that where it’s just not going to be there for you. But it’s your response. It’s how you come back out and claw your way back into a game. That’s the mentality you need to have moving out of the first period. You can’t let those things (mistakes) linger and bleed into the rest of your game. Because when it bleeds into the rest of your game … that’s what it looks like.”

Just as Monday’s loss was a huge step backwards for the Canucks from Saturday’s win, so too did Vancouver’s first line of Miller, Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser regress alarmingly.

The trio was outshot 9-1 at even-strength and outscored 3-0. Green broke up the Lotto Line after using his timeout following Petry making it 5-1 to plead for sanity from his players.

Miller led Canucks forwards in ice time but did not register a shot, committed a team-high three giveaways and was personally outshot 17-4 at five-on-five.

“I’m not just going to sit here and criticize J.T. Miller,” Green said. “He’s a great player for our team. He’s ultra-competitive. Sometimes ultra-competitive people do force things. But you’ve also got to understand the type of game it’s going to be. We did some things with the puck that we just can’t do.”

The same things they did against the same team just over a week ago.

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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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November 8, 2024

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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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November 8, 2024

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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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Winger Tajon Buchanan back with Canada after recovering from broken leg

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November 8, 2024

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Inter Milan winger Tajon Buchanan, recovered from a broken leg suffered in training at this summer’s Copa America, is back in Jesse Marsch’s Canada squad for the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal against Suriname.

The 25-year-old from Brampton, Ont., underwent surgery July 3 to repair a fractured tibia in Texas.

Canada, ranked 35th in the world, plays No. 136 Suriname on Nov. 15 in Paramaribo. The second leg of the aggregate series is four days later at Toronto’s BMO Field.

There is also a return for veteran winger Junior Hoilett, who last played for Canada in June in a 4-0 loss to the Netherlands in Marsch’s debut at the Canadian helm. The 34-year-old from Brampton, now with Scotland’s Hibernian, has 15 goals in 63 senior appearances for Canada.

Midfielder Ismael Kone, recovered from an ankle injury sustained on club duty with France’s Marseille, also returns. He missed Canada’s last three matches since the fourth-place Copa America loss to Uruguay in July.

But Canada will be without centre back Derek Cornelius, who exited Marseille’s win Sunday over Nantes on a stretcher after suffering an apparent rib injury.

The Canadian men will prepare for Suriname next week at a camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“We are looking forward to getting the group together again with the mindset that there is a trophy on the line,” Marsch said in a statement. “We want to end 2024 the right way with two excellent performances against a competitive Suriname squad and continue building on our tremendous growth this past summer.”

The quarterfinal winners advance to the Nations League Finals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., with the two semifinals scheduled for March 20 and the final and third-place playoff March 23, and qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Thirteen of the 23 players on the Canadian roster are 25 or younger, with 19-year-old defender Jamie Knight-Lebel, currently playing for England’s Crewe Alexandra on loan from Bristol City, the youngest.

Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies captains the side with Stephen Eustaquio, Jonathan Osorio, Richie Laryea, Alistair Johnston and Kamal Miller adding veteran support.

Jonathan David, Cyle Larin and Theo Bair are joined in attack by Minnesota United’s Tani Oluwaseyi.

Niko Sigur, a 21-year-old midfielder with Croatia’s Hadjuk Split, continues in the squad after making his debut in the September friendly against Mexico.

Suriname made it to the Nations League quarterfinals by finishing second to Costa Rica in Group A of the Nations League, ahead of No. 104 Guatemala, No. 161 Guyana and unranked Martinique and Guadeloupe.

“A good team,” Osorio said of Suriname. “These games are always tricky and they’re not easy at all … Suriname is a (former) Dutch colony and they’ll have Dutch players playing at high levels.”

“They won’t be someone we overlook at all,” added the Toronto FC captain, who has 81 Canada caps to his credit.

Located on the northeast coast of South America between Guyana and French Guiana, Suriname was granted independence in 1975 by the Netherlands.

Canada has faced Suriname twice before, both in World Cup qualifying play, winning 4-0 in suburban Chicago in June 2021 and 2-1 in Mexico City in October 1977.

The Canadian men, along with Mexico, the United States and Panama, received a bye into the final eight of the CONCACAF Nations League.

Canada, No. 2 in the CONCACAF rankings, drew Suriname as the best-placed runner-up from League A play.

Canada lost to Jamaica in last year’s Nations League quarterfinal, ousted on the away-goals rule after the series ended in a 4-4 draw. The Canadians lost 2-0 to the U.S. in the final of the 2022-23 tournament and finished fifth in 2019-20.

Canada defeated Panama 2-1 last time out, in an Oct. 15 friendly in Toronto.

Goalkeepers Maxime Crepeau and Jonathan Sirois, defenders Joel Waterman, Laryea and Miller and Osorio took part in a pre-camp this week in Toronto for North America-based players.

Canada Roster

Goalkeepers: Maxime Crepeau, Portland Timbers (MLS); Jonathan Sirois, CF Montreal (MLS); Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United FC (MLS).

Defenders: Moise Bombito, OGC Nice (France); Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich (Germany); Richie Laryea, Toronto FC (MLS); Alistair Johnston, Celtic (Scotland); Jamie Knight-Lebel. Crewe Alexandra, on loan from Bristol City (England); Kamal Miller, Portland Timbers (MLS); Joel Waterman, CF Montreal (MLS).

Midfielders: Ali Ahmed. Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS); Tajon Buchanan, Inter Milan (Italy); Mathieu Choiniere, Grasshopper Zurich (Switzerland); Stephen Eustaquio, FC Porto (Portugal); Junior Hoilett, Hibernian FC (Scotland); Ismael Kone, Olympique Marseille (France); Jonathan Osorio, Toronto FC (MLS); Jacob Shaffelburg, Nashville SC (MLS); Niko Sigur, Hadjuk Split (Croatia).

Forwards: Theo Bair, AJ Auxerre (France); Jonathan David, LOSC Lille (France); Cyle Larin, RCD Mallorca (Spain); Tani Oluwaseyi, Minnesota United (MLS).

—

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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