VANCOUVER — It was a little ironic when Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning said after the Tyler Toffoli trade that minor-league call-up Zack MacEwen had become a full-time NHL player. Because MacEwen was shoved back out of the lineup as soon as Toffoli arrived nearly three weeks ago.
But Friday, in one of the few games in which Toffoli didn’t score for his new team, MacEwen scored two as the Canucks, frantic to stay above the playoff cut line, beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-3 to end a costly four-game losing streak.
People at Rogers Arena got so carried away, a couple of fans tossed hats on to the ice when the 23-year-old undrafted forward from Prince Edward Island and the Quebec League chipped in his second of the game from an Antoine Roussel pass to give the Canucks some breathing room at 16:43 of the third period.
Two goals, three goals, whatever. It may as well have been five for the impact MacEwen made in the 19th game of his National Hockey League career.
“It’s a good feeling,” he said. “I can’t say I’ve had many like it so far in my career. It’s definitely a night I’m going to remember, and I think it will help my confidence that my game is trending in the right direction.”
It was just MacEwen’s third game back in coach Travis Green’s lineup after sitting out five. Full-time work sure looked part-time for the six-foot-three forward earning a living on hard work, physicality and promise.
“I saw the quote,” he said of Benning’s praise. “It was definitely a vote of confidence for me to know that they feel that way about me. It’s just good to know my game is progressing to the NHL level. I just want to keep proving that though with each game, each chance I get to play.”
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko, who won Friday for just the second time in five starts since Jacob Markstrom underwent knee surgery, was MacEwen’s teammate and roommate with the Utica Comets the last two seasons.
“I’ve been with him every step of the way,” Demko said. “He comes to the rink every day and (is) a good pro. I’m just really happy for him.
“He’s been in and out of the lineup all year, called up and sent down. For him to rise to the occasion tonight and get those two is huge. I think his game has come a long way. He’s a big strong kid. He goes out there and wears his heart on his sleeve. He’ll do anything for the team.”
The trio of MacEwen, Roussel and Adam Gaudette was probably the Canucks’ best line against Colorado.
It also produced what turned out to be the game-winner when Roussel converted a goalmouth pass from Gaudette, who spun away from Avalanche defenceman Ian Cole, to break a 3-3 tie at 12:17 of the second period.
The Canucks have looked a lot more comfortable lately chasing a lead than actually playing with one, which is understandable given the amount of practise they’ve had at the former and lack of success at the latter.
During their four-game dive, the Canucks had a late lead in two games, were tied in the third period of another and came out with zero points. So, yeah, they look a little nervy with the lead. Lobsters in the fish tank at a busy seafood restaurant are more comfortable than the Canucks with a lead, because the crustaceans don’t know what’s coming.
But on Friday, after a porous first period in which they led 2-1 despite getting outshot 18-7 and forced Demko to make a pile of difficult saves, the Canucks held the Avalanche to 14 shots over the final 40 minutes.
They still blew a lead, of course, as Colorado goals by Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin less than five minutes apart early in the second period vaporized a 3-1 Vancouver advantage.
But the Canucks defended competently, if not comfortably, and were happy to see Colorado’s Matt Nieto miss an open net early in the third period when the score was still 4-3.
Troy Stecher, J.T. Miller and Tanner Pearson, into an empty net, had the other goals for Vancouver, which needed the win to retain a playoff position they’ve held all winter in the Western Conference.
The Canucks used Bo Horvat head-to-head against Hart Trophy candidate Nathan MacKinnon, who had two assists and 12 shot attempts for the Avalanche and was still easily the game’s most dangerous player.
Vancouver’s shutdown defenceman, Chris Tanev, said MacKinnon is the probably the toughest player in the league to defend.
“He’s extremely tough, especially since he’s got that new move where it looks like he’s going to shoot it, but basically spins and gets a lot on his backhand,” Tanev said. “I don’t know if there’s another player in the league who can do it like that.
“I thought after the first, we sort of played a little better. The first, we were fortunate to be up 2-1. We were very opportunistic… but they controlled most of the play. After that, I thought it was a pretty even game.”
One point up in the wild-card race, the Canucks play the Columbus Blue Jackets Sunday at Rogers Arena.
Olympic champion Maggie Mac Neil announced her retirement from swimming Thursday.
The gold medallist in the women’s 100-metre butterfly at Tokyo’s Summer Games in 2021 made the announcement in an Instagram post alongside a photo of her swimming as a child.
“The little girl above would have never dreamed this is where her love of swimming would take her,” Mac Neil wrote. “I am so grateful for all the memories, people, and places I have gotten to experience just through swimming.
“I’m excited to begin the next chapter of my life journey, as I embark on discovering who I am outside of swimming.”
The 24-year-old from London, Ont., earned a complete set of medals in Tokyo after helping relay teams to silver and bronze medals.
Mac Neil’s five gold medals at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, were the most by a Canadian athlete at a single Pan Am Games.
She was fifth in butterfly and was a member of two women’s relay teams that finished fourth at the recent Olympic Games in Paris.
“Anyone who I crossed paths with never, ever told me I couldn’t achieve my goal of going to the Olympics,” Mac Neil wrote. “It’s still surreal to be able to say I’m a two-time Olympian.”
She completed her master’s degree in sport management at Louisiana State University this year.
Born in China and adopted by Dr. Susan McNair and Dr. Edward MacNeil, Mac Neil’s mother wanted her to take swimming lessons for safety reasons because of the family’s backyard pool.
Mac Neil’s 2017 diagnosis of sport-induced asthma — which can be triggered by the swimming staples of heat and chlorine — forced a switch from longer distances to sprints.
Mac Neil became Canada’s first world champion in the women’s 100-metre butterfly two years later.
The nearsighted Mac Neil, who doesn’t wear contacts or prescription goggles, has seen multiple times a meme of her squinting hard at the scoreboard in Tokyo as she tried to decipher her result.
“I like to think it helps because I can’t see where other people are and I’m able to focus on my own race,” Mac Neil said before the Olympic Games in Paris. “That was definitely the case in Tokyo.
“I got that meme sent to me at least three times in January even though it’s been three years since.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Serbia and Albania are set to co-host the men’s Under-21 European Championship in 2027 in a soccer project that aims to overcome political tensions.
UEFA said Thursday only the Serbia-Albania bid met a deadline this week to file detailed tournament plans. Belgium and Turkey had declared interest earlier in the bidding process scheduled to be decided at a Dec. 16 meeting of the UEFA executive committee.
The Serbian and Albanian soccer federations teamed up in May to plan organization of the 16-team tournament played every two years that needs eight stadiums to host 31 games.
Albania soccer federation leader Armand Duka, who is a UEFA vice president, told The Associated Press in May that “it’s a 100% football project” with “a very good political message that we can get across.”
Weeks later at the men’s European Championship held in Germany, historic tensions between the Balkan countries — which in soccer included a notorious drone incident at a Serbia-Albania game in 2014 — played out at separate games involving their senior teams.
An Albania player was banned for games by UEFA for using a megaphone to join fans in nationalist chants, including targeting Serbia, after a Euro 2024 game against Croatia. Fans of Albania and Croatia earlier joined in anti-Serb chants, leading UEFA to impose fines for discrimination.
UEFA also fined both the Albanian and Serbian federations in separate incidents at Euro 2024 for fans displaying politically motivated banners about neighboring Kosovo.
After historic tensions were heightened by the 1990s Balkans conflicts, in 2008 majority ethnic Albanians in Kosovo declared independence for the former Serbian province. Serbia refuses to recognize that independence and considers Kosovo the cradle of its statehood.
An Albanian fans group daubed red paint on the federation offices in May when the cooperation with Serbian soccer for the Under-21 Euros was announced.
“We did have a few negative reactions from fans, mainly, and some interest groups,” Duka said then, “but not from the Albania government.”
UEFA has shown broad support for Serbia and Albania under its president, Aleksander Ceferin, who is from Slovenia.
The next annual congress of UEFA’s 55 national federations is in the Serbian capital Belgrade on April 3, and an executive committee meeting in September 2025 will be held in Tirana, Albania.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia’s mayor has revealed the terms of the deal negotiated with the city’s pro basketball team for a new $1.3 billion arena downtown.
The agreement reached earlier this month calls for the Philadelphia 76ers to finance the entire project, with no city funding involved. There is, however, a provision that would let the NBA team make annual payments in lieu of taxes averaging $6 million per year. The agreement also calls for a $50 million investment in businesses, neighboring communities and the city’s schools to blunt the project’s impact, Mayor Cherelle Parker said during a news conference Wednesday night.
“I truly am proud having made this decision and negotiated an agreement that will definitely ensure that our Sixers are staying home right here in Philadelphia, where they should be,” Parker said.
City officials also released drafts of the nine bills and two resolutions needed to authorize the project, including measures that allow the city to acquire the arena property and change zoning rules. Parker said her administration would hold a series of town halls in the coming months where residents could discuss concerns about the proposal.
Team owners say their planned “76 Place” project would improve a struggling retail corridor near City Hall and capitalize on the city’s public transit. They also have vowed not to renew the lease on their current space, a circa 1996 arena in the city’s South Philadelphia sports complex, when their lease runs out in 2031.
The proposal has drawn significant opposition from activists in the city’s Chinatown area, who fear it would disrupt or displace residents and businesses. They say the city has ignored concerns that the project will increase vehicle traffic in their pedestrian-friendly neighborhood and force vulnerable residents — older people, low-income families and new immigrants — to move out. Parker on Wednesday renewed her pledge to preserve the area, which is just over a block from the proposed arena site.
If ultimately approved by the City Council, demolition work in the area would begin in 2026 with construction starting two years later. Officials hope to open the arena in time for the 76ers’ 2031-32 season.
