Sports

Canucks temporarily rediscover identity in sweep of lowly Senators – Sportsnet.ca

Published

4 years ago

January 30, 2021

VANCOUVER – Funeral music at the start of the week, show tunes at the end. Welcome to the Vancouver Canucks’ world.

With radio and social media conjecture last weekend that general manager Jim Benning’s job could be in jeopardy — seven games into the National Hockey League season, in the middle of a pandemic that precludes any substantive roster changes, when revenue is as suppressed as attendance — the Canucks rolled over the Ottawa Senators, completing Thursday a three-game series sweep against the worst team in hockey by winning 4-1 at Rogers Arena.

Despite getting outshot each game, the Canucks impeached the Senators by a total score of 16-3 because goalies Braden Holtby and Thatcher Demko suddenly surged into form just as Vancouver’s struggling top line of Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser found theirs.

The forward trio generated three more goals on Thursday, two of them by Boeser, and Holtby nearly matched Demko’s outstanding performances Monday and Wednesday with a 36-save effort as the Canucks moved back to 5-5 and into a playoff spot.

The North Division, however, isn’t Canada’s proudest achievement at the moment, and it’s as difficult to draw strong conclusions from Vancouver dusting Ottawa as it was last week when the team was getting overrun by the Montreal Canadiens amid a myriad of halting Canucks mistakes.

But last week, the goaltending needed to be better and the 6-40-9 Lotto Line needed to be found. Which is why the West Coast mood has brightened considerably over the last four days.

It looks like Twitter will have to wait to fire Benning. But stand by: the Canucks open a difficult six-game road trip against the three other Canadian teams in playoff position, starting Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets.

“We knew it was an important series, especially before a road trip and after our start,” Boeser said after lifting his goal total to six in 10 games. “To get back to .500 and play well and play how we’ve been playing, before the road trip, I think it’s huge. It gives our group confidence.”

“We’re still trying to figure out some of the kinks in our game… and we’re still doing that,” defenceman Quinn Hughes said after setting up a pair of early goals that launched the Canucks’ wire-to-wire win. “Like I said last year, we’re going to be better two months from now than we are now. That’s just the group we have; the more you play… the more we’ll figure each other out. The three games here were really big just to kind of get back on track before things really slide.”

The Canucks did look like a hockey team again, playing with far more positional discipline and better puck management.

The Senators played well in spurts during the three games but couldn’t score, couldn’t get enough saves from Matt Murray and Marcus Hogberg, and got little from their emerging stars.

It was so bad for Ottawa, another Tkachuk left angry. Brady Tkachuk pounded the glass in frustration after a last-minute fight Thursday with Zack MacEwen, although he didn’t go full-on toddler tantrum like his brother Matthew did Tuesday in Calgary.

Brady had just one assist in three games in Vancouver and after opening the season with three points in the Senators’ only win, against the Toronto Maple Leafs, has amassed two points over seven straight Ottawa losses since then.

Ottawa’s other young star, defenceman Thomas Chabot, was largely invisible in the series until he caught Hughes on a poor angle one-and-one and scored Ottawa’s only goal on Thursday.

Holtby didn’t face nearly the shot quality Demko saw earlier in the week, but made timely saves, including a breakaway stop on Connor Brown seconds before the end of the middle period and Ottawa trailing 3-1.

Demko said he felt “enough was enough” after his own poor start to the season, and Holtby looked Thursday like he had the same resolve, playing easily his best game of the year and nudging his save percentage north of 90.

“I think we all want to be better, top to bottom,” Holtby said. “But as a goaltender, you pride yourself on trying to be the difference-maker when it’s needed. That last Montreal game (5-2 loss on Saturday when Holtby allowed two late goals)… maybe you’re nitpicking, but you’ve got to find a way to do it in order to lead your team when things aren’t going well. Obviously, Thatch with the last two games and how unbelievable he played, I think we both know that this season it’s going to take both of us to be consistent and try and be the difference makers. This three-game set is a good step in the right direction.”

The Canucks lead the NHL in both goals scored (35) and allowed (36).

Who knows where their next step will take them?

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Sports

Champions Trophy host Pakistan says it’s not been told India wants to play cricket games elsewhere

Published

1 day ago

November 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

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.

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AP cricket:

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Sports

Dabrowski, Routlife into WTA doubles final with win over Melichar-Martinez, Perez

Published

1 day ago

November 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

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

Published

1 day ago

November 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

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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