Sports
Capitals 2, Canucks 1: The goals are on the inside, Rick Tocchet says
The Vancouver Canucks were good early on and scored first, but that was undone by terrible defensive play in the second period.
And that was that.
There are 14 games to go in the season. That’s actually good news: There’s plenty of time for the Canucks to get out of this little funk they suddenly find themselves back in.
A week ago, things seemed back on course. The Canucks had won four games in a row, dismissing three pretty solid teams along the way.
They were playing tight, defensively sound hockey, and they were grinding their way in crunch time.
But in this ugly loss to a low-quality team, on the back of a disappointing finish to a game they were well in control of on Wednesday — against one of the true Stanley Cup contenders no less — you are right to wonder how things will look when playoff crunch time comes just over a month from now.
He later used his hands to show how high the Canucks should be shooting.
“This high,” he said, holding one hand about a foot above the other, then raising the upper hand dramatically, making his point clear.
“Not over the net. It makes no sense.”
How bad was the Canucks’ shot selection? This bad: They had 21 missed shots on the game.
And then it gets worse: They had 27 shot attempts blocked.
Yes, the Canucks had 48 shot attempts go nowhere near the net.
The Capitals did everything they could to keep the Canucks off balance and it worked.
It’s sloppy. Deal with it.
Some games are just going to be ugly. Some times its about how the opposition is playing. Sometimes it’s because you’re playing on ice made by a 30-year-old ice plant.
“That’s what we’re trying to get better at is, you know, when it’s not going good for us, how are you gonna play? We played with a lot of leads this year. We have been trailing going into the third very often and that’s just something we need to be better at, it’s when we you know, we’re getting pushed by the other team, how are we going to respond,” J.T. Miller observed.
The veteran forward wasn’t especially happy with his game. He struggled at times with handling the puck and with some of his puck decisions.
“When teams push at us, we just kind of stop executing and it snowballs.”
Quinn Hughes pointed a finger at himself.
“I feel like I’m going pretty good in the first and then you don’t see me in a second,” he admitted.
More energy
The poor shot selection wasn’t the only thing that frustrated Tocchet.
“Execute. Go through. Hold the puck.”
And, yes, the team lacked energy. More energy would fix many of these issues.
“Energy is ‘going through,’” he said.
Tocchet does believe in his team. They’ve had success for so much of this season. The pressure is just harder now. Teams are checking tighter. This was a low-event game and you just have to find a way to make a few more moments happen for your team.
The coach made an analogy to finding the seal on a container.
“That’s my job, to get them to break that seal. There’s more in the tank. You know, there’s always more and we’ve got to break through it. Find it,” he said.
Pass and move
Hockey, like soccer, is a depth-width-speed game. You find space by moving forwards and laterally and usually with speed.
Doing that opens up lanes for yourself and sometimes for your teammate.
“Guy passes the puck and we just kind of cruise instead of passing (then) snapping yourself on a direct line to wherever it’s gonna be, to the open area. Or even if you go to the net, they’re gonna check you, (and) somebody else might be open. So we’re just kind of cruising. I’m not sure why,” he said.
Superstars, man
They find a way. They just do.
Alex Ovechkin scored the winning goal but was otherwise invisible.
But that didn’t matter. He was excellent when opportunity called.
“The guy’s amazing, you know, even at this age, he finds some how to contribute. I’ve seen a lot of those, seen that guy score a lot of goals live,” Tocchet said.
Worst second period of the season
The Canucks started the game well, scoring in the first minute, but they slowly lost their way over the first period.
And then the second happened.
The Canucks looked stuck in mud almost from the start and had no defensive structure on either of Washington’s goals: first an awful breakdown leading to Tom Wilson’s goal, then another on Ovechkin’s go-ahead goal.
They just looked lost all period and were outshot 14-5 over the 20 minutes.
Brutal stuff.
How brutal? Watch this clearing attempt by Filip Hronek and the disaster that ensues.
Fight for more
Tocchet believes in his squad. There’s will, passion and talent. He’s said this more than once.
He once again laid out the path to success that he believes his players can find.
“It’s in that room and it’s you got to stick together. I mean, I’m sure guys are upset, maybe mad at their game or mad at whatever, but they got to come, whether I bring them in or I’m not sure but they gotta come in and ask, ‘How do I get better?’ You know, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ You know, ‘Am I going to the net or am I maybe not executing?’
“Maybe you gotta go early a little bit and start to handle the puck more, shoot more pucks? Are you shooting 50, 60, 100 bucks a day, if you’re missing the net,” he said.
“That’s the sort of the mentality to have at this time of year. So we’ve had a lot of practice time, so that’s why I don’t buy the energy (being low). I just don’t buy it. We should have lots of energy.”
NEXT GAME
Tuesday
Buffalo Sabres vs. Vancouver Canucks
7 p.m., Rogers Arena, TV: SN Pacific, Radio: Sportsnet 650
Just one power play
The Canucks power play only had one opportunity. They didn’t score, but they did have some good movement.
They could have used a few more opportunities, but they didn’t do much to draw any other penalties.
Tocchet pointed back to his team’s struggles to get to the inside of the slot.
“Well, interior right? That’s where you get penalties, right? When you go through, here’s hooking. Or your front of the net guy (they) might cross-check, yeah? You know, (interior) that’s where you get the penalties.”
Here’s the tip
First it was Bo Horvat. Then it was Andrei Kuzmenko.
This season, it’s Boeser and Nils Höglander.
Höglander has seven tipped goals.
Stripes, what are you doing?
The Canucks needed to defend better on Tom Wilson’s tying goal, but the icing call before that was terrible.
Phil Di Giuseppe was clearly going to be first to the puck, but linesman Ryan Gibbons made the call anyway.
Di Giuseppe was unimpressed but didn’t say anything as he skated back to the Canucks zone.
Gibbons, for whatever reason, pursued the Canuck forward down the ice and talked his ear off, presumably explaining the call.
Why NHL officials have a need to explain away their decisions boggles the mind.
Tocchet said Gibbons apologized to the bench for the call at the start of the third, but he surely he knew right away he’d missed the call. He could have apologized then and move the faceoff to centre ice. Officials are allowed to do that.
Sports
Champions Trophy host Pakistan says it’s not been told India wants to play cricket games elsewhere
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:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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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