OTTAWA — Chris Neil wanted to go out the way he came in.
So, naturally, he chose the home team penalty box at the Canadian Tire Centre from which to salute fans following his jersey retirement ceremony Friday evening.
As the No. 25 Neil banner was raised to the rafters, to take its place alongside the banners of his former Ottawa Senators teammates Daniel Alfredsson and Chris Phillips, Neil wiped tears from his ruddy cheeks.
He had wept earlier when he spoke about his family, especially his late mother, Bonnie.
And Neil made this revelation. All those times he would win a fight and raise his arms to ignite fans in the stands? Neil says it doubled as a message to his mom that he was OK.
The Senators are getting this jersey retirement bit down pat because this was a ceremony that did not miss a note. Filmed walking out to the ice from the Senators room, where he donned his Sens sweater for one more time, Neil walked through a phalanx of ex-teammates, with Phillips and Alfredsson the last pair to greet him.
The crowd erupted as Neil entered the arena in a salute.
“That was incredible,” Neil said afterward to reporters in the corridor outside the Senators dressing room. “It’s an incredible honour. For me and family this week has been amazing, what the Ottawa Senators have done to make my family feel right at home again.
“I can’t say enough about this organization and this community. As I said in my speech, they’ve embraced me right from the day I came in. And you guys (the media) have as well, you guys have been tremendous to me over my career.”
An earlier video showed the Neiler greatest hits, a robust clip that Don Cherry would have appreciated.
“He literally scrapped his way through the minors,” Phillips said, introducing Neil. And he had to crack a lineup on the right side that included Alfredsson, Marian Hossa and Martin Havlat.
Neil recalled all the great moments, from Darcy Tucker leaping into the Ottawa bench for a fight to high-fiving many of the thousands of fans who greeted the team at the airport following the Sens victory in Buffalo to send the team to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007.
Neil would score Ottawa’s first goal on home ice in that final series.
Above all, Neil displayed a sense of humility and gratitude on his special night.
Expressing love and thanks for family and friends from Flesherton, Ont., Neil told us after his speech he was thankful wife Caitlin, “my rock,” and their three children — Hailey, Cole and Finn — were not only here for the ceremony, but the children were old enough to remember dad playing. Hailey was born the day after Neil’s Cup Final goal in ’07.
“My kids caught a bunch of my years in the NHL and for them to be able to witness this, it’s incredible,” Neil said. “My youngest, Finn, he was tearing up.”
Neil acknowledged the support he had throughout his career and cited too many franchise members to repeat, although Allison Vaughan, Bryan Murray, Jacques Martin and Marshall Johnston were high on his list. It was Johnston who scouted and drafted Neil.
“Thanks for believing in me,” Neil said.
He also thanked Dr. Don Chow for providing nearly all the stitches he needed over the course of a pugilistic career.
Neil’s No. 25 jersey is the fourth in the history of the Senators franchise to be retired and third of the modern era. Neil is one of only three players (with Alfredsson and Phillips) in Senators history to dress in 1,000 games for the club. He sits 20th on the NHL’s all-time penalty minutes list and is one of only two players in NHL history to compile over 1,000 games and 2,500 penalty minutes while playing the entirety of his career for a single franchise.
Not bad for a sixth-round draft choice, 161st overall, by Ottawa in 1998.
After a rugged three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the North Bay Centennials, Neil spent a couple of years in the minors before making his debut with the Senators in 2001 as a 22-year-old.
The Sens beat the Leafs in Neil’s debut game, a fact cited Friday by Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe, to a roar from the CTC crowd.
Defenceman Wade Redden was already an established NHL star by that time, and he recalled the impression Neil made at his first Senators camp.
“I remember calling my brother and saying, ‘There’s this new guy, and he’s a pretty good player, but he just fights all the time,'” Redden said. “And I think that’s kind of how he announced himself to the team … he just wanted it so bad and knew what it would take to make a name for himself. His work ethic made him into a really effective player, too.”
Redden believes Neil’s physical presence helped take a young contending team to another level, as the Senators were among the NHL’s best clubs from 2002-07.
“We were a brotherhood,” Neil said of those teams. “We’d do anything for one another, and we held each other accountable and that’s what it took to win. We won a lot of games.”
Throughout his long career, Neil worked on improving every aspect of his game, including the science of fighting. He would study other tough guys, didn’t want to be surprised to find out that his opponent was a southpaw.
Though never in the super heavyweight class — Neil was a solid 6-foot-1, 210 pounds as a player — he wasn’t afraid to take on anyone. And he rarely lost a fight. Even big Zdeno Chara was in tough against Neil.
Never suspended, Neil pushed to the line but never crossed it.
“I was close a couple of times,” he joked.
He worked on his skills as well, often staying at the end of practice to join in the keep-away games with captain Alfredsson.
Neil scored 112 goals and 250 points in 1,026 NHL games while amassing 2,522 penalty minutes.
He’s no Hall of Famer with those numbers, and yet Neil was impressed to receive the blessing of so many hockey greats when he attended Alfredsson’s induction ceremony and played in the Hall of Fame game.
“There were legends down there, I’ve never met them before and they’re coming up to me and saying, ‘That’s incredible (getting your number retired). It’s well deserved, the way you played the game and did everything you had to for your team to win.’ To have those guys come up, I was very humbled,” Neil said.
In his address to the media Thursday, general manager Pierre Dorion opened with a salute to No. 25 for all he has given the Senators and this region.
“I’m honoured to be the GM when we’re retiring Chris Neil’s jersey,” Dorion said. “Chris, as a player, was a warrior, on and off the ice. He did everything to get the maximum out of himself. He’s someone that we’re so happy is still part of the organization (as VP of Business and Community Development). He’s someone our fans really identify with.
“I know if there was a war on, I’d want Chris by my side. We don’t beat the New York Rangers, the last time we made the playoffs (2017) if Chris Neil is not with us. He came into that series (Game 5) and changed the tone of the series.”
Alfredsson often said Neil used his physical tools in a positive way.
“He’s not just running out of his way to make sure he gets his hits,” Alfie said, during a series against the Rangers. “He picks his times pretty good and especially in the playoffs that’s pretty important.”
Of course, Neil is known around Ottawa as much for his community work as for his hockey history. Neil and his wife Cait have been affiliated with Roger’s House, a palliative care facility named in honour of the late Roger Neilson, for more than a decade.
As a year-round resident of the Nation’s Capital, Neil has long been a go-to guy for charity appearances and commitments involving the Senators, including work on behalf of the Ottawa Senators Foundation (relaunched last fall as the Senators Community Foundation).
Neil will still be around, a fixture in the organization.
Only his number No. 25 has gone. From the roster list, up to the heights.
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.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
