OTTAWA – They held aloft homemade, Magic Markered signs that cheered “Always a Lumber King!” and “Thank You Sheldon!” And they were but a few of the Toronto Maple Leafs fans who dominated Canadian Tire Centre with an overwhelming blue majority.
But this select group didn’t have to drive four hours east on the 401 to attend this Battle of Ontario. Nah. An easy 80-minute cruise down the 417 from Pembroke, Ont., would do the trick.
For they didn’t flock to Kanata — at least primarily — to root for Auston Matthews, who kept pace with David Pastrnak in the Rocket race with his 42nd of the year. Nor did they come to see William Nylander tie his father Michael’s career high in goals (26).
They came — 40 of them, giddy in suites — to watch their host, Sheldon Keefe, coach. (In a suit lined with Pembroke Lumber Kings logos, no less.)
When the rookie bench boss holds the memento puck from this 4-2 win, marked with the date Feb. 15, 2020, he’ll think fondly of those faces who had faith in him when he was just one of dozens of ex-pros trying to hang around. To carve a second life in the sport he’d always loved, but not always in the right way.
Home of the Maple Leafs
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By first bringing a Canadian Junior Hockey League championship to Pembroke in 2007 and then using it a springboard to the OHL, the AHL and eventually here, to the bigs, Keefe was moved by gratitude’s gravity in a game, in a place, that gave his career a “full circle” feel.
He paid back and thought back to his roots. For once, it was not all about the two points.
“Just a chance to see many of the people that were important in supporting me and my family through our time in Pembroke and the operation of the Lumber Kings. To have them in the building and have a chance to thank them each in person was important to me,” Keefe explained.
“Anytime when I think about the chance for me to coach in the NHL, right away I would think, ‘How can I thank those people?’ I can never say or do anything to really repay them for everything they sacrificed to give me a start and a foundation to be able to coach at that level. But having them in the building was special, and I was happy that it worked out.”
During his years in Pembroke, as Keefe pushed through that difficult transition from freewheeling player at the top to finding his niche in a second career in a small town, he’d frequently drive down here, to the Canadian Tire Centre, to watch hockey.
To maybe dream of getting back not only to barns this size, but this very barn itself.
“In particular, I was drawn to the times when the Leafs were in town,” Keefe said. “But also I coached in this building in the OHL, I coached in this building in the AHL with the Marlies, I coached my first time ever on an NHL bench in this building in an NHL exhibition game.
“It all started for me in Pembroke and in working with the Lumber Kings there. The number of volunteers and supporters that we had, sponsors, fans, all these things that allowed that organization to support me in my endeavour to try to be a coach and start a new life.
“If I ever had a chance to coach in the NHL, I wanted to make sure I could go out of my way to acknowledge them.”
Jason Spezza, whose playing career overlapped with that of his new coach, spoke with Keefe prior to puck drop about their mutual ties to this neck of the woods.
Spezza said the Maple Leafs would try to win this one for guy behind the bench.
Then they did, wire to wire, with Keefe sending the former Senator out for puck drop in the town that drafted Spezza second overall.
A sense of occasion, of history. A personal touch.
These things resonate in a Maple Leafs room that believes in their chances to not only make the playoffs but contend, likely more than you or I do.
In defeating the Senators Saturday, Keefe’s Leafs improved to 22-10-4 since the coaching change, despite a parade of personnel to injured reserve and an overdue correction to the backup goalie situation.
Were it not for their skittish start under Mike Babcock, Toronto would be humming along at a 109-point pace.
“There’s lots of positive things. Obviously, our play has been better under him. He’s very smart [with] in-game changes, in staying calm,” said Jake Muzzin, who mercifully snapped a 35-game goal drought.
“But when we need a stern talking to, it’s also there — and you feel it. It’s authentic. It’s real. I enjoy having him as a head coach, for sure.”
Seldom does Keefe put himself out there. Most of his focus is on those ever-fluid lines, on implementing his possession-first system, on motivating a relatively inexperienced group, on balancing rest and the whip.
Muzzin, for instance, had no clue about those 40 people dear to his coach that joined in the “Go! Leafs! Go!” chants and helped propel The Wave that ripped ’round Canadian Tire Center in this home-away-from-home game.
But when he found out, he was happy.
“That’s good we got the win for them,” Muzzin said.
There is a lesson Keefe gleaned from his takes-a-village rebirth in Pembroke that he’d like to pass on to his players as they scramble out of their self-dug hole and through this wild winter of adversity.
“Something I’d like to instil into the players is to not focus on proving anybody wrong,” Keefe said. “But just focus on proving the people right that believe in the you, whether it’s people within our organization or our fans.”
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.
