TORONTO — Five Canadian football icons and a pair of distinguished builders will join the hallowed halls of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) and Museum in 2024.
Three of the Canadian Football League’s (CFL) all-time receivers in Weston Dressler, S.J. Green and Chad Owens, will be joined by cornerback Marvin Coleman and defensive end Vince Goldsmith in the Player Category. To be added in the Builder Category are coaching legend Ray Jauch and one of Canada’s greatest proponents of touch football, Ed Laverty, who will be inducted posthumously.
“The Class of 2024 has shaped our game beyond record books and accolades,” said CFHOF Executive Director Eric Noivo. “They are heroes to young football players and athletes; they are tremendous leaders who have shared their invaluable time and vast knowledge; they are steadfast champions who helped expand our game to reach more people and more communities.
“On behalf of every Canadian football fan and the Hall of Fame selection committee, it is my incredible honour to congratulate and celebrate the Class of 2024!”
The Class of 2024 will be officially inducted in an evening ceremony on Friday, September 13. Ticketing information will be announced soon. The Hall of Fame Game will be played on Saturday, September 14 with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats hosting the Ottawa REDBLACKS.
The media wing of the CFHOF will welcome two new members this year: the CFL League Office’s Associate Vice-President of Football Analytics, Steve Daniel, whose extensive knowledge and historical data serve as the backbone of media members’ coverage of the league since 2005, and one of the country’s most prominent sports reporters and a fan-favourite fixture from the CFL ON TSN, Farhan Lalji.
The Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum, located on the fourth floor of Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, operates as a non-profit registered charity. Since 1963, it has been home to more than 80,000 Canadian football artifacts, ranging from equipment and trophies to photos and videos, spanning the rich history of the game.
CANADIAN FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME – CLASS OF 2024
Coleman’s career spanned ten season (1994-2003) and 166 games with Calgary and Winnipeg, earning nine Divisional All-Star nods and three CFL All-Star selections. As a defensive back, he tallied 28 interceptions – six of which resulted in touchdowns – and 538 tackles. As a dynamic returner, he still sits fourth all-time with 5,211 punt return yards, in addition to his 11,545 kick return yards and 13 touchdowns (six defensive returns and seven kick returns).
The product of Central State University made four Grey Cup appearances, capturing the iconic trophy in 1998 with the Stampeders.
Dressler made an immediate impact in the CFL, taking home Most Outstanding Rookie honours with 56 receptions for 1,128 yards, and 1,014 punt return yards. His career 715 catches are good for 13th all-time and his 10,026 yards rank 17thin league history. The former North Dakota Fighting Hawk tallied 65 touchdowns, including five via kick returns.
Over 11 seasons (2008-2018), Dressler played in 161 games for Saskatchewan and Winnipeg. The four-time West Division All-Star and two-time CFL All-Star appeared in two Grey Cup championships, capturing Canadian football’s ultimate prize in 2013 in front of his Roughriders’ home crowd.
Goldsmith entered the CFL in 1981 and notched 17 sacks to earn Most Outstanding Rookie and a nod as a CFL All-Star. Over a 10-season career (1981-1990), he played in 163 contests to total 130.5 sacks, ranking eighth all-time; in 1983, the former Oregon Duck collected a career-high 20. Across a consistent career, he went on to register 10-or-more sacks on eight occasions.
Goldsmith played for Saskatchewan, Toronto and Calgary, earning a trio of Divisional All-Star selections. He emerged victorious in his lone Grey Cup appearance in 1989 as his Roughriders defeated Hamilton.
Green pulled down highlight reel catches for 13 seasons (2007-2019) and 170 games with Montreal and Toronto. At 10,222 receiving yards, he is one of 18 players to surpass 10,000, and his 716 receptions are 12th all-time. He notched 30 career 100-yard games and collected 60 touchdowns.
The native of Fort Worth, Texas, is an eight-time Divisional All-Star and a two-time CFL All-Star. He is a perfect three-for-three in Grey Cup championships – winning twice with Montreal (2009 and 2010) and once with Toronto (2017).
After two seasons as a running back with Winnipeg, Jauch suffered an injury that cut short his promising playing days. He transitioned to coaching in the college ranks before returning to the CFL with Edmonton; after four years as an assistant, he was promoted to head coach in 1970. He went on to assistant and head coaching roles with Saskatchewan from 1991-1995, before becoming an offensive consultant with Toronto in 1999.
Over 14 seasons at the helm, he amassed 127 regular season victories – ranking sixth all-time – while guiding his teams to 11 playoff appearances. He captured his lone Grey Cup in 1975 with Edmonton and was named Coach of the Year in 1980.
The amateur football landscape in Ottawa would not be what it is today without the leadership and dedication of Laverty. As President of the Ottawa Nepean Touch Football League, he was instrumental in shaping the foundations of the game across the region. Under his guidance, the league became a trailblazer for diversity in football, offering divisions for men, women and co-ed teams. The organization grew exponentially through his tenure, growing from six teams to hundreds of clubs.
Laverty served as President of the Ontario Touch Football League for over a decade and he was crucial in establishing Touch Football Canada. Beyond his work in the game, his lasting legacy as a prominent community builder earned him induction into the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
Laverty is being inducted posthumously after passing away in 2017.
Owens holds the distinction of being the third player in CFL history to lead the league in receiving yards and combined yards. That historic 2012 campaign saw the University of Hawaii alum set the professional football record for combined yards in a single season and earn the Most Outstanding Player award, before capturing the 100th Grey Cup in Toronto as a member of the Argonauts. Owens went on to become the first professional football player to tally at least 3,000 combined yards in three consecutive seasons.
Over a 105-game career spanning nine years (2009-2017) with Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton and Saskatchewan, The Flyin’ Hawaiian was named a Divisional All-Star five times, a CFL All-Star on four occasions, and the league’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player in 2010 and 2011. He sits No. 8 in league history in kick return yards (10,309) and No. 10 in combined yards (16,698).
CANADIAN FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME MEDIA WING – 2024 INDUCTEES
STEVE DANIEL
Daniel has been a mainstay of the CFL since 2005, when he joined the BC Lions after 11 years in the NBA with Portland and the Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies. He has established a new direction for the CFL’s team and player statistics, both current and historical, creating the league’s first comprehensive database to provide media members and the CFL with real-time, in-game access to all new analytics. This depth of information has helped re-define reporting and broadcasting of Canadian football. As part of the CFL’s Football Operations Team, Daniel leads the development of systems that report on the quality of Canadian Football in support of the Rules Committee, of which he is a contributor and member. Daniel joins Greg Fulton as the only CFL staff members to be inducted into the Hall.
FARHAN LALJI
Farhan Lalji has covered an array of sports since joining TSN in 1997, but his passion has always been football, from the grassroots level to the CFL and the BC Lions. The Simon Fraser University alumnus has won multiple awards for his reporting, and for his leadership in the community and as head of the BC Secondary Schools Football Association. As a high school football coach for over 30 years, Lalji has launched programs at New Westminster Secondary School and the Royal City youth program. He has coached more than 100 players who have advanced to the collegiate ranks. At the time of his induction, he had covered 21 Grey Cups, 15 Super Bowls and 11 College football championships. As the Vancouver Bureau Reporter for TSN, Lalji continues to provide game night and weekly reports on the CFL with his unique insight and keen understanding of the game.
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
MacKenzie Weegar wasn’t bitter or upset as he watched friends live out their dreams.
The Calgary Flames defenceman just hopes to experience the same feeling one day. He also knows the road leading to that moment, if it does arrive, will likely be long and winding — much like his own path.
A seventh-round pick by the Florida Panthers at the 2013 NHL draft, Weegar climbed the ranks to become an important piece of a roster that captured the Presidents’ Trophy as the league’s top regular-season club in 2021-22.
Two months later following a second-round playoff exit, he was traded to the Flames along with Jonathan Huberdeau for Matthew Tkachuk. And less than two years after that, the Panthers were hoisting the Stanley Cup.
“Happy for the city and for the team,” Weegar said of Florida’s June victory over the Edmonton Oilers. “There was no bad taste in my mouth.”
His sole focus, he insists, is squarely on eventually getting the Flames to the same spot. The landscape, however, has changed drastically since Weegar committed to Calgary on an eight-year, US$50-million contract extension in October 2022.
Weegar has watched a list that includes goaltender Jacob Markstrom, defencemen Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin and Nikita Zadorov and forwards Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane shipped out of town since the start of last season — largely for picks, prospects and young players as part of a rebuild.
Despite that exodus, he remains committed to the Calgary project steered by general manager Craig Conroy.
“It’s easy to get out of all whack when you see guys trying to leave or wanting new contracts,” the 30-year-old from Ottawa said at last week’s NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas. “I just focus on where I am and where I want to be, and that’s Calgary.
“I believe in this team. The city has taken me in right away. I feel like I owe it to them to stick around and grind through these years and get a Stanley Cup.”
The hard-nosed blueliner certainly knows what it is to grind.
After winning the Memorial Cup alongside Nathan MacKinnon with the Halifax Mooseheads in 2013, Weegar toiled in the ECHL and American Hockey League for three seasons before making his NHL debut late in the 2016-17 campaign with the Panthers.
He would spend the next five years in South Florida as one of the players tasked with shifting an organizational culture that had experienced little success over the previous two decades.
“There’s always going to be a piece of my heart and loyalty to that team,” Weegar said. “But now I’m in a different situation … I compete against all 32 teams, not just Florida. There’s always a chip on my shoulder every single year.”
Weegar set career highs with 20 goals — eight was the most he had ever previously registered — and 52 points in 2023-24 as part of a breakout offensive performance.
“I think my buddies cared a lot more than I did,” he said with a smile. “All I hear is, ‘fantasy, fantasy, fantasy.'”
Weegar was actually more proud of his 200 blocked shots and 194 hits as he looks to help set a new Flames’ standard alongside Huberdeau, captain Mikael Backlund, Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman and Rasmus Andersson for a franchise expected to have its new arena in time for the 2027-28 season.
“You have to build that culture and that belief in the locker room,” said Weegar, who pointed to 22-year-old centre Connor Zary as a player set to pop. “Those young guys are going to have to come into their own and be consistent every night … they’re the next generation.”
Weegar, however, isn’t punting on 2024-25. He pointed to the NHL’s parity and the fact a couple of teams surprise every season.
It’s the same approach that took him from the ECHL a decade ago to hockey’s premier pre-season event inside a swanky hotel on Sin City’s famed strip, where he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the game’s best.
“From the outside — media and even friends and family — the expectations are probably a bit lower,” Weegar said of Calgary’s outlook. “But there’s no reason to think that we can’t make playoffs and we can’t be a good team (with) that underdog mentality.
“You never know.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept 17, 2024.
Jose Maria Celestino da Costa was named vice-president and head of soccer operations while Marianne Brooks was appointed vice-president of partnerships, Kelly Shouldice as vice-president of brand and content and Joyce Sou as vice-president of finance and business operations.
The new six-team women’s pro league is set to kick off in April.
“Their unique expertise and leadership are crucial as we lay the foundation for not just a successful league in Canada, but one that stands among the top sports leagues in the world,” NSL president Christina Litz said in a statement. “By investing in top-tier talent and infrastructure, the Northern Super League is committed to creating a league that will elevate the game and set new standards for women’s professional soccer globally.”
Da Costa will oversee all on-field matters, including officiating. His resume includes stints with Estoril Praia, a men’s first-division team in Portugal, and the Portuguese Soccer Federation, where he helped develop the Portuguese women’s league.
Brooks spent a decade with Canucks Sports & Entertainment, working in “partnership sales and retention efforts” for the Vancouver Canucks, Vancouver Warriors, and Rogers Arena. Most recently, she served as senior director of account management at StellarAlgo, a software company that helps pro sports teams connect with their fans
Shouldice has worked for Corus Entertainment, the Canadian Football League, and most recently as vice-president of Content and Communications at True North Sports & Entertainment, where she managed original content as well as business and hockey communications.
Sou, who was involved in the league’s initial launch, will oversee financial planning, analysis and the league’s expansion strategy in her new role.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
