Hockey Canada to hold a second Beyond The Boards summit to examine culture

CALGARY – Jean-Michel Menard is back on the Canadian men’s curling stage.

The first francophone skip from Quebec to win a national men’s championship has returned this season playing third for Felix Asselin.

Menard defeated Glenn Howard in the 2006 Brier final in Regina and went on to earn a silver medal at the world championship in Lowell, Mass.

He’s played 119 games over 11 career Brier appearances, including 10 as a skip.

Menard stepped back from men’s curling in 2018 because he didn’t want to travel heavily on tour while his two daughters were young.

He continued to play, however, and claimed a Canadian mixed team championship in 2021 with a team that included wife and eight-time provincial women’s champ Annie Lemay at lead.

Menard then won the 2022 world mixed championship in Aberdeen, Scotland.

When his former teammate Martin Crete called him in February, the 48-year-old Menard thought it was an invitation to spare in a bonspiel, but it was an offer of a full-time position with Asselin’s team.

“I think I still have some shots left in me. Why not give it a try?” Menard said.

“I didn’t necessarily want to skip. First thought, they wanted me to hold the broom and Felix throw fourth stones. I said, ‘No, you three have been playing together for a long time. Let him skip.’

“I can handle, well, part-time sweeping. Last time I swept was in 2003 for Guy Hemmings.”

Menard, from Amos, Que., is Asselin’s vice with Crete and Jean-Francois Trepanier on the front end.

Asselin ousted defending champion Reid Carruthers in the first round of the PointsBet Invitiational in Calgary last week — Asselin drew the button to decide a tied game — before losing to eventual champ Mike McEwen in the quarterfinals.

Asselin reached the semifinals of September’s AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic before falling to eventual champion Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland.

“The way I played gave me confidence I could still compete at that level,” Menard said.

Asselin was 11 years old when Menard won the 2006 Brier.

“When we decided to make a move last year and make a team change, there wasn’t that many guys we were looking at that had the pedigree and just a level of play that could make us better than what we already were,” Asselin said.

“He can definitely help a lot. His experiences in tense moments is where it’s going to show.”

Menard had once written off a return to the Brier, but another appearance in March in Kelowna, B.C., is possible if Asselin can win Quebec’s provincial championship.

“When they gave me a call, I thought, ‘Maybe I have a sniff to go back to the Brier,'” Menard said. “Put in the effort and see what happens. So far, I think we have a half-decent chance if we continue playing like that. It looks good.”

POINTSBET CHANGES

The quirky PointsBet Invitational that concluded Sunday in Calgary with Mike McEwen and Rachel Homan each picking up early-season cheques of $50,000 could be revamped, says Curling Canada chief executive officer Nolan Thiessen.

The PointsBet’s hook is its single-knockout format, and the chance of a national club, junior, college, university or under-25 champion upsetting the top teams in Canada.

That happened in Calgary with Allyson MacNutt’s junior team toppling four-time Canadian women’s champ Kerri Einarson in the first round. In men’s play, Jordan McDonald’s under-25 foursome beat Matt Dunstone in the first round and defeated Kevin Koe in the quarterfinals.

However, with the 2025 Olympic trials on the horizon, Thiessen wonders if a cash tournament offering a maximum four games to a team over five days needs to provide more game reps.

“Next year’s a really important year with the trials and preparing our teams,” Thiessen said in Calgary. “The cool thing that we see here about the win-or-go home single elimination is that, ‘Oh my goodness, my event might be over. It’s the sixth end and I’m down two and my event might be over.’

“Creating that sense of urgency is a good thing, but also, we want to give our trials teams opportunities on arena ice in preparation for the trials. Are there games to be played so that they have more opportunities? Now is the time to look at it if we want to change something. After three years, you have a sample size.”

The fourth edition of the PointsBet returns to Calgary from Sept. 30 to Oct. 5, 2025, followed by November’s Olympic team trials in Halifax.

Southern Alberta’s warm, sunny weather at the end of September wasn’t conducive to a large fan turnout at WinSport Arena, which was barely half full during the five-day tournament.

The event served as a platform to launch a ticket-sale campaign for the Dec. 30-Jan. 4 Olympic mixed doubles trials in Liverpool, N.S., said Thiessen.

He added that televised curling early in the season gets people thinking about the sport and provides an interest kick for curling clubs, as well as for the national and world championships later in the season.

“It’s a great time of year for a lot of those reasons,” he said. “It’s a poor time of year from a fan perspective, because we have a short summer in this country, and who wants to (go into an arena) when it’s 20 degrees outside?’

“We want bums in the seats. We don’t budget and plan for full buildings or best-case scenarios. We know this time of year, it’s a struggle.

“It’s a convoluted calendar. We work with World Curling and the Slams to try and not step on each other’s toes. It would have to be next quad if we ever change the timing of this.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2024.

Connor McDavid stands in the middle of the locker room.

The Edmonton Oilers captain’s voice rises as he emphatically calls on teammates to give more. His passionate, expletive-laden message — a side rarely, if ever, seen publicly from the superstar centre — reflects the level of urgency in his team’s Stanley Cup quest.

Edmonton has just lost Game 2 of the final to fall behind the Florida Panthers 2-0 in the title series.

“Not (expletive) good enough,” McDavid says in a tirade that includes 14 f-bombs in 45 seconds.

A camera was there to capture the moment — albeit one partially obstructed by an Oilers staff member holding up a black curtain — and plenty more across the NHL last season.

The six-part “FACEOFF: Inside the NHL” docuseries debuts Friday, a behind-the-scenes sports showcase from Prime Video.

McDavid’s group would indeed “dig in” as he implored, battling back from a 3-0 deficit to force Game 7 in a memorable series with massive momentum swings, but ultimately fell short in a slugfest that ended in tears in the bowels of Florida’s Amerant Bank Arena last June.

“It’s so (expletive) hard,” a member of the Oilers says in the raw, immediate aftermath before the cameras are ordered to leave following the gut-wrenching loss.

Unlike past NHL reality endeavours that largely focused on teams, this show aims to bring viewers closer to hockey’s stars on and off the ice than ever before.

McDavid and a pair of teammates, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman, feature prominently. The same goes for Toronto Maple Leafs star William Nylander, Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes, Boston Bruins sniper David Pastrnak, Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk and a host of other big names.

“You’re getting a series that, for the first time, probably has buy-in from everyone,” Hyman said in a recent interview. “Everybody wants to open the doors and show you what’s under the hood, which has not really been done before.”

The players have seen their episodes — an Amazon project in conjunction with Box to Box Films, the company behind a long list of all-access sports series, including Netflix’s “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” — but Hyman doesn’t think he will ever watch the finale.

“You lived through it,” he said. “It’ll be really interesting for fans to see an inside look into what it’s like to go through that journey and to ultimately fall just short.

“Pretty devastating … and the cameras have access to all of that.”

NHL players have historically guarded their privacy, but Hyman said the goal was to show the personalities and life at home in an effort to entertain established fans and attract new ones.

“I hope that for newcomers to the sport, they’ll have an appreciation for how difficult it is to win a Stanley Cup,” Hyman said. “How guys react with their team, how teammates react on the bench, different elements that are really interesting. Hopefully it encourages new people to come in and to actually watch this upcoming season.

“And then for hockey fans, it gives you another layer to understand what’s really happening behind the scenes and appreciate the game even more.”

Hughes said his only worry about the series, which came together quickly following February’s NHL all-star game, was it being a distraction for teammates.

Those concerns put to rest, he was all-in.

“When I heard the other guys that were doing, it’s like, ‘How am I going to say no?'” said Hughes, whose episode is shared with Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog and New York Rangers counterpart Jacob Trouba. “It’s cool to put yourself out there and try different things.”

Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg said he never watched F1 racing until “Drive to Survive.” Now hooked, he expects the NHL’s plunge will attract similar uninitiated audiences.

“We live a phenomenal life, don’t get me wrong,” said Forsberg, who shared his episode with Vegas Golden Knights centre Jack Eichel. “But there’s also a big grind.”

Hyman said learning about athletes away from their crafts has similarly drawn him to other all-access series.

“You get to see who people really are,” he said. “It may not be the whole picture — you may be getting a version of that person — but at least you get a little bit more.”

Hyman added that while the series zeroes in on individuals, hockey’s team aspect plays a prominent role.

“A lot of it’s focused on (McDavid),” he said of the two episodes featuring Edmonton. “You’re watching his journey through the playoffs, but it’s ultimately our team’s journey.”

Including those electric, painful and soul-revealing moments in the final.

“There was no holding back,” Hyman said. “You guys are going to see what it was like post-Game 7, what it was like during different parts of the series. As a fan, it’s a roller-coaster. As a player, when you’re in it, it’s emotionally a difficult journey.

“To come up short was really hard.”

Viewers are poised to get a front-row seat.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2024.

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Canada coach Jesse Marsch continues to give youth its due, handing Jamie Knight-Lebel, Santiago Lopez and Kwasi Poku their first senior call-ups for the October international window.

The Canadian men, currently ranked 38th in the world by FIFA, face No. 37 Panama on Oct. 15 at Toronto’s BMO Field in their first home outing since their fourth-place finish at Copa America in July.

The Panama game serves as prep for the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal second leg, scheduled for Nov. 19 at BMO Field. And while a friendly, it has implications for the CONCACAF rankings, which play a role in the quarterfinal draw.

The Canadians have leapfrogged the United States into second spot behind Mexico in the CONCACAF ratings, which are different from the FIFA rankings. Panama sits fourth.

The Canadian team is holding a camp in Montreal ahead of the Toronto friendly with an open training session planned for Oct. 9 at Saputo Stadium. Players will also be visiting local youth soccer clubs.

“This is the people’s team,” Marsch said in a virtual availability from Austria. “And we want people to feel like that. We want the public and the community to feel like that. We want them to be able to touch and see and feel their players. And then we hope that this will generate more and more energy for what we want to become in 2026 (at the World Cup).”

Marsch is planning expanded training time in camp, given his team has just the Panama game during the October window. Canada Soccer said it was unable to find another opponent, citing “the global competition schedule.”

Seventeen of the 26 players called into the Canada camp are 25 or younger with goalkeeper Max Crepeau (30) and midfielder Jonathan Osorio (32) the elder statesmen of the group.

Knight-Lebel and Lopez are both 19, while Poku is 21. All three are Canadian youth internationals.

There is also a recall for Zorhan Bassong. The 25-year-old defender, who has made 19 MLS appearances for Sporting Kansas City this season, won his two senior Canada caps under John Herdman in January 2020.

Marsch noted there had been interest from Wales in Knight-Lebel, who has a Canadian father and Welsh mother. Born in Montreal, Knight-Lebel was five when family moved to England.

“We felt like this was a good chance to get him into camp and expose him to what we’re doing,” said Marsch. “And then see how he responds.”

The roster also features 18-year-old Fulham defender Luc de Fougerolles, 20-year-old Nathan Saliba and 21-year-old Niko Sigur.

Knight-Lebel, currently on loan from Bristol City to Crew Alexandra in the English fourth tier, and Poku, who joined Belgium’s Molenbeek from Forge FC in a Canadian Premier League record transfer in August, have both made four appearances for the national under-20 team, helping Canada reach the knockout stage at the 2022 CONCACAF U-20 Championship.

Lopez scored six goals in seven appearances at the U-20 level internationally, finishing the 2024 CONCACAF U-20 Championship as joint-leading scorer.

Marsch debuted uncapped midfielders Niko Sigur (Hadjuk Split, Croatia) and Saliba (CF Montreal) and forward Stephen Afrifa (Sporting Kansas City) in the September window when Canada drew No. 17 Mexico 0-0 and beat the 18th-ranked U.S. 2-1 in Arlington, Texas, and Kansas City respectively.

Marsch’s camp roster this time features 12 MLS players including Saliba, Jonathan Sirois and Joel Waterman from CF Montreal, Sam Adekugbe and Ali Ahmed from the Vancouver Whitecaps and Osorio and Richie Laryea from Toronto FC.

Marsch expects to trim his roster ahead of the Panama game.

The Canadians are 5-2-6 against Panama, with the most recent result a 2-0 win for Canada in 2023 CONCACAF Nations League semifinal play.

Marsch said fullback Alistair Johnston (back) and midfielder Ismael Koné (ankle) are rehabbing injuries. Veteran defender Kamal Miller and midfielder Samuel Piette were not called up this time so as to allow room for young talent.

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Canada Roster

Goalkeepers: Maxime Crepeau, Portland Timbers (MLS); Jonathan Sirois, CF Montreal (MLS); Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United (MLS).

Defenders: Sam Adekugbe, Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS); Zorhan Bassong, Sporting Kansas City (MLS); Moise Bombito, OGC Nice (France); Derek Cornelius, Olympique Marseille (France); Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich (Germany); Luc de Fougerolles, Fulham (England); Jamie Knight-Lebel, Crewe Alexandra, on loan from Bristol City (England); Richie Laryea, Toronto FC (MLS); Joel Waterman CF Montreal (MLS).

Midfielders: Ali Ahmed, Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS); Mathieu Choiniere, Grasshopper Zurich (Switzerland); Stephen Eustaquio, FC Porto (Portugal); Jonathan Osorio, Toronto FC (MLS); Nathan Saliba, CF Montreal (MLS); Niko Sigur, Hadjuk Split (Croatia).

Forwards: Theo Bair, AJ Auxerre (France); Jonathan David, Lille (France); Cyle Larin, RCD Mallorca (Spain); Santiago Lopez, UNAM Pumas (Mexico); Liam Millar, Hull City FC (England); Tani Oluwaseyi, Minnesota United (MLS); Kwasi Poku, RWD Molenbeek (Belgium); Jacob Shaffelburg, Nashville SC (MLS).

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2024.