How long can Canadians expect to be social distancing?

The Canadian Hockey League is looking to capitalize on the sport’s cross-border rivalry by having its top draft-eligible prospects face USA Hockey’s National Development team in an annual two-game series starting in November.

Unveiled on Tuesday by the CHL, the series is being billed as the CHL-USA Prospects Challenge with this year’s games played at two Ontario cities — London and Oshawa — on Nov. 26-27. The CHL reached a three-year deal to host the series, with sites rotating between the group’s three members — the Ontario, Quebec Maritime, and Western hockey leagues.

Aside from the world junior championships, the series will feature many of both nation’s top 17- and 18-year-olds in head-to-head competition, something CHL President Dan MacKenzie noted has been previously lacking for two countries who produce a majority of NHL talent.

“We think we’ve got the recipe for something really special here,” MacKenzie said. “And we think it’s really going to deliver for fans of junior hockey who want to see the best payers of their age group play against each other with something on the line.”

A majority of the CHL’s roster will be selected by the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau.

The Michigan-based NTDP, established by USA Hockey in 1996, is a development program for America’s top juniors, with the team spending its season competing in the USHL, while rounding out its schedule playing in international tournaments and against U.S. colleges. NTDP alumni include NHL No. 1 draft picks such as Patrick Kane, Auston Matthews and Jack Hughes.

For the CHL, the series replaces its annual top-prospects game which was established in 1992 and ran through last season. The CHL also hosted a Canada-Russia Challenge, which began in 2003 and was last held in 2019, before being postponed as a result of the COVID pandemic and then canceled following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The success of USA Hockey’s program has really evolved and sort of gets them in a position where they’re going to be competitive in games like this,” MacKenzie said. “We’re still the No. 1 development league in the world by a wide margin. But we welcome the growth of the game and what that brings to the competition level.”

The challenge series is being launched at a time when North America’s junior hockey landscape could be shifting with the potential of NCAA Division 1 programs lifting their longstanding ban against CHL players.

On Friday, Western Hockey League player Braxton Whitehead announced on social media he has a verbal commitment to play at Arizona State next season. Whitehead’s announcement comes on the heels of a class-action lawsuit filed last month, challenging the NCAA’s eligibility ban of CHL players.

A lifting of the ban could lead to a number of CHL players making the jump to the U.S. college ranks after finishing high school.

MacKenzie called it difficult for him to comment due to the litigation and because the CHL is considered an observer in the case because it was not named in the lawsuit.

“My only comment would be that we continue to be a great option for 16- to 20-year-old players to develop their skills and move on to academic or athletic pursuits by being drafted in the NHL, where we’re the No. 1 source of talent,” MacKenzie said. “And we’re going to continue to focus on that.”

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BOSTON (AP) — Runners hoping to qualify for the 2026 Boston Marathon are going to have to pick up the pace.

The Boston Athletic Association has updated its qualifying times for the world’s oldest annual marathon, asking most prospective competitors to run a 26.2-mile race five minutes faster than in recent years to earn a starting number.

“Every time the BAA has adjusted qualifying standards — most recently in 2019 — we’ve seen athletes continue to raise the bar and elevate to new levels,” Jack Fleming, president and CEO of the BAA, said in a statement posted Monday. “In recent years we’ve turned away athletes in this age range (18-59) at the highest rate, and the adjustment reflects both the depth of participation and speed at which athletes are running.”

The BAA introduced qualifying times in 1970 and has expanded and adjusted the requirements through the decades. Runners participating in the event to raise money for charity do not have to meet the qualifying standards.

The latest change means men between the ages of 18 and 34 will have to run a marathon during the qualification window in 2 hours, 55 minutes or faster to earn a spot in the 2026 race — five minutes faster than for this year’s edition.

Women and nonbinary applicants need to complete the distance in 3:25.

The slowest competitors that can earn qualification are in the 80 and over age group. The men in that category must complete a marathon in 4:50, while women and nonbinary competitors have 5:20 to finish. Those numbers were not changed in the most recent adjustment.

The BAA said it had 36,406 qualifier entry applications for next year’s race, more than ever before.

“The record number of applicants indicates the growing trend of our sport and shows that athletes are continuously getting faster and faster,” Fleming said.

The qualifying window for the 2026 race began on Sept. 1 and will run through the conclusion of the registration period of that race next September.

Next year’s Boston Marathon will take place on April 21.

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MONTREAL – Former Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators defenceman Chris Wideman announced he’s retiring after six NHL seasons on Tuesday.

Wideman spent his last three seasons under contract with the Canadiens, but did not play during the 2023-24 campaign due to a back injury.

The 34-year-old said in a letter released by the Canadiens that he made several attempts at rehabilitation and sought a variety of treatments before deciding to hang up his skates. He finishes his career with 20 goals and 58 assists in 291 games.

Wideman, a five-foot-10, 180-pound blueliner, started his NHL career with the Senators in 2015-16. He played parts of four seasons in the nation’s capital before he was traded in 2018-19 to the Edmonton Oilers, playing five games in Alberta before moving on to the Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Anaheim Ducks organizations.

During the 2020-21 season, he played in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League and was named the league’s defenceman of the year.

Wideman returned to the NHL the following season and produced a career-best 27 points (four goals, 23 assists) in 64 games with the Canadiens.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.

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