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Jones, Gushue drop first games at Beijing Olympics – TSN

Published

3 years ago

February 11, 2022

BEIJING — Any lingering disappointment from her first Olympic loss was quickly erased when Jennifer Jones walked through the interview area at the Ice Cube on Friday.

She passed by Chinami Yoshida as the Japanese vice was telling a reporter how excited she was that Jones was representing Canada because it’s her “favourite team.”

The two players embraced and shared a hug. “You are my idol,” Yoshida told her.

Win or lose, there’s a certain mystique that Jones brings to a room, even after an 8-5 round-robin defeat. That presence extends to the ice as well and could be a factor against a less-experienced opponent deeper in the competition.

On this day, Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa outplayed the Canadian side by putting the pressure on early and not letting up. She was perfect through five ends and any second-half mistakes were minimal.

“They played outstanding,” Jones said. “They didn’t give us a sniff. We’d have maybe a slight opportunity and then they’d make a great shot.”

Jones, who ran the table at the 2014 Sochi Games, fell to 1-1. Her rink made a few sweeping errors in the early going and never really settled into a rhythm.

“It was going to be really hard to go through undefeated,” Jones said. “It’s just such a deep field. We knew that was going to happen.”

Switzerland and the United States posted victories to remain unbeaten at 3-0. Silvana Tirinzoni beat Russia’s Alina Kovaleva 8-7 and Tabitha Peterson defeated China’s Yu Han 8-4.

Canada fell into a five-way tie at 1-1. South Korea’s EunJung Kim outscored Great Britain’s Eve Muirhead 9-7 in the other women’s game.

In evening men’s play, Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz beat Canada’s Brad Gushue 5-3. That left Sweden’s Niklas Edin (3-0) as the lone unbeaten skip in the 10-team draw.

Canada fell into a four-way tie at 2-1 with Switzerland, Great Britain’s Bruce Mouat and defending champion John Shuster of the United States.

Mouat beat Norway’s Steffan Walstad 8-3 and Russia’s Sergey Glukhov hammered Denmark’s Mikkel Krause 10-2 in the other late matchup.

In the Japan-Canada game, Fujisawa stole single points in three of the first five ends and notched a deuce when she had hammer in the third.

Canada cut into the lead when Fujisawa made her first error of the game, a flashed open hit in the sixth end. Any momentum from that Jones deuce was snuffed in the seventh after Kaitlyn Lawes hogged a stone, setting up a Japanese pair.

Jones and Lawes threw under 70 per cent while Fujisawa led all back-end players at 88 per cent.

“Jen is a great player and so is Kaitlyn, but when you’re trying to make tough shots every end, it’s difficult,” said Japanese coach J.D. Lind.

The next curling generation has arrived at the Beijing Games and many of the game’s top young players grew up watching Jones excel.

In addition to her Olympic gold, she has won six national titles and two world titles. Now 47, she will soon reach the milestone of 100 career games played wearing Canadian colours.

It’s all part of the aura that accompanies the veteran skip. Many of the sport’s younger stars cite her as a major influence.

“If they watched me and I had any influence on what they’ve done to help the sport of curling, that is to me the greatest compliment you could ever receive,” Jones said.

“I’m very humbled by it.”

Gushue, meanwhile, scored a deuce in the sixth end to pull even with de Cruz, but a force and a steal gave the Swiss skip a two-point lead entering the 10th.

Switzerland ran Canada out of rocks to win it.

“Our expectation wasn’t to go through undefeated by any means,” Gushue said. “We know it’s going to be a struggle and a grind to get into the playoffs.

“This just makes it a little bit more of a grind.”

In early men’s games, Switzerland beat Russia 6-3 and the U.S. topped Great Britain 9-7. Sweden dumped Italy’s Joel Retornaz 9-3 and China’s Xiuyue Ma edged Denmark 5-4.

Russia improved to 2-2 while Norway and China sat at 1-2 ahead of winless Italy (0-2) and Denmark (0-3).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2022.

Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter.

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Fernandez and Dabrowski headline Canadian lineup for Billie Jean King Cup Finals

Published

5 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.

The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.

Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.

Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.

“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.

“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”

Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.

Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.

Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.

Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.

Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.

Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

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Penguins re-sign Crosby to two-year extension that runs through 2026-27 season

Published

5 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby plans to remain a Pittsburgh Penguin for at least three more years.

The Penguins announced on Monday that they re-signed the 37-year-old from Cole Harbour, N.S., to a two-year contract extension that has an average annual value of US$8.7 million. The deal runs through the 2026-27 season.

Crosby was eligible to sign an extension on July 1 with him entering the final season of a 12-year, $104.4-million deal that carries an $8.7-million salary cap hit.

At the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas last Monday, he said things were positive and he was optimistic about a deal getting done.

The three-time Stanley Cup champion is coming off a 42-goal, 94-point campaign that saw him finish tied for 12th in the league scoring race.

Crosby has spent all 19 of his NHL seasons in Pittsburgh, amassing 592 goals and 1,004 assists in 1,272 career games.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

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Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar wins Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal

Published

16 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

MONTREAL – Tadej Pogacar was so dominant on Sunday, Canada’s Michael Woods called it a race for second.

Pogacar, a three-time Tour de France champion from Slovenia, pedalled to a resounding victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal.

The UAE Team Emirates leader crossed the finish line 24 seconds ahead of Spain’s Pello Bilbao of Bahrain — Victorious to win the demanding 209.1-kilometre race on a sunny, 28 C day in Montreal. France’s Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal Quick-Step was third.

“He’s the greatest rider of all time, he’s a formidable opponent,” said Woods, who finished 45 seconds behind the leader in eighth. “If you’re not at your very, very best, then you can forget racing with him, and today was kind of representative of that.

“He’s at such a different level that if you follow him, it can be lights out.”

Pogacar slowed down before the last turn to celebrate with the crowd, high-five fans on Avenue du Parc and cruise past the finish line with his arms in the air after more than five hours on the bike.

The 25-year-old joined Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet as the only multi-time winners in Montreal after claiming the race in 2022. He also redeemed a seventh-place finish at the Quebec City Grand Prix on Friday.

“I was disappointed, because I had such good legs that I didn’t do better than seventh,” Pogacar said. “To bounce back after seventh to victory here, it’s just an incredible feeling.”

It’s Pogacar’s latest win in a dominant year that includes victories at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.

Ottawa’s Woods (Israel Premier-Tech) tied a career-best in front of the home crowd in Montreal, but hoped for more after claiming a stage at the Spanish Vuelta two weeks ago.

“I wanted a better result,” the 37-year-old rider said. “My goal was a podium, but at the same time I’m happy with the performance. In bike racing, you can’t always get the result you want and I felt like I raced really well, I animated the race, I felt like I was up there.”

Pogacar completed the 17 climbs up and down Mount Royal near downtown in five hours 28 minutes 15 seconds.

He made his move with 23.3 kilometres to go, leaving the peloton in his dust as he pedalled into the lead — one he never relinquished.

Bilbao, Alaphilippe, Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) and Bart Lemmen (Visma–Lease) chased in a group behind him, with Bilbao ultimately separating himself from the pack. But he never came close to catching Pogacar, who built a 35-second lead with one lap left to go.

“It was still a really hard race today, but the team was on point,” Pogacar said. “We did really how we planned, and the race situation was good for us. We make it hard in the last final laps, and they set me up for a (takeover) two laps to go, and it was all perfect.”

Ottawa’s Derek Gee, who placed ninth in this year’s Tour de France, finished 48th in Montreal, and called it a “hard day” in the heat.

“I think everyone knows when you see Tadej on the start line that it’s just going to be full gas,” Gee said.

Israel Premier-Tech teammate Hugo Houle of Sainte-Perpétue, Que., was 51st.

Houle said he heard Pogacar inform his teammates on the radio that he was ready to attack with two laps left in the race.

“I said then, well, clearly it’s over for me,” Houle said. “You see, cycling isn’t that complicated.”

Australia’s Michael Matthews won the Quebec City GP for a record third time on Friday, but did not finish in Montreal. The two races are the only North American events on the UCI World Tour.

Michael Leonard of Oakville, Ont., and Gil Gelders and Dries De Bondt of Belgium broke away from the peloton during the second lap. Leonard led the majority of the race before losing pace with 45 kilometres to go.

Only 89 of 169 riders from 24 teams — including the Canadian national team — completed the gruelling race that features 4,573 metres in total altitude.

Next up, the riders will head to the world championships in Zurich, Switzerland from Sept. 21 to 29.

Pogacar will try to join Eddy Merckx (1974) and Stephen Roche (1987) as the only men to win three major titles in a season — known as the Triple Crown.

“Today gave me a lot of confidence, motivation,” Pogacar said. “I think we are ready for world championships.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.

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