KINGSTON, Ont. – Rick Lang will never forget the past two weeks of his life.
The head coach for Northern Ontario’s Team Brad Jacobs arrived at the Tim Hortons Brier in Kingston, Ont., on Saturday, less than a week after surviving a frightening plane crash while returning home from the Scotties Tournament of Hearts where he was the bench boss for Team Krista McCarville.
“I think we’re very grateful to be alive,” the three-time Brier champion told reporters on Saturday.
Lang, Northern Ontario skip Krista McCarville, second Ashley Sippala, plus three other passengers and two crew members all survived the crash with minor injuries after their Bearskin Airlines flight went off the runway during takeoff on Monday in Dryden, Ont.
The near-death experience was just one part of an unbelievable stretch of days for the 65-year-old.
During a stunning upset loss to Nunavut at the Scotties in Moose Jaw, Sask., the week prior, Lang’s daughter Sarah Potts gave birth to twin baby boys named Cohen and Leo, making Lang a grandfather for the first time. Potts is an elite-level curler herself, representing Northern Ontario four times at the Scotties.
The babies were born at 31 weeks and five days, approximately two months premature.
Lang says the babies stayed in hospital for a few days and were hooked up to incubators and ventilators but are now back home with their parents happy and healthy.
Congratulations to Sarah & Jordan Potts on the birth of their twins Cohen & Leo this week! Born at 31 weeks & 5 days, they are currently in the NICU. Both are doing well, though will be staying in hospital while they continue to grow & develop in these crucial first weeks. pic.twitter.com/EPoLq0XbBk
“We all know about the Sandra Schmirler Foundation,” said Lang of the organization that raises money for life-saving equipment to help babies born prematurely. “We’ll be donating more money in the future to that for sure.”
Still, at the time Lang was anxious to get home as soon as possible due to the surprise nature of the birth.
“I was so looking forward to getting home,” he said.
Getting home to Thunder Bay, Ont., was easier said than done, however. Northern Ontario lost to Ontario in the page playoff 3 vs. 4 game last Saturday as Lang and other members of the team were hoping to get a direct flight home out of Winnipeg or Toronto. With the Special Olympics taking place in Thunder Bay, flights out of those cities were booked solid meaning Lang and company needed to take a series of smaller aircrafts through multiple airports to get home.
“We’ve flown Bearskin before and we wanted to really get home,” said Lang.
The long travel day was going fine until takeoff at the Dryden Airport. Lang says the plane got about three quarters of the way down the runaway when it veered off to the right and hit a snowbank. The collision with the snowbank wasn’t too awful, recounts Lang, but once the propellers started to slash through the ice, that’s when things got very scary.
“It got quite violent. They [shrapnel and debris] were coming into the cabin,” said Lang. “I sat in the very front seat because there was a lot of leg room. That was a mistake because there was a propeller here and they were both coming at me.
“My first thought before the violence was ‘sh*t we’re not getting home today.’ I know how bad the girls wanted to get home for all our kids and everything. I can’t describe my thoughts at the time. Things started exploding and I covered my head in my hands. I put my head down. The level of violence was significant.”
Lang suffered the worst injuries on board as pieces of wooden debris impaled his hand, including one shard that went right through.
“I pulled it out because it was such a big piece of wood. It would hurt to leave it in there,” Lang said.
Lang, who famously played third for popular skip Al Hackner during his playing days, was treated at hospital and was able to drive home to his family and meet his grandchildren for the first time the next day.
The coach says he doesn’t know how long it will take to get over this experience but is just thankful he’s still alive.
“I got together with Krista and Ashley just to compare notes to talk it through. We’re all just feeling the impacts of it. It will be a while before you get over that. I think I’m better everyday. Then I talk to you guys [media] and I’m not so good,” Lang joked. “It was frightening. Absolutely frightening. But, honest to God, so grateful that the girls didn’t get hurt and my injuries are minor. We’re all alive.”
It wouldn’t be surprising to anyone if Lang feared jumping on a plane going forward. But Lang has a job to do at the Brier. Lang, with his son Adam by his side for support, flew direct from Thunder Bay to Kingston for the opening day of the Canadian championship.
Lang is hoping the intensity of the Brier will be a welcomed distraction.
“I’m not going to be emotionally impacted here. We can pull this off,” said Lang. “Get on the ice. I’m a curler. I’m a competitor and I think once we start throwing rocks I’ll be thinking about that and be able to move on.”
Lang says they should know more about the cause of the crash in 10 days or so. For now, Lang is just focusing on winning a fourth Brier Tankard and his first as a coach.
“I’ve been looking forward to the Brier ever since they won provincials,” said Lang.
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Serbia and Albania are set to co-host the men’s Under-21 European Championship in 2027 in a soccer project that aims to overcome political tensions.
UEFA said Thursday only the Serbia-Albania bid met a deadline this week to file detailed tournament plans. Belgium and Turkey had declared interest earlier in the bidding process scheduled to be decided at a Dec. 16 meeting of the UEFA executive committee.
The Serbian and Albanian soccer federations teamed up in May to plan organization of the 16-team tournament played every two years that needs eight stadiums to host 31 games.
Albania soccer federation leader Armand Duka, who is a UEFA vice president, told The Associated Press in May that “it’s a 100% football project” with “a very good political message that we can get across.”
Weeks later at the men’s European Championship held in Germany, historic tensions between the Balkan countries — which in soccer included a notorious drone incident at a Serbia-Albania game in 2014 — played out at separate games involving their senior teams.
An Albania player was banned for games by UEFA for using a megaphone to join fans in nationalist chants, including targeting Serbia, after a Euro 2024 game against Croatia. Fans of Albania and Croatia earlier joined in anti-Serb chants, leading UEFA to impose fines for discrimination.
UEFA also fined both the Albanian and Serbian federations in separate incidents at Euro 2024 for fans displaying politically motivated banners about neighboring Kosovo.
After historic tensions were heightened by the 1990s Balkans conflicts, in 2008 majority ethnic Albanians in Kosovo declared independence for the former Serbian province. Serbia refuses to recognize that independence and considers Kosovo the cradle of its statehood.
An Albanian fans group daubed red paint on the federation offices in May when the cooperation with Serbian soccer for the Under-21 Euros was announced.
“We did have a few negative reactions from fans, mainly, and some interest groups,” Duka said then, “but not from the Albania government.”
UEFA has shown broad support for Serbia and Albania under its president, Aleksander Ceferin, who is from Slovenia.
The next annual congress of UEFA’s 55 national federations is in the Serbian capital Belgrade on April 3, and an executive committee meeting in September 2025 will be held in Tirana, Albania.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia’s mayor has revealed the terms of the deal negotiated with the city’s pro basketball team for a new $1.3 billion arena downtown.
The agreement reached earlier this month calls for the Philadelphia 76ers to finance the entire project, with no city funding involved. There is, however, a provision that would let the NBA team make annual payments in lieu of taxes averaging $6 million per year. The agreement also calls for a $50 million investment in businesses, neighboring communities and the city’s schools to blunt the project’s impact, Mayor Cherelle Parker said during a news conference Wednesday night.
“I truly am proud having made this decision and negotiated an agreement that will definitely ensure that our Sixers are staying home right here in Philadelphia, where they should be,” Parker said.
City officials also released drafts of the nine bills and two resolutions needed to authorize the project, including measures that allow the city to acquire the arena property and change zoning rules. Parker said her administration would hold a series of town halls in the coming months where residents could discuss concerns about the proposal.
Team owners say their planned “76 Place” project would improve a struggling retail corridor near City Hall and capitalize on the city’s public transit. They also have vowed not to renew the lease on their current space, a circa 1996 arena in the city’s South Philadelphia sports complex, when their lease runs out in 2031.
The proposal has drawn significant opposition from activists in the city’s Chinatown area, who fear it would disrupt or displace residents and businesses. They say the city has ignored concerns that the project will increase vehicle traffic in their pedestrian-friendly neighborhood and force vulnerable residents — older people, low-income families and new immigrants — to move out. Parker on Wednesday renewed her pledge to preserve the area, which is just over a block from the proposed arena site.
If ultimately approved by the City Council, demolition work in the area would begin in 2026 with construction starting two years later. Officials hope to open the arena in time for the 76ers’ 2031-32 season.
Karl-Anthony Towns was born in New Jersey, went to college in Kentucky and has spent the entirety of his NBA career in Minnesota.
His roots, however, are in the Dominican Republic. And to continue paying homage to his late mother’s homeland, Towns announced plans Thursday to help build a state-of-the-art basketball training facility in that country, one where youth will get top-notch coaching and access to physical therapy, classroom space, meeting space and more.
Groundbreaking in Santiago, Dominican Republic, is set for next year, with plans calling for completion in 2026.
“I’ve been very fortunate to live the American dream,” said Towns, the four-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection who is about to enter his 10th pro season, all with the Timberwolves. “But for me, having a different set of eyes, seeing it through my mother’s eyes and what she had to do to really even feel like an American, I wanted to bring the resources that we have here to there and give kids the opportunity to have the best equipment and the best chances possible to not only make money for their family but also pursue their dreams.”
Jacqueline Cruz-Towns died in April 2020 of complications related to COVID-19. She was the center of her son’s world, the woman who taught him about the importance of faith and family, sacrifice and hard work. The fact that this facility — Towns is partnering with GO Ministries and World Youth Clubs to make it happen — is going to be built where she’s from is not a coincidence.
“It was really important for me to give back to my community, a country that’s given me everything, gave me my mother and gave me this love of the game of basketball,” Towns said. “It’s given me the word love, both of family and understanding how to treat people.”
Towns, also in tribute to his mother, has represented the Dominican Republic in multiple international tournaments going back to 2011 at the junior level. He most recently starred for the island nation at the 2023 World Cup in the Philippines, averaging 24.4 points in five games.
This basketball facility is part of a complex that also includes two soccer fields, four baseball fields, covered outdoor basketball and volleyball courts and an educational facility. Towns said it has taken time to find the right people to actually execute the programs on the ground — he has known and trusted some of them for years — and now the “building blocks are set,” he said.
And above all else, his mother — who took him to church often and even when the family was struggling taught him the value of trying to help others — would approve.
“It is the safe haven for some of these kids who have found themselves in different situations and have a lack of resources,” Towns said. “To be able to give these kids a chance to dream and to really think of the dream — maybe they don’t make the NBA, the WNBA, professional baseball, become a professional volleyball player or a great soccer player — but now they get to dream. For them to be able to grow their life skills, their social skills, and also to learn how to have a passion and to be determined about something and have dedication, I think this is amazing.”
