TORONTO – It’s impossible for Jack Campbell to recall the words his parents said Wednesday night when he called to inform mom and dad he’d been traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team just a three-hour drive from their home in Port Huron, Mich. A team with a shot and some run support.
Damned if the goaltender can remember what he said to Debbi and Jack Sr. that night either.
“It was like one of those moments, you kinda go dark for a second ’cause it’s just special,” Campbell said. “I just remember how excited they were.
“It was crazy. I’ll never forget that moment.”
Funny how the biggies in life work.
The details blur, but the feelings attached remain crystal.
National Hockey League goaltenders are supposed to follow two golden rules. One: Don’t get nervous. Two: If you do get nervous, don’t admit it.
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So, after Campbell won his first game as a Maple Leaf on Friday night, an overtime nail-biter with mom and dad part of the joyous sold-out barn, the goalie (and secret rom-com fan) endeared himself with his honesty and sensitivity.
“I was just really excited, and I think when you care a lot, you get a little nervous,” Campbell said.
During a whirlwind six days, the new backup in town has furthered endeared with his results, battling through three consecutive overtimes and surfacing with five of six valuable standings points in a playoff race that promises a photo finish.
Fans and teammates alike have warmed quickly to Campbell’s heart-on-sleeve, smile-on-face approach, and he was awarded the dressing room’s Raptors game ball for his .946 effort Tuesday, after waking up thinking he’d be backing up.
“I just like the confidence that he has in himself and the confidence he brings to our team, and he’s excited for every opportunity that comes about — and it doesn’t matter how it comes about. He’s ready for it, whether it’s coming in and playing right away in essentially his first day with us or playing on back-to-back nights or playing today when maybe he wasn’t necessarily coming to the arena thinking that he would be starting,” said coach Sheldon Keefe.
“He’s a guy that does find his way to be comfortable because he’s very social, is outgoing and has a great attitude.”
Leafs Nation, still coming back for more after 53 years of bummers, has its tendencies to ride too high and hate too fast.
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So, although his initials are J.C., we’re not crowing Jack Campbell this season’s saviour quite yet.
But the scrappy, puck-moving goalie has delivered in a small, adrenalin-fueled sample size in his comfy L.A. Kings gear repainted blue and white.
In addition to Tuesday’s 35-save gem in a 3-2 overtime win over the Arizona Coyotes, Campbell’s 2-0-1 splash has permitted starter Frederik Andersen the cushion of time to fully recover from the neck injury he suffered on Feb. 3, and has immediately instilled the skaters in front of him with a rush of confidence that they have a good chance of winning even without No. 31 patrolling the paint.
You may have heard that since Andersen arrived in Toronto, he has been responsible for backstopping 80 per cent of the Leafs’ standings points, contributing a greater share than any other goalie in the NHL.
With Soupy’s warming potential—and a cap-gentle contract that runs through 2021-22—there is real hope that, just maybe, not everything has to live and die with Andersen’s health or hot streaks.
“He’s not just a backup,” Kyle Clifford said of Campbell, who came parcelled in the trade. “There’s a lot of potential there.”
Zach Hyman wants to know if you’ve met Campbell yet because he’s “just a really, really friendly guy.”
Alexander Kerfoot beamed when he said, Campbell’s “energy is awesome.”
Like Andersen, Campbell has taken to gliding out from his crease and standing on the blue line alongside the boys for “O Canada” and frequently punctuates his flashy glove saves with butt-taps to his defenders.
“They always tell me, ‘Good job,’ so it’s kind of like (me saying) ‘Good job.’ It kind of makes you interact with your teammates a little more. Being in the net, you’re not on the bench so you can’t really chat it up with the boys,” Campbell explained.
Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman talk to a lot of people around the hockey world, and then they tell listeners all about what they’ve heard and what they think about it.
Drew Doughty, former Kings goalie coach Bill Ranford (who helped with his technique), former Ontario Reign goalie coach Dusty Imoo, Clifford… they all have tales of Campbell’s first-to-the-rink attendance, his long hours in the gym and on the ice, and his tendency to blame himself for every puck that slips through.
“We’re not making this up. This is a real thing. He’s got a work ethic in him that runs very high. He competes on every puck out there in practice like it’s a Game 7 puck. So it’s gotten him to this level. It’s made him a better goalie,” said Jake Muzzin, an ex-King reunited.
That one standings point the Leafs squandered in Montreal on Saturday? Campbell immediately assumed blame for the entire group.
“Yeah, and he played a hell of a game,” said Muzzin, shaking his head. “He puts a lot of pressure on himself to be the best he can be, and he hates to let the team down, let himself down. But a lot of times he’s not. He just puts that on himself.
“That’s kind of guy we have here. So, we’re lucky to have him.”
This extraordinary inner drive is a quality the son inherited from Jack Sr., who owns an electrical distribution company in Port Huron. (“He grinds,” Junior assured.)
The Kings were road-tripping in New York last week when Campbell’s head was spun with news he’d been dealt. He had one pair of pants, a set of gym shorts and no extra boxers.
There’d be no time to fly home from Manhattan to Manhattan Beach. It was straight to Toronto and into the fire, the race, the shopping mall.
“It’s pretty emotional,” Campbell said.
“The excitement level of being a Maple Leaf — not that this takes away from L.A. — but the excitement was so great that you kinda move on right away.”
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.
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.
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.
