The B.C. Lions ensured Jordan Williams began his CFL tenure with a bang.
The Lions opened the CFL draft Thursday night by moving up from No. 3 to first overall in a trade with the Calgary Stampeders. Then B.C. made Williams the first player taken.
“I’m absolutely surprised,” Williams said during a conference call. “I thought the CFL is one through nine and that’s what you get.
“I didn’t think they’d pick me, I thought they’d get a defensive end or something. For them to take me, man, it’s surreal. I can’t even quantify how it feels.”
The five-foot-11, 219-pound Williams hasn’t played football since 2017 when he finished second in tackles at East Carolina with 89 — including three for a loss — with a forced fumble. The 27-year-old is an American by birth but was deemed a national for the draft because his mother is Canadian.
“I think once I know the rust’s off, I’ll be locked and loaded and ready to go,” Williams said.
With the first overall pick in the <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/CFLDraft?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#CFLDraft</a>, the <a href=”https://twitter.com/BCLions?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@BCLions</a> take LB Jordan Williams from <a href=”https://twitter.com/ECUPiratesFB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@ECUPiratesFB</a> <br><br>Full Details | <a href=”https://t.co/4AWRhNa6rl”>https://t.co/4AWRhNa6rl</a> <a href=”https://t.co/CShlEymQLA”>pic.twitter.com/CShlEymQLA</a>
Last year, the Ottawa Redblacks offered Williams a practice-roster spot after he attended one of the club’s free-agent camps. But upon learning of his mother’s nationality, the club recommended Williams investigate taking that path into the league.
Williams shined at last month’s Ontario combine, the CFL’s final due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. He recorded a 40-yard dash time of 4.48 seconds, 20 reps in the 225-pound bench press, 39-inch vertical jump and broad jump of 10 feet, 8.5 inches.
B.C. (5-13) finished last in the West Division last season. Head coach DeVone Claybrooks was fired and replaced by Rick Campbell after he stepped down from that post with the Ottawa Redblacks.
Argos take brother of Raptor
The Toronto Argonauts then took Virginia receiver Dejon Brissett, the older brother of Toronto Raptors guard/forward Oshae Brissett. And the elder Brissett, a native of Mississauga, Ont., gets to begin his pro career very close to home.
“It’s surreal being home for the first time in a long time,” he said. “I can’t explain how excited I am.”
The six-foot-one, 195-pound Brissett, a native of Mississauga, Ont., appeared in 12 games last season with Virginia after transferring from Richmond, recording two receptions for 18 yards. Brissett appeared in 33 games at Richmond, recording 86 catches for 1,282 yards and nine TDs.
Brissett is looking forward to joining a Toronto team coming off consecutive 4-14 campaigns after winning the ’17 Grey Cup.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “We’re going to make it happen, for sure.”
At No. 3, Calgary took Southeastern Louisiana defensive end Issac Adeyemi-Berglund of Dartmouth, N.S. And while the six-foot-two, 243-pound Adeyemi-Berglund now knows where he’ll begin his pro career, he still doesn’t know exactly when it will begin due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s always crazy when you talk about this COVID-19 thing but it’s the same for every athlete,” he said. “But it’s crazy because we just got drafted, it’s probably the biggest night of our lives according to football so it’s definitely strange.”
Adeyemi-Berglund registered 28 tackles for a loss and 15 sacks during his collegiate career.
Eskimos, TiCats beef up O-Line
The Edmonton Eskimos selected Buffalo offensive lineman Tomas Jack-Kurdyla at No. 4. The six-foot-four, 300-pound Montreal native was a four-year starter for a Bulls team that last year set schools records for most rushing yards (3,256, 296 per game) and fewest sacks (eight).
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats used the first of their two opening-round selections on Guelph offensive lineman Coulter Woodmansey at No. 5. The six-foot-five, 325-pound Toronto native plays with an edge, a solid attribute for a franchise coming off a club-record 15 regular-season wins last year.
The Ottawa Redblacks (league-worst 3-15 record) followed by taking versatile Adam Auclair of Laval. The six-foot-two, 205-pound Auclair, whose brother, Antony, is a tight end with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, can play linebacker or in the secondary and contribute on special teams.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders didn’t look far with the seventh overall pick, taking Saskatchewan Huskies offensive lineman Mattland Riley. The six-foot-three, 285-pound native of Melfort, Sask., was a 2018 second-team All-Canadian.
Hamilton followed up by selecting North Dakota defensive end Mason Bennett. The six-foot-four, 235-pound Winnipeg native appeared in 43 career collegiate games, recording 128 tackles — 31.5 for a loss — with 20 sacks and two fumble recoveries.
Toronto completed the first round with its second selection, Regina offensive lineman Theren Churchill at No. 9. The six-foot-six, 295-pound native of Stettler, Alta., made 25 career starts at right tackle for the Rams.
The Redblacks opened the second taking Brown defensive lineman Michael Hoecht at No. 10 overall. But they’ll have to wait as the six-foot-four, 310-pound Oakville, Ont., native signed as an undrafted free agent with the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams.
BC receiver en route to Calgary
At No. 12, Calgary took British Columbia receiver Trivel Pinto, who was suspended for two years and bumped from the ’19 draft after a positive cocaine test. The Toronto native was a first-team All-Canadian for a second straight season in 2018, setting a Canada West record with 67 catches for 916 yards and six TDs.
The Alouettes look to the future with their first selection, taking Montreal Carabins defensive back Marc-Antoine Dequoy at No. 14. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Green Bay Packers.
B.C. then made Nathan Rourke of Oaville, Ont., the first quarterback taken at No. 15. That’s the highest for a Canadian at that position since ’01 when Montreal selected former Florida star Jesse Palmer.
The six-foot-two, 209-pound Rourke completed 200-of-328 passes for 2,820 yards with 20 TDs and five interceptions last season at Ohio University while rushing for 867 yards (5.6-yard average) with 13 touchdowns. It will be a homecoming of sorts for Rourke, who has family in Vancouver and Powell River, B.C.
Montreal followed at No. 16 taking Queen’s defensive lineman Cameron Lawson. The six-foot-three, 285-pound native of Caledon, Ont., recorded 74 career tackles, 11 sacks, 19.5 tackles for a loss and two fumble recoveries as a collegian.
The Grey Cup-champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers made their first pick of the draft at No. 18, taking McMaster defensive back Noah Hallett. He joins his brother, Nick, also a defensive back who was a ’19 seventh-round pick.
Canadian Football League is requesting up to $150 million in assistance. 3:38
MONTREAL – On a night when New York’s top line was missing in action, the bit players grabbed the spotlight and led the Rangers to a commanding 7-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
“That’s the kind of team we have,” said Filip Chytil, who led the Rangers with a pair of power-play goals Tuesday. “The guys on the top line had chances but when they don’t score we have three other lines to pick up the slack.”
The Rangers’ dominance was reflected in the amount of time they spent in the Canadiens zone and their 45-23 edge in shots.
“If you’ve watched us practice, you know that’s something we work on all the time,” said Chytil. “When we get the puck, we want to hold on to it.”
The Rangers grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals by Mika Zibanejad at the 56-second mark and Jonny Brodzinski at 2:05, but it was Montreal which pressed the play in the first minute.
“I thought we had a good start but they turned it around on us,” said Montreal coach Martin St. Louis.
Lane Hutson controlled the puck off the opening faceoff and had two early shots, both of which were blocked by New York’s Jacob Trouba.
“That was huge for us,” said Rangers coach Peter Laviolette. “We know (Trouba) can generate offence but he can come up with those big defensive plays.”
Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault exited at 11:05 of the first period after giving up four goals on 10 shots. Zibanejad, Brodzinski, Chytil and Reilly Smith all scored on the Habs’ starter.
His replacement, Cayden Primeau, stopped 33 of 35 shots, giving up goals to Braden Schneider, Kaapo Kakko and Chytil.
Nick Suzuki scored both of the Montreal goals, his first strikes of the season
“It didn’t really feel like a 7-2 game until the end there when you look up at the scoreboard,” Suzuki said. “But we obviously keep digging ourselves these holes, and against a good team like that, our details early on have to be really sharp. And we were definitely a little sleepy coming out and they jumped on us.”
Hutson led the Canadiens in ice time with 24:10 but this wasn’t one of his better games. Smith scored on a breakaway after taking the puck off Hutson’s stick and the rookie was minus-4 for the night.
After Tuesday’s morning practice, the Canadiens announced forward Juraj Slafkovsky will miss at least a week with an upper-body injury. Defenceman Kaiden Guhle missed a second consecutive game with an upper-body injury but the team said it isn’t a long-term ailment.
The injury situation didn’t get any better after Trouba flattened Justin Barron at 7:11 of the third period. Barron didn’t return to the ice but there was no immediate word on his condition.
The Rangers welcomed back defenceman Ryan Lindgren, who made his season debut after missing five games with a jaw injury.
Before the game, 14 players from the Canadiens’ team that won four consecutive Stanley Cups between 1976 and 1979 were introduced at the Bell Centre. Among them were Hockey Hall of Fame members Yvan Cournoyer, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Bob Gainey and Ken Dryden.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.
TOKYO – Canadians Leylah Fernandez and Bianca Andreescu have both moved on to the quarterfinals at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
Fernandez advanced after downing Varvara Gracheva 6-0, 3-6, 7-5 on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old from Laval, Que., fired three aces and converted 5-of-11 break points during the two-hour 15-minute match. Gracheva, of France, battled back in the second set, winning 72.2 per cent of her first-serve points, before Fernandez rallied in the third set.
Andreescu, from Mississauga, Ont., advanced after Beatriz Haddad Maia retired due to a back injury while trailing 3-0 in the first set. Haddad Maia, the No. 2 seed, appeared to be in pain from the second game onward and took a medical timeout before exiting the match.
In the quarterfinals, Fernandez takes on the winner of a matchup between the tournament’s top seed, Qinwen Zheng of China, and Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima, while Andreescu faces either Katie Boulter or Kyoka Okamura.
In women’s doubles action, Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and her partner Erin Routliffe were up 6-3, 1-2 on Japanese pair Nao Hibino and Miyu Kato when their match was suspended.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball has sold at auction for nearly $4.4 million, a record high price not just for a baseball, but for any ball in any sport, the auctioneer said Wednesday.
“We received bids from around the world, a testament to the significance of this iconic collectible and Ohtani’s impact on sports, and I’m thrilled for the winning bidder,” Ken Goldin, the founder and CEO of auctioneer Goldin Auctions said in a statement.
The auction opened on Sept. 27 with a starting bid of $500,000 and closed just after midnight on Wednesday. The auctioneer said it could not disclose any information about the winning bidder.
The auction has been overshadowed by the litigation over ownership of the ball. Christian Zacek walked out of Miami’s LoanDepot Park with the ball after gaining possession in the left-field stands. Max Matus and Joseph Davidov each claim in separate lawsuits that they grabbed the ball first.
All the parties involved in the litigation agreed that the auction should continue.
Matus’ lawsuit claims that the Florida resident — who was celebrating his 18th birthday — gained possession of the Ohtani ball before Zacek took it away. Davidov claims in his suit that he was able to “firmly and completely grab the ball in his left hand while it was on the ground, successfully obtaining possession of the 50/50 ball.”
Ohtani and the Dodgers are preparing for Game 1 of the World Series scheduled for Friday night.
