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At every turn of his young CFL career, B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke has managed to rise to the moment.
In front of a hostile West Final crowd in Winnipeg, that streak of excellence came to a decisive end.
“We didn’t get off to the start that we wanted to. I didn’t think it was necessarily anything that they were doing that was special, I thought that we were really kicking ourselves,” Rourke told reporters following his team’s 28-20 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“We had some breaks go our way early, which was great and we were able to stay in it, but it was just a little too late when we got into a rhythm. You just can’t do that against a good team like Winnipeg.”
Battling through the effects of a surgically repaired foot, the tough Manitoba elements, and the two-time defending Grey Cup champions, the Canadian sensation fell flat in a way CFL fans had not yet seen. He opened the game with five straight incompletions and was plagued by an erratic release throughout the first half, entering the break 7-of-17 for 87 yards and an interception.
While analysts and experts will spend an offseason trying to pinpoint an exact reason for the failure, Rourke himself could offer no easy answer.
“It’s tough to say. Mentally, I thought I was okay with the environment, with the cold, and all that different stuff,” he shared at the podium.
“Sometimes it happens for you and sometimes it doesn’t and to be honest, at this point I don’t exactly know why, but clearly it wasn’t out there and I didn’t show up the way that I needed to.”
The second half offered some chance at redemption and Rourke finished the game 20-of-37 for 300 yards, a fourth-quarter touchdown, and two interceptions. He also added 20 yards on the ground to lead the team, which was an unexpected result he cited as evidence that his injured right foot had no bearing on his playoff output.
Down eight points in the final minutes, there was hope that the Canadian pivot could once again catch fire and pull off a heroic comeback. In the end, he was stymied by the IG Field crowd rendering his play calls inaudible and allowing precious seconds to tick off the clock.
Despite the slow start and failed two-minute drill, Lions’ head coach Rick Campbell still had nothing negative to say about his quarterback. Context is critical, a fact often forgotten when talking about a player still just fourteen starts into his professional career.
“I think this is about as hard a game that he’ll play in so far as everything, the whole situation, all that. And he’s a 24-year-old and can handle all this stuff. I couldn’t have done this when I was 24, I know that,” Campbell stressed.
“I think he’s got nowhere to go but up, which is saying something. It just didn’t happen tonight.”
No loss can dampen the offseason circus that is now set to begin in Vancouver, with conversations around Rourke’s future beginning almost as soon as the final whistle blew. Many will openly wonder if the last image Lions fans will ever see of their homegrown phenom will be one of defeat, with him sobbing on the shoulder of veteran receiver Bryan Burnham.
Those realities are still far too abstract for the youngster to grapple with in the midst of the greatest letdown in his sporting life.
“Honestly, what’s going to happen next season and all that stuff is really at the back of my mind. What’s hard right now, what stings right now, is for people like Burnham, for people like our veterans on this team; the people that I was playing for out there,” he said. “When you’re not able to get it done and you put in a performance like that, that makes it a lot tougher.”
No matter how tough the final outing was, the staggering raw numbers and early season tape remain out there. Even in defeat, Rourke can only avoid the NFL question for so long and to most, the answer seems obvious.
However, leaving is harder when unfinished business remains. Asked point blank if he’ll be back in Lions colours next year, the heartbeat of the franchise left the door open — if only slightly.
“I don’t know,” Rourke admitted. “I’d sure like to be the way that I’m feeling right now.”
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
