Sports

New Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme looks calm, cool and confident – Montreal Gazette

Published

4 years ago

February 24, 2021

Harry Miller

GM Marc Bergevin describes the 47-year-old Joliette native as a “new model of coach” who is a good communicator.

Author of the article:

Stu Cowan • Montreal Gazette

MONTREAL, QUE.: SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 — New Montreal Canadiens assistant coach Dominique Ducharme speaks to players during training camp practice at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard on Friday September 14, 2018. (John Mahoney} / MONTREAL GAZETTE) ORG XMIT: 61367 – 9188 Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

Dominique Ducharme looked a bit nervous when he sat down for his first video conference Wednesday afternoon in Winnipeg as the Canadiens’ new head coach.

That’s totally understandable.

But it wasn’t very long into the 35-minute session that the 47-year-old Joliette native started to look calm, cool and confident answering questions from the media.

“I feel prepared,” Ducharme said. “When you’re prepared, you sit down at school, you get your exam, you don’t care what the questions are going to be. You’re ready to answer. You’re pretty nervous when you’re not ready, when you didn’t study. So I feel comfortable. I feel ready. I’m confident in the group, I’m confident in the guys I’m working with and I’m ready to go.”

Ducharme takes over from Claude Julien, who was fired Wednesday morning after the Canadiens went 2-4-2 in their last eight games, dropping to fourth place in the North Division with a 9-5-4 record. Associate coach Kirk Muller was also fired.

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Ducharme has basically been the Canadiens’ head-coach-in-waiting since being hired as an assistant coach before the start of the 2018-19 season.

“If I had written a script, maybe it would have been different today,” he said. “But I’m losing two colleagues and two great people. Claude is a great man and I got to know Kirk. To see them leave, obviously, it’s a mixed feeling. Yes, I’m proud to be here. It was a long road for me. I didn’t take the highway … I went on the side roads. But I’m proud of that and I think it made me grow as a coach and today I feel ready for it.”

Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin informed Ducharme he was the new head coach Wednesday morning in Ottawa, after the Canadiens lost 5-4 to the Senators in a shootout Tuesday night. The Canadiens flew to Winnipeg later in the day and will play the Jets Thursday night (8 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

Ducharme won’t even get a full practice before taking over behind the bench. The Canadiens will have a morning skate Thursday.

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“I want a team that plays the right way and plays fast, that’s for sure,” Ducharme said. “I like offence. For sure, I like offence. But to create offence you need to have the puck, so you need to retrieve it. We want to spend less time in our zone, we want to create more turnovers, we want to counter quick, we want to have solutions when we have the puck. For sure, we want to be going on offence, but we need the puck.

“One thing is creating an offence is not only with the puck carrier,” he added. “Right now we need a lot more support, we need a lot more cohesion on that side, working together and having options. We’ll work at giving the guy with the puck a lot more options.”

Bergevin described Ducharme as a “new model of coach” who is a good communicator. The GM wanted to make it clear that doesn’t mean Julien wasn’t a good communicator, adding sometimes it can be the same message just delivered in a different way with a different voice that is needed. Bergevin said the Canadiens were looking like a team that was lost and missing a sense of direction, adding that happens in pro sports when the same coach has been delivering the message for a long time and it stops getting through. Julien was in his fourth season as head coach.

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Bergevin is “100 per cent confident” Ducharme is the right man to get the players back on the same page, change the team’s vibe and turn things around. While Ducharme was named interim head coach, Bergevin said the job is his to lose now and a decision will be made on his future at the end of the season.

Ducharme is also confident he can get the job done.

“If you prepare for the game and you think tonight we’re going to win, maybe you forget something,” he said. “How are we going to win? Focus on the process. I think we need to go back to those little things and make sure we’re doing them right. For sure, there’s going to be some little adjustments. But I’m confident that we have a good team here. We’ll have success.”

Ducharme was asked what his specific responsibilities were as one of Julien’s assistant coaches up to this point.

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“A lot had to do with the pre-scout, watching the other team,” he said. “Obviously, I had a lot of things to watch for five-on-five. Claude has always been open to my comments. I learned a lot. Talking about the power play with Kirk, with Luke (Richardson) about the PK, so I touched a lot of things and gained experience that way. I think that was great for me.”

Ducharme was going to meet with the players for the first time as head coach Wednesday night.

What was his message going to be?

“I’ll keep that for them,” he said. “I think they deserve that. They care a lot. It was a big day for me, it was a big day for Kirk, for Claude. They’re human and they care. So I’ll talk to them tonight.”

scowan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/StuCowan1

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Sports

Canada’s Marina Stakusic falls in Guadalajara Open quarterfinals

Published

2 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.

The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.

Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.

In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.

The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Kirk’s walk-off single in 11th inning lifts Blue Jays past Cardinals 4-3

Published

2 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.

With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.

Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.

Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.

Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.

He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.

The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.

Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.

He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.

George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.

Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.

In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.

St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

ON DECK

Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.

The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Whitecaps loan Herdman to CPL’s Cavalry, sign two reserve players to first-team deals

Published

8 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps have loaned midfielder Jay Herdman to Cavalry FC of the Canadian Premier League and rewarded two Whitecaps FC 2 players with MLS contracts.

Midfielder Jeevan Badwal signed as a homegrown player through 2027, with options for 2028 and 2029, while forward Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau signed an MLS contract through 2025, with club options for 2026 and 2027.

Both have been playing for the Whitecaps’ MLS Next Pro team along with the 20-year-old Herdman, the son of Toronto FC coach John Herdman.

The moves were made before Friday’s MLS and CPL roster freeze.

Born in New Zealand while his father was working for the New Zealand Football Federation, Jay Herdman was also part of the New Zealand soccer team at the Paris Olympics with three appearances including two starts. Herdman’s loan deal runs through the end of the CPL season.

“Jay is an important signing for us, who will provide another attacking option for the run-in,” Cavalry coach and GM Tommy Wheeldon Jr. said in a statement. “He’s a player that we’ve been tracking since we played against Whitecaps in pre-season and he has very good quality, with terrific energy and the ability to contribute to goals.

“With the recent injury to Mael Henry, Jay’s positional profile and age helps us with on-field options and minutes that count towards the league’s required 2,000 U-21 domestic minutes during the regular season.”

Badwal, an 18-year-old from suburban Surrey, is the 26th academy player to sign an MLS contract with the Whitecaps.

“Having joined our academy in 2019, Jeevan continues to progress through our club and takes every challenge in stride,” Whitecaps FC sporting director Axel Schuster said in a statement. “He is comfortable on the ball, positionally sound, and does the simple things very well. We are excited for Jeevan to make the next step in his young career.”

Badwal has made 19 appearances with Whitecaps 2 this season, scoring two goals and adding three assists. A Canadian youth international, he started all three matches for Canada at the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup

Badwal made his first-team debut off the bench in the first leg of the Canadian Championship semifinal against Pacific FC.

Chateau was originally selected 74th overall by the Whitecaps in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft after spending two years at St. John’s University.

The 22-year-old from Ottawa signed an MLS NEXT Pro contract with Whitecaps FC 2 in March. He leads Whitecaps FC 2 in goal-scoring this season with eight goals across 21 appearances (including eight starts).

“Nicolas leads MLS NEXT Pro in shots on target, has a very strong work rate and willpower. We are looking forward to seeing his growth as he builds on his young professional career,” said Schuster.

Chateau made his first-team debut as a second-half substitute at CF Montreal on July 6.

Herdman, who joined the Whitecaps academy as a 13-year-old, has made 19 appearances for Whitecaps FC 2 in 2024, scoring six goals and adding three assists. He made his MLS debut in April as a second-half substitute in a 2-0 victory at the Seattle Sounders.

Internationally, Herdman has represented New Zealand 29 times across the U-19, U-20, and U-23 sides. He was part of New Zealand’s squad at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup, starting three matches at the tournament and scoring against Uzbekistan.

The Whitecaps host San Jose on Saturday while Cavalry entertains Atletico Ottawa on Sunday.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024

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