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New-look Maple Leafs ready to take next step in ‘Shanaplan’ – Sportsnet.ca

Published

4 years ago

January 12, 2021

TORONTO — Imagine the clock was turned back to the day the ‘Shanaplan’ first entered the lexicon of Toronto Maple Leafs fans and you could tell the guy standing behind the lectern what his team would look like five years hence.

That John Tavares, Joe Thornton, Jason Spezza and Wayne Simmonds would all be pulling on the blue and white of their hometown team, and a big part of the draw for each was the arrival of a young generational goal-scorer (Auston Matthews) and a homegrown dynamo (Mitch Marner) who put up a 94-point season before his 22nd birthday.

You better believe Brendan Shanahan would have taken that hand sight unseen.

Even with the attendant fits and starts — the heartbreaking playoff losses, the Mike Babcock hiring and firing, the ghost of the David Ayres game — it’s been a swift rise from the ashes. The organization has arrived in a place where Shanahan can talk earnestly about competing for the Stanley Cup without sounding tone deaf or sending everyone within earshot into uproarious laughter.

And yet the uncertainty remains.

“I said several years ago that the easier part is coming up with a plan and the hard part is sticking with it, but I think that’s what you just have to do,” Shanahan said Tuesday, on the eve of his seventh season as Leafs president. “You just have to keep looking for ways to improve, looking for ways to evolve, looking for ways to grow, being attentive to the game and where the game is evolving because what might be working for you in one year might need to be adjusted the next.”

There is hope right now in the vast majority of the NHL’s 31 markets and Toronto is no different.

Shanahan sees a renewed commitment to playing the competitive and physical brand of hockey found in the DNA of most Stanley Cup champions. And he sees a roster better composed to deliver it.

He was also buoyed by the number of local players willing to return on reasonable contracts and take up the charge. That’s not something the son of Rosaleen and Donal Shanahan ever really had the chance to do during his own Hall of Fame career. And it’s not something too many NHLers would even have considered when he was first installed at the top of the organization’s hockey operations department.

“There’s a great passion here in Toronto. We feel very fortunate to play here, we feel very fortunate to work here and this is something that we’re all committed to doing,” said Shanahan. “And to have more people come aboard and try and join that quest for us was important. To be very specific, adding guys like Joe, adding guys like [Zach] Bogosian, Simmonds, I could go through the list of all of them.

“They were all coming here for a reason: To add to the group that we already have and to bring other elements to take us to the next level. That’s the hope.”

Following the five-game play-in loss to Columbus in August, Shanahan surveyed the direction of the team with general manager Kyle Dubas and head coach Sheldon Keefe. They felt they had too many offensive-minded players and not enough that made life difficult on opponents when the puck was at the other end of the ice.

“We had an abundance in one area and maybe it lacked in a different area,” said Shanahan, while noting that it set the stage for a busy off-season.

They shipped Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson out in separate trades that freed up enough cap room to pursue Thornton, Simmonds, Bogosian, T.J. Brodie and others in free agency.

There was an emphasis placed on experience, presence, leadership and improved defensive play.

Toronto is also counting on growth from Matthews and Marner, still both just 23, and Shanahan cited Matthews’ new part-time penalty killing role as another step in the right direction.

“I think it’s a great message for the team that your best players are not only expected to score goals, but they’re also expected to defend as well,” said Shanahan. “You look at a guy like Mitch Marner, I would put Mitch in that same company. As a guy that is an elite offensive player, but also really developing into an elite defensive player. So that’s an important aspect for our team.

“We know we can score, we know that we have also a lot of very skilled players that not only can play well defensively but are developing that side of their game so that we can become a team that’s more difficult to score against.

“That’s an important part of our growth.”

Finally, the president is encouraged by what he’s seen from Keefe and the coaching staff. They opened training camp by identifying specific areas of improvement — making it harder on opponents to get to the dangerous areas in front of their own net, more physical play, better work habits — and put players through a gruelling series of workouts.

Keefe has also shown himself to be nimble with adjustments on the fly. He won’t hesitate to shake up the lineup or make alterations to the desired style of play, which could prove particularly valuable in this unusual season with only games against the six other teams in the North Division.

Perhaps most encouraging of all is the fact that the Maple Leafs get to take another shot at climbing the mountain with a high-quality roster. They’re setting out with a legitimate chance of finding their way to the summit.

“You just keep going back to the well and you keep trying until you’re successful,” said Shanahan. “Then of course you hope that leads to a big run. Sticking with it and sticking to it is obviously a much better solution than folding up and saying that ‘this is too hard and we’re just going to not try anymore because it’s just too hard.’

“I look at several of the dynasties in all sports — and I’m not pointing to us as a dynasty — I’m just saying if you look at the dynasties in several sports they went through those same growing pains in the early going.”

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Canada’s Marina Stakusic falls in Guadalajara Open quarterfinals

Published

5 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

5 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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Stampeders return to Maier at QB eyeing chance to get on track against Alouettes

Published

6 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.

It won’t be an easy assignment.

Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.

“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”

Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”

Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.

After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.

“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”

Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.

“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.

A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.

“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”

But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.

“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”

Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”

“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.

Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.

“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”

While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.

“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”

The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.

“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”

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

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