Sports

Oilers’ lack of toughness exposed in disappointing loss to Kings

Published

2 years ago

January 10, 2023

LOS ANGELES — This was a test, and the Edmonton Oilers didn’t just fail it. They were exposed.

In the first game of the second half of their schedule, against a Kings team the Oilers would dearly like to reel in in the Pacific Division standings, Edmonton was soft, undisciplined and gave up four power-play goals in a 6-3 loss.

In a game that was ruptured by whistle-happy referee Furman South, and to a far lesser extent Marc Joannette, the Kings won every battle on special teams, outclassing the best power play in the NHL while punishing one of the worst penalty kills on the circuit (ranked 27th).

LOS ANGELES — This was a test, and the Edmonton Oilers didn’t just fail it. They were exposed.

‘Tonight we got touched up’: Oilers’ Woodcroft on execution from special teams

“The refs got involved. There was a lot of calls both ways,” said Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft. “Our penalty kill could have been a lot sharper and we ended up on the wrong side of the special-teams battle. I thought that was the difference in the game.”

On a night when the Kings hosted a clinic in McDavid Management (one goal, no assists), and the power play was ineffective (0-for-6), well, there were no more bullets at Woodcroft’s disposal. Because he simply does not have a team that can check its way to a win or penalty kill itself out of trouble.

The Kings scored four times on seven opportunities.

“It’s a game we want back on the PK,” admitted Oilers’ Derek Ryan. “I liked our five-on-five game … had some good looks, good zone time. But the penalty kill couldn’t get it done.”

Kings’ Fiala targets top corner from sharp angle for his second goal in first period

It was a rare night when the Oilers’ power play ran cold. The best unit in the league (31 per cent) usually feasts on nights like this one. Not this time.

“That’s gonna happen some nights,” Woodcroft said. “Our power play has operated at the level it has this season. How about the penalty kill step up and take care of the other team’s power play? If that would have happened, we wouldn’t be talking about our lack of production.”

Let’s face it: Edmonton is a power-play-reliant team that really has no other way to win a game that Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl or the power play doesn’t win for them.

This is a team that has just two ways to turn the momentum in a hockey game: A goal and a power-play goal.

They don’t have a fighter, they don’t have energy players and they don’t have hitters — even though three unlikely suspects named Zach Hyman, Jesse Puljujarvi and Klim Kostin bravely jumped into the fray Monday.

Oilers’ Kostin and Kings’ Lemieux drop gloves after empty net goal

If this team doesn’t score — and we’re talking mostly about four or five guys here — they can’t change the direction of a hockey game. Even though the aforementioned, unlikely trio tried their best on Monday.

With the score 4-1 for the Kings, Puljujarvi stepped into Viktor Arvidsson with a hard hit, and then stood in against Phillip Danault when the Kings centre came to his winger’s defence.

Kings’ Danault steps up to Puljujarvi after delivering a huge hit on Arvidsson

Hyman flattened big Quinton Byfield with a lovely hit and then scrapped Sean Durzi later on. And Kostin danced with Brendan Lemieux at the end of a long-gone game.

“Our team showed fight and our team showed fire in a game where things didn’t go all our way,” Woodcroft said. “I think that’s a positive sign. We had some good hits on some of their skill players, in a legal fashion. On the physicality side of things, we were right there.”

Someone had to do it, and here we are, with a Finnish skill guy and a young Russian newcomer leading the Oilers in fights this season, with two each. Meanwhile, there are a host of former Western and Ontario League players who are simply not physically engaged enough on a team that would do well to get its hands dirty more often.

“It shows that they want to win. That they want to go to war for all the guys in the locker room,” Kailer Yamamoto said of the players who were on Monday’s fight card.

You wouldn’t have predicted that Kostin and Puljujarvi would be leading this team in fighting majors one game into the season’s second half. Nor would you say that’s a good thing.

“That’s the way the game is going,” Yamamoto said. “It’s getting faster, but I think we need a little more grit from our team.”

This team isn’t hard enough, isn’t tough enough, and its third and fourth lines have so little definition they are really just lesser versions of the top lines.

You can be sure of this: There isn’t an opponent in the NHL that fears playing against the third or fourth lines of the Oilers.

No McDavid? No Draisaitl? No problem for the opposition as far as line matching goes.

Shut down McDavid, shut down Draisaitl (no points), and shut down the power play.

That’s how you shut down the Oilers.

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Sports

Champions Trophy host Pakistan says it’s not been told India wants to play cricket games elsewhere

Published

2 days ago

November 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.

“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”

Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.

The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.

Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.

“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”

Pakistan hosted last year’s Asia Cup but all India games were played in Sri Lanka under a hybrid model for the tournament. Only months later Pakistan did travel to India for the 50-over World Cup.

Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.

“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”

The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.

“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”

Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.

“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.

___

AP cricket:

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Sports

Dabrowski, Routlife into WTA doubles final with win over Melichar-Martinez, Perez

Published

2 days ago

November 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.

Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.

The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.

The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.

Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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Sports

Winger Tajon Buchanan back with Canada after recovering from broken leg

Published

2 days ago

November 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

Inter Milan winger Tajon Buchanan, recovered from a broken leg suffered in training at this summer’s Copa America, is back in Jesse Marsch’s Canada squad for the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal against Suriname.

The 25-year-old from Brampton, Ont., underwent surgery July 3 to repair a fractured tibia in Texas.

Canada, ranked 35th in the world, plays No. 136 Suriname on Nov. 15 in Paramaribo. The second leg of the aggregate series is four days later at Toronto’s BMO Field.

There is also a return for veteran winger Junior Hoilett, who last played for Canada in June in a 4-0 loss to the Netherlands in Marsch’s debut at the Canadian helm. The 34-year-old from Brampton, now with Scotland’s Hibernian, has 15 goals in 63 senior appearances for Canada.

Midfielder Ismael Kone, recovered from an ankle injury sustained on club duty with France’s Marseille, also returns. He missed Canada’s last three matches since the fourth-place Copa America loss to Uruguay in July.

But Canada will be without centre back Derek Cornelius, who exited Marseille’s win Sunday over Nantes on a stretcher after suffering an apparent rib injury.

The Canadian men will prepare for Suriname next week at a camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“We are looking forward to getting the group together again with the mindset that there is a trophy on the line,” Marsch said in a statement. “We want to end 2024 the right way with two excellent performances against a competitive Suriname squad and continue building on our tremendous growth this past summer.”

The quarterfinal winners advance to the Nations League Finals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., with the two semifinals scheduled for March 20 and the final and third-place playoff March 23, and qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Thirteen of the 23 players on the Canadian roster are 25 or younger, with 19-year-old defender Jamie Knight-Lebel, currently playing for England’s Crewe Alexandra on loan from Bristol City, the youngest.

Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies captains the side with Stephen Eustaquio, Jonathan Osorio, Richie Laryea, Alistair Johnston and Kamal Miller adding veteran support.

Jonathan David, Cyle Larin and Theo Bair are joined in attack by Minnesota United’s Tani Oluwaseyi.

Niko Sigur, a 21-year-old midfielder with Croatia’s Hadjuk Split, continues in the squad after making his debut in the September friendly against Mexico.

Suriname made it to the Nations League quarterfinals by finishing second to Costa Rica in Group A of the Nations League, ahead of No. 104 Guatemala, No. 161 Guyana and unranked Martinique and Guadeloupe.

“A good team,” Osorio said of Suriname. “These games are always tricky and they’re not easy at all … Suriname is a (former) Dutch colony and they’ll have Dutch players playing at high levels.”

“They won’t be someone we overlook at all,” added the Toronto FC captain, who has 81 Canada caps to his credit.

Located on the northeast coast of South America between Guyana and French Guiana, Suriname was granted independence in 1975 by the Netherlands.

Canada has faced Suriname twice before, both in World Cup qualifying play, winning 4-0 in suburban Chicago in June 2021 and 2-1 in Mexico City in October 1977.

The Canadian men, along with Mexico, the United States and Panama, received a bye into the final eight of the CONCACAF Nations League.

Canada, No. 2 in the CONCACAF rankings, drew Suriname as the best-placed runner-up from League A play.

Canada lost to Jamaica in last year’s Nations League quarterfinal, ousted on the away-goals rule after the series ended in a 4-4 draw. The Canadians lost 2-0 to the U.S. in the final of the 2022-23 tournament and finished fifth in 2019-20.

Canada defeated Panama 2-1 last time out, in an Oct. 15 friendly in Toronto.

Goalkeepers Maxime Crepeau and Jonathan Sirois, defenders Joel Waterman, Laryea and Miller and Osorio took part in a pre-camp this week in Toronto for North America-based players.

Canada Roster

Goalkeepers: Maxime Crepeau, Portland Timbers (MLS); Jonathan Sirois, CF Montreal (MLS); Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United FC (MLS).

Defenders: Moise Bombito, OGC Nice (France); Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich (Germany); Richie Laryea, Toronto FC (MLS); Alistair Johnston, Celtic (Scotland); Jamie Knight-Lebel. Crewe Alexandra, on loan from Bristol City (England); Kamal Miller, Portland Timbers (MLS); Joel Waterman, CF Montreal (MLS).

Midfielders: Ali Ahmed. Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS); Tajon Buchanan, Inter Milan (Italy); Mathieu Choiniere, Grasshopper Zurich (Switzerland); Stephen Eustaquio, FC Porto (Portugal); Junior Hoilett, Hibernian FC (Scotland); Ismael Kone, Olympique Marseille (France); Jonathan Osorio, Toronto FC (MLS); Jacob Shaffelburg, Nashville SC (MLS); Niko Sigur, Hadjuk Split (Croatia).

Forwards: Theo Bair, AJ Auxerre (France); Jonathan David, LOSC Lille (France); Cyle Larin, RCD Mallorca (Spain); Tani Oluwaseyi, Minnesota United (MLS).

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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