NEW YORK — The Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs each had two players named to NHL All-Star Weekend.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid will make his fourth all-star appearance after being voted as the captain of the Pacific Division team for the Jan. 24-25 festivities. He will be joined by teammate Leon Draisaitl as the German forward gets a second all-star nod.
They will be joined by forward Matthew Tkachuk — a native of host city St. Louis — and defenceman Mark Giordano of the Flames and forward Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks on the Pacific squad.
Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and forward Mark Scheifele were named to the Central Division squad. Toronto goaltender Frederik Andersen and centre Auston Matthews will be joined by Montreal defenceman Shea Weber and Ottawa forward Anthony Duclair on the Atlantic Division squad.
Weber will be making his seventh all-star appearance.
The host Blues will have three players. Captain Alex Pietrangelo, goaltender Jordan Binnington and playoff MVP Ryan O’Reilly will represent the defending Stanley Cup champions. Forward David Perron was not chosen as an all-star despite being in the middle of a career season.
The league’s hockey operations department filled out the all-star rosters beyond the captains voted in by fans.
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin was voted in by fans but opted to skip all-star to rest his body for the stretch drive and playoffs. Capitals teammates John Carlson and Braden Holtby will go instead.
Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane is set to make his ninth all-star appearance, which is the most among active players.
With the skills competition and 3-on-3 tournament more than three weeks away, two all-star selections at goaltender will likely need to be replaced. Arizona’s Darcy Kuemper and Columbus’ Joonas Korpisalo are both injured.
Artemi Panarin will represent the New York Rangers after putting up 51 points in his 38 games for them since signing an $81.5-million, seven-year deal last summer. The rival New York Islanders are sending forward Matthew Barzal.
Six forwards, three defencemen and two goaltenders were picked from each of the four divisions: the Metropolitan, Atlantic, Central and Pacific. All 31 NHL teams needed to be represented on the initial rosters.
Each team has one additional roster spot to be filled in by a fan selection out of a pool of available players.
Montreal forward Max Domi, Ottawa forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Toronto forward Mitch Marner, Winnipeg forward Patrik Laine, Calgary forward Johnny Gaudreau, Edmonton forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Vancouver defenceman Quinn Hughes are among the players available to fill the final roster spots.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 30, 2019.
OTTAWA – American receiver Justin Hardy will miss the Ottawa Redblacks’ regular-season finale Friday.
Hardy, who leads the CFL in receptions (97) and is second in receiving yards (1,343), was listed off Ottawa’s depth chart Thursday. Hardy was named Wednesday as the Redblacks’ nominee for the league’s outstanding player award.
American Andrew Miller will start in Hardy’s place.
Ottawa (8-7-1) concludes its regular season hosting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (7-10). The Redblacks have already clinched third in the East and will visit the Toronto Argonauts (10-7) in the division semifinal Nov. 2.
Hamilton has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Incumbent Dru Brown is listed as Ottawa’s starting quarterback.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
BOLOGNA, Italy (AP) — AC Milan’s weekend match at Bologna in Italy’s top soccer league has been postponed, Bologna officials announced Thursday following extensive flooding in the central Italian city.
The Serie A match had been scheduled for Saturday.
Bologna is the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region, large parts of which have been hard hit by torrential rains and bad weather for days.
The game was not immediately rescheduled.
“Following the flood that affected Bologna, intense work is underway to clean up the situation,” the city of Bologna said while announcing the game postponement on X.
BASEL, Switzerland – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov advanced to the quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Roberto Bautista Agut on Thursday.
Shapovalov used a strong service game to overcome the Spanish veteran for the win at the ATP 500 event in just under one hour 40 minutes.
The 25-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., fired 18 aces, including one to set up match point in the second-set tiebreaker, and won 79 per cent of first-serves and 63 per cent of second-serve points.
Shapovalov, a former top-10 player on the ATP Tour, entered this year’s Swiss Indoors ranked 95th and will appear in just his second quarterfinal of the season.
He improved to 3-0 against Bautista Agut, who he beat in July en route to a quarterfinal appearance in Washington.
Shapovalov will next face the winner of a match scheduled for later Thursday between defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
