For Alexis Lafreniere, June 26 was more than just a date circled on the calendar.
It was slated to be his moment – the projected No. 1 overall prodigy with franchise-changing ability stepping onto the stage, slipping on his new sweater for the first time.
Not just any stage, either.
The planned arrival of the next Great Quebec Hope inside a roaring Bell Centre was either a stroke of luck or a stroke of choreographed genius by the NHL to host the 2020 Draft in Montreal – a stone’s throw from the suburb where he grew up in Saint-Eustache, Quebec.
Draft week was quickly coming into focus. A dinner reservation was set for his family and the proud agency representing him in the Old Port. Key sponsor events were lined up. Family and friends were ready to snap up tickets.
And now …?
The NHL officially postponed the 2020 Draft and Draft Lottery on Wednesday. With the season’s end undetermined, it is unclear when either will take place, or if a scaled-down version will be required – like the one held in late July of 2005 in a downtown Ottawa hotel where the Pittsburgh Penguins picked Sidney Crosby coming out of the 2004-05 lockout-cancelled season. It is also unclear whether Montreal would still host the Draft, whether it would be open to fans, or whether it might be conducted via video conference online.
There is no doubt that would bring disappointment, but it’s a brave new world since the COVID-19 outbreak and Lafreniere says he isn’t sweating the details.
“You know, for sure, it would be a little bit different,” Lafreniere said on Wednesday on a conference call with reporters when asked about a Draft different than he might’ve envisioned. “I think it’s still an honour to get drafted by an NHL team. It’s really special.
“Maybe it’s going to be different, we don’t know yet. But day-by-day, we’ll see what happens.”
Just about the only certainty is that Lafreniere will be the first player chosen in the NHL Draft, whenever and wherever that occurs. He emerged from the World Junior Championship in January with a gold medal and as the undisputed No. 1 overall prospect.
Since the Canadian Hockey League announced last week the cancellation of the remainder of the major junior seasons, league playoffs and Memorial Cup tournament, coupled with the IIHF’s previous cancellation of the World Under-18 tournament, no one else will be able to mount a challenge.
Lafreniere, 18, finished his final season of junior hockey with a staggering 35 goals and 112 points in just 52 games. His number 11 will one day be hanging in the rafters among the other Oceanic greats, including Crosby and Vincent Lecavalier – in a veritable No. 1 pick factory in Rimouski.
When asked whether he thought he’d done enough to carry on that tradition, Lafreniere responded: “I tried my best to play as good as I could in every game I was in. There’s some really good players around the world. You never know who is going to go No. 1, but I tried my best to play as good as I could.”
The tougher pill to swallow, Lafreniere said, was not being able to mount a challenge for the Memorial Cup. The Oceanic had been building towards this season for three years.
“For sure, it was tough news for me. We all understand and it’s serious,” Lafreniere said. “It’s a little bit sad that the season came to an end quickly like this. We had a great team this year and we believed we could do something special.
“It went by really quick. It’s sad that I won’t get to play with these guys again, but it’s hockey and you’ve got to move on at some point.” Really, the COVID-19 outbreak and resulting cancellations were a cap for Lafreniere’s rather strange draft-eligible campaign. He was suspended twice in the QMJHL for illegal checks and also suffered a knee injury while playing for Team Canada that kept him out of two games at the World Junior Championship.
He also showed scouts an impressive physical edge in the Czech Republic that helped cement his status, notching 10 points in five tournament games, along with a gritty return from what appeared to be a gruesome knee injury.
Lafreniere was looking forward to translating that win on the world stage to a win on the Memorial Cup stage.
“It was a really big moment for me,” Lafreniere said of the World Juniors. “Growing up, you dream about it and last year [2019] we didn’t get the result we wanted. To be able to win that, that was for sure one of the big moments in my career so far.”
So now, Lafreniere waits – like the rest of the hockey world. He believes he can be ready to step into the NHL next season with the help of the exercise equipment at home in Saint-Eustache.
“I think I can get stronger even if I train at my house,” Lafreniere said. “I stay in shape, you know, just work as hard as I can to try and gain some strength so when [hockey] is going to come back, I’m going to be ready.”
He is getting reacquainted with his family, familiar faces that he hasn’t had much time with since he’s been living with a billet family in Rimouski for the last three seasons. And he is cracking the books. Lafreniere is hunkered down and studying to complete his high school courses on time.
Most importantly, Lafreniere is handling everything with the proper dose of perspective. Whether he ends up with the Ottawa Senators or Detroit Red Wings, or the Draft is held at a packed Bell Centre or via teleconference, it’s all out of his hands.
“I really live it day-by-day and try to control what I can control. If the Draft is online, it will be different for us, but we’ll still enjoy our time and be happy.” Lafreniere said. “The most important thing is that everyone stays healthy.”
Contact Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @frank_seravalli
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.
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.
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.
