CALGARY — Buoyed by the arm and legs of their young quarterback Dustin Crum, the Ottawa Redblacks won their second straight in overtime with a 43-41 victory Sunday over the host Calgary Stampeders.
The Redblacks (3-3) picked up their first road win and also won back-to-back games for the first time this CFL season.
“Just a lot of firsts and a confidence-booster,” Crum said. “Just to be able to know what we’re capable of when we’re playing and executing at our highest level, to be able to take that moving forward will be huge.”
A week after Crum’s late rushing touchdowns, including one in OT, spurred the Redblacks to an OT upset of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the 24-year-old was effective again in the air and on the ground Sunday.
Crum threw an interception-free 23 passes for 257 yards and a pair of touchdown throws. The Kent State alum also rushed for 63 yards, including a two-point convert.
Ottawa cashed two interceptions and a fumble by Calgary quarterback Jake Maier into three touchdowns.
“Any time you can win the turnover battle is huge,” Crum said. “You look at the scoreboard. You give up 40 points and you’re going to think your defence played bad, but them getting three turnovers for us was huge and allowed us to honestly win that game in the end.”
The Redblacks scored a pair of two-point conversions, which Crum credited to the schemes of Ottawa offensive coordinator Khari Jones.
Calgary went 0-for-3 attempting an extra two points after touchdowns.
Crum has amassed 667 passing yards, rushed for 257 and thrown four touchdown passes in just over two-and-a-half games since Jeremiah Masoli ruptured his Achilles tendon in the second quarter July 10 against Hamilton.
“As he continues to grow, and we continue to have success, it builds confidence in everybody and our confidence in Dustin,” Redblacks head coach Bob Dyce said.
Redblacks’ Ante Milanovic-Litre ran for a pair of touchdowns, including one in extra time. Nate Behar caught a touchdown pass plus the two-point convert throw in overtime to seal the victory.
Justin Hardy caught a touchdown pass and Brandin Dandridge ran an interception back for a major.
Ottawa’s Lewis Ward kicked field goals from 33 yards and 36 yards and added another three points in converts.
The Redblacks top the CFL in defending the run. Calgary took to the air Sunday while rushing for a season-low 38 yards.
Maier threw for a season-high 450 yards, including four touchdown passes and two interceptions. He was denied three times, however, attempting two-point convert throws.
Marken Michel caught a pair of touchdown passes, Clark Barnes scored his first career CFL touchdown, backup quarterback Tommy Stevens contributed a rushing major and Tre Odoms-Dukes caught a touchdown pass in OT for the Stampeders (2-4).
Kicker Rene Paredes was good from 26 yards, 32 yards and 47 yards, and made one of two converts in front of an announced 21,226 at McMahon Stadium.
“We made some explosive plays. We didn’t do too bad controlling the line of scrimmage pass-wise, but we didn’t get the running game going again,” Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson said.
“We could have won that game. We feel like we should have, but we didn’t.”
The Stampeders dropped to 0-3 at home with a second straight OT loss at McMahon.
“Winning breeds winning and we don’t want to wait until the last drive,” Dickenson said. “We’ve got to put the pedal down when we have that momentum and put somebody away. We really haven’t done that.”
Odoms-Dukes scored in OT with a seven-yard catch, but Maier couldn’t get the ball to Barnes in the end zone for an extra deuce.
Ottawa countered with Milanovic-Litre’s second major of the game on a three-yard dash. Crum’s throw to Behar for another two points sealed the Redblacks’ win.
Trailing by a point at halftime, Calgary jumped ahead 25-20 on its first possession of the second half.
The visitors pulled ahead again for a 28-25 lead heading into the fourth quarter, when Calgary punter Cody Grace cut the deficit to two points with a punt single.
From deep in their own zone following an Ottawa punt, Maier threw to Michel for a 95-yard touchdown and a 32-28 lead with eight minutes to play.
Ottawa turned the ball over on downs, but Maier was subsequently intercepted a second time when his throw was tipped into the arms of Alonzo Addae.
Crum moved the chains on a 12-play, 87-yard drive and finished with a 23-yard touchdown throw to Behar. Ottawa led by a field goal on Ward’s convert with 1:20 to play.
The Stampeders’ offence pushed into field-goal range for Paredes to force OT with his 47-yard boot.
A 26-yard Tommylee Lewis punt return and a horse collar tackle by Abdul Kanneh put the Stampeders on Ottawa’s doorstep for Stevens to finish with a one-yard plunge on Calgary’s first drive of the second half.
After Levante Bellamy blocked Richie Leone’s punt, Jordan Herdmann-Reed landed on the loose ball to give Calgary possession on Ottawa’s 48.
But Calgary’s faked field goal and a Stevens run that came up short turned the ball over on downs.
Crum then marched Ottawa’s offence downfield to cap a 72-yard drive with a 24-yard touchdown throw to Hardy. The Redblacks’ pivot then kept and ran for another two points.
Ottawa turned a pair of Calgary turnovers into a 17-6 lead early in the second quarter. The Stampeders responded with a 75-yard scoring drive that Michel finished with an over-the-shoulder catch for a 33-yard TD.
Lewis’s 33-yard punt return and Ottawa’s unnecessary roughness penalty put the ball on the Redblacks’ 36 with a minute to play in the second quarter, but the Stampeders settled for a Paredes 32-yard field goal to trail 20-19 at the half.
Maier’s fumble handing the ball off to Dedrick Mills was recovered by Redblacks defensive end Lorenzo Mauldin to start the second quarter.
Crum ran the ball 28 yards to Calgary’s doorstep, followed by Milanovic-Litre’s three-yard carry to the end zone.
Dandridge picked off a Maier pass intended for Reggie Begelton for a pick six in the final minute of the first quarter. Ward’s convert spotted the visitors a 10-6 lead.
“I think I’ve turned the ball over every game that we played in and whether I’ve responded or not, eventually we’ve got to eliminate those so that we can give ourselves some more breathing room and not feel like we have to overcome ourselves,” Maier said.
On Calgary’s second drive of the game, Maier threw downfield to Barnes for a 54-yard catch and run to the end zone.
The Stampeders led 6-3 after Paredes missed the convert. Ottawa scored a 33-yard field goal on its opening drive.
Temperature at kick off was 30 Celsius under slightly hazy skies at McMahon.
UP NEXT
The Redblacks are at home to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2-4) on Friday. The Stampeders travel to Montreal to face the Alouettes (2-3) on Sunday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2023.
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
MacKenzie Weegar wasn’t bitter or upset as he watched friends live out their dreams.
The Calgary Flames defenceman just hopes to experience the same feeling one day. He also knows the road leading to that moment, if it does arrive, will likely be long and winding — much like his own path.
A seventh-round pick by the Florida Panthers at the 2013 NHL draft, Weegar climbed the ranks to become an important piece of a roster that captured the Presidents’ Trophy as the league’s top regular-season club in 2021-22.
Two months later following a second-round playoff exit, he was traded to the Flames along with Jonathan Huberdeau for Matthew Tkachuk. And less than two years after that, the Panthers were hoisting the Stanley Cup.
“Happy for the city and for the team,” Weegar said of Florida’s June victory over the Edmonton Oilers. “There was no bad taste in my mouth.”
His sole focus, he insists, is squarely on eventually getting the Flames to the same spot. The landscape, however, has changed drastically since Weegar committed to Calgary on an eight-year, US$50-million contract extension in October 2022.
Weegar has watched a list that includes goaltender Jacob Markstrom, defencemen Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin and Nikita Zadorov and forwards Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane shipped out of town since the start of last season — largely for picks, prospects and young players as part of a rebuild.
Despite that exodus, he remains committed to the Calgary project steered by general manager Craig Conroy.
“It’s easy to get out of all whack when you see guys trying to leave or wanting new contracts,” the 30-year-old from Ottawa said at last week’s NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas. “I just focus on where I am and where I want to be, and that’s Calgary.
“I believe in this team. The city has taken me in right away. I feel like I owe it to them to stick around and grind through these years and get a Stanley Cup.”
The hard-nosed blueliner certainly knows what it is to grind.
After winning the Memorial Cup alongside Nathan MacKinnon with the Halifax Mooseheads in 2013, Weegar toiled in the ECHL and American Hockey League for three seasons before making his NHL debut late in the 2016-17 campaign with the Panthers.
He would spend the next five years in South Florida as one of the players tasked with shifting an organizational culture that had experienced little success over the previous two decades.
“There’s always going to be a piece of my heart and loyalty to that team,” Weegar said. “But now I’m in a different situation … I compete against all 32 teams, not just Florida. There’s always a chip on my shoulder every single year.”
Weegar set career highs with 20 goals — eight was the most he had ever previously registered — and 52 points in 2023-24 as part of a breakout offensive performance.
“I think my buddies cared a lot more than I did,” he said with a smile. “All I hear is, ‘fantasy, fantasy, fantasy.'”
Weegar was actually more proud of his 200 blocked shots and 194 hits as he looks to help set a new Flames’ standard alongside Huberdeau, captain Mikael Backlund, Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman and Rasmus Andersson for a franchise expected to have its new arena in time for the 2027-28 season.
“You have to build that culture and that belief in the locker room,” said Weegar, who pointed to 22-year-old centre Connor Zary as a player set to pop. “Those young guys are going to have to come into their own and be consistent every night … they’re the next generation.”
Weegar, however, isn’t punting on 2024-25. He pointed to the NHL’s parity and the fact a couple of teams surprise every season.
It’s the same approach that took him from the ECHL a decade ago to hockey’s premier pre-season event inside a swanky hotel on Sin City’s famed strip, where he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the game’s best.
“From the outside — media and even friends and family — the expectations are probably a bit lower,” Weegar said of Calgary’s outlook. “But there’s no reason to think that we can’t make playoffs and we can’t be a good team (with) that underdog mentality.
“You never know.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept 17, 2024.
Jose Maria Celestino da Costa was named vice-president and head of soccer operations while Marianne Brooks was appointed vice-president of partnerships, Kelly Shouldice as vice-president of brand and content and Joyce Sou as vice-president of finance and business operations.
The new six-team women’s pro league is set to kick off in April.
“Their unique expertise and leadership are crucial as we lay the foundation for not just a successful league in Canada, but one that stands among the top sports leagues in the world,” NSL president Christina Litz said in a statement. “By investing in top-tier talent and infrastructure, the Northern Super League is committed to creating a league that will elevate the game and set new standards for women’s professional soccer globally.”
Da Costa will oversee all on-field matters, including officiating. His resume includes stints with Estoril Praia, a men’s first-division team in Portugal, and the Portuguese Soccer Federation, where he helped develop the Portuguese women’s league.
Brooks spent a decade with Canucks Sports & Entertainment, working in “partnership sales and retention efforts” for the Vancouver Canucks, Vancouver Warriors, and Rogers Arena. Most recently, she served as senior director of account management at StellarAlgo, a software company that helps pro sports teams connect with their fans
Shouldice has worked for Corus Entertainment, the Canadian Football League, and most recently as vice-president of Content and Communications at True North Sports & Entertainment, where she managed original content as well as business and hockey communications.
Sou, who was involved in the league’s initial launch, will oversee financial planning, analysis and the league’s expansion strategy in her new role.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
