The NHL season is just over twenty games old, and yet you can already make a strong case for certain players to win this year’s Hart Trophy for the NHL’s Most Valuable Player. Some, such as Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid who was crowned League MVP in 2017, are no strangers to this conversation. Other contenders, such as Jonathan Huberdeau, find themselves in uncharted waters. Below is a look...
Chelsea and United’s scoreless draw highlights the lack of fizzle in recent years As Chelsea gritted their way to a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge that saw them share the points with a visiting Manchester United, I was left a little deflated. As a Blues fan myself, I wasn’t happy that we had once again failed to win at home against United— a recurring trend since 2017. The post-match...
How Mark Messier “guaranteed” himself another victory, this time in Court In a career full of accolades, the greatest moment in hockey legend Mark Messier’s time in the NHL came after a guarantee. As captain of the New York Rangers, Messier “guaranteed” his team would come back and defeat their rival New Jersey Devils in Game 6 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals to tie the series. The man they...
How the Toronto Maple Leafs managed to outdo themselves yet again Last Monday, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators renewed acquaintances for the 150th meeting of the “Battle of Ontario”, with the two teams on polar opposite ends of the NHL Standings. The Maple Leafs entered the game with the league’s best record of 11-3-1, pacing the rest of the NHL with 23 points. They had gotten off to...
It is the most prestigious race in history, yet considering its importance, the America’s Cup is transpiring in New Zealand with remarkably little media attention. Known as “The Billionaire Death Race,” the America’s Cup was first contested in 1851 when the yacht America, racing for the New York Yacht Club, sailed to the Royal Yacht Squadron on the Isle of Wight. There, on the 22nd of August in...
Thomas Tuchel’s mid-season appointment comes as no surprise at Stamford Bridge When Frank Lampard began his second full season in charge of Chelsea FC, many supporters assumed that he would be allowed at least the full season to show signs of progress before the board sought a replacement. However, given the massive expenditure that the club underwent this summer to bring in Timo Werner, Kai...
Mario Lofranco continues his essay on ending the stigma surrounding doping in Sports In the first part of this article series, I refuted the three common arguments for maintaining the prohibition on doping in sport: (1) naturalness; (2) unfair advantage; and (3) the spirit of sport. In this article, I discuss the most common argument in favour of the prohibition against doping – harm – and argue...
How the Leafs Budding Young Stars Performed at the World Juniors On January 5, 2021, the United States, led by promising goaltender Spencer Knight (FLA), blanked Canada 2-0 in the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC) final, capturing their 5th title. The WJC is a fan favourite and every Boxing Day marks the beginning of an exciting tournament for both the young players and NHL front offices...
With the pandemic creating an All-Canadian NHL Division this season, we’re due for a hockey war up North Well, after a tumultuous 2020 on and off the ice, Canadian hockey fans are in store for an incredible NHL season. With that in mind, let’s tackle the newly formed Scotia™ NHL™ North Division. This division is undoubtedly a return to the NHL’s roots, as you’d have to harken all the way back to...
Welcome back to NBA basketball! The NBA regular season has started once again a mere two months after the end of the 2019-2020 season, this time on a shortened 72 game schedule due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While the NBA may have returned, the Raptors appear to remain on “vacation mode” as they begin their season with a losing record of 2-7 (at the time of writing), currently the second...
Why the right decision is seldom well-received in the NFL In their penultimate game of the 2020 season, Philadelphia Eagles’ (now former) head coach Doug Pederson made a decision that nearly sparked a revolt amongst the Eagles’ roster, cost the New York Giants a playoff spot, and left the NFL community at large in a state of moral panic. The decision under trial was the choice to bench emerging...
Lance Armstrong, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Ben Johnson are just a few of the many decorated athletes known to have used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). These athletes are now considered “cheaters”, shunned for the use of PEDs to achieve a chemical advantage in their respective sports. They violated the rules, the trust of their fans and colleagues, and the spirit of sport. Over recent...
Last week, the glass ceiling was shattered by a baseball. The Miami Marlins announced they would be hiring Kim Ng as their general manager, making her the first woman in men’s professional sports to hold the title. The decision was showered with praise across the sports world (including congratulations from Michelle Obama), as it’s a move that some may have never seen coming and simultaneously...
Why the Ontario Government’s Body-Checking Ban in Hockey for 2021 Does More Harm Than Good Ontario’s Minister of Sport Lisa MacLeod announced earlier this week that in order for the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) to have a 2020-2021 season, body checking will not be allowed. Just days earlier, the OHL had formally announced its return-to-play plan for a shortened 2021 season beginning February 4th...
Sports have a storied history of hazing, bullying, and the “boys will be boys” mentality. Some consider it a rite of passage in sport, leading to stronger individuals and better people in the global community moving forward. But what happens when this isn’t the case? More often than not, the person who is being bullied will have no recourse and is left wondering what is wrong with them and why...
An interview with lawyer and Assistant General Manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Josh Flynn Jon Cooper, Brian Burke, Laurence Gilman, and Josh Flynn. What do these people have in common? For one, they all hold, or formerly held (sorry Brian), high-level positions within NHL organizations. However, there’s something else that links these men. Jon Cooper, Stanley Cup Champion and head coach of...
Outside of drafting and developing prospects, free agency provides NHL organizations with the best opportunity to improve their respective clubs. Sometimes these improvements come by way of making notable player signings or by inking multiple depth players, and in some cases, deciding not to re-sign a player at all. At the same time, there is no doubt that free agency can lead to GMs overpaying...
As the clock hit zero, Lebron James let out a shout of triumph as he and his teammates rushed to the court to celebrate winning another championship for Los Angeles. The celebration was different this year: with no fans present at the arena, the only sounds the audience could hear from home were the Lakers’ cheers of joy as confetti fell in the stadium. A few minutes later, the Lakers were...
2020 has been a tough year for tennis. After the Australian Open back in January, things quickly turned downhill for the professional circuit with major tournaments being cancelled left and right. Wimbledon was cancelled (the last time the tournament was cancelled was during the Second World War), the ill-fated inaugural Adria Tour was abandoned amidst a COVID-related scandal, and Novak Djokovic...
It goes without saying how much COVID-19 has impacted the world of sports. It is now October and it hasn’t been a week since the Tampa Bay Lightning bested the Dallas Stars, winning their second Stanley Cup in franchise history in Edmonton, Alberta of all places. Beyond rescheduling and reformatting the playoffs, the NHL was forced to delay some of the most important dates of the offseason: the...
The night of June 13th, 2019 was supposed to be the greatest night in Masai Ujiri’s professional career. It was the night Ujiri’s Toronto Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of the NBA Finals 114-110, to secure the first NBA Championship in franchise history. In the dying moments of the game at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, Raptors President Masai Ujiri tried to go on the...
On the ice, the Tampa Bay Lightning finally got the equation right. After unceremoniously being removed from the playoffs last year by the Columbus Blue Jackets in an ugly 4-0 series, the Lightning found their stride in the 2020 playoffs. Perhaps it was getting all-star defenceman, Victor Hedman, back. Or perhaps it was the trade deadline depth acquisitions of Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow...
On Monday, September 28, the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, approved the Kobe Bryant Act. This invasion of privacy bill moved to make it a criminal office for any emergency responders to take or share unauthorized photos of deceased persons at the scene of an accident. This issue first arose earlier in 2020, following the sudden passing of basketball superstar Kobe Bryant, his daughter...
With new talent in tow,, the Blues appear poised to mount a title challenge In a Premier League offseason in which business as usual was severely dampened by COVID’s impact on normally bursting club coffers, Chelsea had a transfer window for the ages. While financial juggernauts like Manchester City tightened their purse strings, tinpot clubs like Liverpool furloughed staff, and Arsenal players...
A championship-proven team. Free food and drinks. Free penthouses. Coaching and medical staff attending to your needs. A city and country that loves and adores you. The opportunity to repeat as NBA champions. Who would say no to that? Kawhi could’ve had everything he wanted had he stayed in Toronto. Ultimately, the allure of playing in his hometown was the deciding factor for Kawhi to leave...