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OTTAWA — Peter Anholt tried to keep things light as he emerged from one of the elevators at Canada's hotel. The temperature had been turned way up on the veteran hockey executive and the country's under-20 program after a stunning upset some 12 hours earlier. "You only want to talk to me when things are bad, eh?" Anholt joked to reporters Saturday morning. "Is that how this works?" That is indeed what happens when a powerhouse with a record 20 gold medals expected to roll over an opponent suffers one of its worst all-time defeats at the tournament. Canada was embarrassed on home soil 3-2 by Latvia — a country it had thumped by a combined 41-4 score across four previous meetings — in a shocking shootout Friday. Coming off a disastrous fifth-place finish last year in Sweden and having talked a lot about upping their compete level and preparation, the Canadians looked disjointed for long stretches against the plucky, hard-working Latvians. The power play finally clicked late in the third period, but stands at 1-for-7 through two games, while the top line of Easton Cowan, Calum Ritchie and Bradly Nadeau has yet to translate its pre-tournament chemistry into success in the spotlight. "We're certainly trying to problem solve, but not throw the baby out with the bath water," said Anholt, who heads the world junior setup. "We've got to be really careful." Canada, which picked up a solid 4-0 victory over Finland to open its tournament Thursday, had plenty of offensive zone time and directed 57 shots at Latvian goaltender Linards Feldbergs. Included in that total, however, were far too many one-and-done efforts from the perimeter with little traffic in front. There were, of course, desperate spurts — especially late in regulation and in 3-on-3 overtime — but not nearly enough for a roster peppered with first-round NHL draft picks and top prospects. "We played really, really hard," Anholt said in defending his players. "We controlled the puck lots. We created some chances. Their goalie was really good and they defended really good ... 99 times out of 100 we win that game." Hoping for a big response Sunday against Germany before meeting the United States on New Year's Eve to tie a bow on round-robin action in Group A, Canada will have to push ahead minus one of its best players. Star defenceman Matthew Schaefer was injured Friday and is done for the tournament after he slammed into Latvia's net and skated off favouring his left shoulder area. "Tough blow for the kid," Anholt said. "The way he plays the game, he plays it at such a high speed." Cowan, a Toronto Maple Leafs first-round selection, said Canada remains confident despite Friday's ugly result in the nation's capital. "We're good," said the 19-year-old from Mount Brydges, Ont. "Everyone's lost a hockey game before." But not like that — or to that opponent on that stage. "Bit of a (crappy) feeling," said Nadeau, a Carolina Hurricanes prospect from St-Francois-de-Madawaska, N.B. "We all know what this group is capable of. Losing that game is not our standard. "We'll bounce back." Some corners of social media exploded following the Latvian debacle, with heavy criticism directed at head coach Dave Cameron and the team's overall roster construction. "We're not really worried about it," defenceman and Ottawa native Oliver Book, who like Cowan is back from last year's team, said of the outside noise. "We know we didn't play well." Canada appears poised to mix things up against the Germans. Vancouver Canucks prospect Sawyer Mynio of Kamloops, B.C., is set draw in for Schaefer, while Anholt indicated there's a good chance forward Carson Rehkopf will get his first crack at the 2025 tournament as a returnee. The 19-year-old Seattle Kraken second-round pick from Vaughan, Ont., has scored a combined 78 goals over his last 97 regular-season and playoff games in the Ontario Hockey League. "Great player," Cowan said. "He finds ways." Anholt said taking a big-picture approach is key in challenging moments. "Let's not panic," he said. "The world hasn't fallen in. It's hard, but we'll learn from it." It's something Canada will have to do under intense scrutiny. "People are gonna love you and people are gonna hate you," said Cowan, who has a goal an assist through two games. "Gotta keep doing you." Anholt, who was also at the helm 12 months ago when Canada never got in gear, isn't getting 2024 vibes from this year's group. "Not even in any way, shape or form," he said. "We've just got to take care of business." They get a first shot at redemption Sunday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2024. Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian PressGlobal stocks surged this week, ending strong on Friday as U.S. Treasury yields slipped on heightened market speculation over President-elect Donald Trump's upcoming economic policies. With bitcoin trading near an unprecedented $100,000 threshold, traders are on edge about Trump's agenda, likely to include tariffs, tax cuts, and deregulation. Wall Street indexes closed up, led by gains in industrials and consumer staples, while technology and communication services saw declines. Notably, Nvidia dropped 3.2% after disappointing sales forecasts despite strong quarterly results. The Dow Jones rose 0.97% to 44,296.51, the S&P 500 edged up 0.35%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.16%. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fell slightly, with market expectations of future Federal Reserve rate cuts. Bitcoin neared $100,000 as investors anticipated regulatory shifts under Trump's administration. Concurrently, the euro reached a two-year low against a stronger dollar, and both oil and gold prices surged amid ongoing global tensions. (With inputs from agencies.)
FACT FOCUS: Vermont ruling does not say schools can vaccinate children without parental consentThe first games on brought in big audiences for the streamer — and the biggest ever for a streaming NFL matchup. But they came up short of the audience for last year’s Yuletide contests that ran on broadcast networks. The NBA also enjoyed a fruitful Christmas, with its five-game slate growing by a collective 84 percent from a year ago. Netflix’s two games averaged 24.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen fast national ratings (Nielsen is providing U.S. data for the games, as the NFL likes audience measurement to be uniform across all of its media partners). The early afternoon matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers posted 24.1 million viewers, and the Baltimore Ravens’ win over the Houston Texans came in at 24.3 million (both figures include over-the-air broadcasts in the teams’ local markets). The Netflix audience peaked at 27 million viewers during at the Ravens-Texans game. Nielsen and Netflix say 65 million people watched at least a minute of the streamer’s NFL presentation. “Bringing our members this record-breaking day of two NFL games was the best Christmas gift we could have delivered,” said Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer. “We’re thankful for our partnership with the NFL, all of our wonderful on-air talent, and let’s please not forget the electrifying Beyoncé and the brilliant Mariah Carey.” Added Hans Schroeder, executive vp media distribution for the NFL, “We’re thrilled with our first Christmas Gameday on Netflix with NFL games being streamed to a global audience.” Netflix says it will release its own worldwide data on the NFL games next week, which could give a more like-to-like comparison to its most recent big sporting event, November’s . The two games on Wednesday brought in about 5 million fewer viewers than did last year’s Christmas afternoon games, which drew 29.48 million and 29.02 million viewers on CBS and Fox. (A primetime game on ABC and ESPN last year delivered 27.61 million viewers.) They are, however, at the higher end of regular-season contests this year, trailing the three Thanksgiving games (which averaged better than 33 million viewers), the season opener on Sept. 5 (29.2 million across all platforms) and several showcase games on CBS and Fox in the late Sunday afternoon window. The previous high for a streaming-exclusive NFL game was for Peacock’s wild card playoff telecast in January. Amazon’s Prime Video is averaging 13.34 million viewers for its Thursday Night Football games this season (up 12 percent from a year ago), and Peacock pulled in 14 million viewers for a game in the opening week of the season. Wednesday’s games were the first in a three-year deal between the NFL and Netflix to stream games on Christmas. In the NBA, the Christmas lineup averaged 5.25 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, a big increase from the all-time low of 2.85 million in 2023. ABC simulcast all five games this year, whereas the broadcaster only carried two a year ago due in part to its obligation. A primetime matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors led the slate with 7.76 million viewers, nearly six times the average for the comparable broadcast window a year ago. Lakers-Warriors was the most-watched NBA regular season game since 2019. The other four games all improved on their year-ago numbers as well, with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks drawing the second-largest hoops audience of the day at 5.16 million viewers. The New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs averaged 4.91 million viewers, followed by the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics (4.38 million) and Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns (3.84 million). The latter was the biggest tune-in ever for the Christmas NBA nightcap. With the big jumps in viewership Wednesday, NBA games on ESPN platforms are now running 4 percent ahead of the same time last season, and the league’s national telecasts are off by just 4 percent year to year after running double digits behind earlier in the season. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day More from The Hollywood Reporter
Lions should reunite with $9 million wide receiver to bolster offense | Sporting NewsVANCOUVER — Vince Dunn scored his second goal of the game 2:15 into overtime as the Seattle Kraken rallied from a three-goal, third-period deficit to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 on Saturday afternoon. Jaden Schwartz's second goal of the game tied it 4-4 with just 49 seconds left in the third period with Seattle's goaltender on the bench for an extra attacker. Matty Beniers also scored for the Kraken (16-19-2), who ended a five-game losing skid. Brock Boeser scored two goals, one on the power play, for the Canucks (17-11-7), who were playing without two star players. Conor Garland also scored his first goal in 13 games for Vancouver. Jake DeBrusk celebrated his 500th NHL game with his team-leading 16th goal and added an assist. Carson Soucy and J.T. Miller each had two assists. Canuck goaltender Thatcher Demko stopped 16 shots. Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer made 25 saves. Vancouver defenceman Quinn Hughes and centre Elias Pettersson missed the game with undisclosed injuries. Pettersson broke out of a seven-game scoring drought with a pair of goals in Vancouver’s 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks on Monday. He left that game in the third period. Hughes had two assists in the win over San Jose. Last year’s Norris Trophy winner as the league’s top defenceman leads the Canucks with 42 points and 34 assists. TAKEAWAYS Canucks: Vancouver has just one win in its last five games (1-2-2). The Canucks outhit the Kraken 14-3 in the first period. With Hughes out, Soucy and Tyler Myers logged over 22 minutes of ice time each. Kraken: Seattle has been outscored 27-11 during the last six games. The Kraken power play was 0 for 3 against Vancouver and has scored three times in 17 attempts the last six games. KEY MOMENT With their goaltender pulled the Kraken scored goals 1:22 apart of force the overtime. KEY STAT Boeser has five goals in his last three games. He managed just one in 13 after missing seven games with a concussion. UP NEXT Canucks: Play the Flames in Calgary on New Year’s Eve. Kraken: Return home to play Utah on Monday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2024. Jim Morris, The Canadian Press