That is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports activities’ day by day e mail e-newsletter. Stay up to speed on what’s happening in sports by subscribing here.
Whether or not you are again to work right now or nonetheless having fun with a while off, let’s get you up to the mark on what’s been taking place since our final e-newsletter on Dec. 20.
Hockey: The world juniors are heating up
After opening with a 4-0 shutout of Finland on Boxing Day, Canada suffered a stunning 3-2 shootout loss to Latvia — a rustic it beat 10-0 final 12 months. The Canadians rebounded to blank Germany 3-0 final night time, setting the stage for one more New 12 months’s Eve showdown with the rival United States.
Each groups have already secured spots within the quarterfinals. However the Individuals’ time beyond regulation loss to Finland final night time left them and Canada with an identical data, so the winner of tomorrow night time’s recreation in Ottawa will end atop Group A and get to play the fourth-place workforce in Group B.
With its energy play operating chilly, Canada ranks fourth within the event in targets with simply 9 in three video games. The U.S. has twice that many, whereas the Group B-leading Czech Republic (23) and Sweden (20) are scoring at a good greater price.
Canada’s high point-getter, Easton Cowan, sits exterior the highest 25 with a modest one objective and two assists to date. Seventeen-year-old star Gavin McKenna, touted as the highest prospect for the 2026 NHL draft, hasn’t recorded some extent since scoring Canada’s first objective of the event. And star defenceman Matthew Schaefer, who might go No. 1 this June, is gone after breaking his collarbone when he crashed into the web in opposition to Latvia.
On the intense facet, the Canadians have allowed a tournament-low three targets and high netminder Carter George has been lights out, stopping all 56 pictures he confronted in these shutout wins over Finland and Germany (Jack Ivankovic manned the cage within the Latvia loss).
Within the NHL, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby broke Mario Lemieux’s all-time franchise record for assists final night time, whereas Alex Ovechkin’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL profession targets file could be very a lot again on. The Washington Capitals star scored in Toronto on Saturday after lacking the earlier 16 video games with a damaged leg, and he added one other objective final night time at Detroit. With 17 targets in 20 video games this season, Ovechkin is 24 away from Gretzky’s file of 894 with 46 video games left.
Soccer: The NFL playoff image is taking form
Six of the seven playoffs spots in every convention are spoken for, however not one of the first-round matchups have been determined heading into the ultimate week of the common season.
The No. 1 seed within the NFC will come all the way down to the final recreation: Minnesota (14-2) at Detroit (13-2) on Sunday night time. If the Lions beat San Francisco tonight, they will clinch the highest seed with a win or tie in opposition to the Vikings. In the event that they lose tonight, they have to win the finale with a view to declare the all-important first-round bye and homefield benefit all through the convention playoffs that include the highest seed. The loser of the Minnesota-Detroit matchup will plummet all the way in which all the way down to No. 5 and should go on the highway within the first spherical as a wild card.
The NFC’s No. 2 seed belongs to Philadelphia (13-3) it doesn’t matter what. However the Eagles have a troublesome name to make with Saquon Barkley needing 101 yards to interrupt Eric Dickerson’s decades-old single-season dashing file. Ought to they let Barkley go for it on Sunday in opposition to the eradicated New York Giants? Or relaxation him together with their different stars in preparation for his or her playoff recreation the next week?
We additionally know that the Los Angeles Rams (10-6) have clinched the NFC West and will probably be both the No. 3 or 4 seed, whereas wild playing cards Washington (11-5) and Inexperienced Bay (11-5) will slot into the No. 6 and seven spots (in whichever order). Tampa Bay (9-7) controls the NFC South, which it may possibly clinch with a win or a tie Sunday in opposition to eradicated New Orleans. A loss would open the door for Atlanta (8-8, internet hosting Carolina on Sunday) to steal the division.
Within the AFC, defending Tremendous Bowl champion Kansas Metropolis (15-1) clinched the highest seed and a first-round bye with their blowout of Pittsburgh on Christmas Day. That is excellent news for Denver (9-7), which may very well be dealing with Ok.C.’s backups this Sunday because the Broncos attempt to maintain off Cincinnati (8-8) and Miami (8-8) for the ultimate wild card.
AFC East champion Buffalo (13-3) is locked into the No. 2 seed, South winner Houston (9-7) will probably be No. 4, and Baltimore (11-5) simply must keep away from dropping to hapless Cleveland on Saturday afternoon to clinch the North and the No. 3 seed. Assuming that occurs, Pittsburgh (10-6, internet hosting Cincy on Saturday night time) will settle into the No. 5 or No. 6 seed alongside the Los Angeles Chargers (10-6).
The second spherical of the U.S. school soccer playoffs takes place on New 12 months’s Eve and New 12 months’s Day with the highest 4 groups coming off a bye. The lone matchup on Tuesday night time pits No. 3 Boise State vs. No. 6 Penn State. On Wednesday it is No. 4 Arizona State vs. No. 5 Texas, top-ranked Oregon vs. No. 8 Ohio State and No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 7 Notre Dame, which steamrolled Canadian quarterback Kurtis Rourke’s upstart Indiana workforce again on Dec. 20.
On a tragic be aware for NFL and school basketball followers, longtime CBS broadcaster Greg Gumbel died from cancer late final week. He was 78.
Olympic sports activities: Extra awards for Canadian stars
The year-end honours hold rolling in for Canada’s Olympians. After successful the Northern Star Award for Canadian athlete of the 12 months on Dec. 10, swimming phenom Summer season McIntosh added her second consecutive Canadian Press female athlete of the year award final week. McIntosh earned 52 of the 53 votes forged by sports activities media folks from throughout the nation. The lone dissenter picked Hallie Clarke, who turned the primary teenager to win a skeleton world title. That is a fantastic accomplishment, however McIntosh received a Canadian-record three Olympic gold medals, so I am not a fan of that alternative.
WATCH l Prime Canadian sports activities moments of 2024:
A musical montage trying again on the high moments from the previous 12 months.
The CP male athlete of the 12 months went to Ethan Katzberg, who captured Canada’s first-ever Olympic gold medal within the hammer throw. Katzberg obtained 17 of the 56 votes to win a good race over 2023 winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (14 votes) and Connor McDavid (13).
The Canadian males’s 4x100m relay squad earned the CP team of the year for his or her astonishing gold-medal victory in Paris. Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney and Jerome Blake obtained 37 of the 53 votes, beating Rachel Homan’s world-champion girls’s curling workforce (seven), McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers and the Olympic silver-winning seaside volleyball duo of Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson (three every). I assumed the relay workforce was the fitting name, for the file.
WATCH l Brown breaks down males’s 4x100m relay race from Paris 2024:
Canadian sprinter Aaron Brown walks us via the lads’s Olympic 4x100m race that received him his first Olympic gold medal. Do you keep in mind the place you have been once you witnessed this Canadian Olympic second?
Most winter Olympic sports activities took the Christmas week off, however Canadian skiers captured three World Cup medals proper earlier than the break and one other one this previous weekend. On Dec. 21, Reece Howden won a men’s ski cross event in Italy whereas halfpipers Brendan Mackay and Cassie Sharpe took silver and bronze, respectively, in Colorado. This previous Saturday, Cam Alexander earned a downhill bronze on the treacherous Italian slope that may host the alpine occasions for the 2026 Olympics.
American alpine star Lindsey Vonn launched her comeback at age 40 on Dec. 21 with a respectable 14th-place finish in a World Cup girls’s super-G race in St. Moritz, Switzerland. One other super-G scheduled for the next day was cancelled, however Vonn plans to return for the following girls’s super-G and downhill occasions on Jan. 11 and 12 in Austria.
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