[FLAMESVS.KNIGHTS]Liningitup
VegasGoldenKnightsleftwingTomasNosekhandlesthepuck
againsttheFlamesinCalgaryonSunday.TheGoldenKnightskepttheFlamesatbay
fora5-3win.Forthegamestory,visitourwebsite GLOBESPORTS.COMSERGEIBELSKI/USATODAYSPORTSMONDAY,MARCH9,2020| THEGLOBEANDMAILO REPORTONBUSINESS | B13
The Saskatchewan Huskies are the Can-
adian university women’s basketball
champions.
The No. 1 Huskies defeated the No. 2
Brock University Badgers 82-64 on Sun-
day to claim their second U Sports wom-
en’s basketball title.
“We played our best basketball at the
right time,” said Saskatchewan head
coach Lisa Thomaidis, who has led the
team for 21 years and coached the Husk-
ies to the national championship tour-
nament 12 times in the past 13 years.
“We really peaked at this tourna-
ment.”
In the men’s U Sports basketball final
later on Sunday night, Carleton stormed
back to beat Dalhousie 74-65.
This is the Huskies’ third time in the
gold-medal game in the past five years.
They won their first title in 2016 and, in
2018, finished second with a team hob-
bled by injuries. Thomaidis said the
2018 loss was devastating, but helped
contribute to Sunday’s success.
“I think sometimes it takes those
kinds of disappointments to really learn
from and propel you to greater perform-
ances,” she said.
The Huskies dominated the game
from start to finish, trailing Brock only
briefly off the start, and by a single bas-
ket for about 10 seconds in the second
quarter, before blowing back into a
dominant lead. They nearly doubled the
Badgers in rebounds, and outshone
them in every scoring statistic from
field goals to free throws.
“We have a lot of weapons for other
teams to have to stop and I think that
was on full display,” Thomaidis said.
Badgers’ coach Mike Rao agreed.
“They’re great inside, they’ve got
great shooters, they’re athletic, they
challenge the ball, they penetrate,” he
said.
Fifth-year Saskatchewan guard Sa-
bine Dukate sank eight three-pointers
to lead her team to gold with 24 points,
and was named the tournament’s Most
Valuable Player. Fourth-year forward
Summer Masikewich contributed 20
points and nine rebounds to be named
player of the gold-medal game for the
Huskies.
Dukate is the team’s top three-point
shooter, holding the record for the most
three-pointers scored in a single seasonfor Saskatchewan with 67. She also has
the most scored over her varsity career,
with 260 three-point shots made in her
five years. It took Dukate a few misses
early before she found her stride, but
she said Thomaidis tells them they have
to take their shots when they can and
she did.
“I just kept shooting,” she said.
Thomaidis, who is also the coach of
the Canadian national women’s team,
said by the time the team gets to the
championship, her job is mostly done
and it’s up to the players to trust their
preparation and not make things com-
plicated.
“There’s not much I can control at
this stage of the game,” she said.
“They’ve put in the work.”
The Badgers missed some easy shots
early in the second half and could not
keep Saskatchewan off the three-point
line.
Brock finished 17-5 for the season and
were ranked sixth nationally, but came
on strong throughout the playoffs, mak-
ing two upsets in the Ontario confer-
ence playoffs to win the provincial title
for the first time in school history.
Earlier Sunday, the Prince Edward Is-
land Panthers took the bronze medal,
defeating the Laval Rouge et Or 57-50.THE CANADIAN PRESSHuskiesdominateUSports
women’sbasketballfinal
Saskatchewan’sDukate
leadschargeagainst
BrockUniversityBadgers
witheightthree-pointers
MIARABSONOTTAWA H
aving co-founded and
launched the Toronto Wolf-
pack, Eric Perez always knew
one rugby league team wasn’t
enough in North America.
“There’ssomuchmorepotentialforit
to grow over here,” he said. “It’s kind of
the perfect sport for North America.
“When we started the Toronto Wolf-
pack, we always knew that for the Wolf-
pack and the whole venture to be prop-
erly successful, there needed to be fur-
ther expansion. I think Ottawa makes a
lot of sense with the venue [TD Place],
withthecityitself,proximitytoToronto,
rivalry with Toronto. I think it’s kind of
the perfect choice.”
On Monday, Perez will unveil his new
vision – announcing the name, colours
and logo for the Ottawa club that will
kick off next season in England’s third-
tier Betfred League1–astheWolfpack
did in 2017.
While the Wolfpack were a new fran-
chise, Perez wanted to buy an existing
League 1 club and move it across the At-
lantic. Rugby league’sgoverning body
was open to the idea “in theory” and Pe-
rez eventually narrowed his search
down to the West Wales Raiders and He-
mel Stags.
West Wales, however, saw itself as a
pathway for Welsh players to become
professionals. Perez did not want to re-
move that by talking the team across At-
lantic.
Hemel was a more suitable target.
The team started in the early 1980s as
a community club in the south of En-
gland and found success. In 2013, it re-
ceived permission to enter League 1.
“The truth is Hemel Stags is a proper
amateur club. And should be an ama-
teurclub,”Perezsaid.“Thebestwaythey
can help the amateur game is to remain
an amateur club and keep being an in-
cubator for all this great talent.”
Perez’sconsortiumboughttheHemel
licence in September, 2018. The Stags,
who took a hiatus from League 1 in 2019,
remain an amateur club now playing in
the Southern Conference League, which
isjustunderLeague1intherugbyleague
pyramid.
“I knew by buying Hemel and moving
them to Ottawa, I wouldn’t be killing
rugby league in Hemel. Actually I would
befreeingthemuptofocusonwhatthey
do – be one of the strongest community
clubs in the game.”
Perez got his team. Hemel, which re-
mains the Stags, got money to upgrade
its facilities. “Then the next part of the
journey began, which was moving it to
Ottawa,” Perez said.
Without the path laid down by Wolf-
pack, Perez said he would have had “no
chance” of succeeding. He calls the To-
ronto franchise the “Yuri Gagarin of rug-
by league,” citing the Soviet cosmonaut
whoin1961becamethefirstmantotrav-
el into space.
“WhenwestartedtheWolfpack,itwas
an absolutely alien concept,” said Perez,
who was Toronto’s first chief executive.
“I just don’t think that would work any
other way. There was no way we could
have bought an existing team and then
movethem.Thereweretoomanythings
to prove, that the Wolfpack subsequent-
ly did prove and pave the way for this.”
It also helped partnering with Ottawa
Sports and Entertainment Group, which
owns and operates the CFL RedBlacks
and OHL 67’s as well as managing the
stadium/arena complex.
Buttherewerestillplentyofchalleng-
es. The hard work came in negotiations
with the Rugby Football League over the
actual terms of moving the club.
Because Hemel was already an RFL
member, Perez said he believed the Ot-
tawaclubshouldhavethesamerightsof
any club member.
“The RFL thought maybe not – and
tried to give us the same deal as Toron-
to,”hesaid.“Andwesaid,‘Welllisten,it’s
not that we want a better deal than To-
ronto.WealsothinkToronto’sdealisun-
fair ... We should probably get a ‘better
deal for everybody in North America.’ ”
There were multiple meetings, votes
and “arguing till faces were blue.”
PerezsaidhebelievesthedealOttawa
ultimately negotiated is fair (he said it
will apply to future North American
clubs or Toronto if it falls out of the top-
tier Super League).
Like Toronto, Ottawa will pay for vis-
iting teams to get to North America.
Perez, who is Ottawa’s chairman and
president, has assembled a 26-person
ownership group in Ottawa. He said his
consortiumfeaturesfamilyandfriends–
“people who have done well and believe
in the concept after they saw what I did
in Toronto.”
While he expects to leave the Wolf-
pack’s board of directors, he retains a
small ownership stake. He also plans to
end a temporary front-office role with
struggling Bradford.
Perez, who said rugby league has
“consumed” him since 2010, famously
wrote down his blueprint for rugby
league in Canada on a fish and chips
wrapper. His original proposal to the En-
glish rugby league authorities called for
“multiple teams” in Canada.THECANADIANPRESSFormerWolfpack
CEOlaysout
hisrugbyleague
roadtoOttawa
NEILDAVIDSONThe Maple Leafs are an unpredictable
bunch that has rarely been able to es-
cape tumult. Their defence and goal-
tending are leaky, but their offence is ex-
cellent. Then their defence buckles
down and their offence is non-existent.
Sheldon Keefe and his players
worked overtime to find positives to say
on a road trip that went badly. At worst,
they should have won two of three. In-
stead, they collected a single point by
forcing overtime against the Kings.
“I thought it was a pretty even game
all the way through,” Keefe said Thurs-
day. “It’s a game that really could have
gone either way. We’re happy to get one
point. We could have gotten two, but
[there is] not a lot to complain about for
us as a group.”
The swing west was an opportunity
to gain traction at a critical time. In-
stead, Toronto flew home on Saturday
slightly worse than when it left. The
Panthers inched two points closer in the
division standings. They now trail Aus-
ton Matthews and Co. by just three.
There are great stories all around the
NHL right now. The Philadelphia Flyers
have won nine in a row and sit atop the
Metropolitan Division with the Wash-
ington Capitals. After a terrible start, the
Minnesota Wild entered Sunday only a
point removed from a wild-card berth
in the Western Conference.
The Oilers won four of their past five
games to climb ahead of the Golden
Knights and into first place, at least tem-
porarily, in the Pacific Division. Edmon-
ton is 7-0-1 in the second game of back-
to-backs, and Mikko Koskinen stopped
97 of the 99 shots he saw this week. Ve-
gas played in Calgary on Sunday night,
and then plays in Edmonton on Mon-
day.
The Flames, Canucks and Jets are
among four teams battling for three
playoff positions in the Western Confer-
ence. The Maple Leafs, on the other
hand, spoke about being snake-bitten
last week after losing to three oppo-
nents playing for only pride and per-
haps roster spots next season.
“We’re all in this together,” Matthews
said after Friday’s loss in Anaheim. “You
play through the good and the bad and
the adversity and, obviously, in the posi-
tion that we’re in, there’s lots of critics
and lots of stuff that comes with it.
“But I think in this room we’re head-
strong, and it doesn’t matter what’s go-
ing to get thrown our way, we’re going to
come out of it stronger. Obviously, it
was not the road trip that that we really
wanted. So, that’s on us. We’ve got to
just build forward and put this aside,
learn from it and be better.”It is pretty late to be learning at this
stage, and to be drowning in hockey
speak.
Toronto’s next three games are with
the Lightning, the Nashville Predators
and Boston Bruins. It has 24 points in
the past 23 games. That is only a tad bet-
ter than its pace when Mike Babcock
was fired.
He lost his job because so much more
was expected from this team. Pretty
much since then, the Maple Leafs have
stayed on the same track. With a few
weeks left, they are still sailing into a
strong headwind.
“It was a great game, a beautiful
game,” goaltender Frederik Andersen
said on Thursday.
“It was great to play behind a team
like that. The way we played made it
easy for me.”
It was a great 1-0 loss.Leafs:TorontostillstrugglingmonthsafterBabcock’souster
TorontoMapleLeafsgoaltenderFrederikAndersendivestoblockashotbytheKings
lastThursdayinLosAngeles.TheLeafsgainedonepointinthe1-0lossbyforcing
overtime.MARCIOJOSESANCHEZ/THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFROMB10