#Canada defeats Czechia 5-1 in women’s hockey, Poulin leaves game with injury.

MILAN — Canada’s women’s hockey team has defeated Czechia 5-1 to improve to 2-0 in preliminary round action at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin left the first period of the Olympic women’s hockey game against Czechia on Monday with an apparent knee injury and did not return.

Poulin was checked by Kristyna Kaltounkova midway through the opening period and skated off, favouring her right knee.

She returned to the ice with Canada’s second power-play unit while Kaltounkova served an illegal hit penalty, but skated out of the offensive zone seconds later in discomfort and headed for the dressing room. Poulin later rejoined her teammates on the bench before the period ended.

Canada led 1-0 when the captain initially left the game and scored two more goals before she returned to the bench. They added a fourth before the end of the period.

After the first-period buzzer, Poulin skated onto the ice with her teammates and took a few circles to test her knee, but she did not return to the bench to start the second period.

Canada later confirmed she would not return to the game.

Poulin has scored the most goals of any active player in the Olympic women’s hockey tournament with 17. Her former teammate Hayley Wickenheiser holds the record with 18.

The Canadian Press

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Auger-Aliassime embraces mentor role as Mboko rises ahead of Australian Open.

It seems just a moment ago the Auger-Aliassime went down the road Mboko is about to travel. He was precocious teen who was so good, so young that his life changed in an instant.

And he can offer some advice about keeping it all in perspective.

“Maybe if you’re a big movie star and you get to a certain status, it’s tough to go down. But I’ve had my experiences where you can be in the top 10 and then you can lose a couple of matches and the people are like, ‘Oh, he’s not like that anymore.’ They treat you differently,” Auger-Aliassime said.

“You go out there and you still have to go one-on-one with a player that wants to beat you — even more when you’ve gone up the ladder. So, tennis humbles you quickly.”

Mboko began the 2025 season ranked No. 333. By the end of it, she had won the prestigious National Bank Open at home in Canada and was in the top 20 of the WTA rankings.

The accolades came quickly: the tributes and the hype, the media requests and the courtside seats to Toronto Raptors games.

And even the ultimate status symbol for a successful tennis player: a new Rolex ambassadorship.

But Mboko says she’s the same person.

“So many things have happened in the past year and so many new experiences that of course have changed the way my life is now. I had to adapt quite quickly,” she said. “But I still have the same people around me and I feel like I haven’t really changed that much, personality-wise.”

Auger-Aliassime has used the opportunity he has to speak to the greats of the sport. And he said that when you see them behind the scenes, it’s like they’re still 18 years old. They’re still goofing around, still making the same jokes.

Only the public perception changes.

“When you go around the site and the hotels, people treat you a little bit different. You need the right people around that are able to tell you the truth and not just what you want to hear,” he said.

Mboko’s larger-than-life likeness can be seen around the grounds at the Australian Open, part of a quartet billed as the “New Faces, Taking Names.”

She is featured with 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who is already in the top 10 and 24-year-old Jack Draper, who also reached the top 10 before an arm injury stalled his progress.

Investigation clears Canada after skeleton withdrawals spark Olympics row.

Canada’s skeleton team have been cleared of wrongdoing after an investigation into the withdrawal of four athletes from last week’s North American Cup in Lake Placid, the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) said on Thursday.

The probe was launched after Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS) pulled four women’s sliders from the Lake Placid event, reducing ranking points for all competitors and ending American Katie Uhlaender’s bid for a sixth Olympics despite winning the race.

Rival federations alleged the move was aimed at protecting Canada’s Olympic quota for Milano Cortina 2026.

“The current IBSF Rules allow National Federations to withdraw athletes from competition at any time,” IBSF said in a statement.

“The IIU (Interim Integrity Unit) dismissed the complaints as the current IBSF Rules and Regulations did not give grounds for a breach of the International Rules, the Code of Conduct, and respectively the Code of Ethics.”

Despite clearing Canada, the IIU reminded the federation to uphold the spirit of fair play when acting within the rules.

“Whilst acting within the letter of the IBSF Code of Conduct, it is expected that all parties concerned should also act within the spirit of the Code, whose aim is to promote fair play and ethical conduct at all times,” it said.

The IBSF added that its Sport Committee will review the rules in the spring and may propose adjustments to prevent similar disputes.

BCS had earlier defended the decision as prioritizing athlete safety and development, while acknowledging the unintended impact on ranking points.

Uhlaender, 41, a double world champion, hoped to qualify for Milano Cortina via ranking points. The American told DW.com she learned of the withdrawal plan from Canada head coach Joe Cecchini, a long-time friend, and said the decision “nailed my coffin” for a sixth Games.

BCS had offered a robust defense of the decision, telling Reuters it was made with “careful consideration of athlete health, safety and long-term development as well as the needs of the program as a whole.”

The withdrawals also affected Denmark, Israel and Malta. Their representatives plus those of the U.S. raised the issue with the International Olympic Committee’s athletes’ commission.

Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris, Reuters

#Canada’s skeleton team denies accusations of Olympic sabotage by U.S. slider.


Canada’s skeleton team refutes accusations by American Katie Uhlaender that Canada’s coach sabotaged her chances of sliding in the Olympic Games.

Athletes from all countries are chasing qualification points for the Milano Cortina Games.

At a North American Cup race, which is a developmental event below the World Cup, Canada withdrew four of six women Sunday in Lake Placid, N.Y. The smaller field reduced the number of Olympic qualification points available.

The 41-year-old Uhlaender is third among U.S. women in world rankings. She says Canada’s decision killed her chances of competing in a sixth Olympic Games.

Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton says in a statement that the four withdrawn athletes were new to the sport and had a rough week in two of three scheduled races in Lake Placid.

The organization says its actions were appropriate and were within the rules.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 12, 2025.

Infantino defends World Cup ticket prices, cites ‘crazy’ demand, FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Monday defended controversial ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup, revealing that organizers had received a record 150 million requests for tickets in the past two weeks.

Speaking at the World Sports Summit in Dubai, Infantino stressed that all revenues from next year’s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada would be pumped back into football around the world.

Infantino’s comments were his first public remarks since the ticketing furore erupted earlier this month, with fan groups branding ticket prices as “extortionate” and “astronomical”.

FIFA later responded to the criticism by announcing that a sliver of tickets on sale would be priced at $60.

“In the last few days, you’ve probably seen there is a lot of debate about ticketing and ticket prices,” Infantino told the Dubai conference on Monday.

“We have six, seven million tickets on sale and we started two weeks ago. I can tell you in two weeks, 15 days, we received 150 million ticket requests. This shows how powerful the World Cup is.”

Infantino said the majority of ticket requests had come from the United States, followed by requests from Germany and Britain.

“If you think that in 100 years of history of the World Cup, FIFA has sold 44 million tickets in total, so in two weeks for the next World Cup, we could have filled 300 years of World Cups,” Infantino said. “This is absolutely crazy.”

“And what is important, what is crucial is that the revenues that are generated from this are going back to the game all over the world and FIFA is the only organization in the world...that finances football in the entire world.

“Without FIFA there will be no football in 150 countries in the world. There is football thanks to these revenues that we generate from the World Cup which we reinvest all over the world.”

Fan group Football Supporters Europe (FSE) had been among the most prominent critics of #FIFA’s pricing strategy for 2026.

The group said earlier this month tickets would cost almost five times more than tickets for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Hockey #Canada apologizes for handshake oversight after win over Czechia.

Hockey Canada issued an apology on Saturday after its players skipped the post-game handshakes following an emotionally charged 7-5 win over Czechia at the IIHF World Junior Championship.

It is customary for teams to shake hands following games at the World Juniors, but Canada skated off the ice on Friday in Minneapolis without doing so after a heated affair that included some pre-game antics, plenty of chirping between players and post-whistle scrums.

“Following last night’s game, Canada’s National Junior Team skated off the ice before shaking hands with Czechia,” Hockey Canada said in a statement. “Hockey Canada takes full responsibility for this oversight and we have apologized to the team, Czech Ice Hockey Association and IIHF for our mistake.”