Wharnsby: Canada's Jonathan Drouin solidifying elite status

Whiz kid Jonathan Drouin played a big part in Canada beating Russia 4-1 on Monday and advancing straight in the semifinals of the 2013 World Under-20 Championship.

Halifax Mooseheads whiz kid Jonathan Drouin has cemented his standing among the top contenders to be selected first overall at the 2013 NHL entry draft.

Drouin was elevated to the top line of the Canadian junior team to play alongside Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Mark Scheifele for the final round-robin game against the host Russians.

The move paid dividends. Drouin scored an early second-period goal to give his team a two-goal advantage in Canada's eventual 4-1 New Year's Eve victory. 

Drouin's Halifax teammate Nathan MacKinnon and Portland Winterhawks defenceman Seth Jones entered the 2012-13 season as co-favourites to be selected first overall at the NHL draft in June.

Drouin, however, has skated into the picture. His speed and goal-scoring ability are remarkable for a kid that began last season playing midget hockey with the Lac St-Louis AAA Lions.

He began 2010-11 in Lac St-Louis with an astonishing 22 goals and 53 points in 22 games. The start forced the Mooseheads to make some room at midseason for the then 16-year-old Drouin. A year later, he's with Canada at the IIHF World Under-20 Championship.

Canadian head coach Steve Spott has raved about the skill and hockey intellect of the five-foot-10, 185-pound Drouin since selection camp opened in Calgary three weeks ago. 

But during a Christmas Day practice, he collided with a teammate and suffered a charley horse. Hockey Canada didn't add him to the final roster until the next day after he had shown that he had recovered enough to suit up for the tournament opener the following day.

Spott's hunch to play him on the top line helped the Canadian juniors win their 17th in a row in NHL lockout-affected world under-20 tournaments.

Here are five matters to consider as the 2013 event moves into the playoff round in Ufa, Russia.

1. The return of Oshawa Generals centre Boone Jenner from his three game-suspension for his late hit in a Dec. 22 exhibition game was a big boost to the Canadian lineup. His inclusion added to the talent level and allowed Spott to put together three top lines that got it done in all three zones of the Ufa Arena.

Besides the addition of Drouin to the top line, the other top two combinations saw centre Ryan Strome with Jonathan Huberdeau and right wing Ty Rattie. Jenner played between left wing Phillip Danault and Brett Ritchie.

Jenner was a physical force, provided energy and strong penalty killing, and won nine of 16 draws.

His play certainly caught the attention of the coaching staff. Jenner was awarded the post-game black cape, the team's internal game MVP award.

2. The Canadian juniors rebounded from a dismal effort in man-advantage situations in their game against the United States on Sunday, when they went 0-for-6 and failed to score in two minutes and 36 seconds of 5-on-3 power-play time.

The power-play woes turned around against Russia, however. Another top prospect for the NHL draft, 17-year-old Valeri Nichushkin, took a five-minute major and was ejected from the game for his hit from behind on Canadian defenceman Tyler Wotherspoon midway through the first period.

Unlike the previous game, Canada was able to get some shots through from the point. As a result the power play produced goals from defenceman Dougie Hamilton and Scheifele during the major penalty and a 2-0 lead.

3. Nugent-Hopkins continued his strong tournament. He assisted on each of three Canadian goals to increase his offensive production to three goals and 11 points in four games. He leads the tournament scoring race by four points over U.S. forward Alex Galchenyuk and has put together one of the best individual efforts for a tournament by a Canadian player.

Here are the most productive showings from Canadian juniors.

• 18 points - Dale McCourt (1977), Brayden Schenn (2011).
• 17 - Wayne Gretzky (1978), Eric Lindros (1991).
• 16 - Cody Hodgson (2009).
• 15 - John Anderson (1977), Jason Allison (1995), Marty Murray (1995), John Tavares (2009) 

4. Canada's win will give it two days off to prepare for the semifinals on Thursday. They will meet the Wednesday's quarter-final winner between the U.S. and Czech Republic.

In the other group, defending champion Sweden continued its winning ways with a 7-4 victory versus Finland. The loss knocked the Finns to the relegation round. Sweden, meanwhile, will meet the winner of the Switzerland-Russia quarter-final. Switzerland is coached by Sean Simpson of Brampton, Ont. He played for Canada in the 1980 world junior tournament.

5. Canada now has lost only two games in the round-robin portion of this tournament in the last decade. Sweden beat the Canadians 6-5 in overtime in 2011 and 4-3 in regulation time in 2008.

This also was the ninth time since 2003 Canada finished on top of its preliminary round group. The Canadian juniors have won five gold medals in the previous 10 tournaments and made it to the finals nine times in this stretch.

• 2012 Won group (lost in semifinals)
• 2011 2nd in group (lost in final)
• 2010 Won group (lost in final)
• 2009 Won group (won gold)
• 2008 2nd in group (won gold)
• 2007 Won group (won gold)
• 2006 Won group (won gold)
• 2005 Won group (won gold)
• 2004 Won group (lost in final)
• 2003 Won group (lost in final)

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Bettman cautiously optimistic as NHLPA considers latest offer

Gary Bettman strode through the doors of the National Hockey League's Times Square office on Tuesday night, bringing a cautiously optimistic message with him for one of the few times since the 108-day lockout of the players began.

Speaking at the end of a 30-minute meeting with Donald Fehr and the NHLPA's bargaining committee, the commissioner seemed to indicate that talks on a new collective agreement had settled into the last, hard push to a resolution.

The league had just presented a new counter-offer to the union, one that came off a counter from the players the day before.

"In our response, there were certain things the players' association asked for that we agreed to, there were some things that we moved in their direction, and there were other things that we said no, but that's part of the process," said Bettman, looking tired in an ice-blue sweater on a cold New York night.

A few minutes before, Fehr spoke with the media, saying the union would look at the new counter-offer from the league overnight.

"We spent half an hour or so with the owners committee, they made a comprehensive response to what we gave them yesterday," he said. "We asked a couple of questions, now what we have to do is go over the document, try to make some sense out of it, compare it and see what the appropriate thing is to do next.

"We'll start tonight, continue in the morning and be in touch with them sometime tomorrow morning."

Union's court option expires Wednesday

Wednesday also brings another key date in the bargaining, as at 11:59 p.m. ET the union must file a disclaimer of interest in court — which would begin the process of disbanding the union and change the tenor of the debate. Sources believe this may be a reason both sides are pushing hard now for a deal.

Once Wednesday passes, the final major date seems to be just over a week away.

In order to get a 48-game season in, something Bettman feels is an absolute minimum, play must start by Jan. 19. Add in a week of training camp and a day for medicals, and the drop dead date seems to be Jan. 11.

Items thought to still be on the negotiating table include:

• The term of the deal (Bettman wants 10 years with an opt-out for either side at eight, while the players want no more than seven).
• Variance (the difference between what a contract pays in its first and later years).
• Escrow.
• Buy out provisions (that would allow a team to choose one contract and buy it out without counting it against the salary cap).
• The size of the cap itself.

League sources indicate Bettman is looking at a cap of $60-million US in the first year of a deal, while the players want $67 million.

Escrow itself deals with the holding back of a player's money during a season until league-wide profits are determined the following summer. If the players as a whole have earned more than an even split of those profits, the monies held in escrow go to the league.

If it's less than even, each athlete gets money back.

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Friedman: It may be 1 minute to midnight for NHL talks

By 11:59 p.m. (ET) Wednesday night, we're going to know if the players think a deal is getting done.

That is the deadline for the NHLPA to file its Disclaimer of Interest in court. And, if the union sees an end to this gong show, the chances decrease, significantly, that the filing gets made. If things devolve into a Fugitive-style train wreck, well, the lawyers get even busier.

By 11:59 p.m. (ET) Wednesday night, we're going to know if the players think a deal is getting done.

That is the deadline for the NHLPA to file its Disclaimer of Interest in court. And, if the union sees an end to this gong show, the chances decrease, significantly, that the filing gets made. If things devolve into a Fugitive-style train wreck, well, the lawyers get even busier.

Tweeters have asked several questions about this process. Here are some answers:

• The document does not need to be filed by 5 pm because it can be done online
• Even if the NHLPA allows this deadline to pass, its members can always vote again to allow the executive committee to use this process. But this mandate ends at the stroke of midnight Wednesday.
• Donald Fehr is not "jobless" if the motion is filed. He can still work in an advisory capacity. The National Basketball Players' Association's executive director, Billy Hunter, was not excluded from negotiations after his union used this tactic 14 months ago.

Commissioner Bettman did not want to list how many outstanding issues remain, but there still appear to be some core economic differences.

That would be escrow, cap in 2013-14, that kind of stuff. But, it's clear that both sides are seriously trying -- the rhetoric is gone and a lot of work is being done. There is probably a lot more contact between the two parties than we realize.

But before we hit the season's drop-dead date, we have another deadline -- this one belonging to the players.

Do they think enough progress is being made to forego this maneuver?

Tune in tonight. Same bat-time, same bat-channel.

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U.S. pound Czechs to face Canada in world junior semis

John Gaudreau had a hat trick, Riley Barber scored twice and the United States beat the Czech Republic 7-0 to reach the semifinals of the world junior ice hockey championship on Wednesday.

The Americans will play Canada at Ufa Arena on Thursday.

Sweden awaited the winner of the other quarterfinal between Russia and Switzerland.

Gaudreau scored the lone goal of the first period when the Czechs were two men down at 11:45, and doubled the lead on a power play just 28 seconds into the second period. Ryan Hartman made it 3-0 with a shot from the left circle 40 seconds later, and the Czechs substituted goalie Patrik Bartosak for Matej Machovsky.

Barber scored into an empty net on a power play at 28:44 and beat Machovsky in a one-on-one less than 4 minutes later.

Gaudreau, unmarked at the right, had his third goal on a power play at 39:47. JT Miller capped the scoring with a slap shot from the blue line, capitalizing on a two-man advantage early in the third period.

John Gibson made 31 saves for the victory.

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Sports in 2012: The good

Here's a look at some of the praiseworthy and positive sports stories of 2012, the type that by and large couldn't be predicted and which didn't necessarily appear on the stat sheet or scoreboard.

For a look at the depressing, shameful and eyeball-rolling counterparts, go here.

Olympian efforts

Seeing as it was an Olympic year, let's start with London. IOC president Jacques Rogge called them the "happy and glorious Games." If such an event can be called normal, then London can, following as it did the sad legacy of the Athens Games (drug scandals, facilities in disrepair) and the over-the-top, efficient Beijing Olympics. And with no publicly known security scares for the Games that were awarded to the city the day before twin transit bombings in 2005.

Oscar Pistorius was one of the bigger stories in London, becoming the first amputee sprinter to compete in able-bodied Olympics. The gold winner in that 400-metre event, Grenadian teen Kirani James, was inspired enough by "The Blade Runner" to ask the South African to swap bibs.

Wheelchair basketball star Patrick Anderson of Fergus, Ont., came out of retirement after three years to score 34 points in the Paralympics' gold-medal final win over Australia. Canada avenged a 2008 final loss to the Aussies in the process, and the result gave Anderson a career total of three gold and a silver after wins in 2000 and 2004.

"It feels like the first medal I've ever won somehow," said Anderson, now up for a prestigious award to be determined in February 2013. "I'm not sure exactly why just yet."

Then there was Esther Vergeer of Belgium, the wheelchair tennis player who added Olympic gold medals six and seven while also winning both Grand Slam events. That helped run her modest winning streak to 470 straight matches, dating back to January 2003.

Manteo Mitchell was entered in the able-bodied Games but ran most of his leg of the 4x400-metre relay with a broken fibula.

The Olympic hosts revelled in a stunning trio of gold medals from Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford in rapid succession at Olympic Stadium on Aug. 4, prompting singer Billy Bragg to tweet: "Tonight, our society was wonderfully represented by a ginger bloke, an immigrant named Mohammed and a mixed race woman. #proudtobeBritish"

It was Rod Stewart who sang, "Make the best out of the bad, just laugh it off," in Every Picture Tells a Story. U.S. gymnast McKayla Maroney did just that in quite possibly the most forwarded sports photo of the year thanks to countless internet memes. Her scowl on the podium while wearing a mere silver medal around her neck from the vault competition initially made her seem like a bratty teenager, but she quickly recovered to poke fun at herself in the weeks to come, all the way to David Letterman's guest chair and The White House.

The Canadian women's soccer team showed pluck on the field in winning a bronze model and then embraced their enhanced profile, appearing across the country at events to sign autographs and pose for pictures for appreciative young girls and other fans.

Newfoundland native Elijah Porter was golden without even competing. The 10-year-old boy raised the spirits of the Canadian men's Olympic 4x100-metre relay team after it was disqualified from a bronze-medal finish in London by sending the team the only medal in his possession, earned playing soccer.

Relay team members Jared Connaughton and Seyi Smith paid a visit to Porter at his home in Paradise, N.L., to personally thank him.

Linsanity

Speaking of kids, the sports catchphrase of the year may have belonged to Jack Meyer. He's the nine-year-old who greeted the megawatt Miami Heat team after a disappointing home playoff loss to the Boston Celtics with the hilariously incongruous "Good job, good effort!"

To the degree that the NBA was able to rid itself of the lockout stench, it was in no small part due to phenomenon Jeremy Lin. The Knicks guard had scored a total of 32 points in nine games of limited minutes as of Feb. 3. The next night he went off at Madison Square Garden against New Jersey, beginning a span of 10 consecutive games in which he averaged 24.6 points.

Linsanity reigned, the stickiest of a passel of somewhat politically incorrect puns based on his last name. Knicks superfan Spike Lee sought out his high school and university jerseys (Palo Alto High and Harvard, respectively), and many celebrated the still-too-rare examples of star status for a player of Asian descent in North American team sports. He couldn't come to terms with New York in the off-season, cashing in on a deal with the Rockets.

Fighting for rights

Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke and son Patrick, a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers, were behind the "You Can Play" campaign launched to educate and eliminate homophobia in sports, with several NHLers lending their support in advertisements.

Baltimore player Brendon Ayanbadejo, a former CFLer, has been supporting the rights of gays to marry for a few years now, but for some bizarre reason, a Maryland legislater took umbrage this summer, telling the Ravens to do something about it. To its credit, the team didn't, and Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe fired off an impassioned and profane rebuttal to the politician.

Former Swift Current hockey players Theo Fleury, Sheldon Kennedy and Todd Holt continued fighting for the rights of victims of sex abuse and for greater punishment of offenders as the maddening Graham James case continued to wind through the legal system a quarter-century after the crimes. In the United States Cy Young Winner and new Toronto Blue Jay R.A. Dickey, Olympic judo gold medallist Kayla Harrison and Olympic boxer Queen Underwood told their stories of overcoming child sexual abuse.

Honouring the departed

The Miami Heat stood united after the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin. The so-called "Stand Your Ground" incident divided opinion in Florida, but it was undeniable that the Heat players clearly believed that in an earlier time, before they achieved fame, they were Martin.

Eli Manning and Victor Cruz were offensive stars as the New York Giants won another Super Bowl, and laudable off the field. Manning donated $25,000 US towards Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, as athletes and leagues pitched to help in that disaster. Victor Cruz dedicated a Dec. 16 game and adorned his sneakers in the memory of Jack Pinto, a six-year-old victim of the Newtown, Ct., school shooting massacre, who was buried the next day wearing the jersey of the Giants receiver, his favourite player.

Notre Dame linebacker Mant'i Teo was a Heisman Trophy finalist despite enduring the deaths hours apart in September of his grandmother and girlfriend, while Pat Neshek of the Oakland Athletics pitched impressively in a playoff appearance just days after his newborn son died.

The Canadian amateur sport community was rocked in a span of weeks by the deaths of freestyle skier Sarah Burke and skicross competitor Nik Zoricic. Friends and teammates tried to keep their memory close as they dealt with their grief. Foundations were established in both of their names to pursue causes consistent with their lives, while the Canadian skicross squad this season donned uniforms that were a tribute to Zoricic.

The Indianapolis Colts were "Chuckstrong", seemingly gaining strength as their first-year coach Chuck Pagano battled leukemia.

Hanging it up

LaDainian Tomlinson, Jason Taylor, Ricky Williams, Shawn Johnson, Chipper Jones, Pudge Rodriguez and Owen Nolan are among the many athletes who should be saluted as they ended their competitive careers.

Michael Schumacher retired again. David Beckham didn't, but effectively did for fans wanting to see him play on a North American pitch. Andy Roddick sometimes grated but was never dull, and will undoubtedly make an entertaining tennis commentator one day.

But if you were to pick one man and one woman as head of the "class," with respect to newly retired athletes, you'd be hard pressed to top seven-time Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings and four-time Grand Slam tennis champion Kim Clijsters.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Wharnsby: Canada's Jonathan Drouin solidifying elite status

Whiz kid Jonathan Drouin played a big part in Canada beating Russia 4-1 on Monday and advancing straight in the semifinals of the 2013 World Under-20 Championship.

Halifax Mooseheads whiz kid Jonathan Drouin has cemented his standing among the top contenders to be selected first overall at the 2013 NHL entry draft.

Drouin was elevated to the top line of the Canadian junior team to play alongside Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Mark Scheifele for the final round-robin game against the host Russians.

The move paid dividends. Drouin scored an early second-period goal to give his team a two-goal advantage in Canada's eventual 4-1 New Year's Eve victory. 

Drouin's Halifax teammate Nathan MacKinnon and Portland Winterhawks defenceman Seth Jones entered the 2012-13 season as co-favourites to be selected first overall at the NHL draft in June.

Drouin, however, has skated into the picture. His speed and goal-scoring ability are remarkable for a kid that began last season playing midget hockey with the Lac St-Louis AAA Lions.

He began 2010-11 in Lac St-Louis with an astonishing 22 goals and 53 points in 22 games. The start forced the Mooseheads to make some room at midseason for the then 16-year-old Drouin. A year later, he's with Canada at the IIHF World Under-20 Championship.

Canadian head coach Steve Spott has raved about the skill and hockey intellect of the five-foot-10, 185-pound Drouin since selection camp opened in Calgary three weeks ago. 

But during a Christmas Day practice, he collided with a teammate and suffered a charley horse. Hockey Canada didn't add him to the final roster until the next day after he had shown that he had recovered enough to suit up for the tournament opener the following day.

Spott's hunch to play him on the top line helped the Canadian juniors win their 17th in a row in NHL lockout-affected world under-20 tournaments.

Here are five matters to consider as the 2013 event moves into the playoff round in Ufa, Russia.

1. The return of Oshawa Generals centre Boone Jenner from his three game-suspension for his late hit in a Dec. 22 exhibition game was a big boost to the Canadian lineup. His inclusion added to the talent level and allowed Spott to put together three top lines that got it done in all three zones of the Ufa Arena.

Besides the addition of Drouin to the top line, the other top two combinations saw centre Ryan Strome with Jonathan Huberdeau and right wing Ty Rattie. Jenner played between left wing Phillip Danault and Brett Ritchie.

Jenner was a physical force, provided energy and strong penalty killing, and won nine of 16 draws.

His play certainly caught the attention of the coaching staff. Jenner was awarded the post-game black cape, the team's internal game MVP award.

2. The Canadian juniors rebounded from a dismal effort in man-advantage situations in their game against the United States on Sunday, when they went 0-for-6 and failed to score in two minutes and 36 seconds of 5-on-3 power-play time.

The power-play woes turned around against Russia, however. Another top prospect for the NHL draft, 17-year-old Valeri Nichushkin, took a five-minute major and was ejected from the game for his hit from behind on Canadian defenceman Tyler Wotherspoon midway through the first period.

Unlike the previous game, Canada was able to get some shots through from the point. As a result the power play produced goals from defenceman Dougie Hamilton and Scheifele during the major penalty and a 2-0 lead.

3. Nugent-Hopkins continued his strong tournament. He assisted on each of three Canadian goals to increase his offensive production to three goals and 11 points in four games. He leads the tournament scoring race by four points over U.S. forward Alex Galchenyuk and has put together one of the best individual efforts for a tournament by a Canadian player.

Here are the most productive showings from Canadian juniors.

• 18 points - Dale McCourt (1977), Brayden Schenn (2011).
• 17 - Wayne Gretzky (1978), Eric Lindros (1991).
• 16 - Cody Hodgson (2009).
• 15 - John Anderson (1977), Jason Allison (1995), Marty Murray (1995), John Tavares (2009) 

4. Canada's win will give it two days off to prepare for the semifinals on Thursday. They will meet the Wednesday's quarter-final winner between the U.S. and Czech Republic.

In the other group, defending champion Sweden continued its winning ways with a 7-4 victory versus Finland. The loss knocked the Finns to the relegation round. Sweden, meanwhile, will meet the winner of the Switzerland-Russia quarter-final. Switzerland is coached by Sean Simpson of Brampton, Ont. He played for Canada in the 1980 world junior tournament.

5. Canada now has lost only two games in the round-robin portion of this tournament in the last decade. Sweden beat the Canadians 6-5 in overtime in 2011 and 4-3 in regulation time in 2008.

This also was the ninth time since 2003 Canada finished on top of its preliminary round group. The Canadian juniors have won five gold medals in the previous 10 tournaments and made it to the finals nine times in this stretch.

• 2012 Won group (lost in semifinals)
• 2011 2nd in group (lost in final)
• 2010 Won group (lost in final)
• 2009 Won group (won gold)
• 2008 2nd in group (won gold)
• 2007 Won group (won gold)
• 2006 Won group (won gold)
• 2005 Won group (won gold)
• 2004 Won group (lost in final)
• 2003 Won group (lost in final)

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Canadian juniors top Russia, earn bye to semis

Jonathan Drouin's stock is rising on Canada's junior team, and likely for the next NHL draft too.

The 17-year-old forward was promoted to the top forward line and scored a pretty goal in Canada's 4-1 win over Russia at the world junior hockey championship Monday in Ufa.

The Canadians topped Pool B at 4-0, which means they get a bye to Thursday's semifinal. They await the winner of Wednesday's quarter-final between the Czech Republic and the United States.

Defending champion Sweden finished first in Pool A and awaits the winner of the quarter-final between Russia and Switzerland.

Drouin hadn't played or practised with captain Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or winger Mark Scheifele before Monday's game, but Canada's youngest player looked comfortable with linemates who would have played in the NHL this season if not for the lockout.

"I don't consider that a gamble when you're dealing with a player like Jonathan," Canadian head coach Steve Spott said. "Some players can handle that opportunity."

Dougie Hamilton and Scheifele scored power-play goals during a five-minute major to Russian forward Valeri Nichushkin, who was also given a game misconduct for checking Canadian defenceman Tyler Wotherspoon from behind in the first period.

The hit opened a cut on Wotherspoon's right cheek he'd sustained earlier in the game. The Surrey, B.C., defenceman left Canada's bench to get seven stitches in his cheek but returned for the second period.

Team captain Nugent-Hopkins assisted on all three of Canada's first three goals. Jonathan Huberdeau added an empty-net goal.

Malcolm Subban picked up his fourth win of the tournament in Canada's net with 21 saves.

Nikita Kucherov scored for Russia and goaltender Andrei Makarov of the Western Hockey League's Saskatoon Blades made 44 saves.

Spott wanted more speed on his top line to throw at the Russians when playing them even-strength, so he moved Drouin up from the second line of Ryan Strome and Brett Ritchie. Huberdeau re-joined Nugent-Hopkins and Scheifele when Canada went on the power-play.

Of the two underage players to make the Canadian team out of selection camp, Drouin was the surprise.

His Halifax Mooseheads teammate and linemate Nathan MacKinnon was seen to have the better chance at cracking a lineup of elite 19-year-olds because of the lockout.

Drouin had the hockey sense and speed, but there were concerns about his ability to compete physically against older and bigger players.

The five-foot-10, 185-pound winger scored a highlight reel goal in the second period Monday to put his country up 3-1.

Nugent-Hopkins dished him the puck low and Drouin whipped around the side of the net to tuck the puck between Makarov's pad and the post.

"He's so dynamic, he's so quick down low," Nugent-Hopkins said. "He's got good vision obviously so it's fun when you get a chance to play with a guy like that. He's handles himself really well as a 17-year-old in this tournament."

Central Scouting ranked Drouin second behind MacKinnon in their preliminary rankings of Quebec Major Junior Hockey League prospects.

"I don't think about my stats right now," Drouin said. "I'm here to win a gold medal."

The Huberdeau, Que., native was told by Spott in the morning he'd join Nugent-Hopkins and Scheifele in an important game for Canada.

"Maybe a little nervous to play with those guys," Drouin said. "They're great players. You've just got to find open space and they're going to find you pretty easy."

Canada had 13 forwards Monday for the first time in the tournament. Boone Jenner was assessed a three-game suspension on the eve of the tournament for his hit in a pre-tournament game. JC Lipon served a one-game suspension Sunday in the game against the U.S.

Faceoff specialist

Jenner, a faceoff specialist and strong penalty killer, wore the black cape Canada's coaches award to the player they deem the most heroic in the game.

A full complement of forwards made Canada effective on the backcheck and gave the defence more support, according to Spott.

"Tonight, having those extra forwards, it allowed our defence to hold our gaps and we had great legs," Spott said. "We had really, really good legs. We got to loose pucks first."

The New Year's Eve game in Ufa was highly anticipated. The host country and Canada are tournament favourites and the 8,250-seat Ufa Arena was full for the game that determined first place in the pool.

"It was a game we all had marked on our schedule, the game against the Russians," Wotherspoon said. "The boys responded and came out great tonight."

The game also featured Nugent-Hopkins and Russian forward Nail Yakupov, who were the first overall selections of the last two NHL entry drafts by the Edmonton Oilers.

Nugent-Hopkins has already played a season in the NHL, while the lockout has prevented Yakupov from embarking on his rookie season with the Oilers. Canada's captain had more of an impact in Monday's game than his Russian counterpart.

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NHL owners, players to continue talks on New Year's Day

Hockey fans might have a reason to be a bit optimistic.

The NHL and the players' association are back on speaking terms, are trading ideas, and already have plans to get back together after the first day of face-to-face meetings in nearly three weeks.

The union responded to the NHL's most recent contract proposal with one of their own on Monday. And even before the league had a chance to review it with a fine-toothed comb, the sides decided they would meet again Tuesday.

"We spent a good part of the afternoon with the players' association. They were responding to the proposal we made on Thursday," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said on a cold, wind-blown street outside's the league's New York headquarters. "Their response was a comprehensive one, dealing with the full slate of issues that we raised and proposals we put forth, and we're in the process of reviewing their response.

"We will contact them [Tuesday] morning and arrange to get back together, hopefully certainly by midday."

The sides got together for the first time since Dec. 13, and the union brought along a condensed counterproposal in response to the NHL's 288-page contract offer. There were some discussions between the negotiators and some time spent apart in internal caucuses.

"The purpose of the discussion was for us to respond and have them ask a couple questions for us to explain a number of the points we had made," union executive director Donald Fehr said. "We expect to hear from them [Tuesday]. We're all staying around."

Neither side chose to delve into details of what was offered in either proposal nor characterize any of the discussions that Fehr said "weren't terribly long."

"There was an opportunity for the players to highlight the areas they thought we should focus on based on their response, and that's something we've got to look at very closely in addition to the myriad of other issues," Bettman said. "The process continues and we're anticipating getting back together."

The fact that neither offer was quickly dismissed could be taken as a positive sign that perhaps the gap has closed between them.

"I'm out of the prediction business," Fehr said. "You get up every day and you try to figure out how to make an agreement that day, and if it fails you try and do it the next day. That's exactly where we are."

Bettman also reserved judgment when asked if progress was made.

"I think it would be premature for me to characterize it and not particularly helpful to the process," he said.

A crowd of people heading toward New Year's celebrations in New York gathered around the large throng of reporters and television cameras focused in on Bettman and Fehr as the two leaders spoke separately on the busy sidewalk. Both men would rather have the attention back on the ice instead of themselves.

This was the first meeting in nearly three weeks since the last round of negotiations with a federal mediator. After presenting their proposal, union representatives stayed in the building in case there were further discussions — later, with talks done for the day, the union said it expected a response from the NHL on Tuesday morning.

The New Year's clock ticked down while the window to reach a labour agreement to save the season was rapidly closing. Bettman said a deal needs to be reached by Jan. 11.

"We've said we need to drop the puck by Jan. 19 if we're going to play a 48-game season," the commissioner said. "We don't think it makes sense to play a season any shorter than that."

That leaves a little less than two weeks to reach an agreement and hold one week of training camp before starting the season.

So far, a deal has proved elusive and well out of reach.

The league and the union had informational discussions — by conference call and in meetings — with staff members that lasted much of Saturday and ended Sunday. Those talks were spurred by the extensive contract proposal the NHL made last week.

All games through Jan. 14 have been cancelled, claiming more than 50 per cent of the original schedule.

Bargaining sessions with only the NHL and union hadn't been held since Dec. 6, when talks abruptly ended after the players' association made a counterproposal. The league said that offer was contingent on the union accepting three elements unconditionally and without further bargaining.

The NHL then pulled all existing offers off the table. Two days of sessions with mediators the following week ended without progress.

The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labour dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.

It is still possible this dispute eventually could be settled in the courts if the sides can't reach a deal on their own.

The NHL filed a class-action suit this month in U.S. District Court in New York in an effort to show its lockout is legal. In a separate move, the league filed an unfair labour practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, contending bad-faith bargaining by the union.

Those moves were made because the players' association took steps toward potentially declaring a "disclaimer of interest," which would dissolve the union and make it a trade association. That would allow players to file antitrust lawsuits against the NHL.

Union members voted overwhelmingly to give their board the power to file the disclaimer by Wednesday. If that deadline passes, another authorization vote could be held to approve a later filing.

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Sports in 2012: The good

Here's a look at some of the praiseworthy and positive sports stories of 2012, the type that by and large couldn't be predicted and which didn't necessarily appear on the stat sheet or scoreboard.

For a look at the depressing, shameful and eyeball-rolling counterparts, go here.

Olympian efforts

Seeing as it was an Olympic year, let's start with London. IOC president Jacques Rogge called them the "happy and glorious Games." If such an event can be called normal, then London can, following as it did the sad legacy of the Athens Games (drug scandals, facilities in disrepair) and the over-the-top, efficient Beijing Olympics. And with no publicly known security scares for the Games that were awarded to the city the day before twin transit bombings in 2005.

Oscar Pistorius was one of the bigger stories in London, becoming the first amputee sprinter to compete in able-bodied Olympics. The gold winner in that 400-metre event, Grenadian teen Kirani James, was inspired enough by "The Blade Runner" to ask the South African to swap bibs.

Wheelchair basketball star Patrick Anderson of Fergus, Ont., came out of retirement after three years to score 34 points in the Paralympics' gold-medal final win over Australia. Canada avenged a 2008 final loss to the Aussies in the process, and the result gave Anderson a career total of three gold and a silver after wins in 2000 and 2004.

"It feels like the first medal I've ever won somehow," said Anderson, now up for a prestigious award to be determined in February 2013. "I'm not sure exactly why just yet."

Then there was Esther Vergeer of Belgium, the wheelchair tennis player who added Olympic gold medals six and seven while also winning both Grand Slam events. That helped run her modest winning streak to 470 straight matches, dating back to January 2003.

Manteo Mitchell was entered in the able-bodied Games but ran most of his leg of the 4x400-metre relay with a broken fibula.

The Olympic hosts revelled in a stunning trio of gold medals from Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford in rapid succession at Olympic Stadium on Aug. 4, prompting singer Billy Bragg to tweet: "Tonight, our society was wonderfully represented by a ginger bloke, an immigrant named Mohammed and a mixed race woman. #proudtobeBritish"

It was Rod Stewart who sang, "Make the best out of the bad, just laugh it off," in Every Picture Tells a Story. U.S. gymnast McKayla Maroney did just that in quite possibly the most forwarded sports photo of the year thanks to countless internet memes. Her scowl on the podium while wearing a mere silver medal around her neck from the vault competition initially made her seem like a bratty teenager, but she quickly recovered to poke fun at herself in the weeks to come, all the way to David Letterman's guest chair and The White House.

The Canadian women's soccer team showed pluck on the field in winning a bronze model and then embraced their enhanced profile, appearing across the country at events to sign autographs and pose for pictures for appreciative young girls and other fans.

Newfoundland native Elijah Porter was golden without even competing. The 10-year-old boy raised the spirits of the Canadian men's Olympic 4x100-metre relay team after it was disqualified from a bronze-medal finish in London by sending the team the only medal in his possession, earned playing soccer.

Relay team members Jared Connaughton and Seyi Smith paid a visit to Porter at his home in Paradise, N.L., to personally thank him.

Linsanity

Speaking of kids, the sports catchphrase of the year may have belonged to Jack Meyer. He's the nine-year-old who greeted the megawatt Miami Heat team after a disappointing home playoff loss to the Boston Celtics with the hilariously incongruous "Good job, good effort!"

To the degree that the NBA was able to rid itself of the lockout stench, it was in no small part due to phenomenon Jeremy Lin. The Knicks guard had scored a total of 32 points in nine games of limited minutes as of Feb. 3. The next night he went off at Madison Square Garden against New Jersey, beginning a span of 10 consecutive games in which he averaged 24.6 points.

Linsanity reigned, the stickiest of a passel of somewhat politically incorrect puns based on his last name. Knicks superfan Spike Lee sought out his high school and university jerseys (Palo Alto High and Harvard, respectively), and many celebrated the still-too-rare examples of star status for a player of Asian descent in North American team sports. He couldn't come to terms with New York in the off-season, cashing in on a deal with the Rockets.

Fighting for rights

Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke and son Patrick, a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers, were behind the "You Can Play" campaign launched to educate and eliminate homophobia in sports, with several NHLers lending their support in advertisements.

Baltimore player Brendon Ayanbadejo, a former CFLer, has been supporting the rights of gays to marry for a few years now, but for some bizarre reason, a Maryland legislater took umbrage this summer, telling the Ravens to do something about it. To its credit, the team didn't, and Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe fired off an impassioned and profane rebuttal to the politician.

Former Swift Current hockey players Theo Fleury, Sheldon Kennedy and Todd Holt continued fighting for the rights of victims of sex abuse and for greater punishment of offenders as the maddening Graham James case continued to wind through the legal system a quarter-century after the crimes. In the United States Cy Young Winner and new Toronto Blue Jay R.A. Dickey, Olympic judo gold medallist Kayla Harrison and Olympic boxer Queen Underwood told their stories of overcoming child sexual abuse.

Honouring the departed

The Miami Heat stood united after the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin. The so-called "Stand Your Ground" incident divided opinion in Florida, but it was undeniable that the Heat players clearly believed that in an earlier time, before they achieved fame, they were Martin.

Eli Manning and Victor Cruz were offensive stars as the New York Giants won another Super Bowl, and laudable off the field. Manning donated $25,000 US towards Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, as athletes and leagues pitched to help in that disaster. Victor Cruz dedicated a Dec. 16 game and adorned his sneakers in the memory of Jack Pinto, a six-year-old victim of the Newtown, Ct., school shooting massacre, who was buried the next day wearing the jersey of the Giants receiver, his favourite player.

Notre Dame linebacker Mant'i Teo was a Heisman Trophy finalist despite enduring the deaths hours apart in September of his grandmother and girlfriend, while Pat Neshek of the Oakland Athletics pitched impressively in a playoff appearance just days after his newborn son died.

The Canadian amateur sport community was rocked in a span of weeks by the deaths of freestyle skier Sarah Burke and skicross competitor Nik Zoricic. Friends and teammates tried to keep their memory close as they dealt with their grief. Foundations were established in both of their names to pursue causes consistent with their lives, while the Canadian skicross squad this season donned uniforms that were a tribute to Zoricic.

The Indianapolis Colts were "Chuckstrong", seemingly gaining strength as their first-year coach Chuck Pagano battled leukemia.

Hanging it up

LaDainian Tomlinson, Jason Taylor, Ricky Williams, Shawn Johnson, Chipper Jones, Pudge Rodriguez and Owen Nolan are among the many athletes who should be saluted as they ended their competitive careers.

Michael Schumacher retired again. David Beckham didn't, but effectively did for fans wanting to see him play on a North American pitch. Andy Roddick sometimes grated but was never dull, and will undoubtedly make an entertaining tennis commentator one day.

But if you were to pick one man and one woman as head of the "class," with respect to newly retired athletes, you'd be hard pressed to top seven-time Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings and four-time Grand Slam tennis champion Kim Clijsters.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Friedman: NHL needs to keep cool with Donald Fehr's tactics

Donald Fehr is an infuriating opponent, writes Hockey Night in Canada's Elliotte Friedman. He stalls, he delays, he takes longer water breaks than a camel at a Saharan oasis. That's why it will be very important for Gary Bettman and Bill Daly to control their frustration.

The word of the week is "patience."

We've all got lockout fatigue. Fans, sponsors, players, coaches, executives and media. As one GM said Saturday: "I hope this ends, because we're all tired of it." But this isn't going to be easy.

It would be criminal not to have a season based on where things stand. But, it doesn't mean Donald Fehr is going to deviate from his plan. He's controlled the tempo of these negotiations for some time now, and he's convinced the players that waiting is the best strategy.

They're tired, but they're listening.

That's why it will be very important for Gary Bettman and Bill Daly to control their frustration. Fehr is an infuriating opponent. He stalls, he delays, he takes longer water breaks than a camel at a Saharan oasis. He's already slowed down this process, asking for more clarifications on the NHL's latest offer, meaning actual negotiations will start later than the league wanted.

At least Bob Goodenow yelled back at you.

But, the NHL's lead negotiators can't get caught up in that now. The endgame is littered with landmines and they will need to keep their cool.

Here's one possibility: I think the players want to have an exhibition game or two. Some guys haven't played a game this year, while others need the opportunity to win a job. All those guys who've improved in the AHL this year -- "two or three guys per team," according to several executives -- have the advantage.

The problem: I'm not sure the league wants anything to do with this idea. I could hear eyes rolling over the telephone when I brought it up to a few people. How much of a problem is this going to be? No idea. But it shows the kind of last-second issue that will add aggravation to the next week.

(Suggestion: if exhibition hockey actually occurs, let people in for free. Holy Mother of God, gouging fans for those would be an awful idea.)

There's a story Fehr tells that should be repeated right now. During one of his MLB battles, the owners and union were getting close to a deal, when a couple of the players told a reporter they couldn't wait to get back and play. The league read those quotes and pulled the offer. (I've looked for the specific story, but can't find it.)

I have no doubt he is all over his current clients to be careful what they say. It's close. But we've got a wavy ride ahead.

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