Masai Ujiri: Most influential in Canadian sports

Masai Ujiri is our audience's pick for the most influential figure in Canadian sports in 2014.

The Toronto Raptors general manager won the final matchup against Olympic speed skater Gilmore Junio, earning 51 per cent of votes.

"[I feel] humbled, very, very humbled, I really appreciate it," Ujiri told CBC. "I think there's so many other people to look at in front of me but you know what, I'm humbled that this has happened."

Ujiri emerged from a list of eight finalists that were pitted against each other in a series of head-to-head matchups over the last few weeks, with the highest vote-getter advancing to the next round.

The other finalists were hockey players P.K. Subban and Marie-Philip Poulin, tennis star Eugenie Bouchard, bobsledder Kaillie Humphries, Own the Podium CEO Anne Merklinger, and social media.

Voters were asked to consider which candidate had the greatest impact on the Canadian sports landscape this year.

Ujiri is a native of Nigeria who became the first African-born GM of a major North American pro sports team before joining the Raptors in May 2013.

He bucked conventional wisdom this year by electing not to diminish his roster for a better shot at drafting Canadian phenom Andrew Wiggins. Instead, Ujiri kept the Raptors' key players together. They went on to win a surprise division title last season, and this season are one of the top teams in the NBA, along the way capturing the attention of fans in Canada's largest city and throughout the country.

"I always try to do my best, not only for the team organization, the fans, the city, the country...it is a special circumstance here where it's one team and one country, one following, the only NBA team outside the U.S.A. and we're proud of it," said Ujiri.

Ujiri also hosted a benefit in honour of Nelson Mandela in June, and took part in the "Giants of Africa" celebration put on by the Raptors this month in recognition of the one-year anniversary of Mandela's death.

Junio set a fine example of sportsmanship and sacrifice by giving his spot in the Olympic men's 1,000-metre long track race to Denny Morrison, a more talented teammate who went on to capture the silver medal.

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Canucks extinguish Flames with quick OT goal

Recap

Tanev scores 18 seconds into OT

The Canadian Press Posted: Dec 21, 2014 12:57 AM ET Last Updated: Dec 21, 2014 1:20 AM ET

Chris Tanev scored in overtime as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Calgary Flames 3-2 on Saturday night.

Radim Vrbata and Yannick Weber scored in regulation for the Canucks (18-11-2), who snapped a five-game winless skid.

Ryan Miller made 26 saves in his first win since Dec. 2 at Washington.

Johnny Gaudreau and David Jones found the back of the net for Calgary (17-15-2), which is now winless in eight games. The Flames have also dropped eight-straight visits to Vancouver. Calgary hasn't won at Rogers Arena since Dec. 23, 2011.

Flames goalie Jonas Hiller, who hasn't won a start since Nov. 18, stopped 29 shots.

Tanev scored just 18 seconds into overtime when, while streaking down the ice on a 3-on-2, he took a beautiful pass from Henrik Sedin and beat Hiller.

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Ovechkin scores goal of the year candidate

Video

Washington forward makes it look easy

By Paul McGaughey, CBC Sports Posted: Dec 20, 2014 10:45 PM ET Last Updated: Dec 20, 2014 10:45 PM ET

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This goal by Alex Ovechkin is worth a look.

In the third period of an eventual 4-0 win over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, the Washington Capitals forward picked up the puck inside his own blueline, eluded defenceman Jon Merrill with a nifty between-his-own-legs deke, and then sent a backhand over the shoulder of the seemingly helpless netminder. 

Ovechkin's 15th marker of the season might have also been his most impressive. 

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Note: The CBC does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that CBC has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please note that comments are moderated and published according to our submission guidelines.

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Canadian Kaillie Humphries makes bobsled history

Calgary's Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor of the U.S. made history on Saturday in Calgary, becoming the first women to compete in a four-man bobsled event.

Humphries, along with teammates and World Cup rookies D.J. McLelland, of Calgary, Joey Nemet of Hamilton, Ont., and Dan Dale of Grande Prairie, Alta., finished 15th with a combined time of 1:48.87 seconds. The first run was the team's best of the two at 54.37 seconds. 

Meyers Taylor, racing with Dustin Greenwood, Carlo Valdes, and Adrian Adams, finished 16th in 1:49.52 seconds. 

Latvian pilot Oskars Melbardis won with a time of 1:47.84 seconds.

Canadians Chris Spring (1:48.54) and Justin Kripps (1:48.60) finished 10th and 11th, respectively.

FIBT, the world governing body for bobsleigh, opened the four-man competitions to mixed gender teams in September. 

Back in November, Humphries earned a silver medal on Nov. 23 in Calgary during a North American Cup developmental event. Meyers Taylor finished with bronze.

Earlier this month, Humphries, a two-time Olympic champion, won the Lou Marsh award as Canada's athlete of the year. 

Humphries and brakeman Kate O'Brien rebounded from a sluggish opening heat to earn a bronze medal in the women's two-man earlier Saturday.

The duo finished with a combined time of 1:52.65.

Last week, Humphries placed fifth in Lake Placid, N.Y., with Melissa Lotholz of Barrhead, Alta. The pilot says switching disciplines isn't easy.

"Made a few mistakes," Humphries said. "Definitely trying to decipher between two-man and four-man is a challenge. It's going to take some time for me to understand just how much less I have to steer and how finicky it is.

"A few little tiny things, just slight timing that's off, but on this track you know that's enough. Elana is killing us at the start, so we've got some work to do there."

Meyers Taylor and teammate Charrelle Garrett won gold in 1:51.76, while Germans Anja Schneiderheinze​ and Franziska Bertels​ were second with a time of 1:52.21.

Humphries had some struggles with her driving in her first run, but recovered with a relatively clean second heat.

Meyers Taylor, a friend of Humphries off the track, claimed her second consecutive gold medal to start the World Cup season.

Alysia Rissling of Calgary and Julie Corrente of Chatham, Ont., crashed during the second run of their World Cup debut but were unhurt.

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NHL: 4 stories from Saturday night

The Montreal Canadiens cruised to victory over the Ottawa Senators and the Vancouver Canucks got the best of the Calgary Flames. In Toronto, the Leafs were no match for a pair of pesky Philadelphia Flyers.

Meanwhile, Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin provided a highlight reel goal in a win over the New Jersey Devils.

Here are four stories from Saturday night. 

Leafs outdone by Flyers' dynamic duo

On a night when several Leafs players contributed with notable milestones, it was a pair of Flyers who stole the show in a 7-4 win for the visitors to Air Canada Centre.  

Joffrey Lupul opened the scoring just before the game was five minutes old with his eight goal of the season. The goal was the 75th for the 31-year-old forward in a Leafs' uniform and also happened to take place in his 200th game with the team. 

Later in the contest, Leafs' defenceman Stephane Robidas set up David Clarkson to record the 200th assist of his career.

The early going looked promising for the Toronto side as James van Riemsdyk chipped in with a goal less than a minute after Lupul's

Goals were certainly the dominant theme in the first period. In fact, the Leafs and Flyers combined to score three goals in a 26-second span during the 11th minute of the first period.

When all was said and done, the teams were tied 3-3 heading into the middle frame. 

But overall the night belonged to Flyers' forwards Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek, who are both among the NHL's top point-getters. The duo combined for eight points on the evening, with Giroux tallying two goals and two assists and Voracek chipping in with four helpers. 

Giroux's second marker was set up by Voracek and held up as the game winner.

Once the Flyers had piled on seven goals nearing the midway point of the final 20 minutes, Randy Carlyle opted to send James Reimer in to replace a rattled Jonathan Bernier.

The low point of the game for Bernier came in the second period when Nicklas Grossmann fired a shot well off the mark that hit the boards and deflected off Bernier into the net for a 4-3 lead. 

Pacioretty a factor in Habs win over Sens

Despite falling head first into the boards on a hit by Clayton Stoner of the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, Max Pacioretty was cleared to play for the Canadiens. No doubt Pacioretty's teammates were grateful as he left his mark on the score sheet in a 4-1 win over the Senators at the Bell Centre. 

Pacioretty assisted on Brendan Gallagher's goal that put the Canadiens in front 2-1 in the second period and also amounted to the game-winner. Pacioretty also picked up an assist on a goal by Alex Galchenyuk that put the game to bed late in the the final frame. 

It was a shaky start for Carey Price, but he recovered to turn away 24 shots. 

Prices' only error occurred early in the first period on a shorthanded goal by Erik Condra that the Montreal netminder would rather forget. Price bobbled what seemed like a harmless shot, producing a rebound the Condra was able to chase down and bank home.

Flames, Canucks battle to end streaks

By downing the Calgary Flames 3-2 in overtime, the Canucks were able to end a five-game winless streak that dates back to Dec. 6.

Christopher Tanev provided the decisive marker for Vancouver and he didn't waste much time doing it as he fooled Jonas Hiller with a wrist shot 18 seconds into the extra frame. 

Unfortunately for the Flames, their season-high losing skid has now reached eight games and has put the team's playoff hopes in jeopardy at least for the time being. 

There was a scary moment in the second period when Canucks forward Jannik Hansen appeared to collapse on the bench after taking a hit from Flames' defenceman Dennis Wideman. 

Hansen was removed from the game as a precaution, but he was able to walk down the tunnel to the dressing room on his own. 

Ovechkin provides late entry for goal of 2014

In a 4-0 win over the New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin fooled both defencemen Jon Merrill and netminder Cory Schneider along the way to scoring this highlight reel goal. 

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Senators feast on weary Ducks

Mike Hoffman and Kyle Turris seem to have found their scoring touch again, and that's good news for the Ottawa Senators.

Hoffman had one goal in his last 15 games before scoring twice Friday night to lead the Senators in a 6-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

Turris, who had just two goals in his previous 10 outings — both on Wednesday — added a goal and an assist Friday as Ottawa recorded back-to-back wins for the first time since early November.

"It's something that comes and goes over an 82-game season and you just try to take advantage of when it's coming," Turris said of his flurry of goal.

"I feel like we've been playing better and playing with more pace and better through the neutral zone and I think we showed that."

Erik Karlsson had two assists and Milan Michalek, Mark Stone and Mika Zibanejad also scored for the Senators (14-12-6).

Craig Anderson made 32 saves to record his second straight win.

Getzlaf rallies Ducks briefly

The Ducks (22-8-5) got two goals from Ryan Getzlaf in a span of 2 minutes, 33 seconds over the second and third periods. Anaheim lost for the second time in three games as they completed a 5-game road swing with a 3-2 record.

After scoring late in the second period, Getzlaf netted another at 1:49 of the third to quickly cut the Senators' lead to 4-2, making for some anxious moments for the home side.

Hoffman gave the Senators some breathing room with a goal at 5:50 of the final period.

"You want to be scoring goals and it does feel good when it happens, but it's the National Hockey League and you're not going to score every night," said Hoffman, who had his third two-goal game of the season. "You have to be patient and wait for your chances and capitalize when they come."

Zibanejad restored the four-goal cushion with his goal at 16:32.

"It didn't look like we had a lot of energy," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said.

"I'm not finding too many positive things," he said. "I could do that and use cliches and excuses, but the last time we were in a back-to-back (situation) it was our best game of the year in Winnipeg. It was just not a great effort all the way around."

Turis short-handed goal a beauty

Turris gave Ottawa a 3-0 lead with a short-handed goal, crossing the Ducks' blue line and cutting through three defenders to put a shot over Bryzgalov's shoulder at 16:18 of the second.

Hoffman intercepted a clearing pass inside the Ducks' line 42 second later and put a quick shot past Bryzgalov for his first goal in eight games.

Getzlaf crashed the net and chipped a bouncing puck over Anderson at 19:16.

"We didn't show up in the first period and we didn't give ourselves much of a chance," Getzlaf said. "We were missing passes, we were not crisp, we weren't fore-checking and the list goes on. They outplayed us throughout most of the game and I'm not taking anything away from them. They played well and they executed in their system.

The Senators got a power play just 32 seconds into the game as Lovejoy was called for holding. Michalek made him pay with a goal off a cross-ice slap pass from Karlsson with 29 seconds left in the man advantage.

Stone gave the Senators a 2-0 lead when he converted the rebound of Mark Borowiecki's point shot at 8:21 of the first.

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NHL: 4 stories from Friday night

Could the faith shown by Flames' management in extending Bob Hartley's contract help to end Calgary's six-game losing streak? The Stars-Flames result, as well as Ottawa and Winnipeg in action in NHL: 4 stories from Friday night.

Flames fail to respond to Hartley deal

It wasn't that they played a bad game but the Calgary Flames didn't win one for the Gipper and they didn't win one for the seventh time in a row for coach Bob Hartley, he of the recently extended multi-year contract. The Dallas Stars topped them 2-1.

After a scoreless first period the Flames fell behind 2-0 in the second on Stars goals by Jamie Benn and Trevor Daley. Defenceman Mark Giordano provided some hope with his ninth of the season late in the second period, but that would be the end of the night's scoring.

The seven-game losing streak is the Flames worst since the 1985-86 season when they dropped a club-record 11 consecutive games. The Flames, once well placed in the Western Conference when their record was 17-8-2, are now 9th in the conference and out of a potential playoff spot.

Senators catch weary Ducks 

The Ottawa Senators haven't had much luck against the Anaheim Ducks, earning only one point from their last eight meetings. The Ducks were also 8-2-0 in their last 10 games this season but Friday the Senators caught them at a good time.

Mike Hoffman had two goals, the Sens built a 4-0 lead and went to a 6-2 victory at the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, Ont. The Ducks lost for the second time in three games as they completed a five-game road trip with a 3-2 record.

Probably the nicest goal of the night for the senators came off the stick of Kyle Turris as he built Ottawa's lead to 3-0 in the second period.

Hoffman sandwiched his pair of goals around a brace from Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf, the only Duck player who was able to beat Craig Anderson in the Senators' goal.

Depleted Jets able to handle Bruins

The team with a serious blue line shortage, the Winnipeg Jets, found they had enough to hold off the suddenly punchless Boston Bruins, winning 2-1 at the MTS Centre.

Already depleted on defence, the Jets lost defencemen Mark Stuart and Jacob Trouba until at least February.

With a 3-1-1 record at home in December, the Jets were looking to avenge a 2-1 loss to the Bruins in Boston in late November.

Evander Kane gave the home team a first period lead, only to see Boston tie it in the second on a Torey Krug tally.

With only 23 seconds left in the middle period, Mathieu Perreault tipped in a Dustin Byfuglien point shot to regain the lead and Michael Hutchinson, who had 30 saves in the Jets' net, made the score stand up the rest of the way for Winnipeg's second win in a row.

​Elias be-Devils Lightning

With Tampa Bay atop the Atlantic Divison visting a New Jersey team that had only two wins in 13 starts, it was going to take a little magic for the Devils to come out on top.

Patrik Elias, a 38-year-old wizard who's played all 18 of his NHL seasons with the Devils, conjured up the magic.

He scored on a spin-a-rama move in regulation and then fired in the only goal of a shootout to provide the margin of victory in  New Jersey's 3-2 triumph.

Nicely done for the Czech Republic native who's closing in on his 400th NHL goal. He now has 397. 

​Wings Howard leaves game

In the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders Detroit's goaltender Jimmy Howard left after the first period due to a lower body injury. The Red Wings reported that the move was precautionary. Howard stopped eight of nine shots in the one period he played.

Peter Mrazek replaced Howard and gave up only one goal, but it was all the Islanders would need in their 2-1 victory.

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Masai Ujiri: Most influential in Canadian sports

Masai Ujiri is our audience's pick for the most influential figure in Canadian sports in 2014.

The Toronto Raptors general manager won the final matchup against Olympic speed skater Gilmore Junio, earning 51 per cent of votes.

"[I feel] humbled, very, very humbled, I really appreciate it," Ujiri told CBC. "I think there's so many other people to look at in front of me but you know what, I'm humbled that this has happened."

Ujiri emerged from a list of eight finalists that were pitted against each other in a series of head-to-head matchups over the last few weeks, with the highest vote-getter advancing to the next round.

The other finalists were hockey players P.K. Subban and Marie-Philip Poulin, tennis star Eugenie Bouchard, bobsledder Kaillie Humphries, Own the Podium CEO Anne Merklinger, and social media.

Voters were asked to consider which candidate had the greatest impact on the Canadian sports landscape this year.

Ujiri is a native of Nigeria who became the first African-born GM of a major North American pro sports team before joining the Raptors in May 2013.

He bucked conventional wisdom this year by electing not to diminish his roster for a better shot at drafting Canadian phenom Andrew Wiggins. Instead, Ujiri kept the Raptors' key players together. They went on to win a surprise division title last season, and this season are one of the top teams in the NBA, along the way capturing the attention of fans in Canada's largest city and throughout the country.

"I always try to do my best, not only for the team organization, the fans, the city, the country...it is a special circumstance here where it's one team and one country, one following, the only NBA team outside the U.S.A. and we're proud of it," said Ujiri.

Ujiri also hosted a benefit in honour of Nelson Mandela in June, and took part in the "Giants of Africa" celebration put on by the Raptors this month in recognition of the one-year anniversary of Mandela's death.

Junio set a fine example of sportsmanship and sacrifice by giving his spot in the Olympic men's 1,000-metre long track race to Denny Morrison, a more talented teammate who went on to capture the silver medal.

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Raptors hand Pistons 12th straight home loss

The Toronto Raptors felt right at home at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Friday night.

The Raptors overcame a slow start to pull away in the second half and beat Detroit 110-100 on a night the Pistons' home arena was dominated by Canadian flags and chants of "We The North" and "Let's Go Raptors."

"That was incredible by our fans," said Jonas Valanciunas, who led a balanced Raptors offence with 17 points. "We can't thank them enough, because it was like playing a home game tonight."

It was a stunning night at a building that was one of the toughest places to win for visiting teams during each of Detroit's two extended runs as a league powerhouse.

"I've seen it before," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said. "It happened in Miami when I was coaching there and the Knicks fans would come in and take over our building."

Losing streak extended

The loss was Detroit's 12th straight home game, extending its single-season franchise record, and moving within seven of the NBA record set by the 1993-94 Dallas Mavericks. In their last three games, two at home, the Pistons have given up at least 110 points — the only three times that has happened this season.

"The story of this game is that we showed absolutely no defensive will or resolve whatsoever," Van Gundy said. "We gave up 60 points in the paint, and didn't show any inclination to stop them. Our last three games have been against good teams, and it is very accurate to say our defence has been exposed."

Brandon Jennings scored 22 points to lead Detroit, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 18 and Greg Monroe added 17.

Kyle Lowry and Lou Williams had 15 points each, James Johnson scored 12, and Patrick Patterson and Terrence Ross added 11 each for the Raptors.

The score was tied at 52 at halftime before Toronto pulled away in the third quarter. Detroit turned the ball over four times in the first 2 minutes, allowing the Raptors to take a six-point lead. The Raptors extended the lead to 15 later in the period as their fans got louder before Detroit pulled to 81-70 at the end of the period.

Johnson dunk draws attention

Johnson's dunk on Andre Drummond made it 95-75 midway through the fourth and on Toronto's next possession, Drummond smashed into Johnson with a forearm and hip smash. That set off a melee that saw Drummond get a flagrant foul and four technicals called. At least one Raptors fan was ejected at the same time after a verbal altercation with the Pistons' Josh Smith.

"That was nasty, but that's basketball," said Johnson. "I don't expect anything less from anybody that's trying to win. Frustration sets in when you want to win — no hard feelings."

The Pistons dominated most of the first half, leading by as many as 11 points as Toronto missed its first 10 jump shots, but the Raptors put together a run at the end of the second quarter. Lowry missed a floater at the halftime buzzer that would have given Toronto its first lead, leaving the game tied at 52.

The teams combined to miss 18 of 22 3-point attempts in the half, leaving most of the points coming at the rim. The Pistons had a 38-32 edge on points in the paint, and only turned the ball over twice.

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Flames fail to ignite in loss to Stars

Jamie Benn had a goal and an assist as the Dallas Stars edged Calgary 2-1 on Friday to hand the Flames their seventh straight loss.

Trevor Daley also scored for the Stars (15-10-4), while Kari Lehtonen, starting his fifth game in a row, made 21 saves.

After being held without a point Wednesday in the Stars' 2-0 win over Vancouver, Tyler Seguin had an assist to take over the NHL scoring lead with 39 points (23 goals, 16 assists). He is one point up on Evgeni Malkin and Jakub Voracek.

Mark Giordano scored the lone goal for Calgary (17-15-2), which has lost seven consecutive games for the first time since its team-record 11-game losing skid in 1985-86. Jonas Hiller stopped 19 shots.

Dallas has won three games in a row to move within seven points of the Los Angeles Kings, who hold the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.

After a scoreless first period, the Stars took the lead for good four minutes into the second. Calgary rookie Markus Granlund won a face-off in the Flames end but Kris Russell missed the puck in front of Calgary's net, allowing Benn to reel it in and beat Hiller on a backhand.

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