It's lit and launched: the 2025 Canada Games torch is on its way to N.L. from Ottawa

Former gold medal winners, St. John's Mayor Danny Breen and Canada Games officials were among the group gathered to light the torch from the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill. The torch is scheduled to arrive in N.L. on June 28.

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National Post

an hour ago

• National Post

Canada's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander caps historic season with NBA title, Finals MVP honours

Article content It is amazing company. With due respect to those legends, Gilgeous-Alexander doesn't care. The Thunder are NBA champions. That's more than enough for him. Article content 'Focusing on just being the best version of myself for this basketball team, for whatever it takes, for however many games it is, however many possessions is needed, however many moments,' Gilgeous-Alexander said. Article content 'Ultimately, I'm just trying to stay in the moment. I think that's what's gotten me here. That's what has helped me achieve the MVP award, achieve all the things I've achieved. It's helped this team win basketball games.' Article content Article content This was not a sneak attack up the ladder of superstardom. Gilgeous-Alexander has been climbing those rungs for years. Article content He's one of only two players — Giannis Antetokounmpo is the other — to average at least 30 points per game in each of the last three seasons. He led Canada to a bronze medal (over the United States, no less) at the World Cup in 2023, been an All-Star and first-team All-NBA pick for three years running, played in his first Olympics last year, and just finished a season where he posted career bests in points and assists per game. Article content Article content He scored 3,172 points this season, including playoffs, the ninth-most by any player in NBA history. Article content Oh, and he's a champion now. Article content 'He's getting better every year in just about everything,' Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. 'I think he's really improved as a playmaker. … And then he's an unbelievable scorer, and incredibly efficient. We lean into that. He leans into that. Article content Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 2024-25 season - NBA Champion - Finals MVP - MVP - WCF MVP - 1st Seed (Franchise Record) - All NBA 1st Team - Scoring Title - All Star Starter - Most 50, 40, 30 pt games - 1st in +/- - 2nd in steals one of the greatest seasons of all time ⚡️ — ⛈️ (@GilgeousSZN) June 23, 2025 Article content Opponents have no choice but to marvel at how Gilgeous-Alexander does what he does. He's not a high-flying artist like Jordan, not an unstoppable force of power like LeBron James, not a 3-point dazzler like Stephen Curry. He looks like he's playing at his own pace much of time, largely because defences have few ways to slow him down or speed him up. Article content 'Shai, he's so good,' Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton — who suffered a serious lower leg injury that knocked him out of Game 7 in the first quarter — said during the series. 'He's so slippery in between those gaps. He splits screens, like, I don't know how he's doing that. … He's a really tough cover.' Article content Gilgeous-Alexander is the face of basketball in Oklahoma City, is rapidly becoming one of the faces of the NBA — his jersey is now one of the highest-selling — and it's no secret that he is the icon for fans in Canada now. It used to be Steve Nash, the first Canadian to win NBA MVP. Article content Now, Nash has help. Article content 'You can only imagine and get excited about all the kids around the world, but in particular Canadians that will be affected so positively, whether they're basketball players or not, by the way he carries himself, by the way he executes and commits to his profession,' Nash said. 'It's remarkable and he's an amazing example for everybody out there, not just kids.' Article content SHAI & FAM WITH THE TROPHIES 🥹 What it's all about. — NBA (@NBA) June 23, 2025 Article content Article content There's no question Nash had some impact on Gilgeous-Alexander's rise in the game. Another great who did: Kobe Bryant. Article content There are parallels: similar body types, even similar ways they answer questions. Bryant famously said 'job's not finished' when asked about his Lakers getting within two wins of a title one year; Gilgeous-Alexander had a similar moment after the Thunder got to three wins in this series, saying 'we haven't done anything.' Article content They have now. Article content 'He is probably my favourite player of all time,' Gilgeous-Alexander said of Bryant. 'Never got the chance to meet him. With me, with kids all across the world, his influence has gone through the roof. He'll be remembered forever because of the competitor and the basketball player he was. Yeah, I'm hopefully somewhere close to that as a basketball player one day.' Article content He's not there yet. Article content 4th player to win #KiaMVP, the scoring title and the Finals MVP in the same season! — NBA (@NBA) June 23, 2025 Article content Article content

National Post

3 hours ago

• National Post

Mitch Marner's Maple Leafs breakup: How it got here and where it's going

Not long after he wore the Maple Leafs' blue and white for the first time, Mitch Marner summed up his first National Hockey League experience. Article content 'I thought I could have been a lot better, that's for sure,' Marner said late on the night of Sept. 22, 2015, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, having just finished playing in his first NHL pre-season game. 'It's the jitters I'm getting out of me right now. I can improve out there.' Article content Article content Article content It would be another 12 1/2 months before Marner earned the opportunity with the Leafs, in games that mattered, to start making good on those thoughts. Article content Nearly nine years beyond Marner's regular-season Leafs debut, the firm belief in every corner is that his tenure with Toronto is coming to an end. Article content Simply put, the regular-season magic that Marner often put on display was not matched, certainly not commonly, when the annual Stanley Cup tournament got underway. Article content HOW DID HIS NHL DEBUT GO? Article content Within days of his skating in his pre-season debut with the Leafs nearly 10 years ago— and three months after Toronto picked him fourth overall in the 2015 NHL draft in Sunrise, Fla. — Marner was returned to the London Knights, deemed too green to make an impact in the NHL. Article content At the age of 18, Marner enjoyed a dream season in what would be his final Ontario Hockey League year, becoming just the second player (Brad Richards in 2000 with Rimouski was the first) to win the Memorial Cup, the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy (Memorial Cup MVP), be named Canadian Hockey League player of the year, win league MVP honours, and win his league's playoff MVP award in the same season. No player has done it since. Article content There wasn't much doubt as to whether Marner would crack the Leafs roster coming out of training camp in 2016. Along with Auston Matthews and William Nylander, who played in 22 games with the Leafs in the previous season, Toronto's young core was set to start showing the city and the rest of the hockey world its collective potential. Article content Article content The pre-season games aside, Marner's real-life NHL debut isn't remembered by many people outside of his immediate family. That's not because of what Marner did or didn't do, though he didn't have a point in Ottawa against the Senators on Oct. 12, 2016, when the Leafs kicked off their regular season. Article content Peer a little closer at the game sheet from that night and see what Marner did. Skating on a line with Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk, Marner had six shots on goal and 11 attempts, and his two takeaways (along with Matthews, the most in the game on either team) served notice as to the cerebral defensive stalwart that Marner eventually would become.

CBC

11 hours ago

• CBC

Canada's Gilgeous-Alexander leads Thunder past Pacers for franchise's 1st NBA title in Oklahoma City

Social Sharing The Oklahoma City Thunder are NBA champions. The Western Conference's No. 1 seed defeated the Indiana Pacers 103-91 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday to claim the second title in the franchise's history. It is the first NBA championship the franchise has won since it was the Seattle Supersonics in 1979. Star Thunder guard and 2025 NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, of Hamilton, Ont., led the way with a game-high 29 points in the victory. WATCH | 4 Canadian players to watch in the NBA Finals: 4 Canadian basketball stars you can cheer for in the NBA Finals 18 days ago Duration 5:20 The Toronto Raptors may be out of the season, but there's still plenty of Canadian talent to root for in the NBA Finals. CBC's Dwight Drummond spoke to the CEO of the Ontario Basketball Association to find out what fans need to know.