Latest news with #icehockey
The Sun
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
World's sexiest ice hockey star Mikayla Demaiter sizzles in skimpy outfit as fans hail ‘heaven on Earth'
MIKAYLA DEMAITER took social media by storm once more with another set of raunchy pics. Mikayla, 23, has been dubbed the "world's sexiest ice hockey star" thanks to all the glam snaps she shares on a regular basis. 20 20 20 This time the former ice hockey player left her followers in awe with a tiny and colourful ensemble. Mikayla issued the following caption on Instagram: "Life always seems like a picnic when I'm around." And the goaltender's fans were left gobsmacked as they stormed the comments' section and left over 51,000 likes. One fan posted: "It's really Heaven on Earth." Another commented: "Omg yes Mika, sooo perfect." A third wrote: "Beautiful." This fan said: "Wow, gorgeous." And that one gushed: "Just Fkn Flawless." Mikayla started her career as a hockey player as she played as a goaltender for the Bluewater Hawks in Canada's Women's Hockey League. But the Canadian's career was cut short aged just 19 when she required surgery for a knee injury. Mikayla Demaiter does her best Pamela Anderson with slow-mo bikini run on beach That saw Mikayla leave the game to become a full-time model, allowing her to amass over 3.1million followers. A GLIMPSE INSIDE THE GLAMOROUS LIFE OF MIKAYLA DEMAITER... 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
Forbes
7 hours ago
- Sport
- Forbes
The Improbability Of Canada's Stanley Cup Drought
The Florida Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers for the second straight year in a row to capture the Stanley Cup on June 17. This marks the sixth Stanley Cup final in a row featuring a hockey team from the Sunshine State. It has been an incredible stretch of hockey at the highest levels for both the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. On the other side of the emotional spectrum, Canadians are once again left waiting to bring the Cup back to the birthplace of ice hockey. There was a sense that this might finally be the year Canada broke its long, frustrating drought. Hopes were high going into this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs, as five of seven Canadian NHL teams qualified for the postseason. The last time a Canadian team won the cup was in 1993 when the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Los Angeles Kings. That was also the debut season for the Tampa Bay Lightning and came just one year before the Florida Panthers joined the league. In the time since, teams from Florida have hoisted the Cup five times. For Canadian hockey fans, this is not just another painful moment, it is a gut punch laced with irony. The notion that teams from sun-soaked Florida could be celebrating year after year while Canada remains empty-handed feels almost cruel. And yet, as improbable as it seems, this run of southern dominance is very real. This is where probability theory can offer a new perspective. What are the odds that Canada could go over three decades without a Stanley Cup? How likely is it that two relatively young franchises from a non-traditional hockey market could have this much success? And perhaps most importantly: when, statistically speaking, might Canadian fans finally get to celebrate again? To put a number to Canada's hockey heartbreak, I built a Bayesian model. This is a statistical approach that is designed to capture long-term trends while staying grounded in a fair and interpretable framework. At its core, a Bayesian approach is a way of updating a belief state in light of new evidence. It starts with a prior belief which is an initial estimate of how likely something is to happen. As new data comes in, that belief is updated to form a posterior belief, which becomes a more refined, data-informed estimate. The model begins with a neutral prior belief known as a Beta(1, 1) distribution, which assumes no preconceived belief about whether Canadian teams are more or less likely to win the Stanley Cup in a given season. This assumption that replicates the extreme uncertainty inherent in sports. From there, each season after the NHL-WHL merger becomes a data point. The model looks at whether a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup. If one of them did, that year adds a 'success' to the tally. If not, it's another 'miss.' With each new season, the model refines its estimate of how likely it is that a Canadian team will win in a given year. The beauty of the Bayesian approach is that it balances the weight of history with the possibility of change. What emerges is a dynamic, evolving probability. It is a quantifiable value that captures just how long the Cup has stayed away from Canada, and how likely it is to come home anytime soon. Between 1980 and 1993, Canadian teams were a dominant force in the NHL, capturing eight Stanley Cups in just 14 seasons. The Edmonton Oilers led the charge with five titles during their dynasty years, followed by the Montreal Canadiens with two, and the Calgary Flames with one. At the time, it felt like the Cup belonged to Canada. Heading into the 1993–1994 season and fresh off the Canadiens' most recent Cup win, the Bayesian model, would have estimated about a 60% chance that a team from Canada would win the Cup that year. But as the seasons passed and the Cup stayed south of the border, that probability began to fall. Over time, it gradually leveled off around 20%, aligning closely with what you would expect if every NHL team had an equal shot in a 32-team league. Using this model, the probability that no Canadian team has won a Stanley Cup since 1993 is 0.0000037 or roughly 1 in 300,000. That is roughly the same odds as flipping a fair coin and getting heads 18 times in a row. In a sport defined by randomness and parity, this kind of losing streak is not just heartbreaking. It is statistically absurd. The same Bayesian model that tracks Canada's teams' annual probability to win the Stanley Cup can be used to predict when a Canadian NHL team will win again. In simple terms, the expected wait time is just the inverse of the annual win probability. After updating the model following the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, the estimated probability that a Canadian team wins in any given season is 19%. Flip that number, and the math tells us something hopeful, if not immediate: on average, we can expect a Canadian team to bring home the Cup in about 5.2 years. Of course, this is just an average. Canada could win as soon as next season, or the drought could drag on longer. Canada's Stanley Cup drought is more than just a sporting oddity. It is a statistical anomaly that defies expectation. For a country that lives and breathes hockey, the fact that no Canadian team has lifted the Cup since 1993 feels more like a cosmic joke than a cold streak. The numbers suggest that Canada's fortunes will eventually turn. And when a Canadian captain finally hoists the Cup again, it will not just be a victory for one team. Rather, it will feel like the end of a national exile, long overdue and deeply earned.
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Which Hurricanes Could Be Participating In 2026 Olympics?
Earlier this week, the first six players from each of the 12 nations competing for gold in men's ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics were announced. Two players from the Carolina Hurricanes were among those first selections with Sebastian Aho (Finland) and Frederik Andersen (Denmark) being named to each's respective team. Advertisement But who else on the Canes' roster could be making the trip to Italy next year? Jaccob Slavin (USA) Slavin is regarded as one of, if not the, best defensive defensemen in the entire NHL and when you're in a format like the Olympics, where superstars are littering nearly every top roster, you need guys who can slow them down. He was lights out playing that role in the 4 Nations Face-Off for Team USA, leading the team in minutes alongside Minnesota Wild star Brock Faber, and he received universal praise from around the hockey world for what he was able to do. Fans in Carolina have long known how good Slavin is and, honestly, it was a bit surprising that he wasn't initially named to the USA's roster with the first six selections, but it feels like a bygone conclusion that the veteran blueliner will be there. Jaccob Slavin Finishes Top-10 In Norris Voting For League's Top Defenseman Jaccob Slavin Finishes Top-10 In Norris Voting For League's Top Defenseman The NHL announced the results of the 2025 Norris Memorial Trophy voting Wednesday morning for the league's top defenseman. Seth Jarvis (Canada) Jarvis was a part of the gold-winning Team Canada roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off and he has a good shot at making the Olympic roster too. Advertisement The talented winger is coming off of back-to-back 30+ goal seasons and he's proven to be a big-time performer as well with 19 goals and 43 points in 55 career playoff games. In addition, Jarvis has become one of the game's top two-way wingers, having led the league in shorthanded goals, and he's not afraid to throw his body, battle for pucks and forecheck and backcheck. He's a versatile player who can do anything that's asked of him whether that's play on the top line and power play or take on more a checking role and grind things out on the penalty kill and those are valuable players to have. 'You Need To Remember That Pain You Felt': Seth Jarvis 2024-25 Exit Interview 'You Need To Remember That Pain You Felt': Seth Jarvis 2024-25 Exit Interview The Carolina Hurricanes' 2024-25 season Advertisement came to a close earlier this week as the team lost in five games to the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final. No Russians The IIHF already ruled that Russia would not be allowed to participate in the upcoming Olympics so that means that neither Andrei Svechnikov nor Alexander Nikishin, each of whom were more than likely to make the team, won't get the chance to represent their country. Nikishin played in the 2022 Olympics, as he was still in the KHL at that point, and he took home a silver medal from that trip. New Faces? The Canes have a lot of cap space and a willingness to swing big this offseason, so perhaps there'll be someone new coming in that will be an Olympic player as well. Mitch Marner (Canada), Sam Bennett (Canada) and Nikolaj Ehlers (Denmark) are three of the biggest UFA names heading into the summer and all three would not only look good in Raleigh, but also representing their home countries as well. Recent Stories • The Carolina Hurricanes' 2025 RFAs • The Carolina Hurricanes' 2025 UFAs • Pair Of Hurricanes Prospects Earn Unprecedented Honor Stay updated with the most interesting Carolina Hurricanes stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News to never miss a story.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Winnipeg's Nino Niederreiter to Lead Switzerland in 2026 Olympic Winter Games
Winnipeg Jets veteran forward Nino Niederreiter will be suiting up for his country in Milano Cortina this winter. Often donning the red and white for his native Switzerland at the IIHF World Championships following the conclusion of the NHL's regular season, the 32-year-old will now get the chance to skate in his second Winter Olympic Games. Photo by Scott Novak/USA Today This week, the 12 nations set to participate in the upcoming Olympics revealed the 'first six' players representing each country. Advertisement To no surprise, Niederreiter was right at the top of the list for the Swiss, while fellow Jets teammate Nikolaj Ehlers was the most recognizable name announced by Team Denmark. Other Jets players who may later hear their names called for other Olympic rosters include Josh Morrissey and Mark Scheifele for Canada and Connor Hellebuyck and Kyle Connor for Team USA. The men's ice hockey schedule has been released and games will begin on Wednesday, February 11, concluding with the gold medal final on Sunday, February 22.
CTV News
4 days ago
- Sport
- CTV News
Juraj Slafkovsky named to Slovakia's Olympic team, no other Canadiens picked
Slovakia's Juraj Slafkovsky, center, will suit up for the 2026 Olympic Games in Italy. (Darko Vojinovic/The Associated Press) The Montreal Canadiens' number-one pick, Juraj Slafkovsky, will suit up for Slovakia at next year's Olympics. The International Ice Hockey Federation posted Team Slovakia's preliminary roster on X, featuring six players named for next year's Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina. Habs forward Slafkovsky, along with Martin Fehervary (Washington Capitals), Tomas Tatar (New Jersey Devils), Erik Cernak (Tampa Bay Lightning), Simon Nemec (New Jersey Devils) and Martin Pospisil (Calgary Flames) are expected to play, starting Feb. 11. The other 11 teams that have qualified for the Olympics also announced their first six players. Canada's first six picks are centres Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Brayden Point, defenceman Cale Makar and right winger Sam Reinhart. No Habs player made any of the other countries' preliminary rosters. The NHL announced in February that pro players will play in the 2026 and 2030 Olympics. The last time NHL-ers suited up for their countries was at the Sochi Olympics in 2014. NHL players have played in five Olympic games: Nagano in 1998, Salt Lake City in 2002, Turin in 2006, Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014. Canada won gold in 2014, 2010 and 2002; Sweden won in 2006, and Czechia (then called the Czech Republic) won in 1998.
