Hockey Canada's reckoning was heralded three years ago. Instead, its crisis mushroomed
But the pattern of a team learning about sexual allegations involving players and looking the other way is a familiar one to anyone who follows sports.
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Kobe Bryant, the late basketball legend, was accused in 2003 of raping a teenage hotel employee in Colorado. Criminal charges were filed, but later dropped when the alleged victim, whose identity had been leaked, refused to participate in a trial. A civil suit against Bryant was settled, but the 18-time All-Star was never disciplined by the NBA or the Los Angeles Lakers. Former NBA commissioner David Stern said at the time that the league would withhold punishment pending the resolution of the criminal case, and Bryant, then 26 years old, travelled from Lakers games to Colorado to attend court during the 2003 NBA season.
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DeShaun Watson, the former All-Pro quarterback with the Houston Texans, was suspended for 11 games in 2022 and fined US$5 million (after the NFL and NFLPA reached an agreement) after more than two dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct during massage sessions. The Texans decided to trade him, and after interest from multiple teams, sent him to the Cleveland Browns for a haul of draft picks. The Browns quickly gave him a contract for five years and US$230 million, the largest guaranteed contract in NFL history at the time.
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Last month, the NFL suspended former Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker for 10 games after 16 massage therapists accused him of improper behaviour during sessions that took place between 2012 and 2016. He denies wrongdoing, and when the Ravens released him in May, with an NFL investigation ongoing, general manager Eric DeCosta said it was a 'tough decision' and thanked him for his contributions to the team. He did not mention the allegations.
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And earlier this month, police in London, England, announced sexual assault charges against Thomas Partey, formerly a midfielder for Arsenal in the Premier League, involving three alleged victims. Partey was first arrested in 2022, but his name was not made public because U.K. laws prohibit the identification of someone who has not been criminally charged. Arsenal, however, knew of the allegations, through multiple arrests, and he played more than 100 matches for the club until his contract expired at the end of June. Partey denies the allegations. Arsenal has said it will not comment on the case because it is before the courts.
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The tendency towards a hands-off approach can even be the case when the athlete is an alleged victim. In the spring of 2021, a former member of the Chicago Blackhawks sued the team over allegations that it had failed to properly respond when alerted to an alleged sexual assault perpetrated by a former assistant coach in 2010. A team-ordered investigation found that the Blackhawks let the coach resign after the season concluded, though he took part in Stanley Cup celebrations, otherwise the complaint was ignored. (The former coach was later convicted of sexual assault related to a high-school coaching job.) General manager Stan Bowman resigned, and Joel Quenneville, who was Chicago's head coach in 2010 but was coaching the Florida Panthers in 2021, also resigned after a meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
The NHL declared Bowman and Quenneville eligible to be reinstated last year. Weeks later, Bowman was hired to be the general manager of the Edmonton Oilers. He said at the time that his 'response was inadequate in 2010,' and that he had spent time reflecting on his mistakes and learning from them. Quenneville was hired to coach the Anaheim Ducks last month. He said he 'owned (his) mistakes' and that he had educated himself on 'the realities of abuse.'
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CBC
17 minutes ago
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Time is undefeated, but Venus Williams and Manny Pacquiao display how athletes can age gracefully
Social Sharing Eight-division world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao used ring I.Q. and boxing geometry to overcome height and reach deficits in his title fight against Mario Barrios, earning a controversial draw against a bigger, stronger, harder-hitting opponent. And if you think we're re-heating headlines from the Pac Man's late-2000s heyday, think again. That bout happened last Saturday in Las Vegas. Barrios, the World Boxing Council welterweight champion, is 30. Pacquiao, who last fought in August 2021, will be 47 in December. If he had edged out one more round on two judges' scorecards, he'd have become the first boxer in history to win world titles in four different decades. Even if he didn't defeat Barrios, Pacquiao earned a victory over age and expectations. Three days later Venus Williams, 45, ended two year layoff from pro tennis, entered the D.C. Open as a wildcard, and dispatched Peyton Stearns, a player roughly half her age, to reach the round of 16. These back-to-back triumphs for 80s babies offer more than a glimmer of hope for those of us old enough to wake up with aches we can't explain. They're more like a beacon, and a compelling argument against one of the most rock-solid axioms in sport and life. If time really is undefeated, how do you explain this weekend? Easily. But if we look at Pacquiao and Williams' performances as self-awareness success stories, and case studies in the value of choosing your opportunities wisely, we might learn something from these last few days. First, let's acknowledge that Pacquiao and Williams defied recent sports medicine trends just by reaching the arena in one piece. We just finished watching an NBA Playoffs in which two star players younger than age 30 – Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum – suffered a ruptured achilles tendon, an injury we normally associate with advanced age and high mileage. The third NBA star to tear his achilles tendon this post-season, Damian Lillard, turned 35 last week. Age matters at the extremes Against the backdrop, watching Pacquiao and Williams roll back the odometer looks even more impressive. They both turned pro during Bill Clinton's first term as president. If you can't remember that far back, that's the point. This kind of longevity might not be unprecedented, but it's rare. Let's also keep in mind that age matters at the extremes. It's why a 9.8 sprinter can stroll unrecognized through most U.S. cities, but a high schooler who breaks 10-flat becomes a minor internet celebrity. And it's why masters sports group athletes into cohorts that span five years, accounting for a sort of reverse puberty. In terms of strength and muscle mass, 55 and 60 years old are as different as 15 and 20. Age classifications matter, so when middle-aged athletes enter open competition, we're right to view their performances through the prism of their age. That's why so many people are classifying Pacquiao's draw against Barrios, a competitive fight by the stats, as a robbery. Barrios landed more punches, but if you think the intangibles favoured Pacquiao it's reasonable to see those two factors evening out to produce a draw. But Pacquiao, as we noted, is 46. At that age, even people who train daily are more likely to have arthritis than visible abs. Barrios, a top-ranked welterweight 16 years Pacquiao's junior, should have handled him, but Pacquiao kept rallying and landing punches and weathering Barrios' offence. It wasn't the fight most of us envisioned. There's a difference, however, outperforming expectations, which Pacquiao did, and winning a fight, which he didn't. There's also a gap between winning a bout, which one judge said Barrios did, and winning convincingly. But if you factor in Pacquiao's age, simply keeping pace with Barrios seems like a win. With Williams, there's no "seems like." She took the first set 6-3, and the second 6-4, so there's nothing to debate, not even whether Peak Venus Williams would have dispatched Stearns even more quickly. We're still discussing an all-time great, after all. Timing is everything But this weekend's results aren't evidence that Pacquiao and Williams have figured out how to freeze time. It's the opposite. Their success shows they've made smart adjustments for the aging process. You'll note, for example, that Pacquiao's surprise draw and Williams' convincing win came on night one, fresh off long layoffs. Given what we understand now about the art, science, and importance of recovery for older athletes, we know Pacquiao and Williams entered these contests with fully charged batteries, and would likely feel different on the last day of a long season. Which is to say, for those of us trying to perform physically even though we're closer to 50 than we are to 40, timing matters. And so do opponents. Stearns is an NCAA champ, which makes her several echelons better than the best tennis player reading this column. But she also competes in a sport where most elites turn pro instead of playing in college. By her age, Williams was already a nine-year veteran of the WTA tour. Williams is on the downside now, but even her current plateau hovers above most people's ceiling. As for Pacquiao – he chose Barrios for a reason. Among the current champions at 147 pounds, Barrios has the most glaring shortcomings. Defence is one, and a lack of home-run punching power is another. On fight night we learned he was also startstruck, reluctant to let his hands go when he had Pacquiao stunned, and willing to abandon half his offence when Pacquiao complained to the referee about body punches that appeared legal. Pacquiao made it clear that he didn't want Barrios punching him in the stomach, and Barrios, for large stretches of the fight, complied. If Pacquiao had chosen Brian Norman Jr., the hard-hitting W.B.O. champion, for his comeback fight, we'd be looking at one of two outcomes – peeling Pacquiao off the canvas or retrieving him from the rafters. Norman hits that hard. But if you're staying active deep into middle age, and trying to find inspiration in Pacquiao and Williams' success, that's the point. It's not just okay to scale back your goals and challenges. It's smart. Pacquiao is as unlikely to unify the welterweight title as Williams is to capture another Grand Slam, but it doesn't matter. They're still overperforming relative to the restraints that age places on all of us, and highlighting one more distinction few of us had considered until now. The one between aging gracefully and aging forcefully.
CTV News
an hour ago
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Authorities identify Ohio man who died in shooting after he wounded 3 police officers
This aerial image taken from video provided by WEWS shows police working at the scene of shooting after police officers were wounded and a man was killed in an exchange of gunfire early Wednesday afternoon, July 23, 2025, in an industrial area of Lorain, Ohio. (WEWS via AP) LORAIN, Ohio — The shooter of three Ohio police officers in an ambush attack was identified Thursday by the Lorain County Coroner's Office as 28-year-old Michael Parker. The coroner's office said an autopsy is planned for Parker, who died as a result of the shooting in Lorain on Wednesday afternoon. Authorities say they believe Parker acted alone when he used a high-powered rifle to shoot and wound three city officers — Phillip Wagner, 35; Peter Gale, 51; and Brent Payne, 47. Parker's home was searched for more than five hours Wednesday night. A neighbor said officers broke an upstairs window and flew in a drone during the search. Just before the ambush, Wagner and Gale had parked to eat pizza on a dead-end street in an undeveloped industrial area in Lorain, a city west of Cleveland on Lake Erie. Payne was shot after responding to their call for help, acting Police Chief Michael Failing said. Two of the officers suffered multiple gunshot wounds and were in critical condition after being flown to a trauma center, according to a statement issued by the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police. The other officer was shot in the hand, Failing said. It was not immediately clear whether Parker was killed by return fire or killed himself, police said. Failing said Parker was found to have had 'an arsenal' of weapons with him. Parker lived with his parents in a tidy, two-story brick home along the lake. Neighbors said Thursday they often saw him walking the family dog to the nearby beach, but he rarely engaged in conversation, and never saw him with friends. 'He was just an odd character,' said Jody Burnsworth, who has lived next door to the family since 2012. 'He wasn't rude. He was just always quiet. When he walked he looked like he was always ultra-focused on something.' She said she always had an uneasy feeling about him, never opening her bedroom drapes on the side of the house that faced his home. 'I hate that I thought that,' she said. 'He kind of gave me the creeps. Sometimes he would just look at you in an odd way.' Burnsworth said that during the past year he was hired at the post office but soon quit because the work was too difficult. During the search, a tactical vehicle pulled up outside the house and officers broke out an upstairs window before flying a drone inside, Burnsworth said. Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. John Seewer And Mark Scolforo, The Associated Press
CBC
an hour ago
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Hulk Hogan, iconic pro wrestling star, dead at 71
Hulk Hogan, who helped lead professional wrestling's rise in popularity in the 1980s and beyond, has died, Florida police and World Wrestling Entertainment said Thursday. He was 71. "WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away," the organization said in a statement. "One of pop culture's most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s. WWE extends its condolences to Hogan's family, friends, and fans. Born Terry Bollea, Hogan began wrestling in the mid-1970s. His popularity soared in 1984 after he defeated the Iron Sheik to win the heavyweight championship of what was then called the World Wrestling Federation. He continued to feature as star for the organization, including at WrestleMania appearances in Toronto in 1990 and 2002. Though mainly cast as a patriotic hero, he took a turn as a villain during a 1990s stint with the rival National Wrestling Alliance. Paving the way for current stars Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson and John Cena, Hogan also appeared on screen in fictional roles in Rocky III, Suburban Commando and Mr. Nanny. From 2005-07, he joined the reality television trend with Hogan Knows Best, starring his then-wife and two children. In a significant legal battle, he reached a $31 million US settlement with Gawker in 2016 after the online publication released a video clip of Hogan and a woman in bed. According to the police statement, fire and police in Clearwater, Fla., responded to a medical call at 9:51 a.m. ET., with the nature of call being cardiac arrest.
