Canada's Michelle Plouffe announces retirement after career with women's, 3x3 national teams
The 32-year-old from Edmonton was part of Canada's women's basketball teams at the 2012 London Games and 2016 Rio Olympics, also helping the program win back-to-back FIBA AmeriCup championships in 2015 and 2017.
She then shifted to 3x3 basketball, where she played — alongside her twin sister Katherine Plouffe — a big role in building the Canadian program from the ground up.
Plouffe led Canada to multiple FIBA 3x3 Women's Series titles, a silver medal at the 2022 FIBA 3x3 World Cup, and a fourth-place finish at the Paris Olympics.
She is now set to join Canada Basketball's high-performance staff as 3x3 performance manager.
Plouffe will be honoured during the FIBA 3x3 Women's Series stop in Edmonton on Aug. 2.
"This journey has always been more than just playing basketball," Plouffe said in a release. "It's been about people, purpose, planting seeds and watching them grow."
"We never set out to be the best team in the world — we set out to be the best people to play with," Plouffe added. "And we believed the rest would follow. You don't plant fruit. You plant seeds. We planted encouragement. We planted trust. We planted love. That's what grew."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Edmonton Journal
19 minutes ago
- Edmonton Journal
'It's just weird': Oilers GM defends star Edmonton d-man on new mega contract
Article content 2. As Bowman points out, the main thing Oilers fans and pundits complain about when it comes to Bouchard is his turnover. Bowman suggest we should all way that against the good things that Bouchard does during a game, such as launch blistering shots on net, making great stretch passes to launch dangerous attacks, and defend well positionally. Article content That makes sense for me. Article content 3. One way to look at Bouchard's puck management is to look at the number of stretch passes he makes that lead to Grade A shots, then compare that to the number of turnovers he makes that lead to Grade A shots against. Stretch passes are a wicked attacking weapon in hockey. They're not easy to execute. Article content What we see is that the last two years in the playoffs, Bouchard has been Edmonton's best d-man at ripping stretch passes. In 2025 he made 1.75 stretch passes for a Grade A shot for every turnover he made leading to a Grade A shot against at even strength. The team average was 0.81 stretch passes for every turnover, so he was more than twice as good as the average Oilers d-man. Article content Article content Bouchard was also strong in this same category in the 2023-24 regular season, with 40 stretch passes leading to Grade A shots and just 33 turnovers leading to Grade A shots against. Article content But this past regular season was a different story. Bouchard made 23 stretch passes but 35 turnovers. Little wonder that some folks noticed this negative ratio of 0.69 stretch passes for every turnover and felt he wasn't play that well. At times he wasn't. Article content Article content 3. Another way to rate and rank d-men is to look at their total contributions to Grade A shots (shots, passes, hard charges at the net and battles won) compared to their total mistakes on Grade A shots against at even strength (lost battles, turnovers, bad pinches, missed assignments, bad line changes, bad deflections). Article content 4. In this category, Bouchard has been the Oiler's best d-man for the past two years. He was dominant in particular in 2023-24. He slipped a bit last year, but was still the team's best d-man, just ahead of Jake Walman, Darnell Nurse and Mattias Ekholm. In the playoffs, Bouchard again shot up and was by far the Oil's best d-man the past two seasons. Article content Article content 5. When you take in all these factors, I'll suggest that Bowman has a point, that is a bit weird that there's so much criticism of Bouchard, especially when we consider his superlative play in the playoffs, where he's been an absolute stone-cold killer on the attack and solid on defence for two years running. Article content Bouchard comes through for the Oilers when they need him most, and when so many other players on the Oilers fail to rise to the occasion. Article content He's the kind of player who can drive a team to Stanley Cup wins and to Olympic gold medals. Article content Article content
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Anna Hall now a member of heptathlon's exclusive 7,000-point club, world record within reach
On New Year's Eve, Anna Hall designs a decorative vision board that outlines her upcoming goals. Her most recent list includes being a good dog mom, making track fun and deepening friendships. Not appearing on her artfully crafted board for the first time in a while — breaking into heptathlon's exclusive 7,000-point club. She just didn't want to add that sort of pressure coming off a knee injury. Cross it off anyway. Because last month at a meet in Austria, Hall became the fifth female to eclipse 7,000 points in the seven-event competition. Her grand total of 7,032 points puts her within striking distance (260 points, to be precise) of breaking the world record that her idol and Hall of Famer Jackie Joyner-Kersee set nearly 37 years ago. It could happen at the U.S. track and field championships in Eugene, Oregon, which start Thursday. Or, presuming she makes the team, at the world championships in Tokyo in September. Or sometime before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. 'I've had it long enough,' Joyner-Kersee said of the record. 'I would be so happy for Anna.' The two communicate quite often — one heptathlete to another. Joyner-Kersee made sure to reach out after Hall broke into the hallowed 7K-point club. 'It was tears of joy,' Joyner-Kersee recounted. 'For her just being healthy and happy again. For the 7,000 points. I always knew she could do that. I know she can do even more.' Knee surgery Last season was so physically and emotionally demanding for Hall. Hence, her mixed feelings about finishing fifth at the Paris Olympics. On one front, there's her perseverance. She underwent knee surgery early in 2024 and recovered fast enough to win the event at the Olympic trials. For that, she's grateful. But she was hoping to be on the podium in Paris after taking silver at the 2023 world championships in Budapest. 'I think I'm more disappointed that I didn't medal. But everyone on my team is going to say the opposite,'' the 24-year-old Hall said. 'That's part of what lit a fire under me of, like, 'I need to come back better.'' Without adding any pressure, either. The working theme of her motivational board — the one that hangs in her bathroom — revolved around restoring joy. 'Because last year was just so hard,' said Hall, who captured the 2022 NCAA heptathlon title while at Florida. 'I just wanted to have fun doing track. I wanted to not be in pain all the time. So I wasn't even putting numerical marks on my vision board this time around.' The heptathlete Growing up in Denver, Hall had her own version of the heptathlon as she dabbled in skiing, swimming, field hockey, volleyball, lacrosse, soccer and track. Eventually, the list was whittled down to track. Even more, to the heptathlon, which consists of the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meters, long jump, javelin and finally the 800. Hall has been knocking on the door of the 7K club since amassing a personal-best 6,988 points in May 2023. At the meet in Austria, everything fell into place. She set career-best marks in four of the seven events, including the 800 to close it out. Upon crossing the finish line, she fell to the track in exhaustion — but no pain. 'That felt in and of itself like a victory,' Hall said. The number she's chasing is 7,291 points, which Joyner-Kersee accumulated on her way to winning gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. 'Give her time. Anna is still young and she's steadily evolving and steadily getting better with the event,' Joyner-Kersee said. 'Sometimes, when we see greatness within our younger athletes, people start to rush it.' A few minor tweaks here and there could bring Hall even closer to Joyner-Kersee's record. Like maybe in the long jump, an event in which she's confessed to having a love-hate relationship. Or the shot put, where she used to make an expression her dad called her 'shot-put face.' 'I definitely think it's attainable,' Hall said. 'But it is an out-of-this-world challenge.' Modeling Hall is used to photographers taking her picture on the track. Now, she's getting more and more comfortable with the cameras as part of her burgeoning modeling career. She recently appeared in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. 'My first few shoots in front of a camera I was so uncomfortable and out of my wheelhouse,' explained Hall, who's dating New York Giants receiver Darius Slayton. 'I was just telling the people on set, 'I don't know what I'm doing, but I can listen. Give me all the critiques. I want to be coached.' 'I definitely have a lot more confidence going into a heptathlon than I do a photo shoot.' Vision board The concept of her vision board started a while back with teammate Jasmine Moore, a bronze medal-winner in the long jump and triple jump at the Paris Games. It's a way to creatively set goals in track and in life. This season, she wants to be the best dog mom to Cross, her Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever. The boards are framed works of art that eventually move to her office to make room for the next version. She's still trying to decide what to do with the board she made heading into 2024, which is a reminder of an arduous season. The board is currently sitting on her floor. 'Maybe I should keep it? I'll remember it for when I make my 2028 vision board,' Hall said in reference to the Los Angeles Games. She also keeps a detailed journal in order to reflect on her thoughts from workouts and meets. She steers clear of scribbling anything negative in her notebook. 'I feel like once you write it down, it's speaking it into existence,' Hall explained. 'For me, journaling has been such a powerful tool to reframe the conversations that I'm having with myself. … All of those things build confidence down the road. 'Nobody's coming to save you. Nobody's going to hand you an Olympic medal or a world championship title. You have to go figure out how to take it.' ___ AP Summer Olympics:
National Post
an hour ago
- National Post
Rogers serves up embarrassing double fault on Sportsnet's National Bank Open coverage
Remember when tennis was treated as a big thing in Canada, especially on television? Article content Remember when the annual pro tournament here was known as the Rogers Cup and Rogers Sportsnet treated it like it was something special with full-on, extensive coverage? Article content Well those days appear long gone, at least for early round coverage of the latest rendition of the National Bank Open, being played this week and next in Montreal in Toronto. In what would seem to be a puzzling move to cut costs by Rogers, viewers are being short-changed to the point of being embarrassing. Article content Article content For the first week of action, anyway, Sportsnet is pulling in the ATP world feed to air on its platforms, a bare-bones production that is in stark contrast to what the network showed in the past and pays minimal attention to the stories that matter most to viewers here. Article content The regular coverage returns next week, but rather late to the party. Article content The result has tennis fans outraged and those following the Canadian players on both the men's and women's tour miffed at the indifference from Rogers, which still remains a presenting sponsor. Article content A Sportsnet spokesman says the change in coverage is 'adjusting to the tournament's expanded format' given the simultaneous men's and women's events take place over two weeks. Article content In the early going, what will viewers notice the most? If they care about Canadian tennis, plenty. Article content It was never more evident than on Wednesday night when the bland and rambling ATP feed completely ignored one of the matches of great interest to viewers who have long enjoyed coverage of the annual Canadian professional stop. Article content Instead, the network was showing Arthus Fils and Pablo Carreno Busta, a match we can confidently predict would have had zero interest from Canadian fans unless either player has relatives here. The only justification — such as it is — would be that Fils was the No. 15 seed, but tucked away on a back court. It was action definitely not made for prime time nor made for the domestic audience and looked second rate. Article content What would have been one of the bigger stories in the opening week of the National Bank Open — Auger-Aliassime's meek straight-sets exit — was instead all but ignored. No live coverage beyond a couple of updates, no reaction from the Canadian and certainly no analysis. Article content It got worse. When providing an update, the ATP announcers muttered something about Auger-Aliassime not being able to contend for a home win to delight the Canadian crowd. Article content 'We had one (Canadian win), but it was not in the open era,' the voice said. 'I'll have to find out who it was. I did read it somewhere.' Article content Ouch. Article content But this is what happens when a network risks a universal feed made for a world audience by going on the cheap. Perhaps there is an arrogance that viewers would watch no matter what coverage appeared, but on a night when there was no Blue Jays baseball, there was a chance for Canadian sports fans to rally around Auger-Aliassime. Article content Adding to the embarrassment is the fact that not only is Auger-Aliassime a popular Canadian (and an Olympic medallist last summer in Paris) he's a Rogers sponsored athlete and involved in a cross promotion at a recent Blue Jays game when he tossed out the ceremonial first pitch. He was on the big court in prime time for a reason. Article content Article content By extension, the exclusion of the top-seeded Canuck was a bad look for Tennis Canada, which has to be seething at the work of its broadcast partner. Article content Sportsnet is picking up the world feed for the women's portion of the tournament in Montreal as well on one of the other Sportsnet channels. Article content However, in that case, Canadian fans got lucky. Not only did television viewers get to see both of Eugenie Bouchard's matches, but they also had uninterrupted coverage of the post-match celebration of the retiring Bouchard's career after her loss Wednesday. Article content The bad news for Sportsnet? A tough run for the National Bank Open with big-seed withdrawals is now without it's two top hopes (and top ratings draws) on the men's side given the early exits of Auger-Aliassime and Dennis Shapovalov. Article content
