Latest news with #Saskatoon
New York Times
7 hours ago
- Automotive
- New York Times
From NHL Draft stage to Disneyland, a memorable night for Ducks' Roger McQueen
LOS ANGELES — Roger McQueen was flying higher than any other pick in the first round of the NHL Draft on Friday night. Literally. After the Anaheim Ducks made him the No. 10 pick of the draft at Peacock Theater and he took pictures and went through rounds of media interviews, McQueen was ushered by club staff into a helicopter atop the JW Marriott hotel and then flown across the Southern California skies to suburban Fullerton. Then came a quick drive over to Disneyland and a visit with Donald Duck and Lightning McQueen. He's going directly from the #NHLDraft and straight to @Disneyland! Our 10th overall pick Roger McQueen is ready to take flight🚁@espn | @Honda — Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) June 28, 2025 'It was a great idea by our marketing department,' Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said. 'It was a unique opportunity to be able to give the kid a ride of his lifetime. Anyway, it was a special moment for him.' The Ducks hope McQueen, a right-shot center, will soar just as high in his potential NHL career. The Ducks took a mighty swing to select one of the draft's intriguing question marks. At 6-foot-5, the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, native is seen to have the kind of talent that could have landed him in a higher draft spot. But there were questions about his recovery from a fracture in his lower back. Advertisement The Ducks, who already have last year's No. 3 pick, Beckett Sennecke, atop a strong prospect pool, could afford to gamble on someone who may not exactly resemble Ryan Getzlaf in style of play and ability but who does basically match the former franchise legend in size and characteristics. 'Had he not gone through the injuries, he probably would have been arguably top-four, top-five in this draft,' Verbeek said. 'He's a unique package in the sense that he moves really well for a 6-foot-5 guy. He has really good skill and he has the ability to be able to score. He's going to play a little different game than some of the guys that we have now in our mix.' McQueen played only 17 regular-season games this season with the Western Hockey League's Brandon Wheat Kings. He appeared in the first eight games but then was shelved for five months after dealing with back pain for more than a year after it surfaced when he played for Canada at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup tournament. A bulging disk was the original diagnosis. But after seeing a spine specialist in Winnipeg, McQueen was diagnosed with a fracture between his L4 and L5 vertebrae. Cleared medically, the 18-year-old returned to the Wheat Kings at the end of the season and for their playoff series against Lethbridge. He did have to leave Game 3 and did not return in the five-game loss. His full participation in the NHL Scouting Combine helped ease any concerns. McQueen took part in all the medical and physical testing. And he feels his days of rehabilitation are behind him. 'I feel great right now, and I've worked with so many great doctors to be able to help me out with that,' McQueen told The Athletic on Friday. 'And I think just being able to take a little step back and being able to make sure it never happens again. Just training with the right guys and being able to get back on the ice. Advertisement 'I'm super pumped. I feel great.' The back issue didn't scare away the Ducks. They're confident that McQueen is in good shape physically. 'We dug deep and consulted a lot,' Verbeek said. 'Consulted our doctors. Consulted Mike Barwis, our sports science guy. There was a lot of due diligence put into Roger. Making sure that we did our homework. And at the end of the day, we felt comfortable that he's going to be able to overcome any of the step backs that he had last year.' In his 17 games with Brandon, McQueen totaled 10 goals and 20 points. Verbeek said McQueen will head back to the Wheat Kings and hopefully have a full WHL season to build out his game. The Ducks appear to be set at center — so much so that they felt compelled to trade Trevor Zegras this week — and there isn't any need to rush McQueen's development. 'He's going to be a different player than say Leo (Carlsson) or Mason McTavish in the sense that he has the ability to score goals,' Verbeek said. 'There's certainly 'powerful' written all over him in how he plays the game. He has a little bit of a mean side to him, which I like. There's a high compete there with him. 'When we through the injuries that he had, I think we felt comfortable drafting him. Just all the things that he's gone through to overcome the injury that we felt comfortable drafting him.' McQueen had dinner with the Ducks during the combine and said he felt an immediate connection with their staff. While he may not be the type of puck distributor that Getzlaf was during his 17 seasons with the franchise, McQueen looks to Getzlaf as a model for his game. 'That was my player comp that I told almost every team,' he said. 'I think that's who I want to try to strive to be. Obviously, that guy's an all-time great with Anaheim. I think that's who I want to put my game towards and try and be my role model in that sense. Maybe be able to get some tips from him for sure.' Advertisement Verbeek said he explored options to trade up in the first round, but was committed to picking no lower than No. 10. It proved to be an otherwise quiet day for Verbeek in an active offseason to this point. He has hired a new coach in Joel Quenneville, acquired Chris Kreider from the New York Rangers and traded Zegras to the Philadelphia Flyers. And he isn't likely to be done. Verbeek confirmed reports that he has worked with John Gibson and his agent, Kurt Overhardt, to find the goalie a new home after 12 up-and-down seasons. 'We have had discussions,' Verbeek said. 'Not sure where any of it's going to go. I always look at things that get presented to me and if it makes sense for the Anaheim Ducks, we'll pursue it. If it doesn't, then we won't.' As for McQueen, the thrill of being announced by actors Joshua Jackson and Marguerite Moreau – once stars of the 'The Mighty Ducks' movie franchise – led to another high above metropolitan Los Angeles. He soon will be grounded by the work it takes to reach the NHL. 'I think the biggest thing is just growing into my body and being able to be a guy who can play both ends of the ice with a defensive and offensive side of the game,' McQueen said. 'And just being able to put pucks in and then be a force in playoffs. Being able to be one of those power forwards that can you kind of play and multi-dimensional.'
CTV News
15 hours ago
- CTV News
Saskatoon parents launch lawsuit, driver pleads guilty in fatal e-scooter crash
A Saskatoon man was killed when the electric scooter he was riding was struck by an alleged drunk driver. (Noah Rishaug/CTV News) The parents of a 25-year-old Saskatoon man who was hit and killed while riding an electric scooter last summer have filed a lawsuit. Chet and Tera Walker are suing the driver, the scooter company Bird Canada and the city of Saskatoon, alleging negligence. A statement of defence has not been filed. Their son, Austin Walker, was hit and killed on Warman Road near the Circle Drive overpass on June 20, 2024. Walker was on his way home from his friend's house after watching hockey. Chet Walker Chet Walker next to his son's Dalmeny Sabres jersey. (Stacey Hein / CTV News) The driver, Wade Chaboyer, has pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing death and failing to remain at the scene. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 30 under a joint submission. In their lawsuit, the Walkers allege Bird Canada was negligent by allowing scooters to be operated on roads with speed limits over 50 km/h. They claim the city was negligent for 'requiring e-scooter riders to use dangerous roadways' and failed to work with the scooter company to establish 'no-go zones.' The suit further alleges Chaboyer was 'driving at an excessive speed for the conditions' and failed to 'avoid a collision that was foreseeable and preventable.' The allegations have not been tested in court. The family is seeking $60,000 in damages.
CTV News
16 hours ago
- Sport
- CTV News
Surge lose late to Rattlers on trio of threes by Pierre-Louis
Nate Pierre-Louis led the Saskatchewan Rattlers past the Calgary Surge 96-89 Thursday night in Saskatoon. Saskatchewan's Nate Pierre-Louis got hot late and the party was soon over for Calgary, as the Rattlers edged the Surge 96-89 in Saskatoon. Pierre-Louis sank three straight threes in Target Score Time to provide the margin of victory, giving the Rattlers their first win at home this season. Saskatchewan has owned the 8-4 Surge so far this season, defeating them by three points in Calgary in early June. Calgary was led by Greg Brown III's 22 points and eight rebounds. Jameer Nelson Jr. added 19 points, while Sean Miller-Moore had 13. Pierre Louis led the Rattlers with 28 points and five assists. The Rattlers outrebounded the Surge 50-47, including 17 offensive boards which gave them a huge advantage in second-chance points. 'They did a good job of crashing the glass and they beat us on the boards and I think that dictated the game,' Calgary head coach Kaleb Canales said. The lead changed hands five times in the third quarter, before the Rattlers took a one point lead, 72-71 on a basket at the buzzer from Isaac Simon. The Surge dropped into second in the Western Conference behind the Vancouver Bandits, who are 8-3. Next up for the Surge is a July 3 road game in Brampton.
CTV News
17 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
‘Plywood Avenue': Chamber asking city to help with rising cost of vandalism, security on businesses in Saskatoon
Taylor Cross has had her fair share of run-ins with safety concerns and vandalism nearly two years after opening Seven Sundays on 2nd Avenue. A little more than a month ago, Cross received a text message from a fellow business owner that one of her windows was smashed. She arrived at work minutes later to see that it was from a large rock thrown through the window. 'It was definitely the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Being a new business, we're just shy of two years being downtown. It's unfortunate when our staff doesn't always feel safe coming in to work downtown.' Cross says she has learned plenty about operating a business on 'Plywood Avenue,' as other business owners have come to call the street after repeated vandalism. She says she has had to protect her staff and business in a number of ways, and she thinks the city could do more to understand the concerns from business owners and address growing problems. Jason Aebig, the CEO of Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, agrees. His team recently organized a survey of 263 businesses from across Saskatoon, which found security costs, property damage, and frequent encounters with vulnerable populations are on the rise – and it's affecting their bottom lines. 'We've talked for some time about the invisible costs that's borne by our local business community -- just regular small and mid-sized companies that are also dealing with the impact of this challenge and in many ways are absorbing those costs into their business,' Aebig said. 'That doesn't get included as part of the calculation, and we wanted to get some better data to understand what that really looks like.' Key findings of the survey reveal that 85 per cent of businesses report increases in security costs, 58 per cent of businesses say insurance premiums have increased, and 25 per cent of businesses experience 'incidents associated with vulnerable populations on a weekly or more frequent basis.' Aebig says these issues are also persisting in more places than ever with areas like Stonebridge reporting vandalism and interactions with homeless people affecting business operations. 'We are hearing from businesses in suburban centers that are now dealing with similar challenges to what we've traditionally heard downtown,' he said. Seven Sundays Seven Sundays had its front window smashed earlier this spring. (Submitted/Taylor Cross) According to Aebig, not only are more businesses investing more money into training staff or hiring external security to manage and communicate with someone experiencing a mental health challenge or episode of psychosis, but they're also not reporting crimes to police altogether. 'They are not engaging police in these cases because they feel that the response will be slow or completely non-existent,' Aebig said. 'So, they're absorbing 100 per cent of the costs for repairs, vandalism and other challenges.' Cross says the broken window will cost her roughly $1,000 with the downtown business improvement district reimbursing a percentage. She says the broken window is a small concern in the grand scheme of the challenges plaguing Saskatoon. But she wants to see some of the concerns highlighted in the survey addressed and prioritized accordingly. 'It's affecting all of the businesses that are trying to contribute to our local economy and build our city up,' she said. The chamber has written a letter to councillors and Mayor Cynthia Block. He says the city could look at other jurisdictions and explore a municipal grant to help businesses recoup some of its costs and help businesses like Seven Sundays thrive. 'I don't have the ability to change things, but the people that do, they need to do something about it,' Cross said.
CTV News
20 hours ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Saskatoon City Council takes action on bear spray
Saskatoon City Councillor Holly Kelleher on new rules for buying and selling bear spray, taking another look at BRT plans, and the start of summer play days.
