Women’s World Championships Cancelled, Marleau Sets Record, Lehner Speaks Out
It’s the Thursday Edition of Links, News, and Notes
Links? Check.
News? Check.
Notes? Check.
Let’s do it:
- On Wednesday, it was announced that the IIHF was cancelling the Women’s World Ice Hockey Championships after the Province of Nova Scotia indicated the tournament could not go forward because of concerns over a rising number of COVID-19 cases in the province. The tournament was slated to run May 6th-16th in Halifax and Truro, and though the IIHF has promised to work with Hockey Canada to try to find a way to host the tournament this year it is unclear if that will go ahead.
- Over at the Athletic, former Sens beat writer Hailey Salvian brings a detailed breakdown of the decision ($), Meanwhile, Kirsten Whalen has a a nice piece at the Victory Press on why accepting yet another cancellation of another major women’s hockey tournament is such a bitter pill to swallow.
- Robin Lehner had some fairly pointed things to say about the NHL, in particular about feeling that he had been lied to regarding a potential relaxing of COVID protocols for teams whose players had received the vaccines. After receiving a fair amount of blowback for his “prison” comment in particular, Lehner walked things back a bit. The league, meanwhile, denies that they ever promised any such a relaxing of the rules.
- Patrick Marleau broke Gordie Howe’s record for most games played in NHL history. Greg Wyshynski has a lengthy profile for ESPN breaking down the second overall pick from the 1997 (!) entry draft’s journey to the milestone. Apparently one of the keys to his longevity is his ability to get naked in record time?
- Thomas Chabot is apparently somewhat lukewarm on the idea of once again representing Canada at the World Hockey Championships this year.
- With Shane Pinto making his NHL debut last week, and Josh Norris performing admirably in his rookie campaign, the notion of true depth at the centre position has a lot of Sens fans in a bit of a tizzy. Ian Mendes had a nice feature over at the Athletic ($) yesterday figuring just what the future might look like down the middle for Ottawa./
