Canada's Victoria Mboko tops Aussie Kimberly Birrell in National Bank Open debut
Mboko, making her main draw debut on home soil, powered her way past Australia's Kimberly Birrell 7-5, 6-3, on a scorching afternoon on IGA Stadium's Centre Court.
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CBC
14 minutes ago
- CBC
Canada's Victoria Mboko storms into the 4th round at National Bank Open
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National Post
26 minutes ago
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Former Maple Leaf Gary Leeman looks back on the shot that changed his life
The shot you don't see coming can leave the biggest scar. Article content So when Gary Leeman came around after an Al MacInnis slap shot struck just behind his ear, looking up at worried Maple Leaf teammates, on-ice officials and doctors, his first semi-conscious flash was to fear the worst. Article content Article content 'I'd hit the ice, believing 'This is it, I'm gonna die,' ' Leeman recounted that night of Oct. 16, 1988. 'Those around me said I was making horrifying noises. I was down awhile, struggling to get my bearings. It got pretty traumatic. I knew right then the puck likely cracked my skull.' Article content He was correct in diagnosing the injury, but fortunately wrong about its finality or it being career-ending. Leeman went on to score 51 goals the next year and eventually win a Stanley Cup with Montreal. But the next six and a half years turned the young winger from East End Toronto into a different person. A young man's joy of playing his chosen sport for good money and hometown adulation was re-routed to a difficult dual path of body recovery and mental regression. The latter nearly drove him out of hockey. Article content Today, a similarly stricken player would take a precautionary hiatus, maybe injured reserve or LTIR. Leeman was asked if he wanted to play the very next game, blindly adhering to hockey's oldest code of playing through pain, keeping your job and damn the consequences. The price would be enormous in his active days and in retirement would lead him to fight on behalf of other National Hockey Leaguers vexed by head injuries. Article content 'Getting hit by that puck changed my life,' the 61-year-old told Postmedia over the lunch table. Article content Let's first rewind to when almost every NHLer feared being in the firing line of MacInnis, long before there was a hardest shot competition at the all-star game. With a release perfected against the side of his family barn in Cape Breton, N.S., his was clocked at 100-plus miles per hour. He'd infamously split goalie Mike Liut's mask on one blast and kept maintenance men in every rink on high alert to replace shattered Plexiglass. Article content MacInnis once broke a piece of the back board in St. Louis, too. Article content Article content Article content 'The Flames could really move the puck and I was out covering the left point, trying to stay in front of his shot,' Leeman related. 'But MacInnis moved closer to centre and my head turned toward our net. I heard his release, but the shot was deflected (by teammate Al Iafrate). I felt a clunk on the left side of my head, with intense pain and instant ringing in my ear. Like someone had snuck up behind with a baseball bat and whacked you. Article content 'As I lay there, it didn't help me knowing MacInnis had shot it. Your only thought at the time was survival. I do recall saying to myself, if you (pass out), you're not going to wake up.' It was that serious.' Article content Toronto's trainer, Guy Kinnear, quickly attended Leeman, but under frugal owner Harold Ballard, the Leafs didn't employ a year-round athletic therapist. And this was definitely not a shot block Leeman could simply skate off. Article content 'I'd never throw Guy under the bus; it wasn't his fault he didn't have the training for what happened,' Leeman said. 'I felt better recognizing Dr. Leith Douglas' voice. Though I couldn't see him, he was the best emergency room doctor in town. He asked me some questions, but if one was: 'How many fingers am I holding up?' I couldn't have answered then.'
Edmonton Journal
41 minutes ago
- Edmonton Journal
Former Maple Leaf Gary Leeman looks back on the shot that changed his life
The shot you don't see coming can leave the biggest scar. Article content So when Gary Leeman came around after an Al MacInnis slap shot struck just behind his ear, looking up at worried Maple Leaf teammates, on-ice officials and doctors, his first semi-conscious flash was to fear the worst. Article content 'I'd hit the ice, believing 'This is it, I'm gonna die,' ' Leeman recounted that night of Oct. 16, 1988. 'Those around me said I was making horrifying noises. I was down awhile, struggling to get my bearings. It got pretty traumatic. I knew right then the puck likely cracked my skull.' Article content Article content He was correct in diagnosing the injury, but fortunately wrong about its finality or it being career-ending. Leeman went on to score 51 goals the next year and eventually win a Stanley Cup with Montreal. But the next six and a half years turned the young winger from East End Toronto into a different person. A young man's joy of playing his chosen sport for good money and hometown adulation was re-routed to a difficult dual path of body recovery and mental regression. Article content Today, a similarly stricken player would take a precautionary hiatus, maybe injured reserve or LTIR. Leeman was asked if he wanted to play the very next game, blindly adhering to hockey's oldest code of playing through pain, keeping your job and damn the consequences. The price would be enormous in his active days and in retirement would lead him to fight on behalf of other National Hockey Leaguers vexed by head injuries. Article content 'Getting hit by that puck changed my life,' the 61-year-old told Postmedia over the lunch table. Article content Let's first rewind to when almost every NHLer feared being in the firing line of MacInnis, long before there was a hardest shot competition at the all-star game. With a release perfected against the side of his family barn in Cape Breton, N.S., his was clocked at 100-plus miles per hour. He'd infamously split goalie Mike Liut's mask on one blast and kept maintenance men in every rink on high alert to replace shattered Plexiglass. Article content MacInnis once broke a piece of the back board in St. Louis, too. Article content Article content Article content 'The Flames could really move the puck and I was out covering the left point, trying to stay in front of his shot,' Leeman related. 'But MacInnis moved closer to centre and my head turned toward our net. I heard his release, but the shot was deflected (by teammate Al Iafrate). I felt a clunk on the left side of my head, with intense pain and instant ringing in my ear. Like someone had snuck up behind with a baseball bat and whacked you. Article content 'As I lay there, it didn't help me knowing MacInnis had shot it. Your only thought at the time was survival. I do recall saying to myself, if you (pass out), you're not going to wake up.' It was that serious.' Article content Toronto's trainer, Guy Kinnear, quickly attended Leeman, but under frugal owner Harold Ballard, the Leafs didn't employ a year-round athletic therapist. And this was definitely not a shot block Leeman could simply skate off.
