Latest news with #KiaNurse
CBC
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
From Hamilton to Edmonton: Ice from NHL players' hometowns used to resurface rink for Stanley Cup final
When Darnell Nurse of the Edmonton Oilers takes to the ice in Rogers Arena Wednesday, a little part of his hometown of Hamilton will be underfoot. Rogers picked six Canadians on the team — including captain Connor McDavid and forward Evander Kane — and collected ice from rinks where they grew up. Then they transported the ice to Edmonton and used it to resurface the NHL ice ahead of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final. It's the first time the company has done it — and a neat way to give "home-ice advantage" to the Oilers, says Ryan Kinsella, rep director for the league that plays at the Hamilton arena where Nurse's piece of ice comes from. On Saturday in Hamilton's Flamborough region, Rogers scraped the ice at Harry Howell Twin-Pad Arena to honour Nurse. The 30-year-old defender started playing at Bill Friday Lawfield Arena on the Hamilton Mountain when he was four years old, but that arena is closed for the summer, Rogers Communications spokesperson Victoria Ahearn said in an email. Nurse is the brother of professional women's basketball player Kia Nurse and cousin to professional hockey player Sarah Nurse, who's also from Hamilton. "I think [this] gives a real good feel to the minor hockey players … knowing some of their ice that they play on a regular basis is going to be part of the Stanley Cup," Kinsella told CBC Hamilton. Flamborough Hockey plays games at Harry Howell. Kinsella, who was born in nearby Waterdown, played for the Flamborough Sabres and now has three boys who play hockey in the community. Harry Howell is one of the city's busiest rinks, he said, hosting hockey teams, coaches and a skating club. The ice rink initiative will hopefully help inspire kids to reach for their goals, Kinsella added. "Little initiatives like this help to keep those dreams alive." Ice transported by thermos Rogers worked with the rinks to scrape ice into sealed thermoses. Those were transported to Edmonton where, on Monday, they were poured into the ice making tank of the Rogers Place Zamboni, Ahearn said. Other rinks Rogers took ice from are: The Magna Centre in Newmarket, Ont., where McDavid played for the York-Simcoe Express AAA organization from about age 10 to 15. The Rink in Winnipeg, where Calvin Pickard practices during the off-season. North Shore Winter Club in Vancouver, where Kane started playing minor hockey at 14. Burnaby Winter Club in Burnaby, B.C., where Ryan Nugent-Hopkins played minor hockey from 2006 to 2008. Confederation Leisure Centre in Edmonton, which is affiliated with the hockey program Stuart Skinner played with while in high school. "Hockey's biggest stage should reflect where the game truly begins — in hometown hockey rinks across Canada," Terrie Tweddle, chief brand and communications officer for Rogers said in a statement. He said the initiative, called This Is Our Ice, is about celebrating "collective pride in Canada's game as the Oilers play to bring home the Stanley Cup." Other Hamilton-area players are competing for the cup, too The Oilers are having a rematch with the Florida Panthers, the defending Stanley Cup champions who beat them 2-1 in Game 7 of the final last year. Then, there were four players in the final with connections to the Hamilton-area: Nurse and Adam Henrique of the Oilers and Carter Verhaeghe and Brandon Montour with the Panthers. Verhaege brought the Stanley Cup home to Hamilton's Waterdown area in August. In July, Montour — who now plays for the Seattle Kraken — brought it home to Six Nations. Henrique is from Brantford, Ont. WATCH | How the Oilers playoff run helps newcomers find community: How the Oilers playoff run helps newcomers find community 5 days ago Duration 1:55 Within a week of landing in Edmonton, a group of young newcomers is getting introduced to the Oilers and Rogers Place. As CBC's Travis McEwan reports, some advocates say the playoff run creates a great opportunity to find community. When asked if he'd rather see Nurse or Verhaeghe bring the cup to Hamilton this year, Kinsella laughed. "It's a bit of a torn situation," he said. Kinsella has met Nurse's dad, and worked with some of the same coaches as him, but said he also appreciates Verhaege. Ultimately, Kinsella said, his middle child is a huge McDavid and Oilers fan, so Kinsella will be rooting for them. "Hopefully we can see a Canadian team bring it home."
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Dallas Wings Announce Injury Update After Paige Bueckers News
Dallas Wings Announce Injury Update After Paige Bueckers News originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Chicago Sky were able to get their first win of the 2025 WNBA season on Thursday when they took down the Dallas Wings. They won by a score of 97 to 92, which was the first victory of new head coach Tyler Marsh's tenure. Advertisement This was the first contest in a two-game series between these two franchises. The Sky will now travel down to Dallas to take on the Wings on Saturday evening. However, the Wings will be without star guard Paige Bueckers, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. She was ruled out for the next two games due to a concussion that she suffered. Chicago Sky guard Kia Nurse (11) and Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5).Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images Bueckers has been highly productive during her rookie season, contributing 14.7 points, 6.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game while also adding 2.0 steals per contest. The rookie leads the team in assists and steals, while she ranks second in scoring and third in rebounding. Advertisement Fortunately, Dallas received another injury update after the Bueckers news broke. Veteran guard Tyasha Harris, who missed Thursday's game against the Sky, was upgraded to questionable before the rematch on Saturday. "Tyasha Harris (knee) is listed as questionable," Wings reporter Joey Mistretta wrote. Harris contributed 4.6 points, 2.6 assists and 1.0 rebounds per contest through the first five games of the 2025 WNBA season for the Wings. She has played just 82 minutes but is shooting 44.4% from the floor, as well as 45.5% from beyond the three-point line. Chicago will look to build off of their first victory in which second-year forward Kamilla Cardoso poured in 23 points, a career high, and Ariel Atkins dropped in another 17. Tipoff is set for 8:00 p.m. EST on Saturday. Advertisement Related: Chicago Sky Coach Makes Paige Bueckers Statement After Wings Game Related: Chicago Sky Coach Facing Decision After Player's Strong Message This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on May 30, 2025, where it first appeared.
CBC
04-02-2025
- Business
- CBC
Canada's Nurse says 'more money is coming' after opting for 1-year deal with Chicago Sky
Newly signed Chicago Sky guard Kia Nurse chose her free-agency destination carefully. Currently in Nashville, Tenn., for her first Athletes Unlimited basketball season, Nurse tapped into the experience of the 39 players around her to help assess whether Chicago would be a good fit. This was in addition to the regular team meetings that take place around free agency. When it came time to decide on a contract length, with the WNBA collective bargaining agreement set to expire at season's end just before a $2.2 billion US media deal kicks in, Nurse made an easy choice and signed a one-year deal. "At the end of the day, more money is coming," said Nurse, who agreed to terms with Chicago last week. "So I was taking that one-year deal because more money is coming, and we deserve to get paid and we are going to get paid. Period." Nurse, 28, from Hamilton, Ont., plans to have a strong season with the Sky and parlay it into a potential payday when she hits free agency next winter — the same time the expansion Toronto Tempo can sign their first free agents. She sidestepped questions about the possibility of playing for the Tempo. "My whole career has been being able to put Canada on the map in a way we haven't had before," she said. "I'm grateful to have been in that position and every time that I step on the floor I'm representing Canada, whether it's at the Olympics, WNBA or [Athletes Unlimited]." For the next four weeks, Nurse will be the lone Canadian competing in Athletes Unlimited, a league founded in 2020 initially as a women's softball league before expanding into basketball, volleyball, and lacrosse. Its 24-game basketball season features weekly team changes and crowns a season-long individual champion. Nurse's participation comes amid strained relations between the U.S. and Canada, sparked by tariffs imposed on Canadian goods by U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday, later paused on Monday. In response, fans in several Canadian cities, including at Sunday's Toronto Raptors-Los Angeles Clippers NBA game, booed the U.S. national anthem. Proudly representing Canada During a media call, five other players nodded vociferously when Nurse said she proudly represents Canada among her 39 American peers. "One of the things I love about basketball is perspective and being able to see perspectives of everything, whether it's political, where people came from, how they grew up, what are the things that were tough for them that maybe I resonate with," Nurse said. "So yeah, I'm a really proud Canadian. It's Canada `til I die at the end of the day." The Sky will mark Nurse's fifth team in her past five seasons dating back to 2020 with the New York Liberty. The three-time Olympian missed the entire 2022 campaign with a knee injury. She said she consulted with players in Nashville who played for Sky head coach Tyler Marsh as well as forward Elizabeth Williams, who spent the past two seasons with Chicago, before coming to her decision. "Chicago, I feel like was a really good fit. It was an opportunity for me to go in there and be around a mixture of really young, talented players and some talented vets and to come in and bring my leadership skills, bring my personality and be in a great city," Nurse said. Athletes Unlimited campaign tips off Wednesday On Wednesday, Nurse will join fellow WNBA players like Lexie Brown, Alysha Clark, and Maddy Siegrist for the start of Athletes Unlimited's third basketball season. Players earn points through a fantasy-style system that rewards team successes like wins as well as individual accomplishments from made three-pointers to steals to drawn fouls. Nurse might not have found herself there at all were it not for Brown, her former Los Angeles Sparks teammate. "I just kept bothering her about it. And she finally was like, `OK, I'll just give it a try,"' Brown said. "I was with her all summer and it was frustrating for us as a whole, but seeing her just after one scrimmage just having that huge smile on her face that we didn't really get to show that much over the summer. Little moments like that is what makes me love [Athletes Unlimited]." Nurse, a one-time WNBA all-star, averaged 7.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game across 40 contests with the Sparks last season as Los Angeles struggled to a league-worst 8-32 record. The Canadian, in her second season back after tearing her ACL, admitted it was a tough year mentally as she struggled to rediscover her joy for the game.
