The Canadian squad defeated Finland 5-0 in the second semifinal at the World Junior Championship on Saturday, avenging a quarterfinal defeat to the Finns in last year's tournament.
Alexis Lafreniere tallied twice in Saturday's contest, including a power-play marker late in the second period. Canada struck three times in the opening four minutes and led 4-0 at the first intermission.
The win came at a cost, however, as Canada's captain and leading goal-scorer Barrett Hayton suffered an injury late in the contest.
Jim Montgomery admitted himself into an inpatient residential program for alcohol abuse, he revealed Friday in a statement to the Dallas Morning News' Matthew DeFranks.
βLosing my job as head coach of the Dallas Stars last month was a wake-up call. It was also the appropriate call," Montgomery wrote in his first public comments since the firing Dec. 10.
"I let the team's front office, staff, and players down," he continued. "More importantly, I let my wife and my family down. The team's decision to end my role forced me to look into the mirror and decide whether I wanted to continue living a damaging lifestyle or get help. I decided to get help. I turned to professionals in the field of alcohol abuse for their guidance and counseling. It has been an overwhelming and very humbling experience knowing that I am not alone."
Montgomery added that he intends to "take the steps to be a better husband, father, friend, coach, and mentor," and that he's committed to the process.
Stars general manager Jim Nill said Friday that the team supports Montgomery's decision and hopes that by seeking help, the former bench boss and his family will be stronger for it.
Dallas dismissed Montgomery for "unprofessional conduct." He had more than two years left on his contract. Nill said at the time of the firing that there was no criminal investigation and that no current or former Stars players or employees were involved.
Montgomery has been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings since he was fired, a source told DeFranks. The 50-year-old was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated in Florida back in 2008.
This year's edition of the NHL Winter Classic was as visually appealing as it was entertaining.
The legendary Cotton Bowl's unique setting enhanced the Dallas Stars' eventful 4-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on New Year's Day. From the game itself to the sideshow livestock, Dallas put its distinctive stamp on the event.
Here are the most indelible images from a truly memorable outdoor affair:
The hosts emerge from the tunnel π
Glenn James / National Hockey League / Getty
Who doesn't love a good flyover? βοΈ
Glenn James / National Hockey League / Getty
Ditto for fireworks π
Dave Sandford / National Hockey League / Getty
Perry takes the walk of shame after his ejection πΆ
Tim Heitman / National Hockey League / GettyJohn Russell / National Hockey League / Getty
Laviolette tries to get the Predators going π£οΈ
John Russell / National Hockey League / Getty
Only in Dallas ππ
Brian Babineau / National Hockey League / GettyBrian Babineau / National Hockey League / Getty
Johansen celebrates Dante Fabbro's goal π
Ronald Martinez / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Absolute scenes π
Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Josi appears to be missing something π€
Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Comeau's fired up after 1st of 4 straight Stars goals π€
Eliot J. Schechter / National Hockey League / Getty
The Minnesota Wild will take part in the next edition of the Winter Classic at Target Field, the home of MLB's Twins, the NHL announced on Wednesday.
It will be the Wild's first New Year's Day outdoor game and the second regular-season outdoor contest in team history.
The Wild's opponent will be revealed at a later date, according to the club. The Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues, and Winnipeg Jets have been discussed as potential opponents, reports Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.
Minnesota defeated the Blackhawks 6-1 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis back in 2016.
Corey Perry didn't wait long to get booted from the Winter Classic.
The Dallas Stars forward was tossed for a high hit on Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis in the opening minutes of Wednesday's outdoor game at the Cotton Bowl.
Perry was assessed a five-minute major for elbowing and a game misconduct for the check, which came just 2:44 into the affair.
Ellis had to be helped off the ice and immediately went to the dressing room. He didn't emerge for the start of the second period and was ruled out for the rest of the game midway through the frame.
Perry's game misconduct was the first in Winter Classic history and the second ever in an outdoor NHL game, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen.
Nashville capitalized twice on the ensuing power play, as Matt Duchene tallied at the 5:46 mark and Dante Fabbro got on the board less than two minutes later.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed defenseman Justin Holl to a three-year contract extension with an average annual value of $2 million, the club announced Tuesday.
Holl has collected 11 points in 38 games in 2019-20 and has become a reliable defender for Toronto after working his way up from the ECHL and AHL.
He became the first Maple Leafs player and sixth blue-liner in league history to score a goal in each of his first two NHL games in 2017-18.
The 27-year-old joined the Maple Leafs organization in July 2015 when he signed an AHL deal with the Toronto Marlies. Holl inked his first NHL contract in July 2016.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will be without Jake Guentzel for at least the rest of the regular season, as the talented forward is expected to miss four-to-six months after undergoing surgery on his right shoulder, the club announced Tuesday.
Guentzel was hurt when he fell awkwardly into the boards after scoring a goal against the Ottawa Senators on Monday night.
The 25-year-old joins a slew of Penguins already on the shelf, including superstar captain Sidney Crosby.
Guentzel poured in 20 goals and 43 points in 39 games this season after racking up 40 goals and 76 points in 2018-19.
He played all 82 regular-season contests in each of the previous two campaigns and was in his fourth campaign with the Penguins, who selected him in the third round of the 2013 draft.
Alexis Lafreniere is not in the lineup Tuesday against the Czech Republic at the World Junior Championship, Team Canada assistant coach Andre Tourigny told TSN before the contest.
Lafreniere, who's missing his second straight game with a knee injury, took part in an off-ice warm-up session Tuesday and looked good, according to Tourigny.
The star forward also sat out Canada's 4-1 win over Germany on Monday. He was hurt in a 6-0 loss to Russia on Saturday.
On Sunday, Tourigny revealed that Lafreniere underwent an MRI that showed no fractures or torn ligaments.
The presumptive first overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft piled up four points in Canada's tournament-opening victory over the United States on Thursday.
Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo is expected to miss at least a month after suffering a torn meniscus during a shootout against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, his club announced Tuesday.
Korpisalo, who was given a four-to-six-week timetable for his recovery, underwent surgery Monday.
The 25-year-old was hurt in non-contact fashion on the Blackhawks' first shootout attempt Sunday.
A tough scene in Columbus as @BlueJacketsNHL goalie Joonas Korpisalo appears to get injured in the shootout. Backup Elvis Merzlikins came in cold to finish the game. pic.twitter.com/jK3DpJkJ4G
Korpisalo's injury was one of the reasons Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella was incensed about the officiating crew's apparent clock error that preceded Zach Werenski's disallowed overtime winner, which came just after the buzzer.
The 25-year-old netminder has a .913 save percentage across 32 games in his first season as Columbus' starter.
This year will undoubtedly be remembered as the one in which hockey's coaching fraternity first faced a reckoning for inappropriate conduct.
Though several former players only came forward relatively recently, the revelations they've shared have already had an immeasurable impact on hockey culture and will continue to resonate for years to come.
The year also featured its share of other major talking points both on and off the ice, from contract squabbles to shocking playoff results and more.
Here are the 10 biggest NHL stories of 2019:
10. Blackhawks suspend Crawford
In early December, after two NHL head coaches came under fire for inappropriate behavior, the Chicago Blackhawks launched a review of assistant coach Marc Crawford, citing "recent allegations ... made regarding his conduct with another organization."
The team took action after Sean Avery said Crawford kicked him during a game with the Los Angeles Kings in 2006 and after Brent Sopel's allegations of several instances of abuse by Crawford during his tenure with the Vancouver Canucks.
On Dec. 16, Chicago suspended Crawford until Jan. 2. The veteran bench boss admitted he'd "sometimes went too far" in using "unacceptable language and conduct toward players in hopes of motivating them," and revealed he'd been in counseling on a regular basis over the last decade.
9. Marner's contract saga and the slew of star RFAs
Kevin Sousa / National Hockey League / Getty
The last thing the Toronto Maple Leafs wanted was a repeat of William Nylander's holdout. Though Mitch Marner's contract negotiation didn't cost the player two months of the season, as Nylander's did, it was yet another prolonged impasse that threatened to derail the team's campaign.
From July 1 until he signed a new contract during the preseason, Marner's situation was a constant source of debate, especially after Nylander's drawn-out negotiations and his disappointing performance following that stalemate. Marner ultimately got his deal done without missing any regular-season games, agreeing to a six-year, $65.36-million pact on Sept. 13.
Though Marner's negotiations dominated headlines, he was just one of several high-profile restricted free agents in a group that also included Mikko Rantanen, Patrik Laine, Matthew Tkachuk, Brayden Point, and Brock Boeser. There was even an offer sheet, as underwhelming as the Montreal Canadiens' attempt to poach Sebastian Aho from the Hurricanes ultimately was. All of the young phenoms eventually re-signed with their respective clubs, but this RFA crop was the biggest subplot of the offseason.
8. Stars fire Montgomery for 'unprofessional conduct'
When the Dallas Stars dismissed head coach Jim Montgomery on Dec. 10 due to "unprofessional conduct," they provided few specifics beyond general manager Jim Nill's assurances that it didn't involve present or past players, Stars employees, or a criminal investigation. It also reportedly had nothing to with an awkward radio interview Montgomery gave five days earlier.
The lack of clarity left many wondering what Montgomery did to warrant the pink slip - and arguably made the situation worse than it would've been had the team disclosed its reasoning, even in general terms, at the outset.
7. 'Bunch of jerks'
Karl DeBlaker / National Hockey League / Getty
Don Cherry wasn't the first pundit to criticize Carolina's unique "Storm Surge" celebrations, but the team embraced its new moniker when the then-"Coach's Corner" personality dubbed the Hurricanes "a bunch of jerks" in February. Turning the phrase into a rallying cry, they projected it onto their home ice, printed it on T-shirts, and adopted it as a nickname en route to an unexpected appearance in the Eastern Conference Final.
6. Leafs fire Babcock amid losing skid
It had become inevitable following six straight losses, but that didn't make the Maple Leafs' firing of Mike Babcock on Nov. 20 any less significant.
The former Team Canada bench boss had been the NHL's highest-paid head coach after Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan signed him to a mammoth eight-year, $50-million pact ($6.25 million annually) in the spring of 2015.
In retrospect, though, it was only a matter of time, as Babcock was hired before Kyle Dubas took over as general manager. Dubas' handpicked choice, Sheldon Keefe, was the obvious successor, having guided Toronto's AHL club to a championship in 2018 after working with Dubas in the OHL.
As it turned out, Babcock's name would resurface in the headlines before the year was out.
5. Babcock's treatment of players
Gregory Shamus / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Days after the Maple Leafs fired Babcock, Marner and the former head coach both confirmed a report that Babcock had shamed the then-rookie in 2016-17, asking Marner to rank the club's players by work ethic before sharing the list with the team.
Further accounts of Babcock's poor behavior soon followed, dating back to his days behind the Detroit bench. Former Red Wings forward Johan Franzen called Babcock "the worst person I have ever met," and confirmed Chris Chelios' claim Babcock verbally abused Franzen in 2012.
4. Lightning come crashing down
Nobody expected the Tampa Bay Lightning to have any trouble dispatching the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after the Bolts put together one of the most dominant regular seasons in NHL history.
But the upstart Blue Jackets flipped the script. A Columbus team that had decided to keep multiple stars with expiring contracts and go all-in for a postseason run pulled off an utterly stunning sweep.
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper later lamented the fact that, in his view, his club didn't play much meaningful hockey ahead of the playoffs because it had been so far ahead of every other squad. But no matter the explanation, Tampa Bay's collapse was one of the most surprising developments of 2019.
3. Don Cherry's demise
Cherry had a long history of making inappropriate comments during broadcasts with both the CBC and Sportsnet, without being held accountable. But the latter network finally took action in November after the polarizing pundit gave an offensive rant about immigrants in Canada during a "Coach's Corner" segment ahead of Remembrance Day.
Sportsnet initially apologized for Cherry's comments without firing him, but it let him go one day later amid massive public uproar.
Allowed to remain on the air over the years despite previous improprieties including comments about women and Europeans, Cherry was removed after nearly four decades in his role.
2. Blues go worst to first
Patrick Smith / Getty Images Sport / Getty
In January, the St. Louis Blues had the worst record in the NHL. Then, they listened to "Gloria" at a Philadelphia bar, and the rest was history.
OK, it wasn't that simple. But St. Louis' midseason turnaround and eventual Stanley Cup triumph was nothing short of remarkable. Craig Berube's squad climbed out of the league's basement, qualified for the playoffs, and claimed hockey's ultimate prize thanks to a balanced roster and the emergence of steady rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington.
After suffering three final-round sweeps in their first three years of existence, the Blues won their first game in a Stanley Cup Final. They then secured the first championship in franchise history with a Game 7 victory over the Boston Bruins, who defeated St. Louis the last time the Blues reached the final in 1970.
1. Aliu sparks a reckoning
As impressive as the Blues' unexpected title was, another story transcended single-season results and was unquestionably the biggest hockey narrative of 2019.
In late November, former NHL player Akim Aliu, who was born in Nigeria, accused then-Calgary Flames head coach Bill Peters of directing the N-word toward him multiple times when Peters coached Aliu with the ECHL's Rockford IceHogs in 2009-10. Two former teammates corroborated Aliu's allegations, and Peters resigned from his role with the Flames within days of Aliu publicizing the incident.
Aliu shared his story after Babcock's treatment of Marner came to light. His revelations, which preceded Crawford's and Montgomery's situations, brought heightened awareness to coaching abuse around the league and prompted others to come forward with their own accounts; former Hurricanes blue-liner Michal Jordan soon accused Peters of kicking him and punching another player in the head when Peters was behind the bench in Carolina.
The NHL later met with Aliu and has since announced new steps to address inappropriate conduct, underscoring the impact of Aliu's courageous admission and cementing him as the central figure in the league's ongoing efforts to create a more inclusive environment.
