Former NHL defenseman John Erskine was severely injured in a highway accident early Wednesday morning, his former agent, Pat Morris, confirmed to TSN's Rick Westhead.
According to the Ontario Provincial Police, a collision occurred at 12:48 a.m. Wednesday morning on Highway 401 near the town of Napanee, Ont., after a pickup truck collided with a transport truck while driving the wrong way in the eastbound lanes.
Morris said his former client is hospitalized with severe injuries but did not have any further information.
Police arrested the driver of the pickup truck, a 38-year-old man from Elginburg, Ont., at the scene of the collision. He was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the OPP. The driver of the transport truck was not injured.
An investigation into the accident continues and charges have not yet been laid, OPP spokeswoman Const. Shannon Cork told Westhead on Thursday.
A second-round pick of the Dallas Stars in 1998, Erskine played 491 NHL contests split between the Stars, New York Islanders, and Washington Capitals. The Kingston, Ont., native last played in the league in April 2014.
Hockey Hall of Famer Red Kelly died Thursday at the age of 91, his family announced.
Kelly spent the first 13 years of his career as a Detroit Red Wings defenseman, winning four Stanley Cups, three Lady Byng trophies, and one Norris Trophy, and collecting 472 points in 846 games along the way.
The Simcoe, Ontario native played the next eight years with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs moved him to center and he succeeded after the position change, tallying 351 points in 470 games while adding another Lady Byng and four more Stanley Cups to his resume.
Kelly won more Stanley Cups than any player in NHL history to not play for the Montreal Canadiens.
He also enjoyed a 10-year coaching career. The legend even dipped his toes into politics before his playing days ended, as he was elected to the House of Commons in 1962.
Kelly was named to the "100 Greatest NHL Players" list in 2017. Both the Maple Leafs and Red Wings have retired his No. 4.
More than 200 of the world's top female hockey players have agreed to boycott North American professional leagues for the 2019-2020 season in an effort to alter the direction of women's hockey and push for a sustainable professional league.
"We will not play in any professional leagues in North America this season until we get the resources that professional hockey demands and deserves," read a prepared statement published Thursday morning.
"We cannot make a sustainable living playing in the current state of the professional game. Having no health insurance and making as low as $2,000 a season means players can't adequately train and prepare to play at the highest level," the statement adds.
"It's time for a long-term, viable professional league that will showcase the greatest product of women's professional hockey in the world."
The NWHL is the only remaining professional women's league. The Canadian Women's Hockey League folded March 31 after 12 years of operation.
"The thought of not playing in a pro league is daunting and nerve-racking," said Knight, according to TSN's Bob McKenzie. "But we firmly believe we're doing the right thing for our sport and that when we do play, we will do so in a league that embodies the values of our game.
"We can see where our game is now and where it has to be in order to be sustainable in the long term."
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has repeatedly stated the NHL will not involve itself in the operations of the NWHL. The NHL previously gave $50,000 annually to both the CWHL and the NWHL, upping its NWHL contribution to $100,000 after the CWHL ceased operations.
The night the San Jose Sharks shot seven pucks past Michael DiPietro, his phone wouldn't stop pinging with messages of consolation.
The Vancouver Canucks prospect got lit up in his surprise NHL debut at age 19. Without a healthy backup goalie available, he was stranded in the crease for all 60 minutes of what became a 7-2 loss.
"You don't see many of those in the Ontario Hockey League," Sportsnet color commentator John Garrett said on the Canucks' TV broadcast after Evander Kane scored San Jose's fourth goal on a nasty top-shelf wrister.
DiPietro's family and friends were sad and sorry about the barrage to which he'd been subjected. His perspective, though, was radically different.
Jeff Vinnick / National Hockey League / Getty Images
"I played one of the best teams in the NHL, a veteran lineup, and I had a ton of fun doing it," DiPietro says now. "It was a dream come true, and the teammates in Vancouver were absolutely phenomenal with me, keeping my spirits up and cheering me on.
"I let in seven goals, but looking back on it, those seven goals I can learn from."
It's unlikely that any player in hockey has experienced as wild a season as DiPietro, the Canucks' possible netminder of the future. In late December and early January, he endeared himself to Canada by allowing a mere five goals on 103 shots at the world junior championship in Vancouver. One of those goals, however, was an inconceivably fluky ricochet off an opponent's skate in a 2-1 quarterfinal loss to Finland.
TSN
Canucks fans were reintroduced to DiPietro on Feb. 4, when the team, beset by goalie injuries, summoned him from the OHL's Ottawa 67s to back up Jacob Markstrom. The Windsor, Ontario, native would watch and learn from the bench for a couple of weeks as Thatcher Demko nursed a sprained knee.
That was the plan - at least until Feb. 11, when Markstrom's back began to spasm and DiPietro was forced to face Kane, Tomas Hertl, Timo Meier, and Joe Pavelski, a quartet of 30-goal scorers who all beat him at least once that night.
Those experiences against Finland and San Jose might have tanked most other teenagers' play, but few prospects seem to be wired like DiPietro,the OHL's goalie of the year in 2017-18.A 6-footer, he's long been knocked for being short for the position, but he's always felt mature for his age. He says he thrives on pressure - "Call me crazy, call me whatever, but that's just something I love to do" - and considers his battle and his drive to be the twin attributes that define his game.
"I'll do whatever it takes to stop a puck," he says.
That mentality has translated into consistently positive results for his whole junior career, which itself has been anything but typical. In 2016-17, DiPietro backstopped his hometown Windsor Spitfires to a Memorial Cup championship - before he ever won an OHL playoff series. (Windsor lost in the first round and spent the next 44 days practicing before playing in the national tournament as hosts.) The Canucks drafted him 64th overall in 2017.
Michael DiPietro's 2018-19 season
Sept. 20
Windsor Spitfires open OHL season
Dec. 4
Spitfires trade DiPietro to Ottawa 67s
Dec. 10
Canada's world-junior selection camp begins
Dec. 14
DiPietro named to Team Canada
Dec. 26
World juniors begin in Vancouver
Jan. 2
Canada loses 2-1 to Finland in quarterfinals
Feb. 4
Canucks recall DiPietro from 67s
Feb. 11
DiPietro allows 7 goals in emergency NHL debut
Feb. 13
Canucks return DiPietro to 67s
March 17
67s finish with OHL's best record (50-12-6)
March 27
67s sweep Hamilton Bulldogs in Round 1
April 11
67s sweep Sudbury Wolves in Round 2
April 24
67s sweep Oshawa Generals in Round 3
The rebuilding Spitfires traded DiPietro to the ascendant 67s shortly before he left for the world juniors this past December, which brings us to the final phase of his one-of-a-kind season. By winning 12 consecutive games to open the OHL playoffs - sweeping three Eastern Conference opponents in the process - DiPietro and Ottawa are within striking distance of a Memorial Cup trip of their own.
"In the playoffs, right now, I think we're seeing what he's really all about," says 67s head coach Andre Tourigny, whose team will face the Western Conference champion Guelph Storm in the OHL's best-of-seven final starting Thursday.
"He's making key saves, keeping us in the game all the time. The more the game is on the line, the better he is."
Icon Sportswire / Getty Images
Facing an average of 28 shots per game, DiPietro has recorded a .913 save percentage in these playoffs. In the high-scoring OHL, that slots him third among goalies whose team advanced past the first round. In Game 4 of the second round, his 58 saves powered Ottawa to a 3-2 triple-overtime win that eliminated the Sudbury Wolves. Their starter, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, tended goal for Finland when that team won gold at the world juniors and was picked 10 spots ahead of DiPietro in the 2017 draft.
What skills have enabled DiPietro to become a junior star since the Canucks selected him? Different observers point to different strengths. Tourigny praises DiPietro's reaction time, lateral quickness, and competitiveness. DiPietro's agent, Darren Ferris, lauds his client's technical ability, his character, and his insatiable desire to excel and to win.
Season
GP
SV%
OHL rank (min. 25 GP)
2015-16
29
.912
6th
2016-17
51
.917
3rd
2017-18
56
.910
5th
2018-19
38
.911
3rd
DiPietro's drive helped convince Hockey Canada head scout Brad McEwen to invite him to the country's two most recent world-junior selection camps. His assessment: DiPietro doesn't get rattled and finds a way to make saves on broken plays, a trait that compensates for his relative lack of size.
DiPietro was a late cut from Canada's 2018 world junior team. (Philadelphia Flyers rookie Carter Hart wound up leading the team to gold, supplemented by Dallas Stars prospect Colton Point.) But he handled his release graciously, and by the time DiPietro left the Canadians' pre-tournament headquarters, McEwen was already confident he'd want him to start the following year.
"If there's anybody that can handle adversity, it's Michael," says Ferris, whose DHG Sports Agency also represents Taylor Hall, Mitch Marner, and several other NHLers.
"It's going to be an easy transition for him (to professional hockey). His next steps, the path he has to take, I think, will probably be a lot more accommodating for him because of his maturity. He handles everything just like a pro."
DiPietro takes a little time to respond to a letter he received with a hand written note back. Not too many people would take the time to do this, Mikey isn’t like most people. pic.twitter.com/k0SB9Lc0Wv
When DiPietro was 5, his mother, Rebecca, died of cancer. He says now that he had to grow up quickly and that his father, Vic, raised him to eschew excuses and instilled in him the belief that he could handle any challenge.
A few years later, Vic married Assunta Fenty, whose son Mark used to be a goalie. At one of Mark's games about a decade ago, DiPietro - a young defenseman at the time - was watching raptly from the stands when his older stepbrother stoned an opponent on a breakaway.
In that moment, DiPietro knew he wanted to switch positions.
"He likes to be the guy everyone looks to: 'Listen - I got your back,'" Vic DiPietro says. And as a goalie who isn't 6-foot-5, Vic continued, he's also come to enjoy proving doubters wrong.
"Not in an arrogant way, of course," Vic says. "Just (by) going to work."
On the evening of Feb. 11, Vic and Assunta were sitting at their dinner table in Amherstburg, near Windsor, when Michael told them that Canucks coach Travis Green had tabbed him to start that night against the Sharks. There was no way to foresee this turn of events, so they were limited to watching his first NHL game on TV.
Jeff Vinnick / National Hockey League / Getty Images
After the final buzzer, Michael, his dad, and his agent all concluded that the blowout constituted an opportunity for growth. The Sharks scored on five of their nine high-danger shots on goal - "He was taking shots no goalie should be taking, in my opinion," Ferris says - and demonstrated to him just how fast NHL action can move.
"For a young kid to step in and take that kind of workload right off the bat, it's kind of difficult," Ferris says. "I think it'll benefit him in the long run."
Barring another emergency recall, it might be a few years before DiPietro's parents get to witness his second NHL appearance. The Canucks have Markstrom signed through next year, and Demko, who is 23 years old, has two seasons left on his entry-level contract. In April, Vancouver nabbed 22-year-old NCAA star Jake Kielly in free agency after a superlative season at Clarkson University.
Like Demko, most netminders begin their pro careers with extensive seasoning in the minors. Hart, who started 30 games for the Flyers from late December onward, was the only goalie younger than age 22 to log significant time in the NHL this season. Come fall, it seems likely that DiPietro will share a crease with Kielly on the Utica Comets, Vancouver's American Hockey League affiliate.
For now, his focus is the OHL final, and the last, pivotal month of a whirlwind campaign. This "crazy" season has taught him about the need for a player to be adaptable, he says. It also has crystallized the vision he has for his future.
"Once you have a taste (of the NHL), that's all you want," DiPietro says. "That's something I'm going to (use to) push myself this summer: to make sure I surprise a few people at camp, and, hopefully, do my thing and make sure I have a good transition to pro hockey.
"I want to be the best I can possibly be. At the end of the day, I don't want anybody feeling sorry for me."
Welcome to Art of the Mask, a video series in which theScore sits down with some of the world's top netminders to talk about goalie mask art.
In Episode 4, Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Garret Sparks walks us through the finer details of two masks he wore during the 2018-19 season. From graffiti to Fortnite to Illinois to the Humboldt Broncos, Sparks is inspired by a variety of things - and it shows in his mask art.
Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews underwent a procedure Thursday to remove surgical hardware from a 2014 surgery, the team announced. The procedure won't disrupt his summer on-ice program.
Matthews suffered a broken femur from a knee-on-knee collision while playing for the USA Hockey U17 National Team Development Program in September 2013. The injury eventually required surgery.
The 21-year-old center recently declined an invitation to play for the U.S. at the upcoming World Championship.
Matthews tallied 37 goals and 73 points in 68 games in his third NHL season. He added five more goals and an assist in seven postseason contests against the Boston Bruins.
The Oilers reportedly requested permission to interview McCrimmon in April once the Golden Knights completed their end-of-season procedures.
McCrimmon was hired by Vegas in 2016 as assistant general manager and has been with the club since.
Mark Hunter, Sean Burke, and Keith Gretzky are apparently the remaining candidates for the Edmonton position, reports TSN's Darren Dreger. Gretzky has acted as interim general manager since the Oilers fired Peter Chiarelli in January.
Before this week, Curtis McElhinney had appeared in all of two playoff games in his 11 years as an NHL goaltender, and one of those took place a decade ago.
Still, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that in this zany Carolina Hurricanes postseason run, McElhinney - like so many of his teammates - has delivered when pressed into action.
Ever since the injured Petr Mrazek ceded his crease to McElhinney midway through Game 2 against the New York Islanders, Carolina's backup has stopped 45 of the 47 shots he's faced. That includes 28 saves on Wednesday, when the 35-year-old McElhinney became the oldest goalie in league history to make his first playoff start and his surging club moved within a win of the Eastern Conference Final.
Grant Halverson / Getty Images
Reserve netminders aren't supposed to look impregnable, especially against an opponent that advanced to the second round via a sweep. But Mrazek and McElhinney have combined to yield just three goals in three games - all Hurricanes victories - and the Isles appear bound to suffer the same fate they just imposed on the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Canes' performance in their 5-2 win in Game 3 was well in line with the ethos that has gotten them this far. Through 10 postseason games - and particularly in their past eight, of which they've won seven - it seems like Carolina's always had a "next man" ready to rise to the occasion.
Five Hurricanes have scored at least three goals in these playoffs, and three others have tallied a game-winner. The team didn't stumble when forwards Andrei Svechnikov, Micheal Ferland, and Jordan Martinook all went down in the first round with various injuries. The same goes for life without Mrazek, Saku Maenalanen, and Trevor van Riemsdyk, all of whom were hurt in Game 2 against New York.
And how emphatically did Carolina put the "bunch" in Bunch of Jerks on Wednesday? Every single Hurricanes skater finished Game 3 with positive shot-attempt and scoring-chance ratios at even strength, signifying that New York had a lesser chance of scoring for practically the entire game.
Karl DeBlaker / National Hockey League / Getty Images
The Hurricanes' dominance was especially pronounced in the third period, which began tied 2-2 and ended with the Islanders robbed of all but the faintest hope of coming back in this series.
In that final frame, Carolina had eight scoring chances to New York's three, including a 5-0 edge in quality chances. Even after Justin Williams scored to put the Hurricanes ahead 3-2 with 9:45 remaining - assisted by Sebastian Aho's midair interception of Robin Lehner's attempted clearance around the boards - they continued to control the run of play despite the Isles having an incentive to push aggressively for a tying goal.
Given how well his team played, McElhinney's effort didn't have to be Herculean, but he did make a tremendous toe save on Nick Leddy when Jordan Eberle sprung the defenseman for a breakaway in the second period, and made another with his glove when Eberle tried to pot the rebound. That was plenty on a night when the Isles generated only six quality scoring chances, far fewer than the 10.5 they averaged in the first two games.
It's hard to fathom any way New York could mount a miracle comeback. Any such blueprint would probably start with Lehner playing lights-out - his .915 save percentage at even strength in this series is significantly below his .934 regular-season mark - but at some point, they'd actually have to score. It's easier to forgive Brock Nelson for tapping McElhinney's head when you consider it came after his team's first and only goal at five-on-five through three games.
Karl DeBlaker / National Hockey League / Getty Images
When the Islanders are inevitably eliminated, they'll rue not capitalizing on opportunities to win Games 1 and 2, in which they could have legitimately claimed to be the better team.
However, the Hurricanes fully earned their Game 3 victory, even as their power play failed to score for the seventh straight contest. Pretty much everything else is playing out in their favor - McElhinney being the latest embodiment of that trend.
Dallas flexes scoring depth
Stars head coach Jim Montgomery's successful decision to tweak his top two lines ahead of Game 4 on Wednesday accentuated the reason his team has kept pace with the St. Louis Blues: Dallas is getting secondary scoring.
Rather than forging ahead with Tyler Seguin centering Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov - the trio that netted 89 of the Stars' 209 goals this season - Montgomery shifted Seguin to the second line and promoted flourishing Finnish 22-year-old Roope Hintz in his place.
The shakeup worked out happily for everyone involved, as Dallas won 4-2 on the strength of three terrific joint efforts from the members of those two lines: Seguin won a puck battle to feed new linemate Jason Dickinson for a tap-in; Dickinson, Mats Zuccarello, and Seguin all made key plays to set up a John Klingberg goal; and Hintz scored to reward Radulov and Benn for two consecutive pretty passes.
Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
Hintz now has five goals in these playoffs, tied with Radulov for the team lead. Seguin, Dickinson, and Zuccarello have all scored three times, while Benn has contributed two goals and seven assists.
Their combined production has fortified Dallas' offensive punch in a series where Vezina Trophy finalist Ben Bishop - he of the .945 save percentage against the Nashville Predators in Round 1 - has looked shockingly beatable (.906 save percentage through four games).
Even in a 2-2 series, it's remarkable how little separates these teams. The Stars and Blues have each scored nine goals at even strength, while Dallas has a modest edge in total scoring chances at 123-119.
Like Bishop, St. Louis netminder Jordan Binnington has fared worse than expected (.904 save percentage) after his sterling second half of the regular season, mainly thanks to Dallas' aforementioned top-six forward group.
Does either goalie have a shutdown showing in him? In what's now a best-of-three matchup, it could make all the difference.
