Holiday sports catch-up: World juniors, football and more

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Whether you're back to work today or still enjoying some time off, let's get you up to speed on what's been happening since our last newsletter on Dec. 20.Hockey: The world juniors are heating up After opening with a 4-0 shutout of Finland on Boxing Day, Canada suffered a shocking 3-2 shootout loss to Latvia — a country it beat 10-0 last year. The Canadians rebounded to blank Germany 3-0 last night, setting the stage for another New Year's Eve showdown with the rival United States. Both teams have already secured spots in the quarterfinals. But the Americans' overtime loss to Finland last night left them and Canada with identical records, so the winner of tomorrow night's game in Ottawa will finish atop Group A and get to play the fourth-place team in Group B. With its power play running cold, Canada ranks fourth in the tournament in goals with just nine in three games. The U.S. has twice that many, while the Group B-leading Czech Republic (23) and Sweden (20) are scoring at an even higher rate. Canada's top point-getter, Easton Cowan, sits outside the top 25 with a modest one goal and two assists so far. Seventeen-year-old star Gavin McKenna, touted as the top prospect for the 2026 NHL draft, hasn't recorded a point since scoring Canada's first goal of the tournament. And star defenceman Matthew Schaefer, who could go No. 1 this June, is gone after breaking his collarbone when he crashed into the net against Latvia. On the bright side, the Canadians have allowed a tournament-low three goals and top netminder Carter George has been lights out, stopping all 56 shots he faced in those shutout wins over Finland and Germany (Jack Ivankovic manned the cage in the Latvia loss). In the NHL, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby broke Mario Lemieux's all-time franchise record for assists last night, while Alex Ovechkin's pursuit of Wayne Gretzky's NHL career goals record is very much back on. The Washington Capitals star scored in Toronto on Saturday after missing the previous 16 games with a broken leg, and he added another goal last night at Detroit. With 17 goals in 20 games this season, Ovechkin is 24 away from Gretzky's record of 894 with 46 games left.Football: The NFL playoff picture is taking shape Six of the seven playoffs spots in each conference are spoken for, but none of the first-round matchups have been decided heading into the final week of the regular season. The No. 1 seed in the NFC will come down to the very last game: Minnesota (14-2) at Detroit (13-2) on Sunday night. If the Lions beat San Francisco tonight, they can clinch the top seed with a win or tie against the Vikings. If they lose tonight, they must win the finale in order to claim the all-important first-round bye and homefield advantage throughout the conference playoffs that come with the top seed. The loser of the Minnesota-Detroit matchup will plummet all the way down to No. 5 and must go on the road in the first round as a wild card. The NFC's No. 2 seed belongs to Philadelphia (13-3) no matter what. But the Eagles have a tough call to make with Saquon Barkley needing 101 yards to break Eric Dickerson's decades-old single-season rushing record. Should they let Barkley go for it on Sunday against the eliminated New York Giants? Or rest him along with their other stars in preparation for their playoff game the following week? We also know that the Los Angeles Rams (10-6) have clinched the NFC West and will be either the No. 3 or 4 seed, while wild cards Washington (11-5) and Green Bay (11-5) will slot into the No. 6 and 7 spots (in whichever order). Tampa Bay (9-7) controls the NFC South, which it can clinch with a win or a tie Sunday against eliminated New Orleans. A loss would open the door for Atlanta (8-8, hosting Carolina on Sunday) to steal the division. In the AFC, defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City (15-1) clinched the top seed and a first-round bye with their blowout of Pittsburgh on Christmas Day. That's good news for Denver (9-7), which could be facing K.C.'s backups this Sunday as the Broncos try to hold off Cincinnati (8-8) and Miami (8-8) for the final wild card.

AFC East champion Buffalo (13-3) is locked into the No. 2 seed, South winner Houston (9-7) will be No. 4, and Baltimore (11-5) just needs to avoid losing to hapless Cleveland on Saturday afternoon to clinch the North and the No. 3 seed. Assuming that happens, Pittsburgh (10-6, hosting Cincy on Saturday night) will settle into the No. 5 or No. 6 seed alongside the Los Angeles Chargers (10-6).  The second round of the U.S. college football playoffs takes place on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with the top four teams coming off a bye. The lone matchup on Tuesday night pits No. 3 Boise State vs. No. 6 Penn State. On Wednesday it's No. 4 Arizona State vs. No. 5 Texas, top-ranked Oregon vs. No. 8 Ohio State and No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 7 Notre Dame, which steamrolled Canadian quarterback Kurtis Rourke's upstart Indiana team back on Dec. 20. On a sad note for NFL and college basketball fans, longtime CBS broadcaster Greg Gumbel died from cancer late last week. He was 78.Olympic sports: More awards for Canadian stars The year-end honours keep rolling in for Canada's Olympians. After winning the Northern Star Award for Canadian athlete of the year on Dec. 10, swimming phenom Summer McIntosh added her second consecutive Canadian Press female athlete of the year award last week. McIntosh earned 52 of the 53 votes cast by sports media people from across the country. The lone dissenter picked Hallie Clarke, who became the first teenager to win a skeleton world title. That's a great accomplishment, but McIntosh won a Canadian-record three Olympic gold medals, so I'm not a fan of that choice.

WATCH l Top Canadian sports moments of 2024:

The CP male athlete of the year went to Ethan Katzberg, who captured Canada's first-ever Olympic gold medal in the hammer throw. Katzberg got 17 of the 56 votes to win a tight race over 2023 winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (14 votes) and Connor McDavid (13).  The Canadian men's 4x100m relay squad earned the CP team of the year for their astonishing gold-medal victory in Paris. Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney and Jerome Blake received 37 of the 53 votes, beating Rachel Homan's world-champion women's curling team (seven), McDavid's Edmonton Oilers and the Olympic silver-winning beach volleyball duo of Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson (three each). I thought the relay team was the right call, for the record.

WATCH l Brown breaks down men's 4x100m relay race from Paris 2024:

Most winter Olympic sports took the Christmas week off, but Canadian skiers captured three World Cup medals right before the break and another one this past weekend. On Dec. 21, Reece Howden won a men's ski cross event in Italy while halfpipers Brendan Mackay and Cassie Sharpe took silver and bronze, respectively, in Colorado. This past Saturday, Cam Alexander earned a downhill bronze on the treacherous Italian slope that will host the alpine events for the 2026 Olympics. American alpine star Lindsey Vonn launched her comeback at age 40 on Dec. 21 with a respectable 14th-place finish in a World Cup women's super-G race in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Another super-G scheduled for the following day was cancelled, but Vonn plans to return for the next women's super-G and downhill events on Jan. 11 and 12 in Austria.