There was no Leicester City or Chicago Cubs. Not even a Cleveland really. The year in Canadian sports ran pretty much true to form. Except that this was an Olympics year so, in fact, it didn’t.
Sidney Crosby led Canada to victory in a tournament billed as “The World Cup of Hockey.” (Keep in mind that the world of hockey is a whole lot smaller than the world of soccer/football, but, hey, a win is a win.)
Sidney Crosby led the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup, whose playoff rounds featured absolutely no Canadian-based NHL team.
For the second year in a row, the Toronto Blue Jays fell in the American League Championship Series while Ottawa won the 104th Grey Cup behind allegedly washed-up quarterback Henry Burris.
The Toronto Raptors made it to the semi-finals of the NBA playoffs and Toronto FC made the MLS finals. Both came up a tad short.
Milos Raonic continued his relentless quest to reach the top of the ATP tennis rankings, ending the year and No. 3. Golfer Brooke Henderson finished the year ranked No. 8 on the LPGA tour.
No real surprises there.
But wait!
Canada did pretty darn well down in Rio, creating a couple of media stars in sprinter Andre De Grasse, winner of three medals in the track-and-field sprints, and Toronto high-schooler Penny Oleksiak, who won four medals–including a gold–in the Olympic swimming pool.
For their efforts, De Grasse won the Lionel Conacher Award as Canadian Press male athlete of the year and Oleksiak won the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as the CP female athlete of the year, only fitting since Oleksiak also won the Toronto Star’s Lou Marsh Trophy as the top athlete–male or female–in Canada in 2016.
There were others, including Oleksiak’s fellow female swimmers, who were named the CP team of the year.
Equalling its best showing ever at a non-boycotted Olympics, Canada won 22 medals, including four gold.
In addition to Oleksiak, high jumper Derek Drouin, gymnast Rosie MacLellan, who repeated her 2012 victory in the trampoline, and wrestler Erica Wiebe all won their events.
Their performances were likely enough to make a lot of Canadians forget the leadup to the Games: threats of violence and polluted waters and, of course, the Russian doping scandal.
Every year at this time, Bruce Dowbiggin joins us with his take on the previous 12 months. He is here again.
Many firmly believe Dowbiggin in the best sports journalist in the country, mainly because he has never been afraid to speak truth to power. (Should you wish to hear more from him, go to your computer and click, www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)
Dowbiggin, who is also an author and media personality, joined us by phone from his home in Calgary with his look back and his surprising choice for Canada’s athlete of the year.
Listen
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