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The 2020-21 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season wasn’t an easy one across the league with teams facing COVID-19 restrictions and schedule changes at the blink of an eye.

While the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over yet, teams across the QMJHL and across the Canadian Hockey League are looking forward to getting back to some sort of normal season in 2021-22.

With the regular season in The Q opening this week, we take a look at some of the questions surrounding each team across the league.

Acadie-Bathurst Titan: Titan general manager Sylvain Couturier has gone on the record speaking to the depth of the Acadie-Bathurst roster this season. The question will be how far can that depth carry the team? On the blue line, the Titan have six defencemen on its pre-season roster with QMJHL experience. The development of that group will go a long way in determining the direction of the season for a team that boasts some high-end talent up front including Calgary Flames prospect Cole Huckins and Washington Capitals prospect Hendrix Lapierre, who was added in a summer trade.

Baie-Comeau Drakkar: The COVID-19-affected 2020-21 season wasn’t an easy one for the Drakkar, who posted an 8-26-1-1 record. With a young roster heading into the season, adding veteran goaltender Olivier Adam to the mix in a trade with Blainville will be important. A lot of eyes will be on 2021 first-round picks Vincent Collard (third overall) and Nathan Baril (18th overall) as well. With a potentially young core, how will the youth adjust to the grind of a longer season following interruptions last season due to COVID?

Blainville-Boisbriand Armada: With graduation meaning the loss of five of its top seven scorers from last season, who will step up in the absence of that group? In Luke Henman (Seattle Kraken) and Mathias Laferriere (St. Louis Blues), the team also loses its top two goal scorers from last season. Forward Simon Pinard and defenceman Miguel Tourigny are the top returning goal scorers from last season and will be looked to for another gear offensively.

Cape Breton Eagles: Goaltender Nicolas Ruccia got into 22 games last season. How the 17-year-old adjusts to a heavier workload in a full season is one thing to focus on in Cape Breton. Ruccia will team up with fellow 17-year-old Remi Delafontaine in goal for the Eagles. The duo will play behind a group of defencemen that includes some key experience in Jeremy Langlois and Sean Larochelle among others.

Charlottetown Islanders: The graduation of Colten Ellis means an increased role for Jacob Goobie between the pipes. In 16 games last season, the 18-year-old Goobie posted 12 wins and a solid 2.82 goals-against average and he has 33 games of QMJHL experience under his belt. Goobie will lean on that experience as he takes on a bigger workload in 2021-22 and how he handles the added workload remains to be seen.

Chicoutimi Sagueneens: The loss of Dawson Mercer (New Jersey Devils) to graduation and dealing Lapierre to Acadie-Bathurst means the team will look to others to step up offensively. The question will be which of the current group will take the next step forward. A team that gave up just 77 goals last season, Chicoutimi will look to Russian goaltender Sergei Litvinov to take over from Alexis Shank between the pipes. Will Litvinov be ready for the added workload this season?

Drummondville Voltigeurs: After a solid rookie season, what will Justin Cote do for an encore? The 2022 NHL draft prospect scored 17 times in 34 games last season. The former second-rounder finished last season on a tear with 12 goals in his final 11 games, which included a stretch where he scored seven times in a three-game period. A lot of eyes will be on 2021 second overall QMJHL pick Tyler Peddle as well to see what the 16-year-old brings to the table.

Gatineau Olympiques: Goaltender Remi Poirier’s game took a step forward in the 2020-21 season as the Dallas Stars prospect posted the best numbers of his career in 24 games. Will the veteran netminder be able to further that and show additional improvement in a full season in 2021-22? Emerick Despatie provides the Olympiques with a quality duo between the pipes as well.

Halifax Mooseheads: With its top four scorers returning, Halifax stands to be potent offensively this season with Elliot Desnoyers (Philadelphia Flyers), Zachary L’Heureux (Nashville Predators), Robert Orr (Carolina Hurricanes), and Markus Vidicek (2022 NHL draft eligible) combining for nearly 43 per cent of the Mooseheads goal total last season. The 152 goals scored by Halifax were second in the league and with that group returning, what they will be able to produce in a full season could be interesting.

GOALS.

What a legend Zachary L'Heureux is.

( @PredsNHL) pic.twitter.com/tUWCJy4812

— NHL (@NHL) September 19, 2021

Moncton Wildcats: The Wildcats will enter the season with a pair of rookies between the pipes in Vincent Filion and Thomas Couture. Couture got into three games with Rimouski during the 2019-20 season and was a training camp invite by the Wildcats in 2020 while Filion was acquired in a trade last season that sent Jordan Spence to Val-D’Or, and got into six games in Moncton. How the pair adjusts to full-time minutes in major junior remains to be seen.

Quebec Remparts: Returning their top two scorers in centres Nathan Gaucher and Theo Rochette, the Remparts stand to be a tough team to play against this season based on offence alone. Adding St. Louis Blues first-round pick Zachary Bolduc in a trade with Rimouski, Quebec stands to be a dangerous team offensively. Coming off a strong year in 2020-21 with a deep roster returning, one would thing is clear: it’s Memorial Cup or bust for the Remparts in 2021-22.

Rimouski Oceanic: Rimouski is one of a handful of teams that will enter the season with limited experience in goal. Carolina Hurricanes prospect Patrik Hamrla will look to step in and lead the way between the pipes. How the Czech product adjusts to the league will be a key question for the Oceanic this season.

Rouyn-Noranda Huskies: A common theme for a number of teams across the league this season is youth and Rouyn-Noranda is no different. With nearly half of its roster on opening night made up of rookies, the Huskies will look for its younger players to lead the way this season. Overage goaltender Samuel Richard, who is coming off his first full season in the league, will play an added role on a team that is relatively inexperienced.

Saint John Sea Dogs: The 2022 Memorial Cup hosts enter the regular season with a new head coach and high expectations. The team completed a handful of summer deals prior to learning of its successful bid to host the tournament, one of which saw the team acquire overage goaltender Jonathan Lemieux from Val-D’Or. The big question surrounding the team will be exactly what moves will be made between now and the trade deadline to tinker with the roster ahead of the event.

Shawinigan Cataractes: When it comes to Shawinigan, one might ask whether there will be enough pucks to go around for the forward group? Import forwards Lorenzo Canonico and Marek Sramaty along with NHL prospects Mavrik Bourque (Dallas Stars), Xavier Bourgault (Edmonton Oilers), and Olivier Nadeau (Buffalo Sabres) appear poised to have strong offensive years.

Sherbrooke Phoenix: Whether it’s in goal or on the blue line, Sherbrooke is relatively inexperienced on the defensive end of the puck. All eight defencemen on the roster are entering their first or second QMJHL season and that includes overage blue liner Maxime Blanchard. The team is also entering the season with a pair of rookie goaltenders. The big question in Sherbrooke to start the season looks to be how well the young group will learn on the fly.

Val-D’Or Foreurs: After going 29-3-2-2 last season, the Foreurs feature a lot of new faces this year, including Maxime Desruisseaux behind the bench. With some heavy turnover from last season, the depth from last season is going to come into play in 2021-22. Exactly how some of the veterans handle increased roles will go a long way in determining what kind of success Val-D’Or has this season.

Victoriaville Tigres: On the heels of a playoff title last season, the roster in Victoriaville stands to look very different in 2021-22. As the regular season opens this week, the team has eight rookies on its roster at forward heading into the new season. With experience up front at a premium, the rookies in the group have an opportunity to leave a mark early. Will they take advantage?

MANILA, Philippines — Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao is officially hanging up his gloves.

The eight-division world champion and Philippines senator on Wednesday announced his retirement from the ring.

“As I hang up my boxing gloves, I would like to thank the whole world, especially the Filipino people for supporting Manny Pacquiao. Goodbye boxing,” the 42-year old said in a 14-minute video posted on his Facebook page. “It is difficult for me to accept that my time as a boxer is over. Today I am announcing my retirement.”

Pacquiao finished his 26-year, 72-fight career with 62 wins, eight losses and two draws. Of those 62 wins, 39 were by knockout and 23 by decision. He won 12 world titles and is the only fighter in history to win titles in eight different weight classes.

His retirement from boxing followed a disheartening defeat to Yordenis Ugas in Paradise, Nevada on Aug. 21. The younger Cuban boxer, who defected to the United States in 2010, beat Pacquiao by unanimous decision, retaining his WBA welterweight title. It was Pacquiao’s first fight in more than two years.

“Thank you for changing my life, when my family was desperate, you gave us hope, you gave me the chance to fight my way out of poverty,” Pacquiao said in the video. “Because of you, I was able to inspire people all over the world. Because of you I have been given the courage to change more lives. I will never forget what I have done and accomplished in my life that I can’t imagine. I just heard the final bell. The boxing is over. “

Pacquaio had hinted at retirement recently. It also had been expected because he is setting his sights on a bigger political battlefield. Earlier this month, he accepted his political party’s nomination and declared that he will run for Philippines president in the May 2022 elections.

He has accused the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, his former ally, of making corruption worse in the Philippines. He promised to fight poverty and warned corrupt politicians they will soon end in jail.

Pacquiao’s rags-to-riches life story and legendary career brought honour to his Southeast Asian nation, where he is known by his monikers Pacman, People’s Champ and National Fist.

He left his impoverished home in the southern Philippines as a teenager and stowed away on a ship bound for Manila. He made his professional boxing debut as a junior flyweight in 1995, at the age of 16, fighting his way out of abject poverty to become one of the world’s highest-paid athletes.

Eddie Banaag, a 79-year-old retiree, said Pacquiao was his idol as a boxer and he watched almost all of his fights. But he believes the boxing icon should have retired earlier.

“He should have done that right after his victory over (Keith) Thurman,” Banaag said of Pacquiao’s win over Thurman on July 20, 2019 in Las Vegas, Pacquiao’s second-last fight. “It would have been better if he ended his boxing career with a win rather than a loss.”

OG Anunoby is young but getting older — at least by the strange aging standards of the NBA, where being in your late 20s makes you a veteran and anyone into their 30s is viewed as an oracle to be mined for wisdom.

Heading into his fifth year, the 24-year-old year-old Toronto Raptors forward has some official leadership responsibilities — he was anointed as one of the new-look roster’s three pillars, along with Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam.

It’s a new role. “I’ve been for so long now, it’s my fifth year so, (so I’m) old but young still,” he said. “So, I’m still learning also — some guys are older than me; Goran (Dragic) is older than me, I’m still learning from him. And then (I’m) also helping the younger guys, so I’m in the middle kind of, but still a leader.”

That’s off the floor, or in practice. “Just (show) how, like how coach expects us to play hard, our pillars defensively, offensively, what’s a good shot, what’s a bad shot. Just the structure we usually have to play with. Just show those guys …”

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But Anunoby’s role should expand on the floor, too. The Raptors could certainly benefit if he’s up to the task.

“Watching him early here in camp I think he’s continued to expand his offensive game, so I think people will see that,” said Raptors general manager Bobby Webster.

“Also, our message to him is continue to expand the offensive stuff but keep the defence at an all-NBA level. And he’ll also get a chance here early with (Pascal Siakam out recovering from shoulder surgery) here early, so it will be a big chance for him to be in a bigger role.”

He’s already come miles from the defense-first rookie who was trusted with little more than spot-up shooting duties. The growth has been incremental and has been stifled at times with injuries. His entire second season was almost a wash-out as a result, but in his third season he took a big leap after the league went on hiatus for four months after the pandemic struck in March of 2020. When play resumed in the bubble in Orlando, Anunoby was far more assertive with the dribble, more effective at finishing drives and was even showing some signs of an in-between game to complement much improved three-point shooting.

Last season he took another jump, and kept growing during the compressed, off-kilter season. He had an 11-game stretch early in the season when he shot 54 per cent from three on nearly six attempts a game, showing his utility as a high-end ‘3-and-D’ wing, the kind of player any elite team craves. At that point he was shelved 10 games with a calf injury. He came back briefly before missing another three weeks due to COVID-19 protocols.

But it was the next 20 games that offered the most reason for encouragement. With the roster largely emptied out and the push for best draft lottery odds in full swing, the Raptors put the ball in Anunoby’s hands and watched.

His usage rate increased to 22 per cent — significantly higher than his 14 per cent career average — as for the first time it was his responsibility to initiate offense, rather than space the floor and wait for others to find him.

The results were impressive. Before being shut down for the final week of the year Anunoby averaged 18.3 points a game while shooting 40.1 per cent from three on nearly seven attempts a game. Even more significant was the way he was mixing his offense up. He averaged just 3.5 drives per game in 2019-20 but nearly doubled that to 6.7 per game in the last part of 2020-21.

It almost goes without saying that a 6-foot-7, 240-pound man who is deadly behind the three-point line but who can drive the lane and finish at the rim profiles as a major problem for opposing defenses.

Watching it all and taking notes has been Scottie Barnes, the Raptors’ prized rookie and another defence-first wing who Toronto hopes can grow into a dynamic offensive piece as his skills round out.

“You just see how strong (Anunoby is),” said Barnes after the Raptors’ first official practice of training camp on Tuesday. “He knows how to get to his spots on the floor and I think that’s a great thing to see … how he can get to the basket, force his will when he gets into the paint, be able to score, he’s really good at getting to his mid-range, getting up shots, he gets his shot up from three. I would say he’s really good, he’s a really good basketball player. He’s got all the tools.”

Anunoby isn’t a big talker with a microphone in front of him but privately he’s more willful and aware than he lets on. He knows that to make an all-NBA defensive team, his offence might be the deciding factor if votes get tight. Even though he’s in the first year of a four-year, $72-million contract extension, he knows that further individual and team success will only help his cause when he hits free agency again in what should be the prime of his career.

What did he try to add to his game this summer?

“Everything,” he said. “Shooting off the dribble, getting into the lane, finishing, and passing, (using my) teammates.”

Did he improve?

“I think so.”

The early returns have been positive — not only from the first official practice but from informal workouts over the summer.

“I think his skill set and scoring ability continues to develop,” said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse. “I think he’s put in a lot of work on it at both ends, I think there’s starting and ending drives, he’s gotten a little bit craftier, starting to get free and I think he’s gotten stronger and more balanced at the end of them and a (has) different array of ways to finish.

“But I also feel he’s developing a pretty good tempo of playing in between as well. Just being able to look at somebody and not necessarily go by him but make him move to get clearance for a shot as well.

“Again, continue to see progress with that,” said Nurse. “I think just from what I’ve seen this summer and today and this fall, I think he’s gotten better.

“We’ll see but, again, I think he’s got more things in his arsenal to be able to score.”

Anunoby growing as an offensive force would help the Raptors in all areas as they try to find their identity as a new-look team. The best way to lead in the NBA — whether young or old — is by example.

The Tampa Bay Rays sent shockwaves through baseball communities across the United States and Canada over the weekend when they announced they would begin promoting a two-city partnership with Montreal during the upcoming post-season. Now, the team is walking back that plan with an apology.

“I’m really here to speak directly to our fans today,” principal owner Stuart Sternberg said in a radio interview Tuesday, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “And to apologize, quite frankly. I’ve always said that baseball is meant to be fun and engaging and exciting. Brings a community together.

“I made a big mistake, a real mistake, in trying to promote our sister-city plan with a sign right now in our home ballpark. I absolutely should have known better. And really, I’m sorry for that. I’m here to tell … the fans that the sign is not going to go up.”

On Saturday, team president Matt Silverman announced the new marketing campaign, which would feature a “very simple Tampa Bay/Montreal graphic” displayed at Tropicana Field during the Rays’ upcoming playoff run. The plan would see the Rays open the season in Florida but finish the season in Montreal when the team’s current lease at the Trop expires after the 2027 season. While virtually unheard of in professional sports, Silverman said in a radio interview Saturday that “it’s the best and possibly only chance for baseball to be here for generations.”

“Especially with the eyes of baseball on us this October, we want that visible symbol of our plan and our excitement for it,” Silverman said of the sign. “It’ll mark the effort subtlely and keep the focus on winning and winning games in October.”

[radioclip id=5207879]

However, the plan was widely panned by Rays fans, who said the sign and potential move would distract from the team’s playoff run. Speaking Tuesday, Sternberg acknowledged those critics in his apology.

“I knew that a sign would bring us attention. And we do want the attention. I just didn’t completely process that now isn’t the moment for it,” he said. “Post-season is a special time. October baseball is a special time for a team and its fans, and nothing should take the attention away from the games.

“It’s a time for the whole community to come together and rally as one. By suggesting we have a sign that I knew could be controversial, I put much of that at risk. Plain and simple, it was a bad decision. And that’s why we aren’t going to go through with it.”

Montreal’s former team, the Expos, was relocated to the D.C. area and rebranded as the Washington Nationals in 2004.

TORONTO — Called up Tuesday and thrust into the most important series of the Toronto Blue Jays‘ season, the most important series Rogers Centre has seen in five years, a playoff series for all intents and purposes, Cavan Biggio doesn’t feel much has changed. He’s been playing playoff-style baseball with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons for weeks.

“Yeah, it’s been a lot of fun,” Biggio said Tuesday, standing in front of his sort-of new, sort-of old home dugout before the Blue Jays fell, 7-2, to the New York Yankees. “Down there everyone cares and pulls for each other just like they do up here. It’s definitely a similar feel.”

ROSTER MOVES:

INF Cavan Biggio reinstated from 10-day IL and will be active tonight

LHP Ryan Borucki optioned to Triple-A pic.twitter.com/PNBM8RJZzg

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 28, 2021

Similar in a couple ways. The Bisons began their season playing in Trenton, NJ while Buffalo’s Sahlen Field underwent a substantial renovation prior to hosting a portion of the Blue Jays’ home schedule in June and July. When the Blue Jays returned to Rogers Centre, the Bisons shifted home themselves and eventually won the franchise’s first division title since 2005, finishing the regular season with a 71-46 record and +144 run differential.

In non-pandemic times, that would have qualified Buffalo for a traditional postseason tournament culminating in a championship series. But this season’s playoffs are structured as a 10-game “Triple-A Final Stretch” in which each club plays a five-game home series and five-game road series. The team with the highest winning percentage over those 10 games is named champion.

So far, the Bisons are tied for second place with a 4-1 record through their first five-game series — three of the wins being walk-offs. And Biggio’s been right in the middle of it. Last Thursday, he walked to load the bases in the bottom of the 10th before Gregory Polanco won the game with a single. The next night he walked in the bottom of the ninth, this time ahead of Polanco’s walk-off homer. Sunday, he scored one of two runs on Christian Colon’s game-winning, ground-rule double.

“I can’t say enough about (Bisons manager) Casey Candaele and the rest of those players on that triple-A team,” Biggio said. “That clubhouse that they have down there, they keep it loose. … They have a lot of fun when they play the game. And the No. 1 thing down there is to win. And when you play like that, it just makes everything that much better.”

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Playing part in a pair of postseason pushes is a bright-side reward for Biggio at the end of a trying season, the toughest he’s had since turning professional in 2016. Over 290 plate appearances with the Blue Jays, Biggio’s hit .215/.316/.350, good for an 82 OPS+ that stands in stark contrast to the 122 he posted in 2020 and the 113 he put up a season prior as a rookie.

And his peripherals don’t play a nicer tune. His strikeout rate is up, his walk rate’s down. His .293 wOBA is higher than what would be expected (.278) based on the quality of contact he’s made. After featuring a patient, selective approach over his first two MLB seasons — Biggio swung at the lowest rate of pitches outside the zone of any qualified hitter in 2020 — his chase rate increased five percentage points in 2021. Pitches he once took on his way to walks became ones he whiffed at on his way to strikeouts.

Of course, context matters. Biggio’s 2021 began with multiple balls in play deflecting off his right hand during spring training, bending his pinkie finger “the way it shouldn’t bend” and causing a blood blister that had to be drained. He carried those hand injuries into the season, playing through pain until it became too much and sidelined him for several days in mid-April.

A month later, he took his first of two trips to the injured list due to neck and back issues — a cervical spine ligament sprain, officially — that plagued him throughout the summer. And while on a triple-A rehab assignment during the second IL stint, Biggio collided with Josh Palacios as the pair chased a sinking liner, suffering a Grade 1 UCL sprain in his left elbow.

It’s not so easy to rediscover an approach and find consistency at the plate when you’re spending that much time off the field and everything hurts when you’re on it. Biggio has tinkered with a few approach adjustments and mechanical tweaks throughout the season, as most players do. But he hasn’t had much of an opportunity to find something that works or let an adjustment take because his playing time’s been so sporadic.

“It’s definitely challenging. But that’s a big part of this game. And it’s a big part of this game that I’ve never really had to deal with before,” Biggio says. “If you want to look at the silver lining, I’m glad I went through it the way I did. I was able to learn a lot about myself and about my body. And I’m going to use that later on in my career as I go.

“I think the biggest thing was just finding a good routine — not only for my body, but also in the cage, as well. Making adjustments; the ability to make adjustments game-to-game. I feel like my routine that I developed down there has been pretty good. And I’m going to continue that here.”

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The good news is Biggio’s healthy enough to play and squeeze a few more afternoons of batting cage work out of his season. Although he hit .197/.308/.318 with 10 walks and 23 strikeouts over the 19-game rehab assignment he just completed with the Bisons, the Blue Jays have been encouraged by the quality of his plate appearances, particularly over his last four games when he walked four times and came up with a couple hits.

“He’s back physically healthy — I think that’s first and foremost. And he’s had really good at-bats. He’s continued to have better at-bats with the team in triple-A,” Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said. “His versatility, the handedness, the plate discipline — they’re good complements to us.”

For now, Biggio says he’s been told to expect to play the outfield if he gets into any of Toronto’s remaining games. That’s where he spent five of his final eight games with the Bisons before being called up. But this is late-September baseball, so it’s probably best not to expect anything. And Biggio’s ability to play any position on the diamond save for shortstop and catcher could make his a useful, late-game puzzle piece as manager Charlie Montoyo plays matchups and optimizes his defence.

“The expectation is to contribute in any way possible. And I could play pretty much every position out there,” Biggio said. “Anything can happen in this game and over the course of a game. In a big situation, whatever it calls for, I’ll be ready for it.”

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More than anything, Biggio’s merely happy to go from one playoff push to another. Toronto’s postseason chances may have taken a significant hit with Tuesday’s defeat to the Yankees. But they’re still alive. Still capable of landing one final, improbable punch at the end of a season of improbabilities. And if asked, Biggio will be ready to play his part in it.

“The past couple of months, it’s been tough. Whether I was here rehabbing, watching the games from the dugout. Or if I was watching from my bed in my hotel room in Buffalo. You can see the energy and the amount of fun that everyone’s having — and there’s a little bit of FOMO there,” Biggio said. “But this means a lot, just to be here, be a part of the team again. I’m just looking forward to contributing any way possible. We’ve got a special team here. And hopefully we can keep it going.”