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Every Dec. 31, I like to scroll through my photos to remember some of the good times I had that year. So, today I figured I’d do something similar for our final newsletter of 2024.
Here are 12 pictures — one from each month — showing some of the best moments in sports this year from the perspective of a Canadian fan. Enjoy!
January: A league of their own
After years of struggling to get one off the ground, the world’s best women’s hockey players finally launched a single, unified professional league when the PWHL debuted on New Year’s Day in Toronto. After shattering attendance records in the regular season, the league crowned Minnesota as the inaugural Walter Cup champion in the spring.
February: Love story
Taylor Swift took a break from her record-setting Eras Tour to witness her boyfriend Travis Kelce help Kansas City to an overtime victory over San Francisco in the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. It was Kelce and Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes’ second straight NFL championship and third in five years.
March: Zach the giant
The 7-foot-4 Canadian centre Zach Edey threw down this dunk for two of his 27 points in Purdue’s victory over Gonzaga in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Edey won his second consecutive NCAA player of the year award and led the Boilermakers to the national championship game, where they fell to repeat winner UConn. He was then picked ninth overall in the NBA draft by Memphis.
April: Shooting star
Iowa sensation Caitlin Clark drained nine three-pointers and finished with 41 points and 12 assists to defeat her rival Angel Reese’s defending champion LSU in the Elite Eight of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. Clark’s Hawkeyes ended up losing their second straight title game, this time to undefeated South Carolina, but not before she elevated women’s college hoops to new heights of popularity while breaking the all-time NCAA scoring record. Clark is now doing the same for the WNBA after being drafted first overall by Indiana and shattering the league’s single-season assists record en route to winning Rookie of the Year.
May: Free Scottie
In one of the most bizarre stories of 2024, Masters champion Scottie Scheffler traded his green jacket for an orange jumpsuit after an overzealous traffic cop arrested him on the morning of his second round at the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky (Scheffler’s mugshot is on one of the fans’ shirts above). The world’s top golfer did some stretches in his jail cell before getting sprung in time to shoot a 5-under-par 66 that kept him near the top of the leaderboard. A poor third round sent Scheffler to an eight-place finish and he failed to add another major title this year, but he did win his first Olympic gold medal in Paris.
June: Rats!
Connor McDavid put on a playoff show for the ages, racking up 42 points (the most by anyone not named Gretzky or Lemieux) while helping Edmonton become the first team in 79 years to force a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup final after trailing the series 3-0. Alas, those pesky Florida Panthers and their plastic-vermin-tossing fans won the decider 2-1, leaving McDavid so distraught that he refused to return to the ice to accept the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP.
July: Against all odds
All but counted out of the Paris Olympics after being docked two wins for their coaches’ drone-spying shenanigans, the embattled Canadian women’s soccer team defeated France and Colombia to somehow advance through the group stage. Vanessa Gilles scored the decisive goal in both do-or-die victories, including her effort deep in stoppage time against France that touched off the celebration shown above. The defending champs’ improbable run ended with a shootout loss to Germany in the quarterfinals, but their steely resolve was one of the most inspiring things of the entire Games.
August: This belongs in a museum
Heading into the Olympic men’s 4x100m final, Andre De Grasse seemed mired in a blue period. After failing to reach either of his individual finals, he and his Canadian relay teammates barely advanced to their medal race, running the slowest time among the eight qualifiers. But, when it mattered most, they summoned a near-perfect performance. Aaron Brown, Jermone Blake and Brendan Rodney circled the rain-drenched track at the Stade de France with incredible efficiency, putting the baton in their anchor’s hand with a chance to win. Then the most decorated track star in Canadian history delivered one more Olympic masterpiece, speeding down the home stretch to give Canada an astonishing upset victory. “We’re in Paris, right?” said Brown. “Hang it in the Louvre.”
September: Golden boy
Nicholas Bennett, a 21-year-old swimmer with autism, won two gold medals and a silver to lead the way for Canada at the Paralympic Games in Paris. Canadian athletes captured 29 medals — eight more than their total in Tokyo three years ago.
October: Can-Am connection
Freddie Freeman, the California-bred son of Canadian parents, hit the first walkoff grand slam in World Series history to win Game 1 for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the visiting Yankees. Freeman went on to extend his World Series homer streak to a record-breaking six games and won MVP honours after the Dodgers defeated New York in five.
November: In the Nick of time
Unlikely Grey Cup MVP Nick Arbuckle hoisted the iconic trophy after helping the Toronto Argonauts upset the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the CFL title game in Vancouver. The 31-year-old journeyman backup, in for injured star Chad Kelly, seized the moment with 252 yards passing and two touchdowns as Toronto’s defence forced five turnovers to hand Winnipeg its third straight Grey Cup loss.
December: Endless Summer
Canadian swimming phenom Summer McIntosh celebrated yet another victory to close out the year at the short-course world championships in Budapest. The 18-year-old won five more medals there, including three individual golds, to put an exclamation point on a fantastic 2024 in which she captured a Canadian-record three Olympic golds and a silver in Paris and won the Northern Star Award for Canadian athlete of the year.
