Swimming star Elaine Tanner, in 1966. (Photo: Postmedia archives)

In October 1968, Elaine Tanner was a 17-year-old swimming sensation representing Canada at the Mexico City Summer Olympics. She was known as “Mighty Mouse,” and won three medals – two silver and a bronze – but was still crushed under the weight of expectation.  

A reporter, allegedly from a TV station in Toronto, helped push the teenager to a breaking point immediately after one of her races.  

“It was horrible,” Canadian ski legend Nancy Greene told The Vancouver Sun in 2024. “Elaine was still dripping; she’d swum faster than she’d ever swum in her life, a personal best, lost in a close race, and he said, ‘Elaine, why did you lose?’” 

“I was broken,” Tanner told the Sun.  

As cruel as that sounds, Canadians still make an annual sport of heaping pressure on teenaged athletes. At the world junior hockey championship, Canadian players are expected to win gold, and they are excoriated when they don’t. 

Janson Duench has a lovely story in The Sault Star about how Tanner connected with a player on this year’s Canadian team. It involves Tim Hortons, a pre-game ritual, and an understanding of what it means to feel like a country is judging you before you’re old enough to rent a car.  

“Enjoy the fun things,” Tanner tells Duench. “Always remember you got involved in sport because you love it. Feel the disappointment when it comes, don’t suppress it — but then learn from it and move on. The morning will come.  

“The sun will shine. You’ll have another page to write.” 

Take some time to read the story right here.

In November, it was the Sarnia Sting and the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Now, the London Knights are sounding the alarm over an email scam targeting local businesses.  

Ryan Pyette has the story in The London Free Press.  

“The fraudulent phishing attempt, which demands advance payment from businesses for advertising opportunities, prompted the defending Memorial Cup champions to issue a statement Monday and contact London police," Pyette writes.  

In addition to Sarnia and the Soo, similar scams have been reported in Kitchener, Windsor, Guelph, Sudbury, and Barrie.  

“The phishing attempt has been reported across the country, with scammers impersonating teams in the OHL and other leagues," writes Pyette. "There are several reports of businesses being victimized for thousands of dollars in the process. 

You can read the whole story right here.

Sault Ste. Marie goaltender Carter George. (Photo: Bob Davies)

Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds goaltender Carter George became only the second netminder in OHL history to score two goals in a career, adding another empty-net goal to his total against the London Knights last night.  

He scored his first goal two years ago, with the Owen Sound Attack.  

“I know it’s probably bad to say, but I knew at four minutes left I was going to try at least once,” George tells our Janson Duench. “Once I got that puck and I saw them go for a change, I knew I had a a lane and I kind of whiffed on it, actually, so I was all pissed at that. And then I realized it had legs and it was still good.” 

The crowd – and the bench – erupted.  

“That’s the loudest I’ve heard the GFL in the 43 games we’ve played,” Greyhounds head coach John Dean tells Duench. “With goalie goals, I feel like a little kid. To watch him pump up the crowd and really be present in the moment was so cool.” 

You can read the whole story right here.

Cristiano DiGiacinto, a 30-year-old forward from Hamilton, Ont., has been named to the Italian men's hockey team ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games, set to begin next month.  

He spent four seasons with the Windsor Spitfires before enrolling at Acadia University, which he followed with a journeyman’s path through minor-league hockey in North America. He has spent the last three seasons playing in Italy. 

"It's such an amazing opportunity to be able to be called to a national hockey team to play for a country I'm currently living in and for my heritage is from, and it's just surreal," Digiacinto tells CKLW AM800 in Windsor.  "It's awesome, it's exciting, and again, I'm still kind of in shock, but I'm looking forward to it." 

You can read that story right here.

(Photo: Dan Janisse, The Windsor Star)

Kitchener Rangers forward Avry Anstis trips Windsor Spitfires counterpart AJ Spellacy during a game at the WFCU Centre.

According to the gamesheet, Anstis was not assessed a penalty on this play. He was, however, removed from play with a misconduct call described as: "Game Misc-Fight after Orig. Altercation."