It's quite the week for sports on the national and international scene. A quick look at the list shows there's women's soccer, CFL football, NFL football, and Junior hockey.
Tebowmania turned into Wrestlemania for the New York Jets during one big training camp throwdown.
About 20 players were involved in a brief brawl during a chippy practice Monday after running back JoeMcKnight and safety D'AntonLynn tangled after a play. Lynn, the son of Jets running backs coach Anthony Lynn, shoved McKnight out of bounds after a handoff from GregMcElroy.
An angry McKnight then fired the football at Lynn.
Tebow and head coach Rex Ryan reportedly tried to break up the scuffle. TerrellOwens is coming back to the NFL, hoping the Seattle Seahawks' search for another veteran wide receiver will get him off the sidelines. The 38-year-old Owens had a tryout with the Seahawks on Monday morning, and hours later the team announced it had agreed to terms with the former star receiver.
He hasn't played in the NFL since the 2010 season with Cincinnati, when he caught 72 passes for 983 yards and nine touchdowns. Foxsports.com first reported the agreement between Owens and the Seahawks. Terms of Owens' contract weren't available.
The Canada vs. Russia hockey challenge starts this week when the two teams meet on Thursday and Friday for the first of four games.
Both will be at Yaroslav, both early morning games shown on TSN2.
On Monday and Tuesday of next week, they meet in Halifax for games 3-4.
Canada's junior team met over the long weekend preparing to depart for Yaroslav. The challenge is the first step in identifying players for the team that will represent the country for the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championships which will also be held in Russia.
Players at this week's tournament will be monitored by the head scout of the Men's Program of Excellence. This week's tournament will also pay tribute to the 40th Anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series.
Twenty-eight players and three goaltenders will represent Canada this week.
In Olympic Summer Games action, American Alex Morgan crushed Canada's hopes of advancing when her extra-time header gave the USA a 4-3 victory over Canada in extra time, to send the defending champions into the London 2012 gold medal game. Canada will play for bronze.
To show how close Canada was in this match, the US had to battle back to tie it three times. Deep into second half extra-time stoppage time, Morgan found space in the box and got on the end of a cross from midfield substitute Heather O'Reilly to head the USA into the championship game against Japan.
"I'm still in shock thinking of what just happened," said Morgan after the game.
"I don't care who scores as long as we score and that's all that matters. I didn't even see it go in. I just try and be in the right position."
The goal canceled out an incredible hat-trick effort from Canadian captain Christine Sinclair who put Canada into the lead three times.
Perhaps the most contentious moment of the game took place in the 80th minute when Canadian keeper Erin McLeod was called for delay of game for not clearing the ball fast enough.The resulting play was an American free kick inside the Canadian box that led to a handball penalty call. American striker Abby Wambach scored on the penalty kick to knot the game at 3-3 and send the contest into extra time where the USA was eventually able to prevail. Canada's head coach John Herdman was puzzled by the call that gave the American's a free kick inside his team's penalty area. "Two bizarre decisions. I've never seen a decision like that given," said Herdman. "An indirect free-kick without a real warning or a yellow card, just a bit random. And then the handball when something just gets blasted at you. Sometimes that's the way it is, you make your own luck."
The Canadian keeper was also not impressed by the refereeing decisions made in the loss. "We feel like we got robbed in this game," said McLeod.
"The referee was very one-sided. Shehas to do what she has to do and believe in her decisions. The penalty decision was also very harsh," said McLeod. "But I'm very proud of the way we played. We outplayed the Americans for the entire game."
Sinclair's third goal of the game was a 73rd minute strike that gave Canada a one goal advantage that only lasted seven minutes before the penalty call that created the tying goal. The Canadian captain also scored on a 67th minute cross from forward Melissa Tancredi and a 22nd minute play where she calmly stepped around the final American defender and fired the ball past American keeper Hope Solo.
Sinclair's three goal performance now puts her on 143 international markers. "Obviously, we're disappointed and upset," said Sinclair. "We felt that the referee took it away from us, so, yes, we are disappointed. We feel like we didn't lose, we feel like it was taken from us. It's a shame in a game like that, which is so important that the ref decided the result before the game started."
The win sets up a rematch of the World Cup final for the Americans as they will face the Japanese.
If there's anything you'd like to see covered by Game 7, please forward your suggestions to the Yorkton This Week sportsdesk.
