'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Wayne Gretzky's trade to the Los Angeles Kings in 1998 gave hockey a massive boost of mainstream appeal in the United States.
Now Gretzky is looking to grow Canada's other national sport south of the border.
Gretzky is joining another prominent Canadian athlete, two-time NBA MVP and Brooklyn Nets coach Steve Nash, as part owners of a National Lacrosse League expansion franchise in Las Vegas.
Nash and Gretzky are part of a group led by principal owner Joe Tsai and including golf star Dustin Johnson. The league's 15th team will start play in the fall of 2022.
Tsai, a noted lacrosse enthusiast who played collegiately at Yale, also owns the NLL's San Diego Seals and the NBA's Nets.
Lacrosse is recognized as the national summer sport of Canada, while hockey is the national winter sport. Gretzky played both while growing up in Brantford, Ont.
Gretzky said he was drawn to Tsai's passion for the sport when the billionaire reached out to him.
"You can't replace that sort of go get 'em passion that he has," Gretzky said Monday at a launch event in Las Vegas. "And I think he really wants to grow this sport and help make it fun for kids in the community. For the kids to be able to look up to players and athletes and one day say 'I want to play in that league."'
Gretzky said he piqued Johnson's interest in a recent trip to Florida to visit his grandkids. Johnson is engaged to Gretzky's daughter, Paulina.
The Las Vegas team will play at MGM Resorts International's Michelob Ultra Arena, which is inside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. It also is home to the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces.
The team is still deciding on a name, and Tsai said it will be looking for input. Fans can suggest names on the team's website (lasvegaslacrosse.com).
Nash, whose Nets were eliminated from the NBA playoffs Saturday after a Game 7 loss to Milwaukee in their second-round series, was unable to attend the launch event but did send along a video where he talked about growing up in the lacrosse hotbed of Victoria and cheering for the Western Lacrosse Association's Shamrocks.
"Lacrosse has always been a passion of mine, ever since I started playing in grade school, and I have a special connection to the box game in particular" Nash said. "Now I look forward to sharing my love of the sport with you in Las Vegas."
Ownership in the NLL team is the latest venture for Gretzky, who has had a full plate of late. The hockey legend recently took a job as a television studio analyst for NHL coverage for American-based Turner Sports and also accepted a role as brand ambassador for BetMGM, a sports betting and digital gaming company.
"I couldn't be more excited to have one of the most iconic Canadians ever, Wayne Gretzky, joining an ownership group in our league," said Jamie Dawick, owner of the Toronto Rock. "The NLL's newest franchise in Las Vegas has put together a great ownership group and I'm sure they will hit it out of the park."
Gretzky and Nash both have experience as sports team owners.
Nash is a co-owner of Major League Soccer's Vancouver Whitecaps, while Gretzky was a co-owner of the CFL's Toronto Argonauts in the early 1990s.
The Rock, Halifax Thunderbirds, Calgary Roughnecks, Saskatchewan Rush and Vancouver Warriors are the five Canadian teams in the NLL.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2021.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.