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Ryan Getzlaf sprained his left ankle in Monday’s 4-2 Ducks win. (Harry How/Getty Images)

Anaheim Ducks centre Ryan Getzlaf suffered a sprained left ankle Monday night, raising immediate concern about his availability for Team Canada at Vancouver.

Getzlaf, 24, sustained the injury in the second period of Anaheim’s 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

The Regina native skated gingerly to the bench and, though X-rays showed no broken bones, he reportedly hobbled out of Anaheim’s Honda Center on crutches and wearing a protective boot.

Getzlaf will be re-evaluated Tuesday.

“When you have everyone going and then lose a guy, it is tough,” said forward Corey Perry, a fellow Olympian who led the Ducks with one goal and two assists.

“You can’t really replace a guy like that because he has got tremendous skill and he is a big body and he is a great player, so it’s hard to replace him. But there’s guys who can step up and fill his role.”

Prior to being hurt, Getzlaf put Anaheim ahead 2-1, scoring his 15th goal of the season on a one-timer less than 3½ minutes into the second period.

He has 57 points in 55 games this season, his fifth in the NHL.

Getzlaf, who was drafted 19th overall by Anaheim in 2003, couldn’t participate in Team Canada’s summer orientation camp because he was recovering from hernia surgery.

But he was one of three members of the Ducks named to Canada’s limited Olympic roster, joining captain Scott Niedermayer and Perry.

“Hopefully, he won’t be out too long,” Niedermayer said. “I don’t have to say what he means to this team and what he does for us, so hopefully it’s not bad.”

Canada faces Norway in its Olympic opener on Feb. 16 (4:30 p.m. PT).

With files from The Associated Press

The Toronto Argonauts are expected to introduce their new head coach on Tuesday, and could announce B.C. Lions owner David Braley’s purchase of the team soon after.

The Globe and Mail reported on its website early Tuesday morning that Howard Sokolowski and David Cynamon have agreed to sell the Argonauts to Braley.

However, the documents were not completed in time for the CFL board of governors to vote on the proposed sale Monday, the Globe reported.

The vote is expected to be a formality and could take place as early as Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Argonauts have scheduled a media conference for Tuesday where the team is expected to introduce Jim Barker as its new head coach.

Barker was head coach of the Argonauts in 1999 and led the team to the playoffs after a 9-9 regular season.

He has spent the past five seasons with the Calgary Stampeders, first as general manager and then as senior vice-president and director of player personnel.

The Argonauts fired first-year head coach Bart Andrus on Dec. 14 after a 3-15 season.

Once the expected sale of Argonauts is completed, Braley will own a quarter of the teams in the CFL.

Patrick Chan sign autographs Monday at Vancouver Airport. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

Sporting a grin a mile wide, Canadian figure skating champion Patrick Chan was greeted by dozens of fans and autograph seekers when he arrived at Vancouver International Airport on Monday.

Chan, carrying a camouflage backpack over his black warmup jacket, held his own video camera up to capture the scene. The 19-year-old from Toronto was swarmed by reporters and television cameras shortly after he entered the arrivals area.

“I’m just enjoying the ride,” Chan said. “This is why we live to do this, moments like this.”

Chan is hoping to win Canada’s first men’s figure skating gold medal at the Vancouver Games. After speaking to reporters, the world silver medallist signed some autographs and posed for pictures with fans.

“It’s almost surreal,” Chan said of the reception. “It’s the first time I’ve been nervous coming off a plane because I knew what was coming up. It’s really cool to be here.”

Autograph collector Ken Redekop of Maple Ridge, B.C., got Chan to sign a glossy photo of the young skater in action.

“It was a bit overwhelming,” Redekop said. “We haven’t really had so many media here. I think he was overwhelmed just to see everybody.”

It has been a challenging season for Chan. He has had to deal with a bout of the flu and a torn calf muscle that kept him off the ice for weeks. Coach Don Laws also announced that he was quitting as Chan’s coach with just a month to go before the Games.

However, Chan was in top form last month when he captured his third straight national title. He’ll need a repeat performance when the action begins at the Pacific Coliseum on Feb. 16.

‘I’m pretty confident’

Evgeni Plushenko of Russia is back to defend his Olympic title and Swiss skater Stephane Lambiel, who won Olympic silver four years ago in Turin, will also return. Japan’s Nobunari Oda and Daisuke Takahashi are also medal contenders along with Americans Jeremy Abbott, Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek.

The strong field doesn’t intimidate Chan.

“I’m pretty confident,” he said. “You can’t really predict anything. But I’ll definitely skate my best. The competition is not the other skaters, it’s me.

“I’m just competing against myself. I have to do my job and, if I do my job properly, I should come home with a medal.”

Chan was one of several Canadian athletes to touch down in Vancouver on Monday. Skip Kevin Martin and the men’s curling team also arrived, along with skicross racers Chris Del Bosco and Ashleigh McIvor.

Edmonton Oilers’ Mike Comrie (91) gets his shot blocked by Phoenix Coyotes’ Ilya Bryzgalov (30) as the Coyotes’ Adrian Aucoin (33) looks on in the first period on Monday in Glendale, Ariz. (Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press)

Matthew Lombardi had two goals and three assists for a career-high five points as the Phoenix Coyotes routed sputtering Edmonton 6-1 on Monday night for their 36th victory, matching their total from last season.

It was the most one-sided victory of the NHL season for the Coyotes, who emerged from bankruptcy owned by the NHL while the league tries to work out a sale. Phoenix has won seven of eight and entered the game tied with Los Angeles for third-best record in the Western Conference.

Ed Jovanovski, James Vandermeer, Radim Vrbata and Robert Lang also scored for Phoenix, while Ilya Bryzgalov had 33 saves.

The Oilers, winners of three of their last 26 games, averted a shutout when Dustin Penner scored his 23rd goal with 4:28 to play.

J.S. Giguere’s perfect run as a Toronto Maple Leaf is over.

Through a series of deflections and funny bounces, the San Jose Sharks snapped Giguere’s shutout streak and handed him his first loss wearing the blue and white, a 3-2 decision on Monday in Toronto.

Tied 2-2 into the late stages of the third period, the Sharks’ Ryan Clowe scored the winner with 6:39 to go, also giving the Leafs (19-30-11) their eighth loss in their last 10 games.

It was the fourth win in five games for San Jose (39-11-9).

Despite the loss to one of the NHL’s top road teams — the Sharks now boast a record of nine straight wins as the visitors — Toronto came out firing on all cylinders, out-shooting, out-hitting and out-scoring the Sharks in the first period.

That extra jump may have been due to some of the young blood in the Leafs’ lineup. With forwards Fredrik Sjostrom and Christian Hanson out sick with the flu, Nazem Kadri was called up for his first NHL appearance, and he made an immediate impression.

On the 19-year-old’s very first shift — which happened to be on the starting line — Kadri launched a no-look pass from just inside the Toronto blue-line to Viktor Stalberg in the neutral zone. Stalberg, sprung on a partial breakaway, was the first to test Evgeni Nabokov with a hard slapper that the Russian goalie smothered.

It was the beginning of a busy period for Nabokov, who faced 13 shots compared to the seven sent toward Giguere in the opening frame.

As for the physical play, Dion Phaneuf acquainted himself with San Jose stars early by laying out Dany Heatley with a big shoulder check in the Leafs zone just minutes into the game.

By the midway point of the period, Toronto’s Colton Orr and San Jose’s Jody Shelley got into a tussle off a face-off in the Leafs end. Shelley may have knocked down the Leafs’ tough-guy in short order with a booming right hand, but mere seconds after that dust up, the Leafs were the first ones on the scoreboard.

With Alexei Ponikarovski pressuring Rob Blake behind the Sharks’ goal, Phil Kessel picked up the turnover, made his way to the front of the net and slid a quick pass over to a wide-open Tyler Bozak.

The rookie centre tapped the puck into the empty half of the net for his third goal of the season and a 1-0 lead at the 10:43 mark of the first.

Bozak almost had his second point of the night just over a minute into the second period when he delivered a pass to Ponikarovsky, whose slapper bounced off the crossbar and dribbled out of the crease.

Bad bounces erase Giguere’s streak, Leafs’ lead

A span of less than three minutes saw both the Leafs lead and the shutout streak of Giguere erased. A deflected shot by Sharks defenceman Dan Boyle snapped the Toronto goalie’s unbeaten mark at 143:17.

The 32-year-old netminder is the first person in Leafs history to post shutouts in both of his first two matches, beating New Jersey Devils 3-0 and the Ottawa 5-0

Boyle’s shot from the blue-line bounced off the stick of Toronto’s John Mitchell and over the glove of Giguere to tie the game, and 2:23 later the Sharks doubled their goal total when Joe Pavelski was the beneficiary of a giveaway by Kessel in the Toronto zone.

As Kessel lost a pass in his skates, San Jose’s Ryan Clowe picked up the puck and sent it to Pavelski, whose low shot from the high-slot eluded Giguere on the blocker side.

Some good pressure by the Leafs top line with just over four minutes to go nearly knotted the game at two, but Nabokov was able to deny Ponikarovski from point blank.

As a Tomas Kaberle shot from the point was knocked down by the Sharks ‘keeper, the rebound was picked up by Ponikarovski at the side of the goal, who tried to deke around the prone goalie but a poke check dispatched that scoring chance.

Phaneuf’s physical play made an impact in the late stages of the second period, stepping into Jody Shelley at the Sharks bench and drawing an important penalty.

With the Sharks down a man, Kessel scored off a rebound chance that beat Nabokov under the blocker to make it 2-2 with 40 seconds to go in the middle frame, setting up a tight third period.

The winner came 6:39 into the third when Devin Setoguchi tried to centre the puck from behind the Toronto goal but had the puck bounce off the skate of Toronto’s Carl Gunnarsson. That funny bounce sent the puck right onto the stick of Clowe, who snapped it past Giguere.

With the net empty, Kaberle saved a shot into the Leafs goal and allowed Stalberg to get two great chances right in front of the Sharks’ goal, but Nabokov denied both with 10 seconds remaining to cement the win.

Alexei Morozov, right, and Ilya Kovalchuk embrace after Russia beat Canada for its second straight IIHF world championship on May 10, 2009. (Alexander Nemenov/Getty Images)

When it comes to global puck, Canada’s men and women are second best, according to the International Ice Hockey Federation.

The federation released its pre-Olympic rankings on Monday, just days before the Vancouver Olympics begin.

Russia sits on tops of the totals with 2,925 points, while Canada sits in second position with 2,905.

Sweden, the defending champion from the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, is third with 2,795. Finland and the United States round out the top five.

In the women’s pre-Olympic report, the United States is ranked first with 1,790 points, ahead of Canada (1,750 points) and Sweden (1,675 points).

The federation based its rankings on points awarded for the final positions in the last four IIHF world championships. The team that wins the world championship or an Olympic gold medal receives 1,200 points.

On the men’s side, Russia won the two consecutive world championships, edging out the Canadians 2-1 last year and knocking them off in a 5-4 overtime in 2008.

Canada won the tournament in 2007, and Sweden won in 2006.

The IIHF will release its “final” world rankings after the Vancouver Olympics and will also factor in the results from the 2006 Olympics, which were excluded from the pre-Olympic rankings.

The system uses a four-year cycle.

According the IIHF’s calculations, Canada will overtake Russia in the overall rankings if it wins a gold medal in Vancouver.

Col. Russell Williams, centre, and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk, left, speak to Defence Minister Peter MacKay during his visit to CFB Trenton on Jan. 17. (Department of National Defence)

A military commander from Canadian Forces Base Trenton in eastern Ontario has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two women.

Col. Russell Williams, 46, of Tweed, the top commander at 8 wing CFB Trenton, was arrested Sunday in Ottawa, Ontario Provincial Police Det.-Insp. Chris Nicholas said at a news conference Monday.

Williams has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jessica Lloyd, 27, whose body was found Monday off Cary Road in the municipality of Tweed.

Lloyd had been missing since Jan. 28 from her home outside Tweed, about 30 kilometres north of Belleville.

Ontario’s chief coroner is to conduct an autopsy on Lloyd’s body, which arrived in Toronto late Monday afternoon.

Williams was also charged in the death of Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 38, of Brighton, Ont., who was killed in her home Nov. 25. Comeau served with the 437 Squadron at CFB Trenton.

Nicholas said police linked the two slayings because of similarities in the cases. They do not expect to make any other arrests.

In addition to the murder charges, Williams faces counts of forcible confinement, break and enter, and sexual assault in relation to two home invasions in the Tweed area in September.

As wing commander at CFB Trenton, Williams oversaw operations at the air force base, which according to the Department of National Defence is “the heart of Canada’s air mobility forces.”

“He was just a shining, bright star,” said Maj.-Gen. Yvan Blondin, the commander of 1 Canadian Air division and Williams’s immediate superior.

“And if you talk to people on the [base], they will probably tell you that they admired the wing commander. He was involved in everything in the community here. Nobody had one thought that something like this could be possible,” he said at a Monday afternoon news conference.

Williams now in custody

Williams made a court appearance Monday afternoon for a bail hearing, walking confidently into the provincial courthouse in Belleville, Ont. His hands and legs were shackled and he wore a blue prison-issue jumpsuit and blue booties.

Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 38, left, was slain Nov. 25, 2009. The body of Jessica Lloyd, 27, right, was found by police Monday morning. (Canadian Press)

When asked, he said he understood the proceedings against him. He was remanded in custody and will appear in court by video on Feb. 18.

A publication ban was ordered, as is typical in bail hearings, and the names of the sex assault victims cannot be published either.

Lloyd was last heard from on the night of Jan. 28, when she sent a text message to a family friend. She did not report for work in Napanee the next morning.

Her disappearance prompted a massive air and ground search by police, the military and more than 100 volunteers. It was called off by police after two days.

A handful of distraught-looking people were in the courtroom for the bail hearing Monday, and one man uttered an obscenity as as Williams got up to leave.

The mayor of Quinte West, the region where the military base is located, said his community is in disbelief over the charges.

“Well, it’s just shock,” Mayor John Williams said, speaking about his own reaction. The mayor is not related to the accused.

The mayor said he was in Williams’ office last Thursday.

‘He was just a shining, bright star’ —Maj.-Gen. Yvan Blondin

“I deal with the wing commander on a fairly regular basis and the best word to describe it is shock,” the mayor told CBC News.

Nicholas said Williams was brought to the attention of police based on evidence gathered while questioning people along Highway 37 last Thursday night.

Police would not comment on possible links among the cases other than to say they took place within the same geographic area. They said they were looking at where Williams has been for the past several years and were continuing their investigation.

OPP at accused’s Ottawa home

As of 3 p.m. Monday, OPP officers were parked outside a home that Williams and his wife own in Ottawa’s Westboro neighbourhood, waiting for a search warrant that would allow them to enter.

Police said his wife was at home at the time of his arrest.

“We were actually getting ready to invite them for dinner,” Michael Gennis, who lives next to Williams and his wife, Mary Elizabeth, on Edison Avenue. Gennis said the two had been living next door to him and his partner for about a month.

“They were lovely people in my encounters — with Mary Elizabeth more [so] — but even with Russ,” Gennis told CBC News.

“It’s very surprising. I just texted my partner to say … ‘Oh my God, you wouldn’t believe what’s going on here.’”

On Monday morning, police searched their second home in Tweed.

Lt.-Gen. André Deschamps, chief of air staff for the Canadian Forces, issued a statement that “although one is considered innocent until proven guilty, in light of the seriousness of the charges, and in consideration of the high level of responsibilities” attached to Williams’ position, an interim wing commander for 8 Wing Trenton will be appointed to replace him.

A review will also be done by 1 Canadian Air Division in Winnipeg to determine the most appropriate action pending the outcome of his trial, said the statement from Deschamps.

It was not immediately clear if the military has suspended Williams in the meantime, or if he will continue to be paid while he is relieved of his duties.

With files from The Canadian Press

An Ontario man was among the five people killed in Sunday’s explosion at a power plant under construction in Middleton, Conn.

U.S. authorities have identified him as Roy Rushton of Hamilton.

Also killed in the blast were:

• Peter Chetulis of Thomaston, Conn.
• Ronald Crabb of Colchester, Conn.
• Raymond Dobratz of Old Saybrook, Conn.
• Chris Walters of Florissant, Mo.

The explosion at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown, Conn., on Sunday shook houses for kilometres. Five died in the blast, but it’s not clear if other workers are accounted for. (Catherine Avalone/Associated Press/The Middletown Press)More than two dozen people were injured in the powerful explosion, which shook houses kilometres away. Hospital officials said most were treated and released.

A fire official said no one is believed to be in the rubble of the Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown, about 32 kilometres south of Hartford.

However, Middletown Mayor Sebastian Guiliano said rescue crews have been unable to get to all areas of the plant and he could not say for certain that no more victims would be found.

Authorities said one section of the plant was too unstable to search on Monday. They were also missing an exact roster of everyone on duty when the blast occurred.

The explosion happened as workers were clearing gas lines of air, but the exact cause remains under investigation. Authorities also launched a criminal investigation Monday, saying they could not rule out criminal negligence.

“I lost a couple of good friends up there,” Michael Rosario, a business representative with the local Plumbers and Pipefitters union, said as he broke down crying Monday. “I’m just so sorry something like this happened.

“There’s still a lot of unanswered questions,” Rosario added.

Welders and other workers were at the site Monday, preparing to make it safer for emergency personnel, said Ed Reilly, president of the Greater Hartford-New Britain Building Trades Council.

Roster needed to confirm victims

Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Monday morning that officials still haven’t received rosters of workers who were at the Kleen Energy Systems plant Sunday.

“There are a number of contractors who do the work at the building,” Rell told WTNH-TV.

“Until we actually have a roster of the names of those individuals that are in each of those groups and who was working on Sunday, we need that before we can do anything else. We’re still confirming the number of people,” she said.

“There’s still uncertainty about who came in and who didn’t come in yesterday,” Middletown Deputy Fire Marshal Al Santostefano added.

Michael Rosario, centre, business representative for the Plumbers and Pipefitters union, is comforted after telling reporters about losing three friends in the explosion. (Seth Wenig/Associated Press)

Santostefano also said there were “piles of rubble everywhere, debris everywhere. In some places the debris is as high as 10 feet.”

Local fire investigators and federal authorities on Monday were expected to begin their investigation into what caused the explosion at the nearly completed 620-megawatt plant.

It was being built to produce energy primarily using natural gas, which accounts for about a fifth of the country’s electricity. Workers for the construction company, O&G Industries, were purging a gas line, clearing it of air, when the explosion occurred around 11:15 a.m. Sunday, Santostefano said.

The blast left huge pieces of metal that once encased the plant peeling off its sides. A large swath of the structure was blackened and surrounded by debris, but the building, its roof and its two smokestacks were still standing at the site.

About 50 to 60 people were in the area at the time, he said.

With files from The Associated Press

Michael Jackson’s physician, Conrad Murray, right, arrives for his arraignment at the Airport Branch Courthouse in Los Angeles on Monday.
(Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press)

Dr. Conrad Murray, who was caring for Michael Jackson at the time of the pop star’s death, has pleaded not guilty after being charged Monday with involuntary manslaughter.

Los Angeles prosecutors announced the long-awaited charge against Murray, a cardiologist with practices in Houston and Las Vegas, early Monday.

Murray surrendered to police, appearing in a Los Angeles court in the morning, to enter his plea. Bail was set at $75,000 US.

Jackson’s father, Joe, his mother, Katherine, and siblings LaToya, Jermaine, Tito, Jackie and Randy sat behind prosecutors during the court appearance.

Jackson’s family members have said publicly they wanted the doctor to face the more serious charge of second-degree murder.

Jackson was preparing for a string of sold-out appearances in London, England, when he died last June in Los Angeles at age 50.

Plagued by sleeplessness, he had hired Murray as a personal physician as he took on a tough schedule ahead of his comeback concerts.

Prosecutors allege he gave Jackson the powerful anesthetic propofol to help him sleep, but that instead led to his death.

Los Angeles investigators were methodical in building a case against Murray, taking six months to investigate the doctor’s actions and where he obtained the drugs found in the pop star’s Los Angeles home.

They may have been wary after observing the missteps in prosecuting high-profile cases like O.J. Simpson and actor Robert Blake, both of whom were acquitted of murder.

Coroner rules homicide

A coroner ruled last summer that Jackson’s death was a homicide caused by acute intoxication of propofol, with other sedatives a contributing factor. However, they said he was otherwise healthy, a factor that may weigh against Murray in court.

Detectives spoke to more than 10 medical experts in the course of their investigation to see if his behaviour fell outside the boundaries of reasonable medical practice.

Court documents show Murray told police he administered the drug to the singer. He also was with Jackson when household staff called for paramedics.

Murray appears to have obtained the drug legally and its use is not in itself a crime. Part of the case may rest on what happened between the administration of the drugs and when emergency help was summoned.

Prosecutors allege Murray spent part of that time on his cellphone, making non-emergency calls.

If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, he could face a maximum of four years in prison.

With files from The Associated Press

Ricky Gervais poses on Jan. 11, 2009, for a photo backstage at the 66th annual Golden Globe Awards. He’s accepted an invitation to Banff in June. (Mark J.Terrill/Associated Press)

Ricky Gervais, the British comedian who created The Office, will be presented with the Sir Peter Ustinov Comedy Award at this year’s Banff Television Festival.

Gervais will be in Banff, Alta., in June to receive the award and participate in an interview about his career and success to date.

The Ustinov award is given annually at the TV festival to recognize outstanding comedic performance. Previous winners include John Cleese, Bob Newhart and Martin Short.

Gervais won two Emmys and three Golden Globes for The Office, his acerbic comedy about office life that debuted in Britain in 2001. The U.S. version of the show adapted his original scripts.

Gervais has also had success as a standup comedian and with his online series The Ricky Gervais Show. He starred in films The Invention of Lying and A Night in the Museum and hosted this year’s Golden Globes.

Banff TV Festival organizers called him “the most influential British comedian since Charlie Chaplin.”

The much-decorated Gervais waxed comedic about his trip to Banff.

“This is probably the greatest honour of my career. Only the Nobel Peace Prize can top this, but I will only accept that in person if the ceremony is held somewhere as beautiful as Banff,” he said in a statement released Monday.

The Banff TV festival is taking place at the same time as digital media conference NextMEDIA, June 13-16.