The beauty of sport is that it always brings surprises, firsts and historic moments. It’s also been a great year for Canada at this level, with the maple leaf excelling on the international scene in the summer disciplines.
Here are some historic moments of 2022 in esports:
-Canadian Qualification for the Men’s Soccer World Cup
This first qualification since 1986 for the most important tournament in international football is unmissable. Long unbeaten in CONCACAF, Canada finished top of the octagonal group, ahead of giants like Mexico and the United States. On March 27, John Herdman’s side secured their ticket to Qatar with a 4-0 win over Jamaica in pure Canadian tradition, that is, under the snow in Toronto.
Unfortunately for maple leaf supporters, it was much less conclusive during the World Cup. Like 36 years ago, the country lost all three matches against Belgium, Croatia and Morocco. However, Alphonso Davies can claim to have scored the first goal in the nation’s history at the event.
-Tennis dominance
Photo agency QMI, Joël Lemay
In 2022, performances by Canadian tennis players have been almost unprecedented. On January 9th, Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov gave the Maple Leaf representatives a chance to celebrate by winning their two singles matches to lift the ATP Cup at the expense of Spain. Even in the other format we saw from 1978 to 2012, the Canadians had never come close to winning that tournament. On November 27 against Australia, “FAA” and “Shapo” teamed up again to give Canada a first Davis Cup. They took revenge for failing in the 2019 final.
-Aaron Judge hits hard
On Oct. 4, New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge made major league history when he hit his 62nd home run of the season. That long ball, hit at the expense of Jesus Tinoco by the Texas Rangers, allowed him to break the American League record that belonged to Roger Maris for 61 years. His work prompted the Yankees to re-sign him to a nine-year, $360 million contract in December.
-Slovakia dominates the repechage
One country in particular led the first round of the National Hockey League draft, held July 7 in Montreal. Not one, but two Slovaks added their names to the legend by being drafted into the first two ranks of the amateur auction.
(Canadian) and Simon Nemec (New Jersey Devils) broke the state record that had belonged to Marian Gaborik (3rd) since 2000.
-Mexico finally dethroned
For the first time, the CONCACAF Champions League crowned an American team. Despite a number of unsuccessful appearances at the finals, including that of the Montreal Impact in 2015, no Major League Soccer club had won the trophy since the competition was redesigned in 2009.
from Seattle ended Liga MX hegemony with a 5-2 aggregate win over the Pumas and celebrated the historic victory on May 4th at Lumen Field.
– Ovechkin passes Howe
has lost none of his good scoring habits and is within 100 goals of a National League record of 894 owned by Wayne Gretzky. With a hat-trick on December 13, he became the third player to score 800 goals. Ten days later, he passed Gordie Howe for the second league goal ever.
-Different games
COVID-19 continued to impact some major sporting events in 2022. As the pandemic progressed earlier this year, the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee decided not to sell tickets to the general public. This is the first time such a situation has occurred during the Winter Games. Despite everything, the event in February was a success.
-The youngest number 1
On September 12, Carlos Alcaraz reached the top of the ATP rankings at the age of just 19 years and four months. It was only a matter of time before he reached that rank, but nobody expected the Spaniard to get there so quickly. Victory at the US Open made Alcaraz the youngest No. 1 in men’s tennis history.