OPINION | Joy Drop: Women’s hockey championship is rocking Brampton, Ont. | CBC Sports

Friends, the highs and lows of sports this week have been incredible. As we know, those highs and lows come together. You can’t have light without dark, you can’t know the depths of joy without experiencing sorrow.

To start, the Toronto Raptors lost their play-in game to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday. While this puts an end to their season, a clear winner emerged from that game. Former Raptor DeMar Derozan’s daughter Diar took a fascinating and effective strategy when the Raptors went to the free throw line: she screamed. Literally. Her high-pitched shriek echoed through Scotiabank Arena and the Raptors ended up missing 18 of 36 free throws. It’s arguable if that was because of Diar, but in any case, she stole the show that evening. 

The Toronto Blue Jays won their home opener on Tuesday and the team is faring well in the early part of the season. Kevin Kiermaier, new to the Jays, stole a home run away from the Detroit Tigers with an exquisite catch. There have been many wonderful and excited blue-clad fans out and about in downtown Toronto this week. The warmth and the baseball are signs of summer to come. 

I don’t know much about hammer throwing but I do know that I will be following Canada’s Camryn Rogers and her incredible first season as a professional athlete!

My best friend Renee was in town this week. Renee is the founder of Black Girl Hockey Club and was on a panel at the Hockey Hall of Fame celebrating women’s hockey and its potential. What brought me joy is not only the expertise of the panel and the perspectives about disability awareness in hockey, data and business models, and anti-racist work, but an announcement from Mary-Kay Messier, global vice president of marketing for Bauer Hockey, about a $100,000 pilot project to “elevate and advance gender equity in hockey.”

The Women’s World Hockey Championship is happening this week in Brampton, Ont., and I wanted to share this absolutely beautiful jersey designed by Brampton educator Sandeep Kaur Gill. It represents the city of Brampton and it’s rich Indian heritage, weaving beautiful fabrics and patterns into the Canada jersey. It’s stunning and an opportunity to showcase the incredible traditions of the host city. 

Canada is in the semifinals on Saturday and we can’t wait to watch them. I am going to try to figure out how to get one of these jerseys! 

As we cheer for our women’s hockey team this weekend, I hope that infectious enthusiasm carries through to everything else and we get some happiness radiating through our lives! 

Here are Simon and Garkunfel with April Come She Will for this precious month.