A road trip to Alberta didn’t faze the Blades in Game 5 of Eastern Conference quarter-finals on Friday night, earning their biggest win of the season so far 4-2 over the Oil Kings.

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Saskatoon scored three goals from the second period onwards, limited Edmonton’s chances late to pick up the win at Rogers Place and take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

After a 5-2 victory for Edmonton in Game 4 on Wednesday night, it was a slower start for both sides until the final few minutes of play in the first frame.

Oil Kings star Miroslav Holinka, who has terrorized the Blades all series, stole the puck from Saskatoon defenceman Kaden Allan at centre ice with 5:33 left on the clock.

Streaking down the wing, Holinka sniped the puck on Blades goaltender Evan Gardner to net his sixth goal of the series and a 1-0 lead.

Before the end of the first period however with 1:07 remaining, Saskatoon responded with Zach Olsen leading a rush alongside linemate David Lewandowski.

Back in the lineup after missing Game 4 on Wednesday, Olsen announced his return to the series with a blistering wrist shot off a Lewandowski drop feed to tie the game at 1-1.

Just 1:45 into the second period, Saskatoon took their first lead of the night with Rowan Calvert sending a cross-ice feed to a crashing Hunter Laing towards the Edmonton net.

Laing’s first shot was stopped by Oil Kings goaltender Ethan Simcoe, however the rebound deflected off Laing for his second goal in as many games and the 2-1 lead.

Saskatoon only held that lead for 90 seconds however, with the Oil Kings tying the score at 2-2 shortly afterwards.

Former Saskatoon U18 AAA Contacts star Kayden Stroeder picked up the loose puck behind Gardner off a Lukas Sawchyn shot, pouncing on the rebound to net his second goal of the series.

Hayden Harsanyi got in on the goal scoring for Saskatoon midway through the second period, taking a feed from Olsen and rifling a shot top shelf on Simcoe for his fourth goal of the series all scored at Rogers Place for the 3-2 Blades lead.

Fireworks erupted before the end of the middle frame with Blades winger Tyler Parr kneeing Oil Kings defenceman Austin Zemlak, with Edmonton’s Jaxon Fuder dropping the gloves against the Saskatoon captain.

Despite facing 14 shots against in the third period, Gardner stood tall for Saskatoon making 14 saves to allow Parr to score the empty-net insurance goal with 10 seconds remaining after a brilliant diving play to clear the zone from Brayden Klimpke.

Saskatoon’s offence was spread out throughout the lineup Friday with 10 different players registering points, while Gardner stopped 35 of the 37 shots he faced.

The Blades will have the chance to win the series on their home ice Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. for Game 6 against the Oil Kings at SaskTel Centre.

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In fact, it’s what they had prepared for, with a pivotal Game 5 on the horizon Friday night.

“They knew it was going to be a long series,” said Blades head coach, Dan DaSilva. “We’re prepared for that and I believe that’s in our favour. We’re just going to stick with our process and keep believing.”

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• Gage Grassick, Seth Hundeby highlight University of Saskatchewan Huskies’ year-end award winners

The Blades and Oil Kings will meet at Rogers Place on Friday with a 3-2 series lead on the line following a 5-2 victory by Edmonton in Game 4 of the series Wednesday in Saskatoon.

Miroslav Holinka led the way for the Oil Kings with a hat-trick performance, tying up the series with Saskatoon at 2-2 and turning it into a best-of-three affair moving forward.

While the Blades didn’t come out with their brand of hard-nosed hockey on Wednesday night in Game 4, DaSilva is confident they can get back to what’s made them successful so far in playoffs.

“Just because we lost (on Wednesday) doesn’t mean the series is over or anything like that,” DaSilva said.

“There’s still lots of hockey to be played. It’s going to be some ups and downs from here on out too, just embracing the grind of playoffs and the challenge that the Oil Kings are.”

Post-game on Wednesday, DaSilva called the loss of power forward, Zach Olsen, a tough blow for the team in Game 4 after he was unable to dress following warm-up.

The Blades are optimistic the draft-eligible winger will be good to go for Game 5 on the road.

Earning two wins in regulation against the Oil Kings this series and taking Game 2 to overtime, forward Kazden Mathies believes they have the ability to go into Edmonton and steal another victory on Friday.

“We can beat the better teams, the higher seed,” Mathies said. “Everything resets in playoffs and we’ve shown that we can be the better team in the series.”

The deeper Saskatoon and Edmonton go into the series, the more conditioning and endurance play a factor according to Mathies.

“I think it’s huge having four lines that can go,” Mathies said.

“Some players are playing 20, 22 minutes a game. That’s hard on the body, but if you have good endurance it helps in the end of the series.”

Embracing their physicality will be a key talking point for the Blades in Edmonton, with their best play of the series coming over the first three games with a combination of reliable five-on-five play and an ability to get into the corners.

DaSilva said it will be that style of hockey needed to earn the victory on the road and return to Saskatoon for Game 6 with a 3-2 series lead.

“We’ve shown that if we’re at our best we can compete with this team,” DaSilva said.

“We can beat this team, so that’s the belief part we’re selling the guys on and they know it, too.”

The Blades and Oil Kings meet at Rogers Place on Friday with a 6 p.m. puck drop for Game 6.

Huskies women’s basketball star Gage Grassick and football linebacker Seth Hundeby were the big winners on Wednesday, taking home the program’s awards as the female and male athletes of the year.

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Grassick, who is leaving the Huskies as one of the program’s all-time greats, is fresh off winning her second consecutive U Sports national championship in Quebec City last month.

In addition to earning the Mary Ethel Cartwright Trophy for the second year in a row, Grassick was named Canada West women’s basketball player of the year after ranking in the top 10 in the conference in assists, three-point shots, steals, field goals, points per game and defensive rebounding. She also was named U Sports’ women’s basketball athlete of the year in 2024-25.

It wasn’t the only award of the night for Grassick, who also captured the Valerie Girsberger Trophy as the Huskies’ top all-around female athlete.

University of Saskatchewan Huskies linebacker Seth Hundeby celebrating a sack in the 2025 Vanier Cup in Regina against the University of Montreal Carabins on Nov. 22, 2025. (Electric Umbrella/Huskie Athletics)

Hundeby captained the Huskies football team to Hardy Cup and Mitchell Bowl titles, and finished one win shy of a Vanier Cup championship.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ draft pick led Canada West in tackles for a loss in 2025, while also causing five turnovers to win the U Sports President’s Trophy as the top defensive player in the nation, along with his E. Kent Phillips Trophy as the Huskies’ male athlete of the year.

Hundeby’s teammate Ryker Frank, meanwhile, won the Rusty MacDonald Cup as the Huskies’ top all-around male athlete, also wrapping up his five-year career with the program.

Frank set the Huskies’ all-time career rushing touchdowns record this past season. The running back also is a four-time U Sports academic All-Canadian, and won the 2024 Russ Jackson Award as the U Sports athlete combining academic excellence, athletic achievement and community leadership.

Huskies women’s basketball head coach Lisa Thomaidis took home the Colb McEown Trophy as the program’s coach of the year in 2025-26 after leading the Huskies to capture their second consecutive ‘Bronze Baby’ trophy at nationals.

Overseeing a Huskies team which completed a perfect 20-0 regular season and rode a 51-game win streak dating back to 2024, Thomaidis was also named U Sports women’s basketball coach of the year for the fourth time in her career.

Huskies men’s hockey forward Conner Roulette and women’s track-and-field standout Hailee Woodhouse were recognized with the Howard Nixon and Pat Lawson Trophies as the Huskies’ male and female rookies of the year.

Roulette, who led the Huskies in scoring with 22 goals and 49 points en route to the team’s second straight Canada West championship, was also named U Sports and Canada West men’s hockey rookie of the year.

On the track, Woodhouse put together one of the best debut seasons in recent memory for the Huskies, capturing two medals in relay events at U Sports national championships to go along with a pair of gold medals at Canada West championships in women’s 300m and 4x200m relays.

The Dr. Walter Hader Trophy for student trainer of the year went to Jared Wassil for his work with the Huskies’ cross country and track-and-field teams.

“I do believe your normal faculties are impaired, and you’re under an unknown substance, so at this time you’re under arrest for DUI,” Martin County Sheriff’s deputy Tatiana Levenar told Woods after conducting a sobriety test on the golfer.

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Woods said he was looking at his phone and changing the radio station when his speeding Land Rover clipped the back of a truck and rolled onto its side on a residential road on Jupiter Island.

“I’m being arrested?” Woods responded as he stood alongside the road.

“Yes sir,” Levenar said.

The video also shows that officers found pills in Tiger Woods’ pocket after the crash.

“That’s a Norco,” Woods said after an officer pulled out two white pills, referring to a painkiller that contains acetaminophen and hydrocodone. Authorities would later confirm they found that Woods was in possession of hydrocodone.

In the bodycam footage, Woods told Levenar that he had not drunk any alcohol and that he had taken “a few” medications earlier in the day, though Woods’ words are muted in the released video as he describes some of the drugs.

Woods entered a not guilty plea on Tuesday to suspicion of driving under the influence. He posted a statement Tuesday night saying that he was stepping away indefinitely “to seek treatment and focus on my health.”

The best-of-seven series between Saskatoon and Edmonton has now turned into a best-of-three, with the Oil Kings taking Game 4 at SaskTel Centre by a 5-2 final.

“We’re definitely going to carry the momentum,” said Oil Kings forward Lukas Sawchyn. “It’s kind of been a next man up mentality this series, so we’re excited and we’re going to embrace it.”

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Edmonton never trailed against Saskatoon on Wednesday night, picking up the win to tie their opening round playoff series at 2-2.

The Oil Kings’ line of Sawchyn, Kayden Stroeder and Miroslav Holinka was dominant in Game 4, combining on four of the team’s five goals including a hat-trick registered by Holinka.

“His game tonight was outstanding,” said Oil Kings head coach Jason Smith.

“It was a 200-foot game, he played well in both ends. He was out on the penalty kill and did a real good job, that’s what you need from your good players is good effort.”

Blades head coach Dan DaSilva said the team had trouble defending Edmonton’s top line, especially as the game carried on Wednesday.

“I thought tonight we made it too easy on them,” DaSilva said.

“We kind of let them off the hook a little bit, we’ve been doing a really good job on those guys. They’re high end players, they’re going to have their nights and they’re going to get their looks.”

Prior to puck drop, the Blades were dealt a tough blow with forward Zach Olsen being a late scratch after taking warm ups.

According to DaSilva, the hole in their lineup with Olsen’s departure was noticeable with the 18-year-old often leading the charge physically.

“He’s been a very important player for our group,” DaSilva said.

“Energy-wise, compete-wise he’s a driver physically. I think we just really missed his presence. I’m sure it was a sigh of relief for some of their defencemen too, not having Zach in the lineup for us. Hopefully, he’ll be good to go for Game 5.”

Coming off a thrilling 4-3 comeback win on Tuesday night in a Game 3 win over the Oil Kings, Saskatoon often was first to pucks and maintained a physical presence throughout.

In comparison to their performance on Wednesday in Game 4, DaSilva believes that dogged nature was missing against Edmonton.

“I think that we lacked a little bit of bite in our game,” DaSilva said. “It was not the game that you’ve seen from our group through three games of this series.”

For the first time in the series, Edmonton opened the scoring with Holinka ripping a quick wrist shot past Blades goaltender Evan Gardner 7:34 into the game.

Saskatoon managed to tie the score at 1-1 with less than six minutes to go before the intermission, as Kazden Mathies finished off a passing play from linemates Elias Pul and Tyler Parr for his first goal of the playoffs.

“We’ve been creating chemistry and we know where each other are,” Mathies said.

“With (DaSilva) trusting us, we trust him too. Putting us in all the (defensive) zone shifts, he trusts us that we’ll get the puck out and be defensively responsible.”

A puck over glass penalty late in the first period put Edmonton on the power play, which allowed Holinka to juke his way through the Saskatoon defence and pot his second goal of the night with 1:16 left in the frame for the 2-1 lead.

Edmonton made it a 3-1 game 4:29 into the second period as Sawchyn, who finished the game with three points, let a wrist shot fly off a drop feed from Lanigan, Sask. product Stroeder.

The Blades kept themselves in the game with a Hunter Laing tap-in goal off a cross-ice pass from Tristen Doyle with 4:27 left in the second period, but Edmonton beat the buzzer as Holinka completed his hat-trick off a broken play from Saskatoon.

St. Louis Blues prospect Adam Jecho added an empty net goal for Edmonton in the game’s final seconds, preserving the 5-2 victory for the visitors.

“I think we bounced back with a good effort,” Smith said.

“We talked about being structured, being a little more disciplined with the puck and making smarter decisions. We moved the puck well, spent some time in the (offensive) zone and created some chances.”

The series will now head back to Alberta for a Game 5 on Friday night in Edmonton, which will require the Blades to play a more structured and competitive game according to Mathies.

“The first three games we were physical,” Mathies said. “40 hits-ish for each game and this game I thought we lacked a tiny bit of it. I think for next game, we can go back to it.”

Guaranteed to run at least six games, it’s a series which has the potential to now go the distance with the Blades and Oil Kings each two wins away from advancing to the second round.

DaSilva isn’t putting any extra pressure on his team however, for what will be a pivotal Game 5 for both clubs.

“It’s a best-of-three series and anything can happen,” DaSilva said. “We feel comfortable playing in Rogers Place and I would expect us to get back on our ‘A-game’ for Friday.”

The Blades and Oil Kings will clash on Friday night at 6 p.m. in Edmonton for Game 5 of the series.

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Seated at the same podium where he had addressed questions about the team’s one-for-11 power play a day earlier, Blades forward Rowan Calvert reflected on a breakthrough night on special teams for his group.

“How about that power play, you know?” Calvert said.

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The Blades weathered a back-and-forth affair at SaskTel Centre, rallying from a 3-1 deficit late in the second period to score three unanswered goals to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven opening-round series with a 4-3 victory.

According to Blades head coach Dan DaSilva, it was his team’s push to respond which impressed him the most.

“I loved our effort in that third period,” DaSilva said.

“We weren’t going to be denied, and we just kept believing. The energy on the bench was great. The guys were talking and into it. We just got contributions from everyone.”

Coming off a 4-3 overtime loss in the second game of the series on Sunday in Edmonton, the Blades drew three penalties in the first period and were unable to convert on their first two, with several missed chances at open nets.

That was until Blades forward David Lewandowski fired home his second goal of the post-season to break Saskatoon’s drought on the man advantage with 6:44 left in the opening frame.

Throughout the period, Saskatoon managed to out-shoot the Oil Kings 14-5 and control possession.

“We had some good looks in the first couple power plays,” DaSilva said. “It was like, ‘Oh no, here we go again.’ The guys again just sticking with it. That’s the messaging: just stick with it.”

The tide quickly turned out of the first intermission, however, with Edmonton defenceman Noa Ta’amu scoring just 55 seconds into the second period.

Both Ryan Gower and Miroslav Holinka found the back of the net for the Oil Kings over the next six minutes of play to extend their lead to 3-1 and silence SaskTel Centre in the process.

Out-shot by a 17-5 margin in the second period, Saskatoon struggled to gain momentum until a rush chance with 2:10 left before the buzzer.

Receiving a pass from Hunter Laing, who was cleared to play after leaving with an injury in game two, Calvert sniped the puck bar-down on Oil Kings goaltender Ethan Simcoe to drag Saskatoon back to within a single goal after the middle frame.

“It was a little quiet on our bench,” Calvert said.

“We were kind of feeling it. Fatigue starts to set in here as these games go on and there’s not a lot of time in between. We just believed. I mean, it’s big to get the goal there late in the second.”

According to DaSilva, that goal helped spark some added confidence in the Blades during the intermission, which translated to success in the final 20 minutes of play.

“It came from the players, honestly,” DaSilva said.

“They said, ‘We’re just going to push back.’”

Nearing the midway mark of the third period and still trailing 3-2, Blades captain Tyler Parr crashed the net off a Jack Kachkowski point shot and cleaned up the rebound for the game-tying goal.

Four minutes after Parr’s equalizer, Saskatoon was sent to its fourth power play of the night off a Ta’amu high-sticking call, which the Blades made the most of.

Picking the puck up at the point, Blades defenceman Tristen Doyle let a wrist shot fly, which carried its way through traffic to mark his first goal scored since Feb. 21.

“To be honest, I blacked out a little bit,” Doyle said. “It felt pretty good.”

The Blades survived a late Oil Kings push with the goaltender pulled to secure the win and re-take the lead in the first-round series.

For Edmonton, it was a tough night to find consistency, with several key players out of the lineup, including playoff starting goaltender Parker Snell, star defenceman Blake Fiddler and centreman Aaron Obobaifo.

Oil Kings head coach Jason Smith said the team didn’t come out the way he wanted in the third period.

“We were on our heels a little bit, and kind of sat back,” Smith said.

“We didn’t execute well with the puck and created some turnovers, which created momentum for them. They came out hard and physical, and we didn’t really counter it and react to it properly.”

Tuesday’s win means Saskatoon will have a shot at going up 3-1 in the series with a victory in game four on Wednesday, a task Calvert believes his team is up to.

“We got some dogs in that room,” Calvert said.

“You see it. We’re physical. We’re hard. We want to be that team. We want to make it hard on teams every night. It’s just clicking right now, and it doesn’t surprise me, honestly.”

Game four of the series goes Wednesday night at SaskTel Centre, with a 7 p.m. puck drop.

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Woods’ movements were slow and lethargic, and he was sweating as he talked to deputies, according to an incident report released from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.

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Deputies found two white pills, which were identified as the opioid hydrocodone used to treat pain, in his pocket, the report said.

When asked by a deputy if he took any prescription medications. Woods said, “I take a few.”

Woods told deputies he had been looking at his phone and fiddling with the radio before he clipped the truck in front of him last Friday, the report said.

That was when a zone entry by the Oil Kings came incredibly close to being offside.

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On Monday, less than 24 hours after the Blades’ 4-3 overtime loss to Edmonton, DaSilva spoke about what he saw on the bench.

“We had an idea that it looked pretty close,” DaSilva said.

“The game happens fast, you’re not exactly sure. When we got into the dressing room afterwards, our video coach (Braedan Dahl) let us know that it was… I mean it was close.”

On second look well after the final buzzer, Oil Kings defenceman Carter Sotheran appeared to possibly drift just ahead of the play on the attacking zone entry as Miroslav Holinka carried the puck across the blue line — a play which the Blades won’t know if it was offside or not.

“We were on the bus on the way home and we saw it,” said Blades captain Tyler Parr. “That’s hockey, it is what it is. There’s no reviews, so nothing you can do about it. It’s a game of inches.”

Speaking ahead of a pivotal Game 3 set for Tuesday night at SaskTel Centre, DaSilva said it’s not something the team is dwelling on but believes offside challenges should be revisited by the league.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s something that was in place a few years ago then taken away,” DaSilva said.

“You have a situation right there where potentially a game could have ended differently if we had a review. We’re not going to focus on that, but it would be nice to have it in place for sure just to get the calls right.”

The WHL did not respond for a request for clarification and comment on Monday.

Despite the heartbreaking end to Sunday’s game, the Blades returned home to Saskatoon feeling positive about their first two games of playoffs earning the opening weekend split against the Oil Kings.

“We believe we’ve been the better team in this series which is massive,” Parr said.

“We believe five-on-five, we’ve outplayed them. So when you say that, we can win this thing.”

The Blades opened their series in Edmonton on Friday with a 3-2 victory in a game which saw them out shoot the Oil Kings 17-9 in the third period, before Sunday’s Game 2 which included a wild comeback late to tie the game and force overtime.

“That’s a huge weekend for us,” said Blades forward Hayden Harsanyi.

“If there was any doubt in the room at all, I think that’s all gone. To get one on the road, obviously two would have been unbelievable, but it’s playoffs and you got to shake it off.”

Harsanyi had a breakout weekend for Saskatoon with three goals scored over the pair of games, including two goals on Sunday.

Battling injury over the last two seasons, Harsanyi has been aiming to find consistency in his game and said this past weekend was a strong step forward.

“I like to pride myself in being a playoff player,” Harsanyi said.

“I’ve always kind of been that through minor hockey, my U15 and U18. I think this is my best hockey I’ve played all season, for sure.”

For Saskatoon to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series on Tuesday night, they’ll need to shore up their special teams including a power play which was 1-for-11 in Edmonton.

Veteran forward Rowan Calvert said that combined with staying out of the box will be key, especially considering Edmonton’s three power play goals scored in Game 2.

“We really liked our game Friday and I thought we did a lot of those same things Sunday,” Calvert said. “We just got to be a little bit more disciplined and sharpen up the (penalty kill).”

Martinuik, who was drafted 15th overall by Saskatoon, starred at Shattuck St. Mary’s for the program’s U16 AAA squad, where he finished fourth in team scoring with 29 goals and 61 points in 50 games.

While he won’t be suiting up this playoffs for the Blades, DaSilva expects the 16-year-old to be a key piece to the team’s future as early as next season.

“First and foremost he seems like an unbelievable kid,” DaSilva said.

“Driven, smart, wants to be a player. Watched some of his highlights and watched some of his shifts over the course of the season too, he’s obviously a special player and a special talent.”

The Blades and Oil Kings will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday for Game 3 of their first round series.

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]]> https://www.ckom.com/2026/03/30/saskatoon-blades-shake-off-controversial-ot-loss-ahead-of-game-3/feed/ 0 https://www.ckom.com/2026/03/30/royals-owner-john-sherman-acknowledges-sense-of-urgency-in-deciding-the-future-home-of-the-mlb-club/ https://www.ckom.com/2026/03/30/royals-owner-john-sherman-acknowledges-sense-of-urgency-in-deciding-the-future-home-of-the-mlb-club/#respond Mon, 30 Mar 2026 18:46:56 +0000 Taylor MacPherson 2026-03-30T18:46:56+00:00 https://d561.cms.socastsrm.com/?p=1045491 Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (7) warms up before an opening day baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the Kansas City Royals, Friday, March 27, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart) KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Royals owner John Sherman acknowledged Monday that the Major League Baseball team feels a sense of urgency in deciding where it will play beyond the 2031 season, when its lease at aging but beloved Kauffman Stadium is due to expire.

The Royals have considered several stadium sites around the Kansas City metropolitan area, and a few of them — including one in the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas — have been eliminated. Now, the club appears to be zeroing in on sites in downtown Kansas City, across the Missouri River in Clay County, Missouri, and a potential move across the state line to Kansas City, Kansas.

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In that case, the Royals would be following their current NFL neighbor in the Chiefs, who announced in December that they would be building a $3 billion domed stadium as part of a public-private partnership near Kansas Speedway to replace Arrowhead Stadium.

Arrowhead and Kauffman Stadiums sit a few hundred yards apart at the Truman Sports Complex in Jackson County, Missouri.

“It’s always dangerous to set a deadline, but I think the pace is picking up,” Sherman said before the Royals played their home opener Monday against the Minnesota Twins. “And consistent with what I’ve been saying, yeah, I expect we’ll be able to talk about something sooner rather than later. There’s a great sense of urgency, just in general.”

In most cases, stadium construction can take four to five years, depending on the project scope and location. That means a buffer the Royals once had when they began to consider a move from Kauffman Stadium has dwindled to just a few months.

The closest they’ve come to a decision came in April 2024, when the Chiefs joined them in a joint plan to renovate Arrowhead Stadium and replace Kauffman Stadium with a downtown ballpark. But voters in Jackson County overwhelmingly voted against extending a tax to help pay for the projects, forcing the two franchises to go their own ways.

The Chiefs now know where they will be playing after their lease expires. The Royals hope to know within the next few months.

“We’re all interested to know where the next generational home of the Kansas City Royals and Major League Baseball will be,” said Sherman, who has long been a proponent of downtown baseball but seems to have warmed to other opportunities.

Sherman watched the Royals open the season last weekend in Atlanta, where the Braves built Truist Park as the centerpiece of a vast and bustling mixed-use development. He stayed in a hotel near the ballpark and seemed to be impressed by almost every facet of the project, whether that be the traffic flow or the restaurants and shops that filled with fans before and after games.

“It was like college game day, you know? Tons of people around. The energy level was incredible. All the restaurants and retail facilities were full,” Sherman said. “It’s just an all-you-can-do (type of development).”

Sherman said the two biggest elements of a potential stadium deal are site control — which the club has, to varying degrees, at each of its potential landing spots — and the framework for some public financing. The private financing element for both the stadium and any accompanying district would be easier to finalize once those pieces are in place.

“It’s always been my experience,” Sherman said, “when you’re doing important work, it’s not easy. It shouldn’t be easy. And these are complicated processes, right? Public-private partnerships, multi-jurisdictional, dealing with multiple entities as well.

“But,” he said, “I think we’re making progress.”

Meanwhile, Jackson County officials have begun planning for the day when the Chiefs no longer play at Arrowhead Stadium and the Royals have moved out of Kauffman Stadium. Last week, they announced the creation of a task force that will convene for the first time next month and have 90 days to develop recommendations for use of the Truman Sports Complex.

“As we look ahead and recognize that neither team will remain at the sports complex in a few years, it is my responsibility to make sure that the 400 acres of prime county-owned land is not going to sit idle,” Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota said.

The warning is being issued by the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and policing partners, including police in host cities Toronto and Vancouver, as fraudsters may look to capitalize on demand for tickets, travel and accommodations.

Read more:

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The centre says it is now tracking several types of World Cup-related fraud, including fake tickets, short-term rentals and the sale of counterfeit goods or services.

It says some warning signs of fraud include victims being asked to send deposits or full payments before arrival, and products being hawked at steep discounts that may be of inferior quality or pose health risks.

Police are asking both residents and World Cup visitors to be vigilant against fraud, as well as to report any suspicious activity, buy from official FIFA sources and verify rentals using multiple sources.

The 48-team men’s soccer tournament begins June 11 and will feature 13 matches in Canada, with six in Toronto and seven in Vancouver.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2026.