Cheers to the freakin’ weekend

The GIST: Five players from Canada’s gold medal–winning 2018 World Juniors team are reportedly facing sexual assault charges and have been ordered to surrender to authorities in London, Ontario. Disgraceful.

The background: As covered in yesterday’s episode of The GIST of It, the pending charges stem from a June 2018 incident, when a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by several members of the World Juniors team after a gala celebrating their championship win.

• Police closed their initial investigation in 2019, but reopened it in 2022 after the woman filed a $3.5M lawsuit against Hockey Canada, the sport’s national governing body.

• The woman claimed the organization knew about her alleged assault, yet failed to act. Hockey Canada quickly settled with her out of court, but further reporting revealed that the org had three slush funds for sexual assault settlements, paying out $7.6M to nine survivors (not including the 2018 case) since 1989.

The latest: No official charges have been filed, but four current NHL players and one former NHLer (all members of the 2018 World Juniors team) have been given indefinite leaves of absence from their clubs in recent days. The NHL conducted its own investigation into the matter, but has not made its findings public.

• London Police (ON) will hold a press conference on February 5th to provide updates on this evolving story.

• In the meantime, the Halifax Regional Police reminded the public that their investigation into a separate sexual assault allegation against the 2003 World Juniors team is still ongoing. When will it end?

The GIST: After two weeks of shocking upsets and sheer domination Down Under, it’s time to crown the first Grand Slam champions of the year. No sleep till Melbourne.

Women’s singles: After taking down America’s favorite teen, No. 4 Coco Gauff, in straight sets in yesterday’s semifinal, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka will look to defend her Aussie Open title against No. 12 Qinwen Zheng, a first-time Slam finalist, tomorrow at 3:30 a.m. ET.

• Sabalenka hasn’t dropped a single set en route to becoming the first woman to reach back-to-back Australian Open finals since Serena Williams did it eight years ago.

• But Zheng has hit more aces than any other woman this tourney, and her strong serve could disrupt Sabalenka’s flow. Pop that corn Brew that coffee and tune in.

Men’s singles: No. 1 Novak Djokovic will have to wait a bit longer to win a record-setting 25th Grand Slam after being upset by No. 4 Jannik Sinner in last night’s semifinal. The win marks Sinner’s third victory over the Joker since November and ensures this year’s men’s champ will be a first-time winner, with the 22-year-old facing No. 3 Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s early morning final.

• As for Medvedev, he topped the controversial No. 6 Alexander Zverev in a five-set thriller this morning, coming back from two sets down to book his third Aussie Open final appearance. Wow.

• Medvedev has never won Melbourne’s finest trophy, losing to Djokovic in 2021 and Rafael Nadal in 2022.

No matter your favorite women’s basketball moment from this season, chances are Topps has celebrated it with a Bowman U NOW card.

The iconic trading card creator drops limited edition releases celebrating milestones in the women’s game, like No. 5 Iowa’s Caitlin Clark becoming the first player (women’s or men’s!) to surpass 3K career points, 750 career rebounds, and 750 career assists. Get you a player who can do it all.

• And now you can: Follow Topps’ socials or sign up for email alerts to be notified about new, made-to-order drops. History is in the making.

⛳ LPGA: Drive On Championship — Ongoing through Sunday — Golf Channel

• Last week’s HGV Tournament of Champions winner Lydia Ko is off to a hot start after yesterday’s first round, sitting atop the leaderboard, tied with American Nelly Korda. Tune in to see who will drive away with a big slice of the $1.75M purse.

🏀 NBA: Philadelphia 76ers vs. Denver Nuggets — Tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. ET — ESPN

• A mere 12 days after the 76ers topped the reigning champs in Philly, expect MVP frontrunners and All-Star starters Philly’s Joel Embiid and Denver’s Nikola Jokić to put on a scoring show from the Mile High City in tomorrow’s rematch.

🏒 PWHL: Minnesota vs. Boston — Tomorrow at 7 p.m. ET — YouTube

• Minnesota was victorious over Boston earlier in January, but captain Hilary Knight’s crew have won two of their last three games. Anything is possible.

🎓🏀 NCAA women’s basketball: No. 15 Notre Dame vs. No. 8 UConn — Tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET — FOX

• The embattled Huskies are down another starter ahead of this highly anticipated tilt from South Bend, so it’ll be up to superstar Paige Bueckers to lead the offense against freshman phenom Hannah Hidalgo’s Fighting Irish.