NASHVILLE — Arturs Silovs’ dress shirt was like something a Coho salmon might wear on its wedding day.

But J.T. Miller wore it better.

The Vancouver Canucks’ culture-monitor and chief purveyor of pranks couldn’t resist lifting the shirt from Silovs’ locker, repurposing it as an outer layer over his hockey equipment and then wearing it on to the ice for the start Thursday’s practice — ahead of the Canucks’ biggest game in nearly a decade. 

Miller skated for several minutes in the resplendent salmon-coloured shirt that popped with bold paisley patterns.

“It’s a terrible shirt and it fit perfectly over my shoulder pads,” Miller explained an hour later. “And you just hope he never wears it again. Obviously, if I’ve got a chance to crack at a young guy, that was a good opportunity. But it gave the guys a laugh.”

Which was Miller’s far more important achievement than embarrassing Silovs, the 23-year-old minor-league callup who has played the last two games in goal for the Canucks and could start again in Game 6 against the Nashville Predators on Friday (see below).

Miller declined initially to even identify for Sportsnet the owner of the shirt, unaware that Silovs had long been outed on social media by broadcast reporter and host Dan Murphy.

“Well, I mean, he’s got to know better,’” Canuck defenceman Nikita Zadorov said, referring not to Miller but Silovs. “It’s not a nightclub in Riga, Latvia.”

Asked at the end of his post-practice news conference about the prank, coach Rick Tocchet wondered aloud if it was the goalie’s golf shirt.

Staff member: “I think it was his dress shirt.”

Tocchet: “Oooph.”

Laughter ensued.

Which, again, was the point for Miller, the 31-year-old leader on a team that started the Stanley Cup tournament with nine players who had never logged a real National Hockey League playoff game.

Tuesday in Vancouver, the Canucks blew a third-period lead and lost 2-1 to the Predators in Game 5 as Vancouver failed on its first chance to win a non-COVID playoff series for the first time since 2015.

Their series lead narrowed to 3-2, the Canucks flew 4 ½ hours east to Nashville on Wednesday with pressure mounting ahead of Game 6 and, heaven forbid, a possible seventh game on Sunday at Rogers Arena.

The team is not scoring. Superstar Elias Pettersson has disappeared. The Vancouver media is doing what we do. And did you hear the Canucks are on to their third goalie?

And then Miller acted like a child, causing people to laugh or roll their eyes, easing some tension around the Canucks and reminding teammates how lucky they are to be playing a game they love and with a chance to advance to the second-round of the playoffs on Friday night.

It was stupid and brilliant.

“Loosens the guys,” Tocchet said. “I think that’s a big thing because it’s high pressure. This is high pressure, and you have to stay loose. Even on the bench, you know, you’ve got to make sure that you stay loose. Because the last thing you need is a tight bench.”

And the second-to-the-last thing you need is a goalie controversy, although the possibility of Tocchet sticking with Silovs after the flashy-dressing Latvian stopped 47 of 52 shots while going 1-1 the last two games is understandable.

Game 6 has felt like Casey DeSmith’s start. The popular, veteran backup was well enough to watch Silovs from the bench on Tuesday after missing one game following his own stellar start in Game 3.

DeSmith stopped 29 of 30 shots during the Canucks’ 2-1 victory last Friday, then practised the next day in Nashville before being held out of Game 4 for what Tocchet said were precautionary reasons related to a lower-body injury.

“If Smitty feels good enough to go and we feel it’s safe to go in there, you’d go with Casey, right?” Tocchet said on Sunday. “But saying that, we’ve got Arty and we’re confident with him. I think we (can) win either way. I think the prudent thing is to get Casey healthy before we make any decision.”

Well, DeSmith is healthy but the decision, which was to be made internally Thursday afternoon, is not as straightforward as Tocchet had made it seem.

“Health-wise, what’s the percentage?” Tocchet explained Thursday when asked about his reasoning. “Practise — how many times he has practised is a big thing? Are you tentative or not on a post-to-post save? Things like that come into play. 

“Casey is one of the best guys you’ll ever coach, unreal guy in the room. But, you know, I make my decision on the crest. It’s a team thing.”

Earlier, DeSmith told Sportsnet that he has never been in a position where he was deemed healthy enough to back up but not start.

“Just having the capability to play, but not being allowed to play is a tough situation to be in,” he said. “But, you know, it’s a unique situation (for the team). Demmer (Vezina Trophy finalist Thatcher Demko) is hurt for who-knows-how-long, and I guess they were just trying to prioritize health while we were in a good situation in the series. But, of course, it’s frustrating for me.”

DeSmith, who went 12-9-6 in the regular season before playing one of his best games of the year in Game 3, said he lobbied goaltending coach Ian Clark to start on Tuesday.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1: Canucks vs. Predators

Keep up with the latest news and analysis as the Vancouver Canucks take on the Nashville Predators in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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“He was unmoved,” DeSmith smiled. “They’ve been up front about the reasons behind why they’re doing what they’re doing. Obviously, I don’t know who’s behind every little decision. But I just have to trust that they’re doing what’s best for the team. And as long as I believe that they’re doing what’s best for the team, then I support it. 

“It might be frustrating for me, but my job as a good teammate and a member of this organization is to support every decision that’s made as long as it’s in the best interest of the team. And I think everybody who’s making those decisions, that’s what they’re thinking about. They’re thinking about the long run. They’re thinking about the team as a whole and the success that we’re looking to have for the next four weeks, not just one week.”

To make it to next week, the Canucks must win Friday or Sunday. And to do that, they need more than the 18.4 shots they’ve averaged in this fierce, low-scoring series. 

Tocchet conceded there has been an over-correction since Game 2 when the Canucks had 33 shots blocked and managed to put only 18 of 84 shot attempts on Predator goalie Juuse Saros. To avoid Nashville shot-blockers, the Canucks were instructed to shoot for teammates’ sticks and look for tips and redirects. But now, too many Vancouver players are trying slap-passes rather than aiming on goal.

One of the worst offenders in Game 5 was Pettersson, who has just two assists and seven shots on target through five games.

“He came up to me — we did a video today — he said, ‘Toc, I’ve got to move my feet,’” Tocchet told reporters. “So I told him: ‘I don’t care what you say after that, just do that.’ He knows how to play the game. He knows how to play defence. He knows our system. That was music to my ears. He said it; I didn’t have to tell him.”

•

The Canucks practised Thursday with unchanged forward lines and defence pairings. The only lineup change among skaters Tocchet has made all series was using defenceman Noah Juulsen in Game 2 when Tyler Myers was unable to play.

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The Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner and its Abuse-Free Sports Program will be absorbed by the Canadian Centre For Ethics in Sport by next year.

OSIC was created in 2022 as a division of the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada amid a wave of complaints about abuse and harassment in Canadian sport. 

OSIC’s job was to administer the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport (UCCMS).

Decoupling OSIC from the SDRCC “to ensure greater independence” was among a suite of safe-sport measures announced in December by federal sports minister Carla Qualtrough.

Her office said in a statement Thursday that the Canadian Centre For Ethics in Sports will be the administrator of the UCCMS as of April 1, 2025. 

Qualtrough also posted the statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Her office did not respond to questions Thursday about what that transition means for OSIC or how the move ensures greater independence.

But OSIC’s role was clearly diminished. OSIC said on its website its next round of complaint and report statistics will be issued in the SDRCC’s annual report.

“The administration of the UCCMS through the Program remains under the authority of the SDRCC until March 31, 2025,” said the statement from Qualtrough’s office.

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) is the country’s doping watchdog that tests athletes in both domestic competition and international events in Canada.

The monitoring of competition manipulation around sports betting is also in its mandate.

“Having an organization in Canada focused on the broad array of threats to the integrity of our sport system, including maltreatment and abuse, addresses a systemic gap and reflects an international best practice,” Minister Qualtrough said in the statement. 

“I firmly believe that this transition to a future Sport Integrity Canada is an opportunity to build up and enhance the administration of the UCCMS through the Program and to better support those seeking out its services.”

The CCES will expand its role to all aspects of sport integrity, the statement said.

“Canada needs a centralized approach to address sport integrity issues that will create alignment within the Canadian sport system and builds the confidence of athletes, sport organizations, governments, and the Canadian public,” said CCES president and CEO Jeremy Luke in that statement.

“Over the coming months, as we transition this work into the CCES, we will evolve as an organization into a broader sport integrity agency to ensure we have the appropriate mandate, governance structure and expertise to manage safe sport, anti-doping, competition manipulation and other emerging threats to sport integrity, while continuing to promote a values-based prevention approach.” 

OSIC, created by Qualtrough’s predecessor Pascale St-Onge, was designed to take the complaint and investigation process away from national sport organizations.

All sport bodies that received federal funding had to be signatories by April 2023 lest they lost that funding.

The 2022 federal budget provided $16 million to fund the office over its first three years of operations.

OSIC began hearing complaints June 20, 2022, but its jurisdiction was limited early until sport bodies became signatories. 

As of March 31, 2024, it had received 395 complaints and reports since it opened, with 176 deemed admissible or pending admissible for a 44 per cent intake.

Its first commissioner Sarah-Eve Pelletier stepped down earlier this year after 18 months with Andre Lepage serving as interim commissioner.

One of OSIC’s jobs was to maintain a registry of people sanctioned or under investigation in the sport system, and it made that registry public last month.

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McKINNEY, Texas — Matt Wallace was relegated to watching the Masters amid a self-described “terrible” season when he found himself pondering what makes some of the best golfers in the world so good.

Asked if Scottie Scheffler was among the players he was watching, Wallace stumbled over his words just a bit.

“Well, him, but, I mean, so good that it’s difficult to take a lot from him because he’s playing unbelievable golf,” Wallace said. “It’s not as realistic for everyone else out there.”

Well, maybe Wallace can take advantage of the world No. 1 sitting out his hometown tournament awaiting the birth of his first child.

The one-time PGA Tour winner shot an 8-under 63 for a one-shot lead over seven players in the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Thursday. 

Taiga Semikawa, a 23-year-old from Japan playing on a sponsor exemption, settled for 64 after a three-putt par on the par-5 18th just before a rain-delayed round with preferred lies was suspended by darkness with nine players on the course.

Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., Alex Noren, Chesson Hadley, Jake Knapp, Davis Riley and Kelly Kraft also were at 7 under at TPC Craig Ranch, just north of Scheffler’s hometown of Dallas.

Defending champion Jason Day was in a large group trailing by three after he and Jordan Spieth, the biggest local favorite with Scheffler absent, struggled down the stretch playing in the same threesome. Spieth was 3 under.

Brad Hopfinger, a 35-year-old making his PGA Tour debut, was two shots behind Wallace along with Ben Kohles, Alex Smalley and Hayden Buckley.

Wallace, who has missed the cut five times and doesn’t have a top-10 finish in 11 tournaments this year, birdied five of the first six holes and capped his bogey-free, career-low round with a tap-in birdie on the 18th.

The 34-year-old Englishman has found himself taking mental notes about the likes of young Swede Ludvig Aberg, who played at Texas Tech but is among 27 of the top 30 players skipping the Nelson with a $20 million signature event, the Wells Fargo Championship, and the PGA Championship coming the next two weeks.

“What I’m seeing from a lot of them, especially the younger guys, younger than me — I’m not too old, but younger than me — they’re so focused in their shot and not worrying about the outcome or what’s out there,” said Wallace, who won in the Dominican Republic a little more than a year ago.

Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., closed at 1 under with one hole left as play was suspended. Meanwhile, Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., had a 71 and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., shot a 73.

Day and Spieth both stumbled with bogeys on the par-5 fifth hole, their 14th of the day. Day had two birdies and a bogey over the final four holes, including the par-5 ninth. Spieth could only par the finishing hole and was 1 over on the par 5s.

“It’s a very gettable golf course,” Spieth said. “I just played the easy holes poorly. That was kind of the story of the day.”

Spieth is still seeking his first victory in his 12th appearance at event in which he debuted by contending as a 16-year-old amateur in 2010. Day got his first PGA Tour win when Spieth was making those headlines, then ended a five-year victory drought last year.

The 30-year-old Spieth missed last year’s Nelson because of a wrist injury. He was the runner-up in 2022.

Rain delayed the start by an hour and remains in the forecast through the weekend. If the rain stays away, players could have minimal wind on a soft course that has surrendered among the most birdies on tour in its four years as the home of the Nelson.

“I’m not out of it, but certainly you want to stay within two or three of the lead as you get through the first couple rounds,” Spieth said. “Doesn’t look like we’re going to get a ton of wind or anything, so I am going to have to really make it up, because there will be a lot of guys shooting low scores.” 

Raul Pereda aced the 236-yard seventh hole and shot 68, as did Kris Kim in the tour debut of the 16-year-old from England whose South Korean-born mom played on the LPGA Tour in the 1990s. 

Playing on a sponsor exemption in the first year of the Nelson carrying the name of the South Korean company CJ Group, Kim chipped in for eagle at No. 9 to finish an up-and-down round that included five birdies and four bogeys.

“First couple holes the nerves were definitely there, but as we got on, it was just playing golf,” said Kim, who went undefeated in the Junior Ryder Cup last year and is the first amateur sponsored by CJ Group.

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The frustration got the best of Patrick Beverley during the Milwaukee Bucks‘ Game 6 loss to the Indiana Pacers.

Near the end of the game that eventually knocked Milwaukee out of the post-season, Beverley threw a ball at a fan and exchanged some words with the Indiana crowd.

The incident occurred with 2:32 left in regulation with the Bucks down 20 to the Pacers. Beverley tossed a ball to a fan who then returned it after the guard signalled for it back. Beverley then whipped it right back at him, appearing to strike a fan in the head.

The two then exchanged some words while arena security and Beverley’s Bucks teammates had to step in to defuse the situation.

It’s unclear what prompted the interaction between the two, but the Indiana crowd had been loud all night, with a fan even going viral for his heckling while the Bucks were at the free-throw line.

When asked about the incident after the game, Beverley told the Athletic: “Nah, don’t worry about that. Nothing.”

Later in the night, Beverley took to social media and replied to a video of the altercation saying he and his team were treated unfairly all night, even after asking for assistance.

“Not Fair at all,” Beverley said on his personal X account. “Exchanged between a fan and our ball club all night. We warned and asked for help all night. Not fair.”

Beverley struggled in the Game 6 loss, scoring six points and dishing out five assists while shooting 3-for-11 from the field and 0-for-3 from deep.

He was a big factor in the Bucks’ shorthanded Game 5 win, picking up 13 points and 12 assists on an efficient 4-for-7 from the field.

There has been no word of potential consequences for either the fan or Beverley, instead, the guard chose to take to X, formerly known as Twitter, to concede defeat to the Pacers.

Beverley, 35, joined the Bucks from the 76ers at the trade deadline. He averaged 6.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists in his 12th season in the NBA.

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