Bocephus Dailleboust and his United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) Elite team, the Islanders, did not exactly have the start of the season they were hoping for.

Dailleboust, who had joined the Premier division Islanders team, was sent down to the Elite division; as for his team, they started the season with three straight losses and were 4-6 after 10 games.

But, both turned things around, and now Dailleboust, who had the third-most points during the regular season on the New England Division’s best team, will be heading to the National Championships in Wayne, New Jersey, at the end of March.

“I really got back on my feet. I did not get that many points in my last year at prep school, and then to come into Junior and just really focus on hockey every single day, that really changed how I was playing. I started to score more, get more points. It was a really successful season for my development,” said the 19-year-old forward, who scored 20 goals and added 24 assists in 42 regular season games this year.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the way this group has come together,” said Islanders head coach Kevin Smith in a statement. 

“The depth of this team is our biggest asset. We have 12 players who scored more than 30 points during the regular season, and we can roll 14 forwards, seven defensemen, and three goalies that all contribute to our success.”

Finishing the season with a 33-8-3 record, the Islanders easily defeated their first-round opponents, the fourth-seed South Shore Kings, 9-1 and 10-1 to win the best-of-three series.

“We smoked them,” said Dailleboust. Then to get to the National Championships, they needed to face last year’s champion, the Northern Cyclones.

They dispatched them too, sweeping the defending national champions, winning the first game 4-1 and eliminating them with a 3-0 shutout on Tuesday.

Six teams – the winners of each division plus the best performing team remaining – will be in Wayne to participate in a three-game round robin, with the four best teams locking into the semifinals.

“I have high expectations for us, I feel like we can go on a good run,” said Dailleboust, who added that the New England division is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, so they feel as though they have faced potentially tougher competition already than they might during the round robin.

While Dailleboust has also put up solid offensive numbers in the playoffs so far – three goals and three assists in four games – his focus has been on making sure the defensive side of the game has been up to the task.

Part of getting more ice time and more responsibilities from his coach has included special teams time, including playing on the penalty kill for the first time. 

“Looking at my hand, it’s purple and swollen because I blocked a shot on the penalty kill, and that’s the first time I’ve ever really been asked to be on the penalty kill. The coach said you need to go kill this one for me, and I did,” said Dailleboust.

“I just want to do everything to win. I feel like everybody else, too, we’re all invested and that’s why we work so well together.”

Round robin games will begin on March 20.

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Kaylani Delormier has been figure skating for years at this point, but still, she can occasionally get the pre-event jitters – as was the case before last weekend’s Invitation Vaudreuil-Dorion.

“I’ve done this many times before, but I was nervous. While we were heading out to the arena, I was thinking, ‘I’m going to the competition, I’m scared.’ But my friends were texting me, ‘Don’t be. It’s okay, you’re going to do amazing. You’ll be fine, and we are cheering you on – good luck,’” said Delormier. 

 “Them saying that really calmed me down.”

But, when she got on the ice, some circumstances made the nerves come back a little: the ice quality was not as good as she was hoping, and the order of the skaters got mixed up – delaying her start.

As soon as she got started, though, the nerves left for good.

“I got over that fear, and I just went to do what I had to do,” said Delormier.

The STAR 2 skater was hoping to do better than the overall bronze medal she received back in early February at the South-West Regionals in Valleyfield – and she did just that, earning an overall silver medal for her performance.

She did not fall on her moves or lose balance, and she found her backspin to be a lot nicer than it was in Valleyfield, for example.

Among her best moves of the day were her loop jump, her flip jump, and her turn sequence, all of which she was proud of.

“Usually when I do my loop, during practices, I mess it up,” said Delormier. 

“But surprisingly, at the competition, it was beautiful.”

On the mental side of things, she found that she did not get in her own way. 

“I didn’t think like that at all, I just do what I have to do because the only pressure when you’re doing the routine, it’s not the arena, not the judges, not the people watching you, it’s only you. You’re putting that pressure on yourself.”

Delormier’s grandparents, Alan Beauvais and Laurie Delormier, usually are right there in the stands to cheer her on, and that did not change in Vaudreuil.

“We were proud of her,” said Laurie. “I videoed the whole show that she did. Looking back at it, she did amazing.”

Two other Kahnawa’kehró:non STAR 2 skaters – and friends of Kaylani – Promise McGregor and Taylah McComber skated later in the day, with the both of them getting overall bronze medals.

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Health Minister Adriana LaGrange is alleging the former CEO of Alberta Health Services was unwilling to implement the government’s plan to break up the health authority, and made “incendiary and inaccurate allegations about political intrigue and impropriety” before she was fired in January. 

Some Canadian businesses are bracing for a round of tariffs from China in response to Canada’s tariffs against their aluminium, steel and electric cars. As Liam Britten reports, B.C.’s seafood industry says it needs help from the government to navigate choppy waters.

B.C. Premier David Eby says Ontario’s short-lived decision to hit three U.S. states with a surcharge on electricity exports this week shows that the provinces need to better co-ordinate their trade-war retaliation.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s 25-per-cent levy prompted a swift response from the United States, which threatened to increase its tariff on steel and aluminum to 50 per cent from its planned 25 per cent. Both sides backed down and agreed to meet Thursday.

The Yukon government approved three stewardship plans for its Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program this week, giving organizations the go-ahead to start managing recycling later this year. The program is meant to shift the cost of recycling from governments and taxpayers to producers.

A Vancouver woman being held in an Arizona immigration detention centre has still not spoken with a lawyer or received any information about when she may be released, 10 days after she was arrested while trying to renew a work visa.

B.C. Premier David Eby said Thursday that he is “profoundly concerned” by Jasmine Mooney’s detention in the U.S. and that the federal government should be doing all it can through diplomatic channels to get her home soon.

A disciplinary panel of the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives says a nurse committed unprofessional conduct for making “discriminatory and derogatory statements” about transgender people.

The panel’s decision released Thursday says Amy Hamm’s statements made across “various online platforms” between July 2018 and March 2021 were partly designed “to elicit fear, contempt and outrage against members of the transgender community.”

The decision says Hamm publicly identified herself as a nurse or nurse educator while making statements that were mostly “untruthful and unfair,” challenging the “existence of transgender women” and advocating for less “constitutional protection” for them.

The panel found Hamm’s statements were targeted toward “vulnerable and marginalized” people and her comments may deter transgender people from accessing the health care system.

The decision says the statements included an online article identifying Hamm as a nurse educator where she claimed that transgender activists wanted to “infiltrate or destroy” spaces designed for women only.

A hearing still has to be set to determine the penalty for Hamm, and the decision says Hamm can appeal the ruling in B.C. Supreme Court.

“By identifying herself as a nurse or nurse educator while posting discriminatory and/or derogatory opinions regarding a vulnerable and historically disadvantaged group on various online platforms, (Hamm) undermined the reputation and integrity of the nursing profession,” the decision says.

“The respondent is free to disseminate her views to the public without identifying herself as a nurse or nurse educator or her affiliation with the college.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 13, 2025.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press

Two people have been arrested and charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a Brampton man last April, Peel Regional Police say.

Police investigating reports of alleged assaults at Little Stars Montessori Early Learning Centre in Spruce Grove.