This Week In Sports: McDavid sizzles, Maple Leafs spill; ‘Maritime Messi’ inspires Canada win over Peru; Raptors open preseason in Quebec City

The temperature is starting to cool down outside but the sports calendar is heating up.

Your favourite NHL teams got their regular seasons underway and the Toronto Raptors opened the preseason with a game against the Miami Heat on Saturday night.

It's the international soccer window right now and Canada continued its winning ways with a win over Peru, but it was a "O Canada" national anthem blunder that also stole the show.

After a couple of big weeks for Canadian tennis, things were a bit more glum this time around.

Here's everything you need to know from the week that was.

Oilers make strong start as Maple Leafs underwhelm

Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid (97) skates in against Vancouver Canucks' Tom Willander (5) during second period NHL hockey action in Edmonton on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Codie McLachlan

Connor McDavid has made an astonishing start to the NHL season, racking up nine points in the Edmonton Oilers' opening three games to take the early points lead. Funnily enough, it's teammate Evan Bouchard who's trailing right behind him, with the Oakville, Ont., native scoring four goals to sit with eight points.

Bouchard became the first defenceman in NHL history to score eight points in his opening two games. The Oilers are atop the Western conference with five points in three games.

There was a Canadian barnstormer of a game on Thursday night as the Oilers defeated the Vancouver Canucks 9-7, in which McDavid collected a goal and four assists. Edmonton looked to have had the game settled after taking a commanding 8-2 lead midway through the second period but the Canucks then scored four unanswered to get up a wild finish.

Over in Toronto, early optimism has been splashed with cold water with a 1-2 start (losses to the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens) with all three games on home ice. Positivity was initially boosted when the Leafs acquired Kirill Marchenko from the Columbus Blue Jackets with Matthew Knies going the other way.

Top overall pick Gavin McKenna has yet to register a point through about 43 minutes of action across the three games.

'Maritime Messi' inspires Canada win over Peru, as national anthem blunder draws most reaction

Jacob Shaffelburg #14 of Canada passes the ball during the international friendly match between Canada and Chile at BMO Field in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on September 26, 2026. (Photo by Indrawan Kumala/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

In Canada's second match of the international soccer window, Jacob Shaffelburg was the star man with both goals in a 2-0 win over Peru at Stade Saputo in Montreal.

Shaffelburg, who had to race against time to be fit for the World Cup, didn't quite look up to speed during the tournament but certainly looks back to his best now. Playing on his preferred left wing, Shaffelburg has now provided the key cross leading to the goal in the 1-0 win over Chile and had a left-footed volley and header in this one.

He carries the nickname "Maritime Messi" as a native of Kentville, N.S., and a predominantly left-footed player capable of dazzling, mazy runs with the ball at his feet.

The match in Montreal did go viral for the wrong reasons, though, as the singer booked to perform the Canadian anthem before kick-off completely forgot her lines before the operations crew pivoted to playing an instrumental audio of the anthem with the fans singing along.

With two wins on the bounce, Canada has moved up from 30th in the FIFA rankings to 27th heading into a final match of this window against the U.S.A. With all that is going on in the political landscape, and American Jesse Marsch at the helm for the red and white, this match on Tuesday night is sure to have some fireworks.

Raptors open preseason in Quebec City

QUEBEC CITY, CANADA - OCTOBER 03: Scottie Barnes #4 of the Toronto Raptors and Giannis Antetokounmpo #7 of the Miami Heat battle for position during the first half against the Miami Heat in a preseason NBA game at the Videotron Centre on October 3, 2026 in Quebec City. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

The Toronto Raptors had a good week at training camp in Quebec City but opened the preseason with a 129-105 defeat at the hands of the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Miami Heat.

Kawhi Leonard, rookie Allen Graves, newly signed veteran Kyle Anderson, and young contributors Jamison Battle and Alijah Martin all didn't play.

Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, and Collin Murray-Boyles all looked very good in their minutes, but there is still plenty of work to do for the rest. One of the big talking points at camp has been Murray-Boyles' slimmer physique, something he attributed to spending the summer doing a lot of running and cutting down a lot of body fat as a result.

Leonard is being eased back into action, but has been spotted looking in fine form during practices and was even seen throwing the ball off the backboard and dunking in a fun game of 1-on-1 with head coach Darko Rajaković.

The Raptors are on a mini-cross country tour to start the season, heading to Vancouver after Quebec City with a trip back home to Toronto sandwiched in between.

"It was cool, my first time playing here, I enjoyed it a lot," said Barrett, the Mississauga, Ont., native. "Fans here were great. Everywhere we've gone, Canada is out there supporting us so it's a great feeling to be able to go out there and see the fans every night."

Athlete of the Week: Liam Millar

Birmingham City's Liam Millar during the Sky Bet Championship match at Pride Park Stadium, Derby. Picture date: Saturday September 12, 2026. (Photo by Lee Keuneke/PA Images via Getty Images)

While Shaffelburg took home the plaudits with the goals this weekend, Liam Millar deserves just as much of the credit as he served up Shaffelburg on a platter both times.

Playing on the right wing, Millar was tremendous throughout his minutes and sent in two superb crosses that found Shaffelburg for the goals.

Coming off a whirlwind start to the English season where he scored for Hull City in the Premier League before being transferred to Birmingham City and earning a player of the match award for them as well, it's been great to see Millar carry over the form for his country.

Tajon Buchanan is accustomed to starting on the right side of the pitch and didn't feature against Peru. It has to be said that the Villareal winger underwhelmed at the World Cup and flattered to deceive against Chile in Toronto.

If Millar keeps this form up, head coach Jesse Marsch has a serious debate on his hands.

Shapovalov injured in Beijing; Fernandez falters

Canada's Denis Shapovalov waves to fans as he retires the men's singles quarter-final tennis match against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz due to an injury at the ATP Tour Japan Open Tennis Championships at the Ariake Tennis Forest Park in Tokyo on October 4, 2026. (Photo by Rie KIKUCHI / AFP via Getty Images)

Coming off a couple big weeks where Canada won in the Davis Cup and Leylah Fernandez followed it up with her first title of the year in Singapore, it wasn't quite so joyful this week.

Fernandez suffered a second-round three-set defeat to Kamilla Rakhimova in Beijing while Denis Shapovalov did well to reach the quarterfinals of the Japan Open but was forced to retire due to injury against Carlos Alcaraz.

After an entertaining first set in which the Canadian fell short in the tie break, Shapovalov appeared to feel something in his right hip region in the very first game of the second set. He tried to continue after a medical timeout to try and address the issue, but was clearly in a lot of pain and left with no choice but to call an end to the match.

Toronto Sixers shine at Canada Super60

MUMBAI, INDIA - APRIL 21: Mumbai Indian player Keiron Pollard during practice session at Wankhede Stadium on April 21, 2012 in Mumbai, India. Mumbai Indians will play their next match against Kings Xi Punjab on April 22 at their home ground in Mumbai. (Photo by Kunal Patil / Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

The Toronto Sixers did the double at the second Canada Super60 Cricket League championship at BC Place in Vancouver, winning both the men's and women's titles.

In the women's final, the Vancouver Warriors batted first and were limited to just 84 runs for the loss of nine wickets in their 10 overs. Indu Barma took the big wicket of Warriors captain Marizanne Kapp, which then triggered a massive slide.

Nerves showed in the chase as the Sixers lost three early wickets but Ella McCaughan righted the ship with 36 runs off 20 balls to take home the player of the match award while Barma showed support with the bat as well for 18 off 13.

The Sixers team took on the Vancouver Anchors in the men's final and faced a tall task after the Anchors piled up 164 runs in their 10 overs. USA's Obus Pienaar smashed 82 off just 21 balls including 12(!) sixes while captain Moeen Ali supported him with 45 off 18.

Toronto needed a big effort from Nicholas Pooran and they got it, with the West Indian smashing 67 off 23 with nine sixes to set the stage for captain Keiron Pollard. The fellow West Indian crushed 35 off 13 to take the Sixers to the finish line. It was Daniel Sams who took them over the line with a six off the very last ball to cap off a thrilling finale.

Rogers becomes sole owner of MLSE

TORONTO, CANADA - SEPTEMBER 19: President and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Keith Pelley watches the Toronto Argonauts and Edmonton Elks during warm up before a game at BMO Field on September 19, 2026 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by John E. Sokolowski/Getty Images)

In news that has big implications for Toronto's sports franchises, Rogers Communications Inc. confirmed that it has purchased the remaining 25 per cent stake in Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment from Larry Tannenbaum's Kilmer Sports Inc.

Rogers now owns 100 per cent of MLSE, under which the Toronto Maple Leafs, Raptors, Toronto FC, and Argonauts operate.

In doing so, Rogers also announced that a new business unit, Rogers Sports, will encompass not only the aforementioned teams but the previously owned Toronto Blue Jays as well.

Keith Pelley will remain president and CEO of MLSE and Mark Shapiro will remain president and CEO of the Blue Jays.