Your midday sports snack. Toast points • Canada’s outdoor showdown with the United States at the world juniors in Buffalo is officially a go. Tournament organizers told the Associated Press that tomorrow afternoon’s group stage game will indeed be played at New Era Field, home of the NFL Bills, despite forecasted temperatures of -6C to…

TORONTO — Johnny Manziel has clearance to resume his pro football career in Canada. The CFL announced Thursday it would approve a contract for Manziel should it be negotiated with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who hold Manziel’s rights. In August, the former Heisman Trophy winner worked out for the Ticats, who passed on making him an…

Edmonton Oilers defenceman Kris Russell (left) skates against the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 21. Photograph by: Codie McLachlan The Major League Baseball draft that was the basis for the book Moneyball took place in 2002. The book itself was published the following year, and a year after that came the paperback edition, in which…

The next time someone says that Team Canada is without a star player at this year’s world junior championship, load up Jordan Kyrou’s goal from Wednesday night’s 6-0 win against Slovakia. It was pure magic. The kind of trick you might see in a David Blaine special. One second, Kyrou was cutting to his left…

BUFFALO — Who needs tickets? Apparently, everyone does at this year’s world junior hockey championship. The tournament, which struggled to fill NHL-size venues in Toronto and Montreal last year, is not off to a great start in Buffalo. KeyBank Center, which has a capacity of more than 19,000, was about half full during Canada’s 4-2…

BUFFALO — When he left Sweden earlier this month, Elias Pettersson was leading the SHL with 35 points in 26 games. He’s scoring at a rate unseen since the days of Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund. And yet, Team Sweden head coach Tomas Monten wasn’t sure that the Vancouver Canucks prospect would be able to…