Biggest sports takeaways from 2025

The new year is upon us! 2026 is here and there’s so much to look forward to. But it’s still as good a time as any to reflect on the last 360-some-odd days and highlight some notable sports moments.

I should say before going further that this will include both highlights and quite the opposite (lowdarks? Come back to me on that one).

Perhaps the highlight for most hockey fans was the Four Nations tournament. That saw Canada defeat the USA in a thrilling OT final game. I remember making a joke abut seeing both Auston Matthews and Brad Marchand play a game in Boston and cheering for the “wrong” player. Funny stuff.

Rewnding a bit before that, the 2025 World Junior Chapionships saw the USA win gold in Ottawa so I guess it’s a tit-for-tat situation. Canada takes on Slovakia tonight in the quarterfinals, with the winner playing the winner of USA / Finland. Something tells me another 49th parallel showdown is nearing us.

From January 4-12, 2025, Finland hosted the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship. You guessed it! The final was another Canada-USA tilt, with Canada winning 3-0.

Also in January, the inaugural Kho Kho World Cup took place, with India beating Nepal in both the men’s and women’s finals. I also just now learned what Kho Kho is. It looks like a hoot and a half!

On January 20th, in college football, the Ohio State Buckeyes beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to win the 202 National Championship.

From February 6-8, Whistler, British Columbia hosted the FIL World Luge Championships. Germany dominated the event, scoring 12 medals and lapping 2nd place Austria (five medals). Canada earned a bronze in the team relay, the only medal for the host nation.

February 9th was a great day. My Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LIX, a 2023 rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs. The win silenced Jalen Hurts’ doubters as he won Super Bowl MVP. The Eagles also spoiled the Chiefs’ hopes of three-peating as NFL champions. I still love Andy Reid, though.

As mentioned earlier, February 20th was the Four Nations final in Boston, which Canada won. I bring it up again not to gloat but to remind everyone that notable NHL stars like Nikita Kucherov (Russia) and Leon Draisaitl (Germany) were not involved. With the Olympics next month, there’s a chance we see Draisaitl add more to his highlight reel. His Edmonton Oilers teammate Connor McDavid will be the main focal point of Team Canada’s offense.

March 9th saw India defeat New Zealand in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy. The tournament was held in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. The final was a bit of a nail-biter as India scored three more runs in one less over, securing a four-wicket victory. This was India’s third win after 2002 and 2013.

On March 16th, Rory McIlroy defeated J.J. Spaun in a playoff to win the 2025 Players Championship.

Mid-March also had India winning both the men’s and women’s 2025 Kabaddi World Cup. If you’re unfamiliar with this sport, lok up some highlights. It looks really fun and challenging. I’d like to try it some day, if my back would let me.

As is custom, March Madness was filled with upsets and crazy highlights. The Florida Gators won the men’s Division I basketball championship, while the dominant UConn Huskies took home the women’s Division I title.

If you’re unaware of Sepak Takraw, imagine a badminton court, a small ball, and players are only allowed to use their feet. India hosted the 202 ISTAF World up, with Thailand winning three out of six events. India, Myanmar, and Vietnam won one each.

Early April had Saskatchewan host the 2025 World Men’s Curling Championship. After defeating Canada 7-4 in the semifinal, Scotland carried that momentum to defeat Switzerland 5-4 in the final. Canada defeated China 11-2 in th Bronze medal game.

Another installment of Canada-USA hockey occured near the end of April. The 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championships concluded with the USA beating Canada in a 4-3 OT thriller.

May 3rd saw Canada win more hockey, as the 2025 IIHF World U18 Championships came around. As the top two teams in the tournament, Canada and the USA avoided each other in the same bracket, potentially setting up another 49th parallel final. It was not meant to be this time around, as the Americans lost 4-3 to Sweden in the semifinal. Canada defeated Sweden 7-0 in the gold medal game.

In June, J.J. Spaun earned a win of his own, taking home the 2025 US Open. Rory McIlroy finished tied for 19th this time around.

As Montrealers know, June is F1 Grand Prix time. The 10th installment of the F1 season, British driver George Russell (team Mercedes) took home top prize with Italian teammate Kimi Antonelli finishing third. Seemingly always the favorite, Dutchman Max Verstappen of Red Bull finished second.

Sometimes thought of as a “lull” in sports, July was anything but. Among many sports and championships taking place around the world, the Three Lions earned a top prize as England’s women’s football (soccer) team defeated Spain by penalty kicks to take home the 2025 UEFA Women’s Euro trophy.

Not to be outdone by his peers another time, Scottie Scheffler won the 2025 Open Championship on the 20th.

In August, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and Pole Iga Swiatek took home the 2025 Cincinatti Open Men’s and Women’s Championships, respectively.

In lacrosse, Canada earned top prize in the 2025 World Lacrosse Men’s U20 Championship in South Korea. Canada edged out the USA 6-5 in the final. Name a sport. anada and the USA likely have at least SOME history together.

In North America, (at least judging by Wikipedia’s 2025 in sports page) there seems to be a bit of a drop in sports activity in September. Of course, MLB is still on at that time. But the NFL season also gets underway and September was fun because the Eagles looked to defend their Super Bowl title. Any Birds fan will tell you, though. This season’s been a weird one for sure.

October saw South Africa sweep both Men’s and Women’s Hockey Africa Cup of Nations tournaments. They defeated Egypt in the Men’s final and Ghana in the Women’s.

Also in October, the Toronto Blue Jays made a run to the World Series. Ending in the first couple of days of November, the series went the distance (and then some) as the Blue Jays lost a heartbreaker in extra innings at home. Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers had met their match, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto made sure the home team would come away defeated. That was a rough night for us Torontonians.

As Canadians are (or should be) well aware, November is Grey Cup season. The 112th Grey Cup was played in Winnipeg and the Saskatchewan Roughriders defeated the Montreal Alouettes 25-17, with QB Trevor Harris winning MVP honors. The Most Valuable Canadian of the game was WR Samuel Emilus (originally from MTL), also from the Roughriders. What a way to stick it to your hometown team, eh?

December 6th saw Inter Miami and Lionel Messi win the MLS Cup after defeating Thomas Muller and Vancouver 3-1 in the final. Messi won the MVP after assisting two of Miami’s goals. I wonder how big his trophy case is at this point.

I put all these here and summed them up for one simple reason.

If you love sports like I do, there’s no such thing as an “off-season”. That also applies to professional wrestling!

I hope you learned something cool about sports from this post. I sure learned a lot in putting it together.

Happy new year!