Who's the Canadian team of the year?

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On Monday, basketball star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won the Northern Star Award for Canadian athlete of the year. The Northern Star voters don't pick a team of the year, but The Canadian Press will later this month.

So, who should get it? Here are my top two candidates for Canadian team of the year, plus some other squads worthy of recognition:

Canadian men's basketball team

Led by Gilgeous-Alexander, the squad took Canadian fans on quite the ride at this summer's Basketball World Cup in Asia.

First, they ended decades of frustration by defeating Spain in a Labour Day thriller to clinch Canada's first Olympic men's basketball berth since 2000. Then they earned Canada's first-ever trip to the men's World Cup semifinals by beating NBA star Luka Doncic's Slovenia. After losing to Serbia in the semis, SGA and company rebounded to upset the United States 127-118 in overtime in the bronze game to win Canada's first-ever medal at the men's World Cup or world championship, as it was previously known.

Most of the credit (deservedly) went to Gilgeous-Alexander, who was the best all-around player in a tournament that also featured fellow 2023 NBA All-Stars Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Lauri Markkanen and Doncic. Dillon Brooks played a key role too, scoring a Canadian men's national team record 39 points in the bronze game and supplying his trademark physicality and intensity throughout the tournament. New head coach Jordi Fernandez also passed his first test with flying colours. The Spaniard took over just two months before the World Cup after Nick Nurse quit following his