These were CTVNews.ca's most popular stories of 2019

TORONTO — At the end of each year, CTVNews.ca crunches the numbers to see which stories our readers clicked on the most. The topics from our top-10 list are typically eclectic and this year’s was no different – a mix of mystery, tragedy, a few public warnings, and controversies that put the institution of hockey under the spotlight.

Here our CTVNews.ca’s most popular stories of 2019, starting at number 10.

10. Death sentence for Canadian in China of extreme concern: PM

When Canadian Robert Schellenberg was sentenced to death in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian back in January, it marked what appeared to be another escalation in the diplomatic tension between Canada and China. Schellenberg, from Abbotsford, B.C., was convicted of being an accessory to a drug-smuggling operation. He has denied all charges and is still awaiting his fate after a Chinese court in May held an appeal hearing in his case, but did not issue a ruling. His sentence came weeks after the RCMP detained Huawei top executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition warrant.

9. Dashboard video captures moment 52-car train derails near Saskatoon

A dashboard camera captured the moment 29 CN train cars loaded with grain derailed at a rural intersection near Saskatoon in January. No one was injured in the incident. The woman who shot the video from a distance, as she sat in her car waiting for the train to pass, told CTV News she was able to feel the impact of the crash, and it was louder than what her recording was able to capture. The Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the cause of the derailment.

8. Ottawa woman badly beaten at Mexican resort

Alexandra ‘Lexie’ York was on a family vacation in Cancun in November when she was beaten severely by another guest at the Grand Bahia Principe Tulum resort. Her brother, Mathew York, told CTV News her injuries were so bad that she required nearly 10 hours of plastic surgery. A fundraiser was set up to cover the Ottawa flight attendant’s ongoing care. Mathew wrote on the fundraising site that the response has been “incredibly heartening and overwhelming.” A suspect was charged in the incident with attempted murder.

7. 'I don't regret a thing': Don Cherry speaks out on his firing and Ron MacLean

Hockey culture has come under scrutiny in these final few months of 2019. Prominent coaches lost their jobs; former players came forward to speak about the bad treatment they suffered at the hands of their coaches. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman promised changes: “Inclusion and diversity are not simply buzz words,” he said on Dec 9. “Our message is unequivocal: We will not tolerate abusive behavior of any kind.” TSN’s senior hockey reporter Frank Seravelli called it hockey’s “moment of reckoning.” But the biggest hockey story of the year was Don Cherry being dismissed after 38 years on the air, for “offensive” and “discriminatory” comments he made during a Nov. 9 segment of Hockey Night in Canada.

6. Careful, Canada! This counterfeit cash could fool you

No matter how many security enhancements are made to Canadian banknotes, it seems counterfeiters find ways to keep their fake bills circulating. One Toronto-area resident learned the lesson the hard way and decided to warn others about his experience. He’s hardly alone in being duped by a counterfeiter. It's become a big enough problem that the central bank had to offer training guides on how to detect counterfeit bills.

5. 32 arrested at Indian call centre that targeted Canadians

Chances are you’ve gotten a phone call purporting to come from either Service Canada, the RCMP or a local courthouse, threatening arrest and imprisonment unless you called back. Unfortunately not everyone hangs up on these scam calls; some even fall victim. When New Delhi police moved in on a call centre they suspected of preying on people on Nov. 17, they say several scam calls were in progress – with associated computer screens displaying Canadian phone numbers. Thirty-two people were arrested and 55 computers were seized that day.

4. Family of 5 returning from Florida vacation killed in wrong way crash

In the early morning hours on Jan. 6, the Abbas family from Michigan was killed in a crash on the I-75 highway as they drove home from a Disney World vacation in Florida. The driver of a pickup truck was travelling in the wrong lanes, striking the family’s SUV and killing all five of them inside. Authorities said the pickup driver, who also died in the crash, had a blood-alcohol level of .306 (anything above 0.08 is illegal). The crash resulted in both state and federal lawmakers working to increase fines and penalties for drunk driving, according to a local report, and to push for installing breathalyzers on new vehicles.

3. World's cutest dog dies of a broken heart

A Pomeranian named Boo with more than 16 million Facebook fans died of a “broken heart” in January, according to the pup’s owners. They believe Boo developed heart issues after his doggy friend Buddy, whom he lived with for 11 years, died in 2017. Boo met and was photographed with celebrities including Anderson Cooper and Seth Rogen, and he even released a book.

2. Election 2019 results and analysis

Our federal election live blog which gave readers real-time election updates, analysis and context throughout the night on October 21, was our second-most popular article of 2019. With nearly 1.1 million page views, it was part of a successful election night that saw a new single-day record for visits on CTVNews.ca.

1. Hunter captures strange howl in northern Ontario woods

A hunter's recording of a spooky howl deep in the northern Ontario woods captured our readers’ imaginations and propelled this story to number one on our list, with 1.2 million page views and more than 26,000 shares on Facebook. Opinions on what creature made the mournful sound ranged from a dying bear to a Sasquatch (according to commenters on the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization Facebook page, which shared a link to our story).