LOCAL SPORTS
Several local teams are playing in Atlantic tournaments over the weekend.
The Pictou County Weeks Majors are in Fredericton for the Atlantic U18 AAA Hockey Championship. They are 2-and-1 going into today’s action, following a 4-1 victory over the Pinnacle Growlers and a 4-1 loss to the Moncton Flyers on Friday. They play the host Fredericton Caps at Noon.
The Northern Subway Selects remain undefeated at the Atlantic Female U18 AAA Hockey Championship in Membertou, following wins against the Western Flames and the Cape Breton Lynx on Friday. This afternoon at 3, they face the Tripen Ice. The medal games begin at 9 am Sunday.
Port Hawkesbury is the site of the U13 AAA Female Atlantics. The host Whitecaps have a win, a loss and an overtime loss entering today’s action. Their final game of the round robin is at Noon at the Civic Centre against the Fury. Medal games begin tomorrow at 9 am.
The Pictou County Crushers are 3-0 at the U13 AAA Hockey Championship in Paradise, Newfoundland. On Friday, they dominated the Mid-Isle Matrix, pouring in 10 goals in the first period alone on the way to a 14-0 shutout. Their final round robin game is at 9 this morning against the North West Bulls. Medal games begin at 8 am tomorrow.
This weekend are Hockey Nova Scotia’s Day of Champions, as 18 teams compete for gold in Truro. Several local teams are involved:
U11AA – Cape Breton West Islanders vs. Western Valley Spartans, 1 pm today
U11A – Antigonish Bulldogs vs. Yarmouth County, 11 am today
U18A – Cape Breton West Islanders vs. Bedford Blue, 3 pm Sunday
Rural League: Heatherton defeated St. Croix 3-1 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 final. Game 4 goes next Saturday night at 7.
Tonight at the Arena, it’s the Celebrity Hockey game in support of Hockey Gives Blood. Game starts at 5 pm.
In the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League, the Antigonish Junior B Bulldogs are waiting to play the winner of the Fred Fox division finals for the league championship. The Capstone Colts lead Liverpool 3-2, with Game 6 in Liverpool tonight.
NATIONAL SPORTS
The Winnipeg Jets broke out of an offensive funk as they defeated the visiting Detroit Red Wings 6-2. Mark Scheifele set an N-H-L high with his 39th goal of the season, and netminder Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves as the Jets moved within three points of the idle Seattle Kraken for the first wild-card berth.
Tyler Toffoli’s second goal of the game, scored at 3:27 of overtime, gave the Calgary Flames an important 5-4 win over the Vancouver Canucks. Blake Coleman, Troy Stecher and Jonathan Huberdeau also scored for the Flames, who remain two points back of the Winnipeg Jets for the final wild-card playoff berth in the Western Conference. Conor Garland, Elias Pettersson, Aidan McDonough and Anthony Beauvillier scored for the Canucks.
Caitlin Clark had another sensational game with 41 points to help Iowa spoil South Carolina’s perfect season with a 77-73 victory in the Final Four. The spectacular junior guard set a record for the highest-scoring semifinal game and became the first women’s player to post back-to-back 40-point games in the N-C-A-A Tournament. They’ll have to beat another S-E-C team to win the championship as Iowa will face L-S-U in the title game on Sunday afternoon after the Tigers beat Virginia Tech 79-72 in the other national semifinal.
Anthony Davis scored 17 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter and had 17 rebounds to lift the Los Angeles Lakers past Minnesota 123-111 and leapfrog the Timberwolves in the crowded N-B-A Western Conference playoff race. LeBron James added 18 points and 10 rebounds and D’Angelo Russell had 12 points and 10 assists against his former team as the Lakers won for the fifth time in six games to move into seventh place.
The N-B-A will have labour peace – for at least seven more years. The league and its players came to an agreement early today on a new collective bargaining agreement that would keep the balls bouncing through the 2028-29 season. It is at that point that either side can opt out, otherwise the new deal will last through 2029-30.
Friday’s Scoreboard
NHL
Calgary 5 Vancouver 4 (OT)
Winnipeg 6 Detroit 2
Buffalo 3 N.Y. Rangers 2 (OT)
Dallas 5 Arizona 2
MLB
American League
Houston 6 Chicago White Sox 3
Cleveland 9 Seattle 4
National League
Miami 2 N.Y. Mets 1
Colorado 4 San Diego 1
Arizona 2 at L.A. Dodgers 1
NBA
Philadelphia 117 Toronto 110
Chicago 121 Charlotte 91
Indiana 121 Oklahoma City 117
Orlando 116 Washington 109
Brooklyn 124 Atlanta 107
New York 130 Cleveland 116
Boston 122 Utah 114
Houston 121 Detroit 115
Memphis 108 L.A. Clippers 94
L.A. Lakers 123 Minnesota 111
Sacramento 138 Portland 114
Golden State 130 San Antonio 115
Phoenix 100 Denver 93
NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Final Four
LSU 79 Virginia Tech 72
Iowa 77 South Carolina 73
Saturday’s Games (All times Eastern)
NHL
St. Louis at Nashville, 1 p.m.
Boston at Pittsburgh, 3 p.m.
Carolina at Montreal, 7 p.m.
Toronto at Ottawa, 7 p.m.
Buffalo at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.
Florida at Columbus, 7 p.m.
N.Y. Islanders at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m.
New Jersey at Chicago, 8 p.m.
Dallas at Colorado, 9 p.m.
Anaheim at Edmonton, 10 p.m.
Los Angeles at Seattle, 10 p.m.
Minnesota at Vegas, 10 p.m.
San Jose at Arizona, 10 p.m.
MLB
Interleague
Toronto (Gausman 0-0) at St. Louis (Flaherty 0-0), 2:15 p.m.
Philadelphia (Wheeler 0-0) at Texas (Eovaldi 0-0), 4:05 p.m.
San Francisco (Cobb 0-0) at N.Y. Yankees (Schmidt 0-0), 4:05 p.m.
American League
Chicago White Sox (Giolito 0-0) at Houston (Urquidy 0-0), 2:10 p.m.
L.A. Angels (Sandoval 0-0) at Oakland (Fujinami 0-0), 4:07 p.m.
Baltimore (Kremer 0-0) at Boston (Sale 0-0), 4:10 p.m.
Detroit (Turnbull 0-0) at Tampa Bay (Eflin 0-0), 4:10 p.m.
Minnesota (Gray 0-0) at Kansas City (Lyles 0-0), 4:10 p.m.
Cleveland (Civale 0-0) at Seattle (Gilbert 0-0), 9:40 p.m.
National League
Milwaukee (Woodruff 0-0) at Chicago Cubs (Steele 0-0), 2:20 p.m.
Atlanta (Strider 0-0) at Washington (Gray 0-0), 4:05 p.m.
N.Y. Mets (Verlander 0-0) at Miami (Cabrera 0-0), 4:10 p.m.
Pittsburgh (Hill 0-0) at Cincinnati (Lodolo 0-0), 4:10 p.m.
Colorado (Urena 0-0) at San Diego (Wacha 0-0), 8:40 p.m.
Arizona (Bumgarner 0-0) at L.A. Dodgers (Kershaw 0-0), 9:10 p.m.
NBA
Dallas at Miami, 7:30 p.m.
L.A. Clippers at New Orleans, 8:30 p.m.
NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Final Four at Houston
San Diego St. vs. FAU, 6:09 p.m.
UConn vs. Miami, 8:49 p.m.