LOCAL SPORTS
The Antigonish Junior B Bulldogs won the first game of the NS Junior League Final, defeating the Capstone Colts 4-1 at the Antigonish Arena. Game 2 will be in Shearwater tomorrow afternoon at 3.
At the U15 AA Championships in Dominion, the Antigonish Bulldogs split their two games, losing 3-1 to the TASA Ducks before shutting down the South Shore 6-0. The bulldogs can finish the round robin at 2-2 with a victory over Glace Bay this morning – game time is 10 am.
It’s Game Four of the Rural League Final tonight at the Antigonish Arena. Heatherton leads St. Croix 2-1 in the series. Puck drops at 7.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored goals No. 100 and 101 in a 5-1 win over Czechia at the I-I-H-F World Women’s World Championship. Poulin says she is honoured to join Hayley Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford and Danielle Goyette in the century club.
Bo Bichette’s three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning powered the visiting Toronto Blue Jays past the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 in the home opener for the California squad. Pitcher Chris Bassitt, who struggled in the first inning for the Blue Jays, found his groove in the second and ended up working six innings of two-hit, five strikeout ball to get his first win of the season. The Jays have won four straight and are now 5-and-3.
Isaac Paredes hit a grand slam during Tampa Bay’s six-run second inning, and Rays beat the visiting Oakland Athletics 9-5 on Friday night to extend their season-opening win streak to seven games. The Rays are the first major league team to win each of their first seven games by four or more runs since the 1884 St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association. The Maroons’ season-opening stretch went 13 games. Harold Ramirez, Manuel Margot, Christian Bethancourt and Wander Franco also homered for Tampa Bay.
It was a real Good Friday for Brad Gushue’s Team Canada crew and their vocal fans at the world men’s curling championship in Ottawa. Gushue beat Turkey 9-5 and Sweden 8-5 to finish the round-robin portion of the 13-country event in fourth place with a 9-and-3 record. Canada and Sweden will square off again Saturday in a qualification game. The winner advances to the semifinals. Top-seeded Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland and Number-2 seed Bruce Mouat of Scotland earned direct berths to the semis.
Sam Hauser scored a career-high 26 points and the Boston Celtics easily cruised past Toronto to a 121-102 victory. Jayson Tatum finished with 21 points and sat out the entire second half as the Celtics posted a 4-0 sweep in the season series. Pascal Siakam led Toronto with 19 points. With the loss, the ninth-place Raptors will host the 10th-place Chicago Bulls on Wednesday in an N-B-A play-in game.
Brooks Koepka is a force in the majors again. He played bogey-free in the Masters for a 67 on Friday and leads by four shots over players who finished before storms arrived and cut the day’s action short. The wind toppled three pine trees near the 17th tee where spectators were standing. Augusta National says no one was hurt. Koepka leads by four over U-S Amateur champion Sam Bennett. Jon Rahm was three strokes behind with nine holes to play. Tiger Woods is hovering around the cut line.
Rory McIlroy’s bid to complete a career grand slam will have to wait yet another year as the world’s Number 2 player is almost certain to miss the cut at the Masters for the second time in three years. McIlroy needs a win at Augusta National to become only the sixth golfer in history to win all four majors. He struggled mightily on Friday shooting 77 to leave him at 5-over par through 36 holes and three shots behind the projected cut.
Friday’s Scoreboard
Women’s World Hockey Championship
Canada 5 Czechia 1
United States 9 Switzerland 1
Finland 3 Germany 0
MLB
Interleague
Chicago Cubs 2 Texas 0
Pittsburgh 13 Chicago White Sox 9
Kansas City 3 San Francisco 1
American League
Toronto 4 L.A. Angels 3
Baltimore 7 N.Y. Yankees 6
Minnesota 3 Houston 2
Seattle 5 Cleveland 3
Tampa Bay 9 Oakland 5
National League
N.Y. Mets 9 Miami 3
Philadelphia 5 Cincinnati 2
San Diego 5 Atlanta 4
Milwaukee 4 St. Louis 0
Washington 10 Colorado 5
Arizona 6 L.A. Dodgers 3
NBA
Boston 121 Toronto 102
Detroit 122 Indiana 115
Houston 112 Charlotte 109
Washington 114 Miami 108
Brooklyn 101 Orlando 84
Philadelphia 136 Atlanta 131 (OT)
Memphis 137 Milwaukee 114
New Orleans 113 New York 105
Chicago 115 Dallas 112
Golden State 119 Sacramento 97
L.A. Lakers 121 Phoenix 107
Saturday’s Games (All Times Eastern)
Women’s World Hockey Championship
Sweden vs. Hungary, 11 a.m.
Canada vs. Japan, 7 p.m.
NHL
Carolina at Buffalo, 12:30 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Detroit, 1 p.m.
Vegas at Dallas, 3:30 p.m.
Edmonton at San Jose, 4 p.m.
Anaheim at Arizona, 5:30 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Ottawa, 7 p.m.
Montreal at Toronto, 7 p.m.
Nashville at Winnipeg, 7 p.m.
N.Y. Rangers at Columbus, 7 p.m.
Florida at Washington, 7 p.m.
Philadelphia at N.Y. Islanders, 7:30 p.m.
St. Louis at Minnesota, 8 p.m.
New Jersey at Boston, 8 p.m.
Calgary at Vancouver, 10 p.m.
Chicago at Seattle, 10 p.m.
Colorado at Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m.
MLB
Interleague
Kansas City (Singer 1-0) at San Francisco (Stripling 0-1), 4:05 p.m.
Texas (Perez 1-0) at Chicago Cubs (Steele 0-0), 4:05 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (Clevinger 1-0) at Pittsburgh (Velasquez 0-1), 6:35 p.m.
American League
Houston (Garcia 0-1) at Minnesota (Ryan 1-0), 2:10 p.m.
Boston (Houck 1-0) at Detroit (Wentz 0-1), 4:10 p.m.
Oakland (Fujinami 0-1) at Tampa Bay (Springs 1-0), 4:10 p.m.
Seattle (Gonzales 0-0) at Cleveland (Quantrill 0-0), 6:10 p.m.
N.Y. Yankees (Cortes 1-0) at Baltimore (Irvin 0-1), 7:05 p.m.
Toronto (Berrios 0-1) at L.A. Angels (Anderson 1-0), 9:07 p.m.
National League
Cincinnati (Lodolo 1-0) at Philadelphia (Falter 0-1), 4:05 p.m.
Miami (Rogers 0-1) at N.Y. Mets (Senga 1-0), 4:10 p.m.
St. Louis (Montgomery 1-0) at Milwaukee (Lauer 1-0), 7:10 p.m.
San Diego (Wacha 1-0) at Atlanta (Morton 1-0), 7:20 p.m.
Washington (Williams 0-1) at Colorado (Gomber 0-1), 8:10 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers (Syndergaard 0-0) at Arizona (Davies 0-0), 8:10 p.m.
NBA
Denver at Utah, 3:30 p.m.
Portland at L.A. Clippers, 4 p.m.
Minnesota at San Antonio, 4 p.m.
MLS
Philadelphia at Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m.
Columbus at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m.
Austin FC at Los Angeles FC, 7:30 p.m.
FC Dallas at Miami, 7:30 p.m.
CF Montreal at New England, 7:30 p.m.
San Jose at New York, 7:30 p.m.
Atlanta at New York City FC, 7:30 p.m.
Minnesota at Chicago, 8:30 p.m.
LA Galaxy at Houston, 8:30 p.m.
Colorado at Sporting Kansas City, 8:30 p.m.
Toronto FC at Nashville, 8:30 p.m.
Charlotte FC at Real Salt Lake, 9:30 p.m.
Saint Louis City SC at Seattle, 10:30 p.m.
Portland at Vancouver, 10:30 p.m.