University Sports:
The top-ranked X-Men Basketball team defeated the Cape Breton Capers 94-68 Saturday afternoon in the first AUS semifinal, punching their ticket to this afternoon’s championship. The X-Men were led by Subway player of the game and AUS second team all-star Dondre Reddick, who scored 25 points and added seven rebounds. David Muenkat finished with a double-double for St. FX, scoring 21 and hauling in 14 rebounds. The X-Men will face the UPEI Panthers for the AUS title at 4 pm in the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
The St. FX track team competed at the Subway AUS Championship at the Irving Oil Field House on Friday and Saturday, and are returning to campus with 10 medals including two gold, three silver and five bronze.
Caroline Ash was named AUS female rookie of the year as she won individual gold and silver medals, along with a relay bronze. Mairin Canning, Caden Lee and Brynn Hebert were also on the 4x400m squad that narrowly missed the silver medal position. The X-Women 4x800m relay team claimed the silver medal in Friday’s competition. Team members included Natasha Chojnacki, Maya Black, Taylor Rasmussen and Hebert with a finishing time of 9:39.01.
AUS cross country champion Allie Sandluck claimed another title as she won the 3000m race, losing the lead, and regaining it with just 400m to go to cross the finish line first at 9:58.01 and claim gold. Sandluck also won a bronze medal in the 1500m race. Rounding out the seven AUS medals on the women’s side was Brynn Hebert who won bronze in the 1000m race.
Veteran X-Men runner Jacob Benoit shaved 11 seconds off his personal best time in the 3000m as he won the silver medal with a time of 8:19.63. The X-Men also won a pair of bronze medals in both the 4x400m and 4x800m relay races. The 4x400m team of Adrian Brennan, Tyler Baker, Liam Patterson and Jack Wierzbicki crossed the line at 3:30.45, while the 4x800m team of Baker, Owen Flemming, Patterson and Wierzbicki clocked in at 8:07.58.
The top qualifiers from all events advance to the U SPORTS championship being hosted by the University of Saskatchewan March 9-11.
NS Junior: The Pictou County Scotians fell 3-1 to the Eagles in Eskasoni. The regular season is coming to its conclusion with a couple of games – the Bulldogs are in Springhill to play the Blues at 2 pm, and tonight the Scotians host the Strait Pirates at 6 pm in Trenton.
Maritime Junior: The Crushers lost 5-3 to Edmundston. Their road trip continues with a visit to Grand Falls to play the Rapids at 3.
U15: The Novas were swamped 8-1 at the Antigonish Arena by the New Scotland Storm. The Bombers are in action at the Wellness Centre hosting the Wildcats at 11:30 am.
U16AAA: The Cabot Highlanders face the CB Jets in Membertou at 12:30.
Rural League: Their best-of-7 playoff series began last night: St Croix took the opener 6-2 over the Outlaws, then Heatherton defeated Pleasantdale 5-4.
High School Hockey: The Dr. John Hugh Gillis Regional Royals lost 2-1 in double overtime to the CEC Cougars in Debert. Scoring for the Royals was Owen Juurlink. Ethan Chisholm was in goal. The boys play their last home game of the season tomorrow night at 6:30 at the Antigonish Arena versus Glace Bay. If they win, they move on to the provincials in Halifax on the weekend.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg will be in the final at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Kamloops, B-C. The veteran Winnipeg skip defeated Krista McCarville’s Northern Ontario team 8-5 last night in the Page playoff 1 versus 2 game. McCarville will play three-time defending champion Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Manitoba, in the afternoon semifinal. The winner advances to play Jones in tonight’s final for the Canadian women’s curling crown.
The Colorado Avalanche won their fifth game in a row, dismantling the visiting Calgary Flames 4-1 in the process. Nathan MacKinnon, Alex Newhook, Mikko Rantanen and Denis Malgin scored for the Avs. Tyler Toffoli scored for the Flames, who have dropped two straight.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 45 saves for his 30th N-H-L shutout and the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning cooled off the Detroit Red Wings 3-0. Nikita Kucherov reached 699 points with a goal and an assist, Brayden Point also had a goal and an assist and Alex Killorn added an empty-net goal to help the Lightning win for the second time in five games.
The New Jersey Devils honoured their 2003 Stanley Cup championship team before playing the Philadelphia Flyers, and then they went out and played like the N-H-L’s best team. Dawson Mercer scored in his sixth straight game, Akira Schmid made 24 saves in posting his first shutout and the Devils pounded the Flyers 7-0.
Damir Kreilach scored late in the second half to complete a 2-1 come-from-behind victory for Real Salt Lake as the club opened the Major League Soccer season against the Whitecaps in Vancouver. A goal from Javain Brown in the 25th minute gave Vancouver the advantage heading into halftime. But R-S-L scored twice in two minutes, with Justen Glad and Kreilach each finding the back of the net.
Jayson Tatum buried a go-ahead 3-pointer for Boston with 1.3 seconds left, Joel Embiid didn’t get his desperation heave off in time to tie and the Boston Celtics held on to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 110-107 in a battle of NBA Eastern powers. And Ja Morant had 23 points and seven rebounds as the Memphis Grizzlies raced to an early lead and coasted to a 112-94 NBA victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night in a matchup of the Western Conference’s top teams.
Saturday’s Scoreboard
NHL
Colorado 4 Calgary 1
Boston 3 Vancouver 1
Columbus 6 Edmonton 5
Ottawa 5 Montreal 2
Washington 6 N.Y. Rangers 3
Pittsburgh 3 St. Louis 2 (OT)
Anaheim 3 Carolina 2
New Jersey 7 Philadelphia 0
Tampa Bay 3 Detroit 0
Dallas 3 Vegas 2 (SO)
Chicago 4 San Jose 3
NBA
Toronto 95 Detroit 91
Indiana 121 Orlando 108
Charlotte 108 Miami 103
New York 128 New Orleans 106
Memphis 112 Denver 94
Boston 110 Philadelphia 107
Utah 118 San Antonio 102
Major League Soccer
Real Salt Lake 2 Vancouver 1
D.C. United 3 Toronto 2
Miami 2 Montreal 0
Nashville 2 New York City 0
Atlanta 2 San Jose 1
New England 1 Charlotte FC 0
Cincinnati 2 Houston 1
Orlando City 1 NY Red Bulls 0
Philadelphia 4 Columbus 1
St. Louis 3 Austin 2
Minnesota 1 Dallas 0
Sunday’s Schedule (All Times Eastern)
NHL
Washington at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Columbus at Minnesota, 2 p.m.
N.Y. Islanders at Winnipeg, 3 p.m.
Los Angeles at N.Y. Rangers, 5 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.
Nashville at Arizona, 7 p.m.
Toronto at Seattle, 7 p.m.
NBA
Phoenix at Milwaukee, 1 p.m.
Brooklyn at Atlanta, 3 p.m.
L.A. Lakers at Dallas, 3:30 p.m.
Washington at Chicago, 3:30 p.m.
Toronto at Cleveland, 6 p.m.
Sacramento at Oklahoma City, 7 p.m.
Minnesota at Golden State, 7:30 p.m.
Houston at Portland, 9 p.m.
L.A. Clippers at Denver, 10 p.m.
Major League Soccer
Colorado at Seattle, 8 p.m.