LOCAL SPORTS
AUS: In Women’s Rugby, with both teams nationally ranked heading into the match (STFX at No. 7 and Acadia No. 8), plus both undefeated in conference play, there was a playoff type atmosphere. Acadia came back from a 12-0 deficit to defeat the X-Women 20-12.
In Halifax, the X-Men soccer team remain undefeated as they played to a 2-1 victory over the Dalhousie Tigers at Wanderers Grounds. With the win, the X-Men have a record so far of 3 wins and 2 draws. The Tigers were back and forth with the X-Women, finishing with a 2-1 victory. St. FX is 3-2-0 and is one point ahead of Dalhousie in the standings. St. FX teams are in Wolfville today to take on Acadia: the women at 1 pm, then the men at 3:15.
It was a sweep at the St. FX Cross Country Invitational as both the X-Women and X-Men ran to first place team titles on their own university trails. The X-Women garnered the top spot in the 8K race with five runners in the top ten. Mairin Canning finished second, followed closely by teammate Allie Sandluck. Caroline Ash and Eileen Benoit finished tied in fifth place. Also placing in the top 10 for the X-Women was Caden Lee in eighth. On the men’s side, St. FX was also top team, nabbing six of the top ten finishes. Joel Gallant came in second, while his teammates Liam McCullagh and Griffin Gamble tied for third place. Luke MacDonald and Brett King came fourth and fifth respectively, with Conlan MacKenzie finishing eighth. The next race on the schedule is the Moncton Invitational on Saturday, October 5th.
Junior B: It was a hard-fought match in Membertou, as the Junior Miners defeated the Pictou County Scotians 5-4 in Overtime. Tonight, the Scotians host the Valley Maple Leafs at 6:30 at the Wellness Centre, while the Antigonish Bulldogs have their home opener at the Arena versus the Strait Pirates at 7:30.
Maritime League: The Pictou County Weeks Crushers doubled the Bearcats 6-3 in Truro.
U15: In pre-season action at the Antigonish Arena, the Novas edged out the Bearcats 3-2.
U16 AAA: The Cabot Highlanders opened their season with a 4-3 loss to the Eastern Dukes in Port Hawkesbury. Today, the Highlanders host the Rebels at 12:30 at the Civic Centre.
U18 Major: Both the Weeks Majors and the CB West Islanders have records of 2-1, as Weeks were shut out 3-0 by the Halifax Macs, while the Islanders trounced Cole Harbour 9-4. The Islanders & Hunters tangle again in Port Hood at 12:30, while the Weeks Majors are in Dartmouth to play Steele Subaru at 1:15.
Maritime Major Female League: The Northern Subway Selects take their first loss of the season, 5-2 at the hands of the Stars. The teams meet again at 10:50 am in Charlottetown.
In the East Coast International Pro Stock tour, Ashton Tucker won the Tirecraft 200 at Scotia Speedworld. It’s Tucker’s first win of the season. Greg Proude, who celebrated his 200th start on the Series, led the most laps but had to settle for second. Russell Smith Jr. was at the front of the pack all night and took home another podium finish. Championship contenders Austin MacDonald of Pictou and Jarrett Butcher finished fourth and fifth respectively. Danny Chisholm was eighth, with Ryan VanOirschot finishing eleventh in the 17 car field. In Street Stocks, Dennis Nickerson of Marshy Hope finished second behind Mitchell Arsenault in the 75-lap feature. The tour returns October 5 at Petty International Raceway, and concludes at Riverside October 12.
NATIONAL SPORTS
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers regained first place in the C-F-L’s tight West Division with a 27-13 victory over the host Edmonton Elks. Running back Brady Oliveira had two touchdowns for the visitors. In Ottawa, the Montreal Alouettes clinched a home playoff date with a 24-12 win over the Redblacks. The Alouettes posted their league-leading 11th victory.
Jesper Wallstedt stopped 38 of 40 shots as the visiting Minnesota Wild defeated the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 in N-H-L pre-season action. Ben Jones, Jakub Lauko, Graeme Clarke, Daemon Hunt and Caeden Bankier scored for Minnesota. Colby Barlow and Colin Miller replied for Winnipeg. The Jets visit the Edmonton Oilers today.
The Cleveland Guardians have clinched their second A-L Central championship in three years. They wrapped it up when the second-place Kansas City Royals lost 9-0 to the San Francisco Giants. The Guardians lost 6-5 to the Cardinals in St. Louis. It is Cleveland’s 12th division crown, all coming in the A-L Central since 1995.
Jonathan Aranda homered, helping Taj Bradley and the Tampa Bay Rays edge the visiting Toronto Blue Jays 3-2. Aranda connected for a two-run shot in the third inning against Yariel Rodríguez, giving Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead. Alejandro (al-uh-HAWN’-droh) Kirk extended his career-high hitting streak to 14 games with an R-B-I triple for Toronto. It was the catcher’s first career three-base hit.
Second-half goals by Reggie Cannon and Djordje Mihailovic lifted the Colorado Rapids to a 2-0 win over visiting Toronto F-C. In Montreal, Josef Martinez and Caden Clark each scored as the hosts defeated the Chicago Fire 2-0. And in Los Angeles, the Vancouver Whitecaps dropped a 4-2 decision to the surging Galaxy. Brian White scored for the Whitecaps. The other marker was an own goal.
The W-N-B-A playoffs tip off today with all four first-round series starting. This is the third straight post-season the league will use a best-of-three format in the opening round, with the higher seed hosting the first two games. A decisive third game would be played at the home of the lower seed. Many players and coaches aren’t thrilled with the format now that the league provides teams with charter flights.
Saturday’s Scoreboard
CFL
Montreal 24 Ottawa 12
Winnipeg 27 Edmonton 13
MLB
American League
Tampa Bay 3 Toronto 2
Detroit 6 Baltimore 4 (10 innings)
N.Y. Yankees 10 Oakland 0
Houston 10 L.A. Angels 4
Seattle 8 Texas 4
Minnesota at Boston, ppd.
National League
Cincinnati 7 Pittsburgh 1
Washington 5 Chicago Cubs 1
Atlanta 6 Miami 2
N.Y. Mets 6 Philadelphia 3
Arizona 5 Milwaukee 0
Colorado 6 L.A. Dodgers 3
Interleague
San Diego 6 Chicago White Sox 2
San Francisco 9 Kansas City 0
St. Louis 6 Cleveland 5
NHL Pre-Season
Minnesota 5 Winnipeg 2
Buffalo 7 Pittsburgh 3
Dallas 2 St. Louis 1
MLS
CF Montreal 2 Chicago 0
Colorado 2 Toronto FC 0
LA Galaxy 4 Vancouver 2
Miami 1 New York City FC 1
Charlotte FC 4 New England 0
Columbus 4 Orlando City 3
Atlanta 2 New York 2
Houston 1 Austin FC 0
FC Dallas 3 Los Angeles FC 1
Cincinnati 2 Nashville 2
Minnesota 2 Sporting Kansas City 0
Portland 3 Real Salt Lake 3
St Louis City 2 San Jose 1
Sunday’s Games (All times Eastern)
NFL
Chicago at Indianapolis, 1 p.m.
Denver at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m.
Green Bay at Tennessee, 1 p.m.
Houston at Minnesota, 1 p.m.
L.A. Chargers at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m.
N.Y. Giants at Cleveland, 1 p.m.
Philadelphia at New Orleans, 1 p.m.
Carolina at Las Vegas, 4:05 p.m.
Miami at Seattle, 4:05 p.m.
Baltimore at Dallas, 4:25 p.m.
Detroit at Arizona, 4:25 p.m.
San Francisco at L.A. Rams, 4:25 p.m.
Kansas City at Atlanta, 8:20 p.m.
MLB
American League
Detroit (TBD) at Baltimore (Suárez 8-6), 1:35 p.m.
Minnesota (Lopez 15-8) at Boston (Pivetta 5-11), 12:35 p.m., game 1
Toronto (TBD) at Tampa Bay (Baz 3-3), 1:40 p.m.
L.A. Angels (Canning 6-13) at Houston (Arrighetti 7-13), 2:10 p.m.
Seattle (Woo 8-3) at Texas (Heaney 5-14), 2:35 p.m.
N.Y. Yankees (Gil 14-6) at Oakland (Estes 7-8), 4:07 p.m.
Minnesota (Matthews 1-3) at Boston (Crawford 8-15), 5:35 p.m., game 2
National League
Pittsburgh (Skenes 10-3) at Cincinnati (Greene 9-4), 1:10 p.m.
Atlanta (Holmes 2-1) at Miami (McCaughan 0-0), 1:40 p.m.
Arizona (Montgomery 8-7) at Milwaukee (Montas 7-11), 2:10 p.m.
Washington (Irvin 10-12) at Chicago Cubs (Imanaga 14-3), 2:20 p.m.
Colorado (Senzatela 0-0) at L.A. Dodgers (Yamamoto 6-2), 4:10 p.m.
Philadelphia (Wheeler 16-6) at N.Y. Mets (Megill 4-5), 7:15 p.m.
Interleague
San Francisco (Snell 4-3) at Kansas City (Lugo 16-8), 2:10 p.m.
Cleveland (Williams 3-10) at St. Louis (Pallante 7-8), 2:15 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (Burke 1-0) at San Diego (Darvish 6-3), 4:10 p.m.
NHL Pre-season
Nashville at Florida, 2 p.m.
Philadelphia at Washington, 3 p.m.
N.Y. Rangers at Boston, 5 p.m.
Nashville at Florida, 6 p.m.
Winnipeg at Edmonton, 6 p.m.
N.Y. Islanders at New Jersey, 7 p.m.
Ottawa at Toronto, 7 p.m.
St. Louis vs. Utah at Wells Fargo Arena, 7 p.m.
Vegas at San Jose, 8 p.m.
Calgary at Seattle, 10 p.m.
MLS
D.C. United at Philadelphia, 6:15 p.m.
WNBA Playoffs – First Round
Atlanta at New York, 1 p.m.
Indiana at Connecticut, 3 p.m.
Phoenix at Minnesota, 5 p.m.
Seattle at Las Vegas, 10 p.m.