LOCAL SPORTS
AUS: In Basketball, the X-Women defeated the Dalhousie Tigers 70-63 at the Dalplex. Dalhousie’s season concluded with the loss and STFX will play one more regular season game at home, tonight against Cape Breton at 6. On the men’s side, Dalhousie defeated the X-Men 100-79. Dondre Reddick surpassed the 1000 career regular season point plateau with his 19 points in the game. Dalhousie have closed out regular season play, and are currently in a three-way tie for first place with STFX and Saint Mary’s. The X-Men host Cape Breton tonight at 8 on Coach K Court.
Atlantic University Sport announced their awards for men’s and women’s hockey on Friday. The X-Men were represented on all of the All-Star teams, with forward Matthew Struthers named to the first team, forward Jacob Hudson on the second team, and defenceman Charlie Callaghan making it on the All-Rookie team. X-Woman forward Ireland McCloskey was named both Rookie of the Year and Most Sportsmanlike Player. Forward Maggie Burbidge was named to the second All-Star Team, while defensive player Mackenzie Lothian joined McCloskey on the All-Rookie team.
The X-Men hockey team are in Wolfville tonight to face Acadia. Game time is 7 pm.
The Antigonish U11 Bulldogs are hosting the Winter Classic Tournament this weekend. In Action on Friday, Team White defeated Sackville 5-3, while Team Black shutout the CB West Islanders 5-0. Other winners on Friday were the Dartmouth Whalers and the Halifax Hawks. Play continues this morning with Halifax vs Sackville at the Arena at 8:30 am. The Bulldogs have four games on the schedule, with Team Black facing Bedford at 9:30 at the Keating Centre Auxiliary Rink, then against Dartmouth at 5:30 at the Arena. Team White has a morning match at 10 versus Truro, and then versus Halifax at 1 pm. Both games are at the Arena.
NS Junior: In Friday’s games, the Pictou County Scotians edged out the Bulldogs 3-2, while the Strait Pirates thumped the Miners 5-1. Tonight, it’s the Bulldogs’ turn to play the Miners in Membertou – puck drops at 7:30.
U18: On Friday, the Weeks Majors doubled the Mustangs 6-3.
U15: This afternoon, it’s the Wearwell Bombers vs the Wolverines at 1 at the Wellness Centre, then at 4 the Novas are on the road versus the Western Hurricanes.
U16 AAA: Tonight the Cabot Highlanders take on the Voyageurs in Cole Harbour. Game time is 7 pm.
Maritime Major Female League: It’s the first round of the playoffs, as the Northern Subway Selects play Game 1 versus the Cape Breton Lynx at the Hector Arena in Pictou at 4.
Game 4 of the Rural League semi-finals go tonight at the Arena. The Heatherton Warriors play the County Outlaws at 7 (Heatherton leads 2-1) and the Pleasantdale Panthers play the St. Croix Angels at 8:30 (Pleasantdale leads 2-1).
The Dr. J.H. Gillis Royals curling team are competing in the regional championships today at Highlander Curling Club in St. Andrews. Their first match is against CEC at 10:20 this morning, followed by Guysborough at 12:40 then Pugwash at 2:25.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Kristen Campbell made 30 saves in front of a record crowd of 19,285 fans at Scotiabank Arena to help Toronto beat Montreal 3-0 in the Professional Women’s Hockey League. Coined as the Battle on Bay Street, the game broke the attendance record for women’s hockey of 18,013 set at the 2013 world championships in Ottawa for a preliminary round game between Canada and Finland.
Jordan Martinook scored 16 seconds into the game, Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 30 shots and the Carolina Hurricanes blew past the Arizona Coyotes 5-1. The Hurricanes jumped on Arizona with two goals in the opening five minutes and kept up the pressure to win for the sixth time in eight games.
Team Canada skip Kerri Einarson opened her bid for a record fifth straight Canadian women’s curling championship with an 8-2 victory over Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges, but minus lead Briane Harris – whose absence went unexplained. Neither Einarson nor Curling Canada explained why Harris was abruptly deemed ineligible to compete at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary just hours before the opening draw. Einarson refused to answer questions about it, saying “I’m not at liberty to talk about that right now”.
Indiana guard and Montreal native Bennedict Mathurin put on a show for Pacers fans, earning the Rising Stars M-V-P award at N-B-A all-star weekend in Indianapolis after scoring 13 points in a 26-13 victory in the championship game. The 21-year-old Mathurin also heard M-V-P chants while scoring a game-high 18 in the first game.
Canada’s Milos Raonic withdrew from his quarterfinal against top seed Jannik Sinner with an injury at the A-B-N Amro Open tennis tournament. Raonic was trailing 7-6, 1-1 when he left the match after securing a hold to even the second set. The 33-year-old Raonic hit 11 aces past the Sinner before retiring from the match.
Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz of Spain has advanced to the Argentina Open semifinals after beating Andrea Vavassori of Italy 7-6, 6-1. Alcaraz will face Chile’s Nicolas Jarry on Saturday.
Friday’s Scoreboard
PWHL
Toronto 3 Montreal 0
NHL
Carolina 5 Arizona 1
Saturday’s Games (All times Eastern)
NHL
Los Angeles at Boston, 12:30 p.m.
Edmonton at Dallas, 3 p.m.
Ottawa at Chicago, 3 p.m.
Detroit at Calgary, 4 p.m.
Buffalo at Minnesota, 5 p.m.
Florida at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m.
Nashville at St. Louis, 5 p.m.
Anaheim at Toronto, 7 p.m.
Washington at Montreal, 7 p.m.
Philadelphia vs. New Jersey at MetLife Stadium, 8 p.m.
Winnipeg at Vancouver, 10 p.m.
Carolina at Vegas, 10:30 p.m.
Columbus at San Jose, 10:30 p.m.
PWHL
Minnesota at Ottawa, 2 p.m.
New York at Boston, 4 p.m.