LOCAL SPORTS
AUS: In Basketball, the X-Men clinched first place with an exciting, hard fought 88-85 win over the Cape Breton Capers on Coach K Court. The loss knocked the Capers out of playoff contention, as they were tied with UPEI in the standings, but the Panthers held the tiebreaker over the Capers. The AUS championship is scheduled for this coming weekend in Halifax at the Scotiabank Centre. The top seeded X-Men have earned a bye directly into the semifinals, where they’ll play the winner of the Memorial-UNB quarterfinal on Saturday at 3 pm.
For the first time since 2014, the X-Women are headed to the AUS playoffs, thanks to a 78-65 win over the Capers. Finishing with a 9-11 record, they tied with Memorial for fifth place in the standings, but holding the tie breaker over the Sea-Hawks. The X-Women now look ahead to the AUS Championship in Halifax, where they’ll meet fourth place UPEI in the quarterfinals on Friday at 1 pm.
Declan Smith scored the game-winner in Wolfville to clinch the AUS quarter-final series for the X-Men over Acadia in the fourth overtime period. Smith’s goal gave the X-Men the 3-2 victory in the second longest game in U SPORTS men’s hockey history. The final playing time was 118 minutes 19 seconds, just under three minutes short of the all-time record. St. FX will play Moncton in the AUS semifinal round, while Saint Mary’s will face UNB. Dates for the next round will be announced today.
At the Winter Classic Tournament, both Antigonish Bulldogs U11 teams made the semi-finals. Team White will face off with the Dartmouth Whalers at the Antigonish Arena, while Team Black takes on the Sackville Flyers at the Keating Centre: both games begin at 10:30 am. The championship is set for 1:30 this afternoon at the Arena.
NS Junior: The Antigonish Bulldogs scored three times in the first period, then held on for the 3-2 win over the Membertou Junior Miners. Tonight, the Bulldogs host the Strait Pirates at the Antigonish Arena at 7:30. In Trenton, the Scotians host the Eskasoni Junior Eagles: game time is 6 pm.
Maritime League: Tonight at the Wellness Centre, the Pictou County Weeks Crushers face off with the Valley Wildcats. Puck drops at 7.
U15: The Wearwell Bombers potted 5 goals in the final period to defeat the Wolverines 6-2. The Novas overwhelmed the Hurricanes with a 9-1 victory. This morning at 11, the Novas play the Harbour Rage in Cole Harbour, while the Bombers take on the Cougars in Sydney.
U16 AAA: In Cole Harbour, the Highlanders doubled the Voyageurs 6-3.
U18: The CB West Islanders take on the Rush at 5:30 in Membertou.
Maritime Major Female League: The Northern Subway Selects took the first game in their playoff series with a 12-1 shellacking of the Cape Breton Lynx. Game 2 is at Noon at the Hector Arena in Pictou.
Rural League: Two teams are on the brink of elimination after Game 4 of the semi-finals. Heatherton leads the Outlaws 3 games to 1 after a 8-3 victory, while the Pleasantdale Panthers doubled St. Croix 4-2 to take a 3-1 lead in that series.
The Dr. J.H. Gillis Royals curling team won the Northumberland Regional Banner, finishing the Regional Championships with a 2-1 record. The Royals began with a 7-3 loss to Baddeck Academy, but came back with wins over Guysborough Academy 6-4, and Pugwash 8-1. The team has qualified for Provincial High School Bonspiel next month, along with Guysborough Academy and Baddeck Academy, who had a 3-0 record in the tournament.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Third-period goals two minutes apart by Gabriel Vilardi and Mark Scheifele lifted the visiting Winnipeg Jets to a 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Scheifele added three asists, while Vilardi, who had two goals and an assist, helped the Jets win their third straight. Sean Monahan also scored. Noah Juulsen and Tyler Myers scored for the Canucks, who had their three-game win streak halted.
Auston Matthews had his second straight hat trick to push his N-H-L-leading goals total to 48 and added two assists for five points in Toronto’s 9-2 victory over the visiting Anaheim Ducks. William Nylander added a goal and two assists to reach 500 career points, and Bobby McMann had two goals and an assist. Timothy Liljegren added three assists.
Devils captain Nico Hischier had two goals and an assist, including the second-fastest goal to start an outdoor game, and New Jersey never looked back in beating the Philadelphia Flyers 6-3 before 70,328 fans at MetLife Stadium. Nathan Bastian also scored twice and Tyler Toffoli (tuh-FOH-lee) and Brendan Smith each had a goal as the Devils won for the third time in four games.
Defending champion Kerri Einarson and her Gimli, Manitoba, teammates are among three 2-0 teams in Pool A after three draws at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary. Selena Sturmay of Alberta and Saskatchewan’s Skylar Ackerman are also unbeaten. There are four teams in Pool B, including Jennifer Jones of Manitoba, with 1-0 records. Jones is playing her 18th and final Scotties tourney.
Stephen Curry was on a roll — and it was just enough to beat W-N-B-A star Sabrina Ionescu. And fittingly, he won by three. The Golden State star and N-B-A’s all-time three-point king beat Ionescu 29-26 in the Steph versus Sabrina competition at All-Star Saturday night, the first such him-versus-her event of its kind at the league’s weekend showcase.
Patrick Cantlay still has the lead in the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles. It’s just not as large as he might have hoped. Cantlay made a soft bogey on the second-easiest hole at Riviera. He shot a 70 and his lead is down to two shots over Xander Schauffele and Will Zalatoris. He’ll play the final round Sunday with Schauffele. At stake is 4-million-dollars to the winner. Corey Conners of Listowel, Ontario, is 6 shots back of Cantlay.
Saturday’s Scoreboard
NHL
Toronto 9 Anaheim 2
Edmonton 4 Dallas 3 (OT)
Winnipeg 4 Vancouver 2
Washington 4 Montreal 3
Chicago 3 Ottawa 2
Detroit 5 Calgary 0
Los Angeles 5 Boston 4 (OT)
Buffalo 3 Minnesota 2 (OT)
Florida 9 Tampa Bay 2
Nashville 5 St. Louis 2
New Jersey 6 Philadelphia 3
Carolina 3 Vegas 1
Columbus 4 San Jose 3
PWHL
Minnesota 2 Ottawa 1
New York 2 Boston 1
Sunday’s Schedule (All times Eastern)
NHL
N.Y. Rangers vs. N.Y. Islanders, at MetLife Stadium, 3 p.m.
Arizona at Colorado, 6 p.m.
Los Angeles at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.
PWHL
Minnesota at Montreal, 1 p.m.
NBA
East All Stars vs. West All Stars, 8 p.m., Indianapolis