LOCAL SPORTS
AUS: The X-Women Hockey team will battle for the AUS championship banner, after a 2-0 Game 5 series-clinching victory in the semifinals over the St Thomas Tommies. The tightly contested series saw STFX and St. Thomas each win one at home and on the road, before the X-Women closed things out in front of a boisterous home crowd of 1,288 fans. STFX netminder Bianca Zak earned Gabriel Pizza Player of the game and first star honors for her 25-save shutout performance. Kya Moss & Kameryn Lahey scored for the X-Women. With the win, the X-Women earn an automatic berth in the U SPORTS national championship tournament in Waterloo, and will take on UNB for the AUS title in a best-of-three series beginning Monday night in Fredericton.
Junior B: The Pictou County Scotians lead 3-1 in their playoff series after a 6-2 victory over the Junior Miners in Membertou.
Maritime League: The Pictou County Weeks Crushers doubled the Amherst Ramblers 4-2 at the Wellness Centre.
U15: The Novas host the Halifax Wolverines at the Arena at 5:30 pm.
U16 AAA: The Cabot Highlanders face off with the Buccaneers at the Keating Centre at 5.
U18 Major: The next round of the playoffs begin for both the Weeks Majors and the CB West Islanders. The Majors host Steele Subaru at the Wellness Centre at 4, while Game 1 between the Islanders and the Halifax Macs will be at 7 tonight at the Halifax Forum.
The 2nd Annual Joe Duggan Invitational Volleyball tournament is on today at the Dr. JH Gillis Regional High School. Local Teams Stoirm Lightning and Stoirm Thunder will take to the court at 9 & 11:20 am, with crossovers and finals this afternoon.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Brad Marchand’s time in Boston is over. The Bruins dealt their former captain to the Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers at today’s N-H-L trade deadline. Marchand was in his 16th season with Boston and helped the franchise win the Stanley Cup in 2011.
Another new beginning for Mikko Rantanen. The Dallas Stars acquired Rantanen from the Carolina Hurricanes, then signed him to an eight-year, 96 (m) million-dollar U-S contract. The Colorado Avalanche had traded Rantanen to Carolina as part of a three-team deal January 24th.
Another game, another goal for Nikolaj Ehlers. He scored for the third straight contest and added two assists to lead the Winnipeg Jets past the New Jersey Devils 6-1. The league-leading Jets earned their second straight victory.
Elias Pettersson registered his first goal in 16 games to lead the Vancouver Canucks past the Minnesota Wild 3-1. Petersson opened the scoring for Vancouver with a power-play goal in the first period. With the win, Vancouver moved past the Calgary Flames and into the Western Conference’s final playoff spot.
Evander Kane will miss the remainder of the Edmonton Oilers’ regular season. The 33-year-old had surgery for two torn hip adductor muscles, two hernias and two torn lower abdominal muscles in September before undergoing a knee operation in January.If Kane were to return to the Oilers, it appears it would be in the playoffs.
The Toronto Raptors are on a nice roll. Immanuel Quickley scored a season-high 34 points to lead Toronto past the Utah Jazz 118-109. Quickley added five rebounds and five assists in helping Toronto earn a third straight win while Utah suffered its fourth consecutive loss.
Friday’s Scoreboard
NHL
Winnipeg 6 New Jersey 1
Vancouver 3 Minnesota 1
Washington 5 Detroit 2
Chicago 4 Utah 3 (OT)
Vegas 4 Pittsburgh 0
St. Louis 4 Anaheim 3
PWHL
Minnesota 5 Ottawa 0
NBA
Toronto 118 Utah 109
Cleveland 118 Charlotte 117
Memphis 122 Dallas 111
Oklahoma City 107 Portland 89
Minnesota 106 Miami 104
Sacramento 127 San Antonio 109
Denver 149 Phoenix 141 (OT)
LA Clippers 105 New York 95
MLB Spring Training
NY Yankees 8 Toronto 7
Minnesota (ss) 7 Atlanta 1
Boston 20 Miami 5
Minnesota (ss) 9 Tampa Bay 9
Pittsburgh 3 Philadelphia 2
Kansas City 8 L.A. Angels (ss) 2 (6 innings)
Cleveland 12 Athletics 5
St. Louis 6 Houston 4
Detroit 11 Baltimore 7
Washington 5 NY Mets 4
LA Dodgers 6 Seattle 4
Colorado vs Texas at Scottsdale, Ariz. (cancelled)
Chicago White Sox vs Chicago Cubs at Phoenix (cancelled)
Cincinnati vs San Francisco at Goodyear, Ariz.,(cancelled) .
L.A. Angels (ss) vs Arizona at Tempe, Ariz. (cancelled)
Milwaukee vs San Diego at Phoenix (cancelled)
Saturday’s Games (All times Eastern)
NHL
N.Y. Rangers at Ottawa, 12:30 p.m.
Seattle at Philadelphia, 12:30 p.m.
Boston at Tampa Bay, 3 p.m.
Buffalo at Florida, 6 p.m.
Montreal at Calgary, 7 p.m.
Toronto at Colorado, 7 p.m.
Chicago at Nashville, 8 p.m.
St. Louis at Los Angeles, 8 p.m.
Dallas at Edmonton, 10 p.m.
N.Y. Islanders at San Jose, 10 p.m.
PWHL
Montreal at Boston, 2 p.m.
NBA
Brooklyn at Charlotte, 6 p.m.
New Orleans at Houston, 7 p.m.
Washington at Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
Indiana at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.
Chicago at Miami, 8 p.m.
Orlando at Milwaukee, 8 p.m.
Detroit at Golden State, 8:30 p.m.
L.A. Lakers at Boston, 8:30 p.m.
MLS
Houston at Columbus, 2:30 p.m.
Los Angeles FC at Seattle, 4:45 p.m.
Toronto FC at Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m.
New York at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.
Sporting Kansas City at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m.
Philadelphia at New England, 7:30 p.m.
Orlando City at New York City FC, 7:30 p.m.
Colorado at Austin FC, 8:30 p.m.
Chicago at FC Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
Portland at Nashville, 8:30 p.m.
CF Montréal at Vancouver, 9:30 p.m.
San Diego FC at Real Salt Lake, 9:30 p.m.
Minnesota at San Jose, 10:30 p.m.
MLB Spring Training
Washington vs St. Louis at West Palm Beach, Fla., 12:05 p.m.
Philadelphia vs Toronto (ss) at Clearwater, Fla., 1:05 p.m.
Baltimore vs Tampa Bay at Sarasota, Fla., 1:05 p.m.
Minnesota vs Boston at Fort Myers, Fla., 1:05 p.m.
Atlanta vs Pittsburgh at North Port, Fla., 1:05 p.m.
Toronto (ss) vs Detroit at Dunedin, Fla., 1:07 p.m.
Chicago Cubs vs Seattle at Mesa, Ariz., 3:05 p.m.
Chicago White Sox vs L.A. Dodgers at Phoenix, 3:05 p.m.
San Francisco vs Kansas City (ss) at Scottsdale, Ariz., 3:05 p.m.
Texas vs Kansas City (ss) at Surprise, Ariz., 3:05 p.m.
Cincinnati vs Arizona (ss) at Goodyear, Ariz., 3:05 p.m.
Colorado vs Athletics (ss) at Scottsdale, Ariz., 3:10 p.m.
Milwaukee vs L.A. Angels at Phoenix, 3:10 p.m.
San Diego vs Cleveland at Peoria, Ariz., 3:10 p.m.
Athletics (ss) vs Arizona (ss) at Las Vegas, 4:05 p.m.
Houston vs N.Y. Yankees at West Palm Beach, Fla., 6:05 p.m.
Miami vs N.Y. Mets at Jupiter, Fla., 6:40 p.m.