LOCAL SPORTS
AUS: The X-Men are returning to the AUS football championship following a 36-20 victory over the Saint Mary’s Huskies in Saturday’s semi-final match. AUS outstanding player of the year Silas Fagnan was named player of the game, going 19-29 in passing attempts with 362 yards in the air and four touchdown passes, while also picking up 72 rushing yards. Ben Harrington made seven catches for 145 yards and two touchdowns. The X-Men will host the AUS Loney Bowl Saturday November 11, where they face the Bishop’s Gaiters. It’s the third consecutive year the two teams have met in the conference final.
In Basketball, the UPEI Panthers got two home wins in a rematch with St. FX. Behind another strong defensive effort and 24 points from Aiden Rainford, the UPEI Panthers defeated the X-Women 62-51. Ekaterina Karchevskaya led the way for the X-Women with 13 points and five rebounds, while Katie Upham finished with 11 points, six steals, four rebounds, and two assists. On the Men’s side, the Panthers outscored the X-Men 80-61. A strong defence from the Panthers limited the starting five X-Men to 28 points over the entire game, while Bennett Grumbach was top St. FX scorer with 15.
In Hockey, The X-Men made it five in a row with a 4-3 win over the Huskies at the Keating Centre. Lucas Pfeil had 45 saves, and Liam Hawel scored twice to help lead the home squad to victory. The X-Women will be at the Keating Centre this afternoon, hosting UPEI at 3.
NS Junior: The Antigonish Bulldogs notched another home win, defeating the Lumberjacks 6-2. Three games on the schedule tonight with local teams, beginning with the Pictou County Scotians hosting the Valley Maple Leafs in Trenton at 6 pm. The Bulldogs are back at the Arena to face off with Sackville, while the Strait Pirates take on the Eagles in Eskasoni. Both games begin at 7:30.
U15: The Wearwell Bombers blanked the Rangers 3-0, while the Novas doubled the Valley Wildcats 4-2. In action today, the Bombers face off with the Whalers at the Wellness Centre at 11 am, while in Truro, it’s the Novas versus the Bearcats at 1.
U16 AAA: The Cabot Highlanders fell 9-2 to the Fundy Thunder in Port Hawkesbury.
U18: The Pictou Weeks Majors lost 8-1 to Steele Subaru, while a pair of goals in the last two minutes of play lifted the CB West Islanders past the Mustangs 2-1. The Islanders & Mustangs face off again in Port Hood at 1 pm.
NATIONAL SPORTS
The C-F-L’s East and West Division finalists are set. The defending Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts will host the Montreal Alouettes in next Saturday’s East final after the Als beat the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats 27-12. And the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will entertain the B-C Lions in the West final after the Leos blitzed the visiting Calgary Stampeders 41-30 in the other semifinal.
Elias Pettersson and Pius Suter scored second-period goals and Thatcher Demko made 27 saves for the shutout as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the visiting Dallas Stars 2-0. The Canucks improved to 8-2-and-1 with the win, while the Stars slipped to 7-2-and-1.
The visiting Calgary Flames scored twice in the third period and held on to defeat the Seattle Kraken 6-3. Mikael Backlund scored twice, while Noah Hanifin, Martin Pospisil, Yegor Sharangovich and Rasmus Andersson added singles for the Flames, who improved to 3-7-and-1.
Franz Wagner scored 26 points, Paolo Banchero added 25 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds and the Orlando Magic crushed the Los Angeles Lakers 120-101 in N-B-A action. Anthony Davis had 28 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocks for the Lakers, who took a 51-40 drubbing on the boards. LeBron James had 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists for the sluggish Lakers.
Skip Brad Gushue of St. John’s turned in a brilliant performance and struck gold at the Pan Continental Curling Championship in Kelowna, B-C, by rocking Jongduk Park of South Korea 8-3 in nine ends. Japan claimed the bronze medal with a 9-6 win over the U-S on Friday night.
Team Canada will take part in today’s closing ceremonies at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. Canadian athletes collected 159 medals over 15 days of competition – 46 gold, 52 silver and 61 bronze. The U-S topped the medal table with 267 medals, including 112 golds. Brazil was next with 191 medals and 60 golds. Canada was third, followed by Mexico with 129 medals.
The New York City Marathon women’s record, which has stood for 20 years, could go down today with what commentators say is one of the strongest fields assembled in the history of the race. Reigning champion Sharon Lokedi looks to defend her title against a stellar group of female runners, as well as conquer any self-doubt in her sophomore appearance at the event. Also, whoever beats the race’s record — two hours, 22 minutes and 31 seconds set by Margaret Okayo in 2003 — will win the 50-thousand dollar bonus prize.
Saturday’s Scoreboard
CFL
East Division Semifinal
Montreal 27 Hamilton 12
West Division Semifinal
B.C. 41 Calgary 30
NHL
Vancouver 2 Dallas 0
Calgary 6 Seattle 3
Nashville 5 Edmonton 2
Winnipeg 5 Arizona 3
Buffalo 6 Toronto 4
St. Louis 6 Montreal 3
Tampa Bay 6 Ottawa 4
Vegas 7 Colorado 0
Detroit 5 Boston 4
Washington 2 Columbus 1
Carolina 4 N.Y. Islanders 3 (OT)
Los Angeles 5 Philadelphia 0
Chicago 5 Florida 2
Minnesota 5 N.Y. Rangers 4 (SO)
Pittsburgh 10 San Jose 2
NBA
Philadelphia 112 Phoenix 100
Atlanta 123 New Orleans 105
Charlotte 125 Indiana 124
Orlando 120 L.A. Lakers 101
Boston 124 Brooklyn 114
Houston 107 Sacramento 89
Minnesota 123 Utah 95
Denver 123 Chicago 101
MLS Playoffs First Round
Cincinnati 1 New York Red Bulls 1 (Cincinnati wins game 8-7 on penalty kicks; wins best-of-three series 2-0)
Dallas 3 Seattle 1 (Best-of-three series tied 1-1)
Sunday’s Games (All times Eastern)
NHL
New Jersey at Chicago, 7 p.m.
Vegas at Anaheim, 8 p.m.
NBA
Phoenix at Detroit, 3 p.m.
Toronto at San Antonio, 3:30 p.m.
Golden State at Cleveland, 6 p.m.
Charlotte at Dallas, 7:30 p.m.
Memphis at Portland, 9 p.m.
NFL
Miami vs. Kansas City, at Frankfurt, Germany, 9:30 a.m.
L.A. Rams at Green Bay, 1 p.m.
Washington at New England, 1 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Houston, 1 p.m.
Arizona at Cleveland, 1 p.m.
Chicago at New Orleans, 1 p.m.
Seattle at Baltimore, 1 p.m.
Minnesota at Atlanta, 1 p.m.
Indianapolis at Carolina, 4:05 p.m.
N.Y. Giants at Las Vegas, 4:25 p.m.
Dallas at Philadelphia, 4:25 p.m.
Buffalo at Cincinnati, 8:20 p.m.
MLS Playoffs First Round
St. Louis City SC at Sporting KC, 5 p.m. (KC leads best-of-three series 1-0)
LAFC at Vancouver, 7:30 p.m. (Los Angeles leads best-of-three series 1-0)