LOCAL SPORTS
AUS: The X-Men Basketball team came up just short in the Championship game of the Coach K Invitational, falling 75-71 to the UPEI Panthers.
At the Keating Centre, the Saint Mary’s Huskies mounted a third period comeback and pulled out a 3-2 shootout victory over the X-Women. Huskies forward and first star of the night Kara MacLean from Antigonish notched the game winner, sliding home a low shot after some nifty stickhandling.
The X-Women rugby team clinched first place in the AUS standings, defeating Acadia 21-7 on a cool, wet afternoon at St. FX Stadium. Both teams close the season with a 5-1 record, but the X-Women take first place based on a better point differential in head-to-head play. The X-Women will host the winner of Wednesday’s semi-final between Acadia and UPEI next Wednesday, October 23rd.
Junior B: The Strait Pirates whomped the Lumberjacks 5-1 in Lunenberg. Tonight, it’s the Pirates versus the Scotians at the Wellness Centre at 6:30.
Maritime League: The Weeks Crushers pulled out a 5-4 victory over the Ramblers in Amherst. The Crushers are back at the Wellness Centre to face off with the West Kent Steamers at 4 pm today.
U16 AAA: The Cabot Highlanders are 1-5 after a 5-1 loss to the Eastern Dukes. The Highlanders continue their PEI road trip with a match against the Western Rebels at 12:10 pm.
In U16 hockey, Team Nova Scotia has two wins and one loss at the QMJHL Cup tournament in Moncton this weekend, and will play for gold against New Brunswick today. The team has two players from Antigonish – goaltender Jack Bell and defenceman Duncan Anderson.
The weather-delayed Thanksgiving Special will take place today at Riverside International Speedway. The show features the Scotia Diesel 155, the final race of the East Coast International Pro Stock Tour this season, which will decide the Tour Champion. There’s also the Dulux Paint Street Stocks in the Nickerson Auto 55, and the Eastern 2.0 Waste Systems 55 for the Whisperings Winds MASS Mini Stocks. 55th-anniversary celebrations include free admission for those 15 & under, 55 door prizes, canteen specials, and specials on Riverside swag. Start time is 1 pm. Pit gates open at 9 am. Grandstand gates will open at Noon.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Trevor Harris threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns and the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ defence feasted on turnovers and miscues in crushing the visiting B-C Lions 39-8. With the win, the Riders clinched a home playoff game, while the Lions — who are hosting next month’s Grey Cup — will finish third in the West. The Riders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers are still battling for first in the West. Earlier, the Edmonton Elks edged the host Calgary Stampeders 23-18 in a battle of non-playoff teams.
Teuvo Teravainen had two goals and two assists, and Connor Bedard and Seth Jones each scored once and added two assists as the visiting Chicago Blackhawks beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-2. Philipp Kurashev also scored for the Hawks, who won their first game in three starts. Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl scored for the Oilers, who are 0-and-2 to start the season.
Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice and added an assist and Nazem Kadri scored twice as the Calgary Flames burned the visiting Philadelphia Flyers 6-3. MacKenzie Weegar and Mikael Backlund also scored for the 2-and-0 Flames. Travis Konecny scored twice for the Flyers, who slipped to 1-and-1.
Clayton Keller’s second goal of the game, scored at 4:05 of overtime, lifted the visiting Utah Hockey Club past the New York Rangers 6-5 for its third win in three games. Barrett Hayton, Jack McBain, Kevin Stenlund and Dylan Guenther also scored for Utah. Hayton has scored in each of Utah’s three games, and Guenther has five goals. Artemi Panarin scored twice for New York and Adam Fox had three assists.
The Detroit Tigers post-season run is over. Lane Thomas hit a grand slam off ace Tarik Skubal and Cleveland beat the visiting Tigers 7-3 in Game 5 of their American League Division Series, sending the Guardians into another post-season matchup against the Yankees. Cleveland will play New York in the A-L-C-S, starting tomorrow in the Bronx. Thomas finished with five R-B-Is for the Guardians, who weren’t expected to contend this season.
England’s women’s rugby team won a second straight W-X-V title on Saturday, beating Canada 21-12 in the international tournament’s finale at B-C Place in Vancouver. The Canadians took the lead midway through the second half but couldn’t hold on to the advantage. England went undefeated in the tournament and remain atop the world rankings with 20 straight wins. The second-ranked Canadians finished with a 2-1-and-zero record after earlier wins over France and Ireland.
Saturday’s Scoreboard
CFL
Saskatchewan 39 B.C. 8
Edmonton 23 Calgary 18
NHL
Chicago 5 Edmonton 2
Calgary 6 Philadelphia 3
Montreal 4 Ottawa 1
Toronto 4 Pittsburgh 2
Buffalo 5 Florida 2
Boston 2 Los Angeles 1 (OT)
Utah 6 N.Y. Rangers 5 (OT)
Detroit 3 Nashville 0
New Jersey 5 Washington 3
Seattle 5 Minnesota 4 (SO)
Dallas 3 N.Y. Islanders 0
Columbus 6 Colorado 4
Anaheim 2 San Jose 0
Carolina at Tampa Bay, ppd.
MLB Playoffs Division Series – American League
Cleveland 7 Detroit 3 (Cleveland wins best-of-five series 3-2)
NBA Pre-season
Boston 139 Philadelphia 89
San Antonio 126 Utah 120
Memphis 124 Chicago 121
MLS
Columbus 4 New England 0
Sunday’s Games (All times Eastern)
NHL
Minnesota at Winnipeg, 6 p.m.
Seattle at Dallas, 8 p.m.
Calgary at Edmonton, 8 p.m.
Anaheim at Vegas, 10 p.m.
MLB Playoffs – National League Championship Series
N.Y. Mets at L.A. Dodgers, 8:15 p.m. (Start of best-of-seven series)
NFL
Jacksonville at Chicago, in London, England, 9:30 a.m.
Tampa Bay at New Orleans, 1 p.m.
Arizona at Green Bay, 1 p.m.
Indianapolis at Tennessee, 1 p.m.
Cleveland at Philadelphia, 1 p.m.
Houston at New England, 1 p.m.
Washington at Baltimore, 1 p.m.
L.A. Chargers at Denver, 4:05 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Las Vegas, 4:05 p.m.
Atlanta at Carolina, 4:25 p.m.
Detroit at Dallas, 4:25 p.m.
Cincinnati at N.Y. Giants, 8:20 p.m.
NBA Pre-season
New Orleans at Miami, 3:30 p.m.
Portland at Sacramento, 6 p.m.
Minnesota at New York, 6 p.m.
Toronto at Boston, 7 p.m.
Phoenix at Denver, 8:30 p.m.
Detroit at Golden State, 8:30 p.m.
WNBA Finals
Minnesota at New York, 3 p.m. (Minnesota leads best-of-five series 1-0)