LOCAL SPORTS
AUS: In Soccer, the X-Women wrapped up their perfect regular season with another shutout, 2-0 over the UNB REDS in Fredericton. Amanda Smith scored twice for the X-Women. The X-Men also blanked the REDS, with a 3-0 finish to their regular season. Logan Rieck had two goals for the X-Men, with an additional goal from Kyle Cordeiro. Both squads have a first-round bye to Friday’s semi-finals at the AUS Championships at Cape Breton University. The X-Women will play the winner of the Memorial-Dalhousie quarterfinal, while the X-Men will face either Memorial or Saint Mary’s.
On the road, the St. FX hockey teams had different outcomes: while the X-Men defeated UPEI 6-3, the X-Women had their first loss of the season, 4-3 in overtime to St. Thomas.
NS Junior: Similar scores, but opposite outcomes on Saturday: The Antigonish Bulldogs outscored the Lumberjacks 8-3 at the Arena, while the Pictou County Scotians lost 8-4 to the Brookfield Elks. Tonight, the Scotians host the East Hants Penguins in Trenton at 6, while the Strait Pirates will take on the Junior Eagles in Eskasoni at 7:30.
U15: The Wearwell Bombers overwhelmed the Hurricanes in a 10-0 shutout, while the Novas were edged out 3-2 by the Whalers in Dartmouth. This morning, it’s the Novas vs the Rage in Cole Harbour at 11, followed by the Bombers vs the Bedford Bandits at 4 at the Wellness Centre.
U16 AAA: The Cabot Highlanders were blanked 4-0 by the Thunderbirds in Port Hawkesbury.
U18: The Showcase Weekend continues at the Wellness Centre. In yesterday’s action, the CB West Islanders had two losses: 5-4 to the Wolfpack and 6-4 to the Halifax Macs. The Pictou Weeks Majors followed a 4-2 loss to the Mustangs with a 7-4 win over the Rush. Today, the Islanders play Steele Subaru, while the Majors play the Wildcats – both games start at 1:30. Then at 6:30, it’s the Majors vs the Islanders.
Maritime Major Female League: On PEI, the Northern Subway Selects remain undefeated following a 4-0 shutout of the Stars. The teams play again at 10:20 am in Montague.
Northern High School Hockey: The Dr. J.H. Gillis Royals are on the road to play CEC at 1 pm.
The 32 teams have been announced for the Kioti National, the second Grand Slam of Curling event of the season, which will be at the Pictou County Wellness Centre November 7th-12th. Canada’s Brad Gushue and Silvana Tiranzoni of Switzerland enter as the defending men’s and women’s champions, respectively, after capturing the titles last season in North Bay. Also in the men’s lineup: from Canada – Brendan Bottcher, Brad Carruthers, and Kevin Koe, and Bruce Mouat from Scotland. Among the women skips are Canadians Jennifer Jones, Rachel Homan, Kerri Einarson and Nova Scotia’s Christina Black, as well as Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg. The full schedule of draws will be announced soon, but tickets are already available for purchase via ticketpro dot ca.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Zack Wheeler delivered another post-season gem with seven shutdown innings, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and J-T Realmulto homered and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the National League Championship Series. Philadelphia moved one win from its second straight World Series appearance. Game 6 is Monday in Philadelphia.
Mark Scheifele scored at 3:53 of overtime to give the visiting Winnipeg Jets a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Josh Morrissey and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for the Jets. Evan Bouchard and Darnell Nurse scored for the Oilers, who outshot the Jets 40 to 27.
The N-H-L Department of Player Safety has suspended Calgary Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson for four games, without pay, for charging Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine during Friday’s 3-1 loss in Ohio. Andersson was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for elbowing late in the third period. Andersson will forfeit almost 95-thousand dollars.
The Toronto Argonauts eliminated the Saskatchewan Roughriders from the C-F-L post-season picture with a 29-26 win in Regina. The 6-and-12 Riders finished the season with seven straight losses. Elsewhere, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers improved to 13-and-4 atop the West Division by crushing the visiting Edmonton Elks 45-25. The Elks finished the season at 4-and-14, last in the West.
The Vancouver Whitecaps, who gave coach Vanni Sartini a two-year contract extension before tying the visiting Los Angeles F-C 1-1, are the only Major League Soccer team in Canada to make the playoffs. C-F Montreal had its post-season hopes crushed when the squad lost 2-1 to the Columbus Crew. Elsewhere, Toronto F-C finished its losing season with a 2-0 setback to visiting Orlando City S-C.
In Curling, the finals are set at the HearingLife Tour Challenge in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Jennifer Jones will play Kaitlyn Lawes in the all-Manitoba women’s Grand Slam final on Sunday, while Brendan Bottcher of Sherwood Park, Alberta will face Joel Retornaz of Italy in the men’s final.
Saturday’s Scoreboard
NHL
Winnipeg 3 Edmonton 2 (OT)
Vancouver 5 Florida 3
Detroit 5 Ottawa 2
Toronto 4 Tampa Bay 3 (OT)
Montreal 3 Washington 2 (OT)
Arizona 2 Anaheim 1
Buffalo 3 N.Y. Islanders 1
Columbus 5 Minnesota 4 (OT)
Dallas 5 Philadelphia 4 (OT)
St. Louis 4 Pittsburgh 2
Nashville 5 San Jose 1
Vegas 5 Chicago 3
Colorado 6 Carolina 4
N.Y. Rangers 4 Seattle 1
Boston 4 Los Angeles 2
MLB Playoffs – National League Championship Series
Philadelphia 6 Arizona 1 (Philadelphia leads best-of-seven series 3-2)
CFL
Toronto 29 Saskatchewan 26
Winnipeg 45 Edmonton 25
MLS
Los Angeles FC 1 Vancouver 1
Orlando City 2 Toronto FC 0
Columbus 2 CF Montreal 1
Charlotte 1 Miami 0
Atlanta 2 Cincinnati 2
N.Y. Red Bulls 1 Nashville 0
New England 2 Philadelphia 1
New York City 1 Chicago 0
Sporting Kansas City 3 Minnesota 1
Dallas 4 LA Galaxy 1
Houston 3 Portland 1
Seattle 2 St Louis City 0
Real Salt Lake 1 Colorado 0
Austin 1 San Jose 1
Sunday’s Games (All times EDT)
NHL
Calgary at Detroit, 5 p.m.
Boston at Anaheim, 8:30 p.m.
MLB Playoffs: American League Championship Series
Texas at Houston, 8:03 p.m. (Houston leads best-of-seven series 3-2)
NFL
Atlanta at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m.
Buffalo at New England, 1 p.m.
Cleveland at Indianapolis, 1 p.m.
Detroit at Baltimore, 1 p.m.
Las Vegas at Chicago, 1 p.m.
Washington at N.Y. Giants, 1 p.m.
Arizona at Seattle, 4:05 p.m.
Pittsburgh at L.A. Rams, 4:05 p.m.
Green Bay at Denver, 4:25 p.m.
L.A. Chargers at Kansas City, 4:25 p.m.
Miami at Philadelphia, 8:20 p.m.