Wednesday Sports: Olympic Scandal, Winnipeg Clinches

CEBL

The Canadian Elite Basketball League’s Western Conference playoff field is set.

Once down 13 points, the Winnipeg Sea Bears came back to beat the Calgary Surge 111-104 on Tuesday to clinch the conference’s final post-season spot in front of 11,051 rowdy home fans at Canada Life Centre – the second largest crowd in CEBL history. The Sea Bears’ scoring output shattered the franchise record, surpassing the previous mark of 110 set last season. The win also pushed Winnipeg to 9-9 on the season and eliminated the last-place Saskatchewan Rattlers from playoff contention.

OLYMPICS

• Canadian women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman removed herself from Thursday’s Olympic Games opener against New Zealand and two team staff members were sent home after two drone incidents. Assistant coach Jasmine Mander and Canada Soccer analyst Joseph Lombardi were ousted from the soccer team’s staff, the Canadian Olympic Committee said Wednesday in a statement in which it accepted Priestman’s decision to not coach the opener in Saint-Etienne, France. The shakeup came after the COC’s review of a drone incidents in Saint-Etienne. There were reports that drones flew over New Zealand’s practice sessions both Monday and last Friday.
• Salt Lake City will be an Olympics host again after the IOC formally awarded the 2034 Winter Games to the United States bid. The capital city of Utah was the only candidate after the International Olympic Committee gave Salt Lake City exclusive negotiating rights last year in a fast-track contest for 2034. Salt Lake City’s final approval was in a vote Wednesday by IOC members. Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Games in 2002. Tight security surrounded those Olympics, which was the biggest international sports event in the U.S. following the Sept. 11 attacks five months earlier.

MLB

• Brandon Lowe hit a two-run home run and the Tampa Bay Rays won for the fourth time in five games by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-2. Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Junior hit his 17th home run, but Toronto lost for the fifth time in seven games. Blue Jays starter Jose Berrios (beh-REE’-ohs) tied a career-high with six walks.
• Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout lasted just two innings of his first rehab start in the minors due to soreness in his surgically-repaired left knee. The three-time M-V-P struck out in his only at-bat for Triple-A Salt Lake during his first rehab appearance since tearing the meniscus in his left knee in late April. The Angels say he’s day-to-day.

WCBL

Moose Jaw 13 Swift Current 8
Regina 12 Medicine Hat 8
Brooks 9 Sylvan Lake 3
Okotoks 8 Weyburn 5

NFL

An 18-game NFL season seems inevitable. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has already stated he favors expanding the regular season by another game. Now, NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell says the players’ union is open to an agreement before the current labor deal expires after the 2030 season. It’s going to take a lot of convincing to get most of the league’s players on board with another game. But the NFL usually gets what the NFL wants. The league persuaded the union to allow a 17th game in the last round of CBA discussions and the schedule was expanded in 2021.

(CEBL, CP)