SUNDAY SPORTS

The two tournament favourites in the world junior hockey championship boosted their unbeaten records on Saturday in Edmonton. Canada improved to 3-and-0 with a 5-1 winover the previously unbeaten Czechia. Mason McTavish had two goals for Canada. Earlier in the day, the USA crushed Austria 7-0 to improve to 2-and-0, while Germany beat winless Switzerland 3-2 in the late game.

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With one timely long ball from Teoscar Hernandez on Saturday, the Toronto Blue Jays snapped their 3-game losing skid, stopped Cleveland’s 6-game winning streak and put themselves in a position to finally win a series. Hernandez’s solo homer in the 7th helped the Jays beat visiting Cleveland 2-1. Matt Chapman’s solo homer in the 5th for Toronto tied the game 1-1. The Guardians and Jays conclude their 3-game series Sunday.

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B-C Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke threw for a Canadian-record 488 yards and engineered a 41-40 comeback over the host Calgary Stampeders in C-F-L action on Saturday. Sean Whyte’s 25-yard field goal with 2 seconds left in the game capped the Lions’ comeback. B-C is now 7-and-1, while Calgary — which led by 9 points in the final quarter — slipped to 5-and-3. In Edmonton, the Saskatchewan Roughriders defeated the Elks 34-23 to improve to 5-and-4. Edmonton slips to 2-and-7.

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Two-time champion Simona Halep of Romania defeated Jessica Pegula of the United States 2-6, 6-3 and 6-4 in the National Bank Open semifinal on Saturday in Toronto to earn a date in Sunday’s singles final with Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia. Haddad Maia bounced Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-6 (9) in the other semifinal to reach a W-T-A Masters event final for the first time ever.

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Hubert Hurkacz of Poland defeated Casper Ruud of Norway 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday at Montreal’s I-G-A Stadium in the National Bank Open semifinals to earn a berth in Sunday’s men’s singles final against Pablo Carreno Busta. The Spaniard posted a 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-2 win over Britain’s Daniel Evans in the evening’s other semifinal match.

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Two of the three Canadian sides in action picked up Major League Soccer victories Saturday night. Toronto F-C scored two late goals to defeat the visiting Portland Timbers 3-1, while C-F Montreal spotted host Houston a 1-0 lead, but rallied to post a 3-2 win in Texas. And in Los Angeles, the Galaxy scored four times in the first half en route to an easy 5-2 victory over the flat Vancouver Whitecaps.

(CP)