SATURDAY SPORTS PAGE: THUNDERBIRDS ADVANCE

KAMLOOPS, BC (AP) – Thomas Milic made 27 saves and the Seattle Thunderbirds became the fifth U.S. franchise to reach the Memorial Cup final, beating the Peterborough Petes 4-1 on Friday night in the semifinal game.

Western Hockey League champion Seattle will face Quebec on Sunday for the title, with Hall of Fame goalie Patrick Roy stepping aside as coach of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Remparts after the tournament.

U.S. franchises have won four titles, the Portland Winterhawks in 1983 and 1998 and the Spokane Chiefs in 1991 and 2008. The Detroit Junior Red Wings (1995), Portland (2013) and the Erie Otters (2017) lost in championship games.

Also Quebec’s general manager, Roy is seeking his second Memorial Cup after leading the Remparts to the 2006 title in New Brunswick. He’s turning over the coaching duties to fellow former NHL player Simon Gagne.

Quebec beat Seattle 3-1 on Monday night in round-robin play.

CFL

MONTREAL – Cody Fajardo threw an early touchdown pass in his first appearance as Montreal’s starting quarterback in the Alouettes’ 25-22 pre-season victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday night.

Montreal improved to 2-0 in pre-season in front of 12,698 fans at Molson Stadium, with most of its starters playing for the first time. Hamilton, which left most of its starters at home for the road trip, fell to 1-1.

It was the final pre-season game for both sides – a last chance for players to make an impression before Saturday’s 10 p.m. ET deadline for teams to submit their final roster cuts.

Fajardo signed with the Alouettes from Saskatchewan as a free agent this off-season to replace Trevor Harris. In one-and-a-half quarters of play, he went 7-for-14 for 77 yards and a touchdown pass.

Caleb Evans also threw for 77 yards on 7-of-14 completions. Davis Alexander went 7-of-11 for 88 yards in a battle for the backup QB spot. Mike Glass III closed out the game.

Alouettes starting running back William Stanback, making his pre-season debut, ran for 25 yards on four attempts.

NHL

The puck drops on the Stanley Cup final tonight. The Vegas Golden Knights, the top seed in the West, will host eighth-seeded Florida from the Eastern Conference. The Panthers stunned Boston in the first round before upsetting Toronto and Carolina. The series winner will become a first-time Stanley Cup champion.

MLB

A shutout victory for the Toronto Blue Jays. George Springer and Daulton Varsho hit homers in a 3-0 win over the New York Mets. Chris Bassitt threw seven and two-third innings for the victory. Toronto has won three of its last four games.

CEBL

Teddy Allen was an offensive powerhouse against his former squad as his 42 points helped the Winnipeg Sea Bears (2-1) win 98-93 despite a furious 29-point comeback from the Scarborough Shooting Stars (1-2) on Friday night.
 
The guard’s first season in the CEBL a year ago was spent with the Shooting Stars where he played in seven games. It was clear that Allen was looking to show Scarborough what they were missing, and he did just that.

NBA

The Miami Heat are hoping for a better performance in tomorrow’s Game 2 after being outplayed in the opener of the NBA Finals. The Denver Nuggets rolled to victory on their home court with Canada’s Jamal Murray scoring 26 points. Denver will host Game 2 before the best-of-seven series shifts to Florida for two games.

(Canadian Press)