Friday Sports: The Return Of Bo Levi

CFL

• Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell is back in Calgary and ready to take on his former team as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats open their season against the Stampeders Friday night. Mitchell spent the first decade of his CFL career in Calgary, leading the Stamps to a pair of Grey Cups and twice winning the league’s MVP award. Calgary traded his rights to Hamilton in 2022.“I’d be lying if I didn’t say there was a little bit of extra motivation,” Mitchell said Thursday on the visitors’ side of the stadium. “If this was the fourth, fifth game (of the season), I think I would think about that aspect of it a little bit more.

  “Right now, it’s just trying to get us off to a hot start, get off to 1-0 and again, just run this offence and be healthy and everything that I didn’t have last year.”

• A rematch of last year’s Grey Cup ended with another Alouettes win Thursday night. Montreal opened the CFL season with a dominant 27-12 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Quarterback Cody Fajardo threw for 254 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The Bombers struggled across all three phases and didn’t record their lone major of the night until late in the fourth quarter.

MLB

Chris Bassitt is set to take the mound as the Blue Jays open a three-game set against the Athletics in Oakland. Toronto is coming off a 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, while the A’s got blanked 3-zip by the Seattle Mariners yesterday. Right-hander Hogan Harris is expected to get the start for Oakland.

WCBL

Moose Jaw 16 Saskatoon 10
Lethbridge 11 Brooks 5
Sylvan Lake 7 Fort McMurray 1
Medicine Hat 10 Swift Current 1

NBA

• A dominant win for Boston in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Jaylen Brown scored 22 points, Kristaps Porzingis added 20 in his return from a calf strain and the Celtics powered past the Dallas Mavericks for a 107-89 victory. Boston led by 29 points in the first half and connected on 16 3-pointers in a powerful start to its quest for an 18th NBA title.
• NBA commissioner Adam Silver says getting the league’s next round of media rights deals completed is no easy feat because no one can say with any certainty what the viewing landscape will look like in the future. The current U-S deals expire after next season and the NBA has been speaking with a number of networks and platforms — including NBC, ESPN and Amazon — about what comes next. 

CEBL

Jahvon Blair’s 21 points helped the Niagara River Lions (2-2) pick up a 101-94 win on Thursday night, snapping the Winnipeg Sea Bears (3-2) three-game win streak in the process. On Friday night, Saskatchewan visits Brampton and Vancouver is at Calgary.

NHL

The NHL team in Utah is down to six finalists for a name.

Smith Entertainment Group announced Thursday the choices have been narrowed to Blizzard, Mammoth, Outlaws, Venom, Yeti and Utah Hockey Club, or Utah HC.

Those are the options fans have to choose from after the process started with 20 possibilities and led to 520,000 votes. The public has until the end of the day June 20 in round two to determine the name.

Owner Ryan Smith has said he expects the jerseys to have Utah on them for the inaugural season. He told The Associated Press upon taking control of the franchise that the name would involve Utah in some way.

(Canadian Press)