SUNDAY SPORTS PAGE: GREY CUP MATCH-UP SET
Photo: CFL
TORONTO – Marc-Antoine Dequoy and Kabion Ento returned interceptions for touchdowns as the Montreal Alouettes stunned the Toronto Argonauts 38-17 in the CFL East Division final Saturday.
Montreal’s stellar defence forced nine turnovers – resulting in 21 points. That included four interceptions of Toronto’s Chad Kelly, who was making his first career playoff start and was also stopped twice in short-yardage situations and lost a fumble.
Toronto turned the ball over on downs four times.
Kelly, the East Division’s outstanding player nominee was intercepted three times in the third, the last returned 22 yards for the TD at 9:13 to put Montreal ahead 24-3.
Later in the quarter, the BMO Field gathering of 26,620 – the largest crowd for an Argos game since they moved there in 2016 – booed the offence off the field.
Dequoy had a 101-yard TD return in the first quarter. Montreal advanced to its first Grey Cup since winning two straight titles (2009-10) and will face either the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who defeated the B.C. Lions 24-13 in the West next weekend at Tim Hortons Field.
Sergio Castillo kicked three field goals for the Bombers at IG Field on Saturday, while Brady Oliveira had an eight yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter. Winnipeg led 7-3, 18-10, and 18-13 by quarter.
(Canadian Press)
USPORTS FOOTBALL ROUND-UP
VANCOUVER – Wide receiver Sam Davenport hauled in a last-second touchdown as the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds staged a late comeback to beat the University of Alberta 28-27 and win the Hardy Cup.
Quarterback Garett Rooker went 27 of 35 and threw 378 yards in the dramatic win.
Davenport was targeted 10 times with the game-winning catch — his only touchdown of the day.
Quarterback Eli Hetlinger threw 12 of 21 in the loss for Alberta.
On the East Coast, St. Francis Xavier is the Atlantic University Sports champions for the third season in a row after a 34-23 win over the Bishop’s Gaiters in the 2023 AUS Loney Bowl.
Running back Caleb Fogarty had 107 yards on 21 carries, including a touchdown, while quarterback Silas Fagnan went 11-17 for 206 yards and two touchdowns.
For Bishop’s, quarterback Justin Quirion went 27 of 51, passing for 267 yards.
Quarterback Evan Hillock threw a 51-yard touchdown pass as the Western Mustangs beat the Laurier Golden Hawks 29-14 on Saturday in the Yates Cup.
Western outscored Laurier 21-0 in the second half of the university football playoff game.
Hillock completed 10-of-19 passes for a total of 173 yards for the Mustangs (2-0) and backup Jerome Rancourt was 2 for 6 with 28 passing yards.
Seth Robertson caught Hillock’s 51-yard pass to give Western the lead with 4:29 left to play in the third quarter.
Running back Ethan Dolby had 120 yards and Troy Thompson had 107 rushing yards.
QB Taylor Elgersma completed 27-of-43 passes for 242 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions for the Golden Hawks (2-1).
And in Quebec, the Montreal Carabins beat Laval Rouge et Orin in a low scoring 12-6 affair to claim the Dunsmore Cup.
Jonathan Senecal threw 18 of 26 for 175 yards in the win, while his Laval counterpart Arnaud Desjardins threw 17 of 33 and three interceptions.
NHL
The Edmonton Oilers rebounded from a disappointing loss to the San Jose Sharks earlier this week to beat the Seattle Kraken 4-1. Zach Hyman scored a hattrick for the Oilers in the win. It was the 10th time in Oilers franchise history that a player scored three goals in an opening period.
Calgary Flames defenceman Nikita Zadorov is defending his agent, after his representative made comments hinting at the Russian leaving the Alberta NHL team. Zadorov also confirmed that there have been talks about a potential trade, but he declined to elaborate further. The defenceman has five points but is minus six on the season. Calgary lost 4-1 at Ottawa Saturday night.
Noah Gregor bagged the winner and an assist as the Toronto Maple Leafs topped the Vancouver Canucks 5-2. Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves in a bounceback performance for the Leafs. The loss ended Vancouver’s five-game winning streak.
Elsewhere Montreal downed Boston 3-2 in overtime and the Winnipeg Jets lost 3-2 at home to Dallas.
WHL
The Brandon Wheat Kings squeaked out a 7-5 win over the Regina Pats on Saturday afternoon inside Westoba Place.
The Pats let a 4-2 lead slip away from them in the second period after a solid start to the contest where the group led 2-1 after one. With the contest tied up 4-4 after two, the Wheat Kings scored two straight goals in the third to go up by two, at 6-4.
Tanner Howe (1G-2A) and Parker Berge (1G-1A) would lead the charge offensively with multi-point efforts. Zackary Shantz, Jaxsin Vaughan and Keagan Slaney also scored for the Pats in the loss, while Kelton Pyne made 43 saves.
Roger McQueen led the way for Brandon with four points (2G-2A). Brett Hyland scored twice, Rylen Roersma tallied two goals and Caleb Hadland added a single tally, snapping their three game losing-streak. Carson Bjarnason made 27 saves in the victory for the Wheat Kings, as they also grab their first win of the season against the Pats.
(ReginaPats.com)
Elsewhere in the DUB:
EDMONTON – Sean Tschigerl scored twice as the Calgary Hitmen downed the Edmonton Oil Kings 10-2.
Maxim Muranov and Carson Wetsch scored twice while Carter Yakemchuk, Ben Kindel, Oliver Tulk and David Adaszynski scored once for Calgary.
Hitmen goaltender Alex Garrett stopped 30 of 32 shots in the win.
Skyler Bruce and Adam Jecho scored the two goals for Edmonton.
Oil Kings netminder Kolby Hay saved 20 of 27 shots before getting the pull and being replaced by and Logan Cunningham who stopped nine of 12 shots.
THUNDERBIRDS 5 ROYALS 4
SEATTLE – Antonio Martorana knocked in the game-winning goal at 12:10 in the third period as the Thunderbirds edged the Royals.
Jeremy Hanzel scored twice while Eric Alarie, Antonio Martorana and Kazden Mathies each recorded a goal for Seattle.
Thunderbirds goaltender Scott Ratzlaff stopped 13 of 17 shots.
Dawson Pasternak, Tanner Scott, Nate Misskey and Deegan Kinniburgh all scored once for Victoria.
Royals netminder Jayden Kraus kicked out 17 of 21 shots before Braden Holt replaced him and stopped 12 of the 13 shots he faced.
SILVERTIPS 6 GIANTS 2
EVERETT – Austin Roest scored twice as Everett Silvertips defeated Vancouver Giants.
Kyan Grouette, Dominik Rymon, Eric Jamieson and Jesse Heslop all scored once for Everett.
Silvertips goaltender Tyler Palmer kicked out 20 of 22 shots.
Colton Roberts scored twice for Vancouver.
Giants goaltender Matthew Hutchison saved 34 of 40 shots.
CHIEFS 6 BLAZERS 3
SPOKANE – Berkly Catton scored twice as Spokane Chiefs defeated Kamloops Blazers.
Owen Martin scored twice while Conner Roulette and Chase Bertholet scored once for Spokane.
Chiefs netminder Cooper Michaluk stopped 27 of 30 shots.
Dylan Sydor had a hat-trick for Kamloops.
Blazers goaltender Jesse Sanche stopped 34 of 39 shots.
TIGERS 4 WILD 1
MEDICINE HAT – Oasiz Wiesblatt scored a goal and an assist as Medicine Hat Tigers defeated the Wenatchee Wild.
Hunter St. Martin, Andrew Basha and Kadon McCann all scored once for Medicine Hat.
Tigers netminder Zach Zahara stopped 34 of 35 shots.
Evan Friesen scored once for Wenatchee.
Wild goaltender Daniel Hauser saved 25 of 29 shots.
CURLING
Team Saskatchewan beat their Prairie rivals to win the 2023 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship on Saturday. Saskatchewan — led by Shaun Meachem — beat Team Manitoba 6-4 to secure a chance to represent Canada at the 2024 World Mixed Curling Championship in Aberdeen, Scotland. The win capped an 11 game winning streak.
(Canadian Press)
That Eastern game was pure entertainment listening to the talking heads who obviously wanted the Argos to win. It didn’t go according to script. The Western game did.