SUNDAY SPORTS PAGE: BEDARD, DUB, NHL, COLLEGE FOOTBALL
HALIFAX – Connor Bedard added his name to New Year’s Eve lore at the world junior hockey championship – and placed himself alongside one of the sport’s most dominant forces in the process.
The 17-year-old phenom is doing plenty of dominating in his own right.
Bedard had four assists to tie Eric Lindros for Canada’s all-time points record as the tournament hosts wrapped up preliminary round play with a convincing 5-1 victory over Sweden on Saturday.
The presumptive first pick at the 2023 NHL draft has put up his 31 points in 13 total games, while Lindros registered the same in 21 contests.
Bedard is so dialed in that he didn’t know matching the Hall of Famer was on the horizon.
“It was news to me,” said the native of North Vancouver, B.C. “To have my name in the same sentence as him is crazy.”
Brennan Othmann, who had two goals for Canada, was asked to put Bedard’s performance at the men’s under-20 event into context as he continues to make it look easy.
And to be clear, it isn’t.
“Crazy,” Othmann said. “His confidence level, it’s just through the roof right now. That’s the key of this game _ confidence, having a positive mindset. He’s so easygoing. He takes everything at ease, and he’s an outstanding hockey player.
“We’re lucky to have him on our side wearing the Maple Leaf.”
Joshua Roy, Tyson Hinds and Kevin Korchinski had the other goals for the Canadians, who scored three times in the opening 12 minutes to put Sweden on the ropes early. Thomas Milic made 22 saves.
The pre-tournament favourites have rebounded from an embarrassing loss to Czechia on Boxing Day that ultimately cost Canada first place in Group A, but are now firing on all cylinders.
“A hundred times better,” Othmann said of his team’s improvement since Monday. “We’re playing a more complete game. We’re back to that hard-nosed, grinding hockey which we need to play, especially later on in the short-term competition.”
Ludvig Jansson replied for Sweden, which got 39 stops from Carl Lindbom.
Canada, which wore its black jerseys on New Year’s Eve, will face Slovakia in Monday’s quarterfinals, while Sweden is set to take on Finland. United States will face Germany, and Czechia will play Switzerland in the other matchups.
Bedard, who wasn’t shy about throwing his weight around against Sweden, leads this showcase with 18 points in four games, while his 14 career goals are tied with Jordan Eberle for Canada’s all-time national record at the world juniors.
WHL
ICE 2 BLADES 1
WINNIPEG – Ben Zloty scored 44 seconds into overtime and the Winnipeg ICE defeated the Saskatoon Blades 2-1 in a battle of Western Hockey League powers on Saturday.
Ty Nash of Winnipeg snapped a scoreless tie at 1:30 of the third with his 14th goal of the season, but Vaughn Watterodt tied the game five minutes later for the Blades (25-6-1-0) with his 14th of the season as well.
Matthew Savoie and Zach Benson assisted on both goals for the Eastern Conference-leading ICE (28-5-0-0). Winnipeg outshot Saskatoon 28-23.
Earlier in the day, the ICE acquired Ottawa Senators’ prospect Carson Latimer in a deal with the Prince Albert Raiders. Heading to Saskatchewan are forward Aiden Oiring and two third-round draft picks (2024 and 2025 drafts).
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WARRIORS 6 WHEAT KINGS 2
BRANDON, Man. – Jagger Firkus scored twice and added two assists as the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors defeated the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-2.
Ryder Korczak, Atley Calvert, Eric Alarie and Harper Lolacher also scored for the Warriors (22-13-0-0), who outshot the hosts 33-30.
Nate Danielson and Luke Shipley scored for the Wheat Kings (14-17-4-0).
Moose Jaw led 2-0 after the first period and 5-1 after 40 minutes.
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WINTERHAWKS 7 SILVERTIPS 2
PORTLAND, Ore. – Robbie Fromm-Delorme and Aidan Litke each scored twice and Luca Cagnoni added two assists as the Portland Winterhawks whipped the visiting Everett Silvertips 7-2.
Marcus Nguyen, Nicholas Johnson and Gabe Klassen also scored for the Winterhawks (26-4-2-1),
Ryan Hofer and Niko Tsakumis scored for the Silvertips (16-17-1-0).
Both teams had 37 shots on goal. Portland led 5-0 after the first period and 6-2 heading into the third.
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BRONCOS 4 TIGERS 3
SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. – Josh Filmon’s goal 3:21 into overtime, his second of the game, lifted the Swift Current Broncos to a 4-3 come-from-behind win over the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers.
Brady Birnie’s goal at 15:12 of the third period tied the game at 3-3 for Swift Current and forced overtime.
Sam McGinley also scored for the Broncos (16-15-0-1). Owen Pickering chipped in with three assists for the winners.
Brayden Boehm, Brendan Lee and Owen MacNeil scored for the Tigers (13-18-5-1).
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COUGARS 10 BLAZERS 6
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. – Ethan Samson scored twice and added an assist as the Prince George Cougars knocked off the visiting Kamloops Blazers 10-5.
Hudson Thornton, Bauer Dumanski, Carlin Dezainde, Riley Heidt, Chase Wheatcroft, Jaxsen Wiebe, Blake Eastman and Keaton Dowhaniuk all scored once for the Cougars (15-16-3-0).
Shea Van Olm, Harrison Brunicke, Daylan Kuefler, Kyle Masters, Logan Bairos and Connor Levis scored for the Blazers (21-7-3-2).
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THUNDERBIRDS 2 ROCKETS 0
SEATTLE, Wash. – Jeremy Hanzel and Sawyer Mynio scored third-period goals and Scott Ratzlaff stopped all 18 shots fired his way as the Seattle Thunderbirds clipped the Kelowna Rockets 2-0.
Both teams went 0-for-5 on the power play. The Thunderbirds (27-4-1-1) outshot the Rockets (12-18-3-0) by a 35-18 margin.
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AMERICANS 7 CHIEFS 6 (OT)
KENNEWICK, Wash. – Parker Bell scored 17 seconds into overtime as the host Tri-City Americans completed the comeback with a 7-6 win against the visiting Spokane Chiefs.
Tyson Greenway scored twice for the Americans (16-16-1-1), who got late third-period goals from Jake Sloan (17:21) and Reese Belton (19:12) to force added the overtime.
Sloan scored twice, with a single netted by Marc Lajoie for the Americans.
Kooper Gizowski, Chase Bertholet, Tommaso De Luca, Mac Gross, Blake Swetlikoff and Berkly Catton scored singles for the Chiefs (7-24-1-2), who outshot the Americans 39-38.
NHL SCOREBOARD
Calgary 3 Vancouver 2
Winnipeg 2 Edmonton 1
Toronto 6 Colorado 2
Washington 9 Montreal 2
Detroit 4 Ottawa 2
Buffalo 4 Boston 3 (OT)
Columbus 4 Chicago 1
Vegas 5 Nashville 4 (OT)
Philadelphia 4 Los Angeles 2
Tampa Bay 5 Arizona 3
Minnesota 5 St. Louis 2
Dallas 5 San Jose 2
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF, BOWLS
ATLANTA, GA – After the best semifinal day in the nine-year history of the College Football Playoff, the title game will match the defending national champion against the closest thing the sport has had in years to a Cinderella team.
It will be No. 1 Georgia (14-0) looking for its second straight championship against upstart and No. 3 TCU on Jan. 9 at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
The four-team playoff has been littered with lopsided semifinal games, but Saturday – and into early Sunday and the new year – delivered two thrillers and a combined 179 points.
The Bulldogs came from 14 points down in the second half to beat No. 4 Ohio State 42-41 in the Peach Bowl and advance to the CFP championship game for the third time under coach Kirby Smart.
The Bulldogs and Buckeyes played a classic that came down to a missed field goal by Ohio State with three seconds left. Amazingly, it was even better than the wild opener of the semifinal doubleheader between No. 3 TCU and No. 2 Michigan.
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Max Duggan accounted for four touchdowns, TCU returned two interceptions for scores and the third-ranked Horned Frogs withstood a frenetic second-half surge by No. 2 Michigan to win the Fiesta Bowl 51-45 on Saturday night and advance to the College Football Playoff national championship.
Coming off a losing 2021 season and picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 in Sonny Dykes’ first year as coach, the Horned Frogs will try to win the program’s first national championship since 1938.
It was the highest-scoring Fiesta Bowl and the second-highest scoring CFP game behind Georgia’s 54-48 Rose Bowl victory over Oklahoma on Jan. 1, 2018.
NO. 5 ALABAMA 45, NO. 11 KANSAS STATE 20
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Bryce Young passed for 321 yards and five touchdowns and Alabama responded to an early two-score deficit with 35 straight points to beat Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl.
While a number of pro-bound college stars sat out bowl games that were not part of the College Football Playoff, the Crimson Tide (11-2) and Wildcats (10-4) had their best prospects on the field and making a number of memorable plays – from Young’s pivotal passes, to Kansas State running back Deuce Vaughn’s 88-yard touchdown run to interceptions by Alabama’s Jordan Battle and Brian Branch.
MUSIC CITY BOWL
IOWA 21, KENTUCKY 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Joe Labas threw for 139 yards and a touchdown in his first start and Iowa beat Kentucky in the first shutout in Music City Bowl history.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz capped his 24th season by matching the late Joe Paterno for the bowl victories at Big Ten schools with his 10th.
Iowa (8-5) got a bit of payback for ending last season by losing to Kentucky (7-6) in the Citrus Bowl.
(Canadian Press/Photo: Hockey Canada)
