SPORTS SATURDAY: CFL, WORLD SERIES, NHL, USPORTS & MORE
CFL
TORONTO – Cole Spieker caught six passes for 105 yards and a touchdown to lead the Montreal Alouettes to a 38-33 win against the Toronto Argonauts in the regular-season finale on Saturday.
Spieker, who hauled in a 53-yard first-quarter touchdown, caught a critical first-down pass to keep a late-game drive alive for Montreal (9-9). Alouettes running back Jeshrun Antwi fumbled a couple of plays later at the Toronto four-yard line, but Montreal’s defence held on for the victory.
Toronto (11-7) forced an Alouettes safety early in the fourth quarter to pull within five points.
The Argos and Alouettes had already clinched first and second in the CFL’s East Division entering the game.
Montreal QB Dominique Davis started in place of 36-year-old Trevor Harris, one of many Alouettes and Argos regulars who rested.
Toronto quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson also did not play.
Davis completed 13 of 14 passes for 166 yards, two touchdowns and an interception before being relieved by Davis Alexander late in the first half.
Dejon Brissett of Mississauga, Ont., scored his first career touchdown with a 27-yard reception for Toronto with 4:03 remaining in the first quarter. Montreal answered with 58 seconds left as Davis hit Kaion Julien-Grant for a 31-yard score and a 21-7 advantage.
A Shaq Richardson interception led to a 19-yard touchdown pass from Chad Kelly to Juwan Brescacin for the Argos early in the second quarter.
Alexander’s TD on a QB sneak was countered with a one-yard run from Kelly to cut Montreal’s lead to 28-21 at the half.
UP NEXT
The Alouettes meet the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the East semifinal in Montreal on Nov. 6. The winner travels to Toronto to face the Argos in the East final on Nov. 13.
CFL
OTTAWA – With a 23-16 win over the Ottawa Redblacks on Saturday, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats wrapped up their CFL regular season on a four-game winning streak.
In stark comparison, the Redblacks’ rough season (4-14) came to an embarrassing end with an 0-9 record at TD Place.
Matt Shiltz, making his third start of the season, went 12-for-18 for 144 yards. Dane Evans took over in the third and played part of the fourth before Shiltz returned.
Evans finished the game 7-for-9 for 117 yards, but more importantly got to test his throwing thumb in game action before next weekend’s playoff action.
Hamilton (8-10) heads to Montreal next Sunday to take on the Alouettes in the East Division semifinal.
Ottawa will have plenty of decisions to make in the off-season as this is the third straight season they’ve failed to qualify for the post-season.
WORLD SERIES
Framber Valdez made a five-run lead stand up after Houston’s lightning first-inning burst, Alex Bregman homered and the Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 Saturday night to tie the best-of-seven World Series at one game apiece. Just like in Game 1, the Astros rushed to a 5-0 lead. Unlike ace Justin Verlander in the opener, Valdez and Houston held on. Valdez rebounded from a pair of poor outings in last year’s Series to pitch shutout ball into the seventh, and the bullpen survived a couple of jams to close things out. Game 3 is Monday in Philadelphia.
USPORTS
The University of Regina Rams, who went into the final week of the regular season with second place in the Canada West standings locked up, lost 44-30 to Manitoba on Saturday afternoon at Mosaic Stadium.
Manitoba tore out of the gates, scoring a pair of touchdowns and a field goal in the opening quarter and adding another field goal early in the second to go up 20-3. The Rams reeled off 23 consecutive points before halftime, first on an Ethan Kiefer 19-yard touchdown catch that was set up by a Cameron Mah blocked punt on the previous play.
The Bisons scored all 17 points of the fourth quarter. They tied up the game with a 30-yard field goal early in the period, then got touchdowns from both AK Gassama and Vaughan Lloyd to seal the win.
The Rams will now prepare to host UBC next Saturday in a Canada West semifinal at Mosaic Stadium. Kickoff is set for 4:00 PM.
SASKATOON — The University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team took care of business in their regular-season finale, as they defeated the Calgary Dinos 24-1 at Griffiths Stadium in Nutrien Park on Saturday.
With the Huskies already having first-place locked up, Saturday afternoon’s matchup with the Dinos served as the team’s final postseason tune-up. Saskatchewan moved to 7-1 with the win — the team’s best regular-season finish since 2009.
“All in all, I’m proud of the guys. I’m proud of where we’re at and I’m really looking forward to next week,” said Huskies head coach Scott Flory.
Mason Nyhus led the way in his final regular-season game, throwing for 350 yards and three touchdowns. The Regina, Sask. product entered the day needing just 120 yards to overtake the program’s all-time single season passing yards record. He did just that on an 85-yard touchdown strike to Rhett Vavra in the second quarter.
“It’s pretty cool,” said Nyhus, when asked about surpassing Kyle Siemens and Steve Bilan in the program’s record books. “It’s such a historic program here at the University of Saskatchewan — such a rich tradition in football. It’s pretty cool that one of my best buds Kyle Siemens held the record before me, so it’s kind of cool that he can, in a sense, pass the torch onto me.”
Now Saskatchewan, turns their attention to the postseason and their path back to the Hardy Cup. The Huskies will play host as far as they advance in the postseason — including the Hardy Cup.
The loss moved the Calgary Dinos to 1-7, as they missed the postseason for the second-straight.
NHL SCOREBOARD
Edmonton 3 Calgary 2
Montreal 7 St. Louis 4
Los Angeles 4 Toronto 2
Florida 5 Ottawa 3
N.Y. Rangers 6 Dallas 3
Tampa Bay 4 San Jose 3
Buffalo 4 Chicago 3 (OT)
Detroit 2 Minnesota 1
Carolina 4 Philadelphia 3 (OT)
N.Y. Islanders 5 Colorado 4
Washington 3 Nashville 0
Seattle 3 Pittsburgh 1
WHL
WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg ICE returned home to Wayne Fleming Arena on Saturday and thrilled the hometown crowd with a third-period rally to beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 4-3 in Western Hockey League action.
Owen Pederson scored at 15:35 of the third to snap a 3-3 tie, giving the ICE their 13th win in 14 games.
Zach Benson, Ty Nash and Conor Geekie also scored for the ICE, who are listed at No. 1 in this week’s Canadian Hockey League top 10 rankings.
Earlier in the day, the ICE acquired defenceman Graham Sward from the Spokane Chiefs in exchange for defenceman Jaren Brinson, a first-round pick in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft, a third-round pick in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft and a second-round pick and fifth-round pick in the 2026 WHL Prospects Draft.
Sward, 19, from Abbotsford, B.C., registered four assists in eight games along with 10 penalty minutes this season with the Chiefs. He is a fifth-round pick, 146th overall by the Nashville Predators in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.
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HURRICANES 2 BLADES 1
Jett Jones and Tyson Zimmer scored first-period goals and the Lethbridge Hurricanes (6-8-0-0) held on to defeat the visiting Saskatoon Blades 2-1.
Lukas Hansen scored for the Blades (10-3-0-0), who outshot the Hurricanes 30-28.
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COUGARS 4 THUNDERBIRDS 1
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. – Riley Heidt scored twice as the Prince George Cougars defeated the unbeaten Seattle Thunderbirds 4-1.
Koehn Ziemmer and Ethan Samson also scored for the Cougars (6-6-0-0).
Jared Davidson scored for the T-Birds (9-1-0-0).
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BRONCOS 5 RAIDERS 4
PRINCE ALBERT, SK. – Mathew Ward’s goal at 17:51 of the third was the winner as the Swift Current Broncos recorded a 5-4 road win over the Prince Albert Raiders.
Caleb Wyrostok scored twice for Swift Current, while Josh Filmon and Connor Hvidston added singles for the Broncos (5-7-0-0).
Carson Latimer, Keaton Sorensen, Carter Anderson and Harrison Lodewyk scored for the Raiders (3-9-2-0).
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SILVERTIPS 3 PATS 2
REGINA, SASK. – Austin Roest’s goal at 14:49 snapped a 2-2 tie and the Everett Silvertips edged the Regina Pats 3-2.
Jackson Berezowski and Jesse Heslop also scored for the Silvertips (8-4-0-0).
Borya Valis and Connor Bedard scored for the Pats (6-7-0-1).
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WINTERHAWKS 5 ROCKETS 3
PORTLAND, ORE. – James Stefan scored a goal and added an assist as the Portland Winterhawks defeated the visiting Kelowna Rockets 5-3.
Aidan Litke, Gabe Klassen, Kyle Chyzowski and Carter Sotheran also scored for the Winterhawks (8-1-1-0).
John Babcock, Rilen Kovacevic and Gabriel Szturc scored for the Rockets (4-7-1-0).
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AMERICANS 6 WARRIORS 2
MOOSE JAW, SASK. – The Tri-City Americans scored three unanswered goals in the third period and defeated the Moose Jaw Warriors 6-2.
Lukas Dragicevic, Parker Bell, Drew Freer, Ethan Ernst, Tyson Greenway and Adam Mechura scored for the Americans (6-5-0-0).
Denton Mateychuk and Maximus Wanner scored for the Warriors (8-5-0-0).
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ROYALS 4 TIGERS 3 (OT)
MEDICINE HAT, ALTA. – Jake Poole scored at 1:28 of overtime, his third goal of the game, to give the visiting Victoria Royals a 4-3 victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Riley Gannon also scored for the Royals (3-10-2-0).
Oasiz Wiesblatt, Pavel Bocharov and Dallon Melin scored for the Tigers (4-6-2-0), who scored at 19:11 of the third period to force overtime.
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BLAZERS 7 CHIEFS 1
SPOKANE, WASH. – The Kamloops Blazers scored four unanswered goals in the first period and then cruised to a 7-1 win over the host Spokane Chiefs.
Logan Stankoven and Daylan Kuefler each scored twice for the Blazers (7-3-1-1), with singles netted by Kyle Masters, Kaden Hammell and Fraser Minten.
Grady Lane scored for the Chiefs (3-8-0-0), who were outshot 41-26.
(Canadian Press, Rams/Huskies Athletics/Photo: CFL)
