Sunday Sports

OILERS HIRE REGINA’S EVANOCHKO

EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers have promoted Warren Rychel to pro scouting director and added former Oiler forward Zack Kassian to the pro scouting staff.

Aaron Nagy was appointed amateur scout, Erik Elenz was hired as video and analytics coaching co-ordinator, Dominik Zrim joins the organization as director of hockey strategy and David Evanochko was hired as lead solutions architect, the Oilers announced Saturday in a statement.

Rychel, who played 406 NHL games over eight seasons with Los Angeles, Toronto, Anaheim, Chicago and Colorado, will start his third season with the Oilers.

Kassian played seven of his 13 NHL seasons for the Oilers before retiring in 2023. The 33-year-old from Windsor, Ont., amassed 92 goals, 111 assists and 913 penalty minutes in 661 career games.

Nagy was previously president of the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Georgetown Raiders and a player agent with Newport Sports.

Elenz came from the Seattle Kraken’s AHL affiliate after two seasons as video coach for the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

Zrim previously worked for the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks.

Evanochko was formerly vice president of software development at Conexus Credit Union in Regina.

NHL

WINNIPEG – Jesper Wallstedt left a lot of Jets hopefuls shaking their heads on Saturday night.

The Minnesota goalie stopped 38 of 40 shots as the Wild whipped Winnipeg 5-2 in an NHL pre-season game.

Ben Jones, Jakub Lauko, Graeme Clarke, Daemon Hunt and Caeden Bankier scored for Minnesota.

Wallstedt stopped 28 of 29 shots through the first 40 minutes, 18 in the second period.

Colby Barlow and Colin Miller replied for Winnipeg. Kaapo Kahkonen made 23 saves on 28 shots for Winnipeg at the Canada Life Centre.

Jets coach Scott Arniel was expecting some sloppy play.

“The two power-play goals, there’s some sloppiness on execution, which you are going to see at this time of year,” he said. “Pretty much told the young guys just learn from it.”

• Five Canadian teams are in action on Sunday with 10 games on the NHL’s pre-season schedule. The Edmonton Oilers host the Winnipeg Jets, the Ottawa Senators visit the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Seattle Kraken host the Calgary Flames.

WHL

Nicholas Johnson scored a natural hat trick to break open a tight game and lead the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings to a 5-1 Western Hockey League victory over the Regina Pats on Saturday night.

Easton Odut and Nolan Flamand also scored for the Wheat Kings, who scored twice on the power play. The visitors led 1-0 after the first period and 2-0 heading into the third.

Tye Spencer scored for the Pats, who were outshot 42-25 at the Brandt Centre.

Elsewhere in the WHL:

—

GIANTS 4 SILVERTIPS 3

EVERETT, Wash. — Cameron Schmidt’s second goal of the game, scored at 17:45 of the second period, proved to be the difference as the visiting Vancouver Giants edged the Everett Silvertips 4-3.

Jakob Oreskovic and Aaron Obobaifo also scored for the Giants, whose netminder Burke Hood stopped 37 of 40 shots.

Julien Maze, Carter Bear and Tyler MacKenzie scored for the Silvertips.

—

WINTERHAWKS 5 ROCKETS 3

KELOWNA, B.C. — Tyson Yaremko scored twice as the visiting Portland Winterhawks grounded the Kelowna Rockets 5-3.

Reed Brown, Diego Buttazzoni and Carsyn Dyck also scored for the Winterhawks.

Levi Benson, Ethan Mittelsteadt and Owen Folstrom scored for the Rockets.

—

RAIDERS 6 WARRIORS 4

MOOSE JAW, Sask. — Oli Chenier scored twice as the visiting Prince Albert Raiders defeated the Moose Jaw Warriors 6-4.

Doogan Pederson, Harrison Lodewyk, Ty Meunier and Ethan Bibeau also scored for the Raiders.

Aiden Ziprick, Owen Berge, Pavel McKenzie and Brayden Schuurman scored for the Warriors.

—

WILD 7 THUNDERBIRDS 1

WENATCHEE, Wash. — Maddix McCagherty scored three goals as the Wenatchee Wild whipped the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds 7-1.

Miles Cooper, Luka Shcherbyna, Kenta Isogai and Caelan Joudrey also scored for the Wild.

Kaleb Hartmann scored once for the Thunderbirds.

—

HURRICANES 2 REBELS 1 (OT)

RED DEER, Alta. — Logan Wormald scored at 2:51 of overtime to give the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes a 2-1 win over the Red Deer Rebels.

Hayden Pakkala also scored for the Hurricanes.

Matteo Fabrizi scored for the Rebels.

—

TIGERS 4 OIL KINGS 2

MEDICINE HAT, Alta. — Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll had a goal and assist as the Medicine Hat Tigers defeated the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings 4-2.

Matt Paranych, Markus Ruck and Liam Ruck also scored for the Tigers.

Lukas Sawchyn and Joe Iginla scored for the Oil Kings.

—

COUGARS 3 CHIEFS 1

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — Carlin Dezainde had a goal and an assist as the Prince George Cougars downed the visiting Spokane Chiefs 3-1.

Matteo Danis and Jett Lajoie also scored for the Cougars.

Mathis Preston scored for the Chiefs.

—

AMERICANS 5 ROYALS 4 (OT)

VICTORIA, B.C. — Gavin Garland’s goal at 1:14 of overtime lifted the visiting Tri-City Americans to a 5-4 win over the Victoria Royals.

Kale Margolis, Cash Koch, Cruz Pavao and Jake Sloan also scored for the Americans.

Escalus Burlock, Tanner Scott, Logan Pickford and Keaton Verhoeff scored for the Royals, who were outshot 50-24.

—

BLADES 9 BRONCOS 3

SASKATOON, Sask. — Brayden Klimpke and Ben Riche each scored twice as the Saskatoon Blades whipped the visiting Swift Current Broncos 9-3.

Misha Volotovskii, Tyler Parr, William James, Colten Worthington and Cooper Williams also scored for the Blades.

Ty Coupland, Rylan Gould and Peyton Kettles scored for the Broncos.

NFL

The Houston Texans visit the Minnesota Vikings today and the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Los Angeles Chargers in two battles of 2-0 NFL squads. Other unbeaten teams in action today include the Buffalo Bills, Seattle Seahawks, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.

MLB

• The Toronto Blue Jays will be aiming to avoid a sweep in Florida today when they wrap up a three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays took Friday’s opener 1-0 and won 3-2 on Saturday. Right-hander Shane Baz will be on the mound for the Rays. The Jays haven’t named a starter. The Jays open a three-game homestand Monday when the Boston Red Sox pay a visit to Rogers Centre.
• The Chicago White Sox tied the American League record with their 119th loss last night as Xander Bogaerts and Elias Díaz each hit a two-run homer to help the San Diego Padres win 6-2 and move closer to a playoff spot. With a record of 36-and-119, the White Sox matched the AL mark for losses set by the 2003 Detroit Tigers, who finished 43-and-119. One more defeat for Chicago over its final seven games would equal the post-1900 record of 120 losses by the 1962 expansion New York Mets.

WNBA

The WNBA playoffs tip off today with all four first-round series starting. This is the third straight post-season the league will employ a best-of-three format in the opening round, with the higher seed hosting the first two games. A decisive third game would be played at the home of the lower seed. The New York Liberty, Connecticut Sun, Minnesota Lynx and Las Vegas Aces will be the host teams today.

(Canadian Press)