SUNDAY SPORTS PAGE: RAIDERS UPSET PATS, ROUGHNECKS SWEEP RUSH
WHL
REGINA – Sloan Stanick scored three times and Ryder Ritchie added two assists as the visiting Prince Albert Raiders knocked off the Regina Pats 5-3 in Western Hockey League action on Saturday.
Aiden Oiring and Evan Herman also scored for the Raiders (28-37-3-0), who were outshot 32-30.
Stanislav Svozil, Tanner Howe and Connor Bedard scored for the Pats (34-30-3-1), who trailed 1-0 after the first period and 3-0 after 40 minutes. Alexander Suzdalev chipped in with two assists.
HITMEN 3 OIL KINGS 2
EDMONTON, Alta. – Carter Yakemchuk’s second goal of the game, scored at 14:22 of the third period, proved to be the winner as the visiting Calgary Hitmen edged the Edmonton Oil Kings 3-2.
Riley Fiddler-Schultz also scored for the Hitmen (31-28-5-3).
Loick Daigle and Mason Finley scored for the Oil Kings (9-54-4-0), who were outshot 45-25.
—
ICE 5 WHEAT KINGS 3
WINNIPEG, Man. – Conor Geekie scored three goals as the Winnipeg ICE beat the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings 5-3.
Connor McClennon added two goals for the ICE (57-10-1-0).
Roger McQueen, Rylen Roersma and Calder Anderson scored for the Wheat Kings (26-33-8-1).
—
COUGARS 3 BLAZERS 2 (SO)
PRINCE GEORGE – The Prince George Cougars scored twice in a three-round shootout to defeat the visiting Kamloops Blazers 3-2.
Hudson Thornton and Riley Heidt scored in regulation time for the Cougars (37-24-6-1), who were outshot 45-17. Cougars goaltender Tyler Brennan stopped 43 of 45 shots.
Emmitt Finnie and Ashton Ferster scored for the Blazers (48-13-4-3).
—
BLADES 6 WARRIORS 3
MOOSE JAW, Sask. – Trevor Wong scored twice and Spencer Shugrue chipped in with two assists as the visiting Saskatoon Blades beat the Moose Jaw Warriors 6-3.
Brandon Lisowsky, Jayden Wiens, Justin Lies and Rowan Calvert also scored for the Blades (48-15-4-1).
Atley Calvert scored twice and added an assist for the Warriors (41-24-0-3), while Logan Dowhaniuk netted a single.
—
REBELS 5 HURRICANES 1
RED DEER, Alta. – Hunter Mayo scored a goal and added an assist as the Red Deer Rebels defeated the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-1.
Talon Brigley, Christoffer Sedoff, Frantisek Formanek and Kalan Lind also scored for the Rebels (43-19-3-3).
Tyson Zimmer scored for the Hurricanes (36-26-3-3).
—
TIGERS 4 BRONCOS 3
MEDICINE HAT, Alta. – Cayden Lindstrom scored six minutes into the third period and the goal stood as the winner as the Medicine Hat Tigers edged the visiting Swift Current Broncos 4-3.
Oasiz Wiesblatt, Dallon Melin and Tyler MacKenzie also scored for the Tigers (30-29-8-1).
Josh Filmon, Connor Hvidston and Josh Davies scored for the Broncos (31-33-1-3).
—
SILVERTIPS 4 ROYALS 3 (SO)
VICTORIA, B.C. – The Everett Silvertips scored the lone goal of a three-round shootout to edge the Victoria Royals 4-3.
Jesse Heslop, Jackson Berezowski and Carter Bear scored for the visiting Silvertips (33-32-2-1).
Brayden Schuurman, Tanner Scott and Matthew Hodson scored for the Royals (17-43-6-2).
—
WINTERHAWKS 3 THUNDERBIRDS 1
SEATTLE, Wash. – Josh Zakreski scored a goal and added an assist as the visiting Portland Winterhawks defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-1.
Luke Schelter and Ryan McCleary also scored for the Winterhawks (40-20-5-3).
Dylan Guenther scored for the Thunderbirds (54-11-1-2).
—
ROCKETS 5 GIANTS 4
KELOWNA, B.C. – The Kelowna Rockets scored the first four goals then hung on to beat the visiting Vancouver Giants 5-4.
Gabriel Szturc scored twice for the Rockets (27-37-4-0), with singles netted by Carson Golder, Max Graham and Turner McMillen.
Julian Cull, Skyler Bruce, Ty Halaburda and Colton Roberts scored for the Giants (28-32-5-3), who were outshot 31-22.
—
AMERICANS 2 CHIEFS 1 (SO)
SPOKANE, Wash. – Lukas Dragicevic scored in the fifth round of the shootout to give the visiting Tri-City Americans a 2-1 victory over the Spokane Chiefs.
Parker Bell scored for the Americans (34-26-5-3) in regulation time.
Kooper Gizowski scored for the Chiefs (15-43-4-6) in regulation.
The Chiefs led 1-0 after the first period and the teams were tied 1-1 heading into the third. The Chiefs outshot the Americans 31-29.
NHL
Nicolas Roy scored at 2:26 overtime and the visiting Vegas Golden Knights knocked off the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in NHL action on Saturday night. Jack Eichel (IGH-kuhl), Pavel Dorofeyev and Jonathan Marchessault also scored for the Golden Knights, who have won four straight. Zach Hyman, Leon Draisaitl and Warren Foegele scored for the Oilers, who had their five-game winning streak snapped.
Evgeni Malkin scored at 18:40 of the third period to snap a 3-3 tie as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the visiting Washington Capitals 4-3. Pittsburgh had built a 3-0 lead but third-period goals by Tom Wilson, Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome tied the game, setting up Malkin’s unassisted heroics.
Elsewhere:
Calgary 5 San Jose 3
Montreal 8 Columbus 2
Vancouver 3 Dallas 1
Carolina 5 Toronto 3
Los Angeles 4 Winnipeg 1
New Jersey 5 Ottawa 3
Philadelphia 3 Detroit 0
Boston 2 Tampa Bay 1
Seattle 7 Nashville 2
Buffalo 2 N.Y. Islanders 0
Minnesota 3 Chicago 1
N.Y. Rangers 4 Florida 3
St. Louis 6 Anaheim 3
NLL
The Roughnecks dominated in Saskatchewan.
Calgary crushed the Rush 14-6 Saturday night at SaskTel Centre to sweep the season series for a second straight year and move to 10-4 on the season. Christian Del Bianco was stellar once again making 44 saves in the win.
Jesse King opened the scoring for the third straight game. Tanner Cook found the back of the net with a strong effort shortly after for his 20 goal of the season. That’s the first time Cook has reached the 20 goal mark. Dan Taylor extended the lead to 3-0 on a beautiful quick stick as it was all Roughnecks early.
The Roughnecks went on a four-minute powerplay five-minutes into the fourth and King would score twice to make it 14-4 with just over half the quarter to go. The Rush put two goals in late in the game to make the final score 14-6.
The Riggers stay on the road heading to San Diego to battle the Seals on March 31.
CURLING
Canada will be playing for a bronze medal on Sunday at the women’s world curling championship in Sandviken, Sweden. Kerri Einarson’s Manitoba-based foursome lost 8-5 to Norway in Saturday’s semifinal. Canada will play Anna Hasselborg’s crew of host Sweden for third. Unbeaten Switzerland defeated Sweden 8-4 in Saturday’s other semifinal, setting up a Norway-Switzerland showdown for gold on Sunday.
MARCH MADNESS
NEW YORK (AP) – Alijah Martin, Vladislav Goldin and ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic became the first and lowest-seeded team to reach this year’s Final Four as the Owls withstood another huge game by Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell to beat the Wildcats 79-76 on Saturday night.
FAU (35-3), making just its second appearance in the NCAA Tournament, won the East Region at Madison Square Garden and will head to Houston to play the winner of Sunday’s South Region final between Creighton and San Diego State.
WEST REGION
UCONN 82, GONZAGA 54
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Jordan Hawkins scored 20 points and UConn overwhelmed its fourth straight NCAA Tournament opponent, earning its first trip to the Final Four in nine years.
The Huskies (29-8) have felt right at home in their first extended March Madness run since winning the 2014 national championship. UConn controlled Gonzaga at both ends, building a 23-point lead early in the second half to waltz into the final section of the bracket.
(Files files from Canadian Press, CalgaryRoughnecks.com)