SUNDAY SPORTS

NHL

It was fun and games at the NHL All-Star’s skills competition at Columbus, Ohio.

Blue Jackets star Ryan Johansen allowed the 7-year-old son of the team’s trainer to take his shot in the breakaway challenge. Moments later, Philadelphia’s Jake Voracek trumped Johansen by grabbing diminutive Calgary rookie Johnny Gaudreau and guiding him toward scoring a goal.

Nashville’s Shea Weber fired the hardest shot with a 108.5-mph blast. Patrick Kane of the Blackhawks had the fastest time in the accuracy shooting, and Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Drouin was the fastest skater.

The team captained by Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno defeated one led by Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, 25-19.

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Tyler Johnson could miss Sunday All-Star game because of a lower body injury that prevented him from participating in the skills competition. Johnson is eighth in the league with a team-high 48 goals on 17 goals and 31 assists in 46 games this season.

The Lightning did not reveal the severity of the injury of how Johnson was injured.

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NFL

Bill Belichick spent a considerable amount of time discussing pressure on Saturday, but it had nothing to do with the Super Bowl.

The New England Patriots coach says his team did everything right in preparing footballs for last week’s AFC Championship game. In a lengthy, detail-oriented presentation to reporters, Belichick explained how the Patriots conducted experiments over the last few days on what goes into inflating a ball and how it reacts to different weather conditions.

His conclusion is that the team did nothing wrong and that it welcomes the league’s inquiry.

The NFL is investigating why footballs used by the team in the AFC championship game against Indianapolis were insufficiently inflated. Belichick could not provide answers, but he explained how other things such as temperature could have an effect.

The Patriots are scheduled to play the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl on Feb. 1.

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FIGURE SKATING

Canadian figure skater Toller Cranston has died at the age of 65 after an apparent heart attack. The man who helped revolutionize figure skating won bronze at the 1976 Olympics. He also took third place at the 1974 world championships. Cranston was the Canadian champion six times.

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TENNIS

Eugenie Bouchard is off to the quarter-finals at the Australian Open. In the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, the seventh seed beat Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in three sets. The Westmount, Quebec native will play second seed Maria Sharapova of Russia in the quarters. Milos Raonic plays Feliciano Lopez of Spain in fourth-set action later on Sunday.

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NBA

LaMarcus Aldridge returned to the Trail Blazers lineup and scored 26 points and nine rebounds as they beat the Washington Wizards 103-96. This comes two days after Aldridge said he was going to have thumb surgery. NBA all-star starter John Wall led Washington with 25 points.

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Earlier in the night, Zach Randolph scored 17 points and added 14 rebounds as Memphis downed the Philadelphia 76ers 101-83. Milwaukee got past the Pistons 101-86 and Utah routed the Brooklyn Nets 108-73. The Raptors return to Toronto Sunday after finishing up a three-game road swing. They host Detroit, a team they fell to just two weeks ago.

(CP)