Thursday Sports
OLYMPICS
Canada’s Olympic women’s soccer team opens its championship title defence today with a match against 28th-ranked New Zealand, with assistant Andy Spence serving as bench boss. The Canadian team found itself dealing with a messy scandal after reports surfaced it used drones to film New Zealand practice sessions. Head coach Beverly Priestman said she’d remove herself from Canada’s sidelines for today’s contest, while an assistant coach and staff member have already been sent home.
MLB
- The Toronto Blue Jays are aiming for a series win today when they face the visiting Tampa Bay Rays in the third and final game of their three-game set at Rogers Centre. The Rays won 4-2 on Tuesday, and the Jays bounced back last night with a 6-3 win. Right-hander Chris Bassitt will be on the mound for Toronto, while Tampa counters with right-hander Taj Bradley.
- Toronto Blue Jays outfielder and four-time Gold Glove winner Kevin Kiermaier said last night he intends to retire at the end of the season. Now in his 11th season and second with Toronto after nine years with the Tampa Bay Rays, Kiermaier is batting 191 with four home runs and 18 R-B-I-s in 77 games. He signed a one-year, 10.5-million-dollar contract with the Blue Jays last winter. He was selected by the Rays in the 31st round of the 2010 draft.
WCBL
Moose Jaw 11 Lethbridge 3
Saskatoon 10 Swift Current 3
Medicine Hat 12 Regina 9
Okotoks 9 Weyburn 3
Fort McMurray 3 Edmonton 2
Fort McMurray 7 Edmonton 3
Sylvan Lake 11 Brooks 3
CFL
The Montreal Alouettes host the Saskatchewan Roughriders tonight in a marquee CFL matchup. Both teams are 5-and-1 and lead their respective divisions. The Riders are 2-and-1 on the road, while the Als are 2-and-1 at home. Cody Fajardo will be watching from the sidelines as the Alouettes placed the Grey Cup MVP on the six-game injured list.
NFL TRAINING CAMP NOTEBOOK
COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP) — Raiders general manager Tom Telesco moved to end speculation at the NFL scouting combine in February that star wide receiver Davante Adams might be on the trade block. But the talk has continued about Adams’ future in Las Vegas — and it intensified to the point that his representatives tried to shut it down. They called it “baseless, unfounded speculation” in a statement last month to ESPN. Adams himself has said he’s focused on this season for the Raiders, who went through their first training camp practice Wednesday.
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Mike Macdonald started and ended his first training camp practice as a head coach with the fans. Before kicking off Seattle Seahawks training camp on Wednesday, Macdonald engaged the crowd sitting on the grass berm overlooking the team’s waterside practice fields, waving his arms to fire up the crowd. And two hours later, he headed back over to the same area to sign autographs for those who hung around till the end. While a new era in Seattle has been underway since last January when Pete Carroll was let go following 14 seasons in charge and Macdonald was hired as the youngest coach in the league, it really kicked into gear with the start of training camp and the 6 1/2-week runup to the season opener on Sept. 8 at home against Denver.
LOS ANGELES –Matthew Stafford was on the field at Loyola Marymount University to begin preparations for his fourth season with the Rams and 16th in the NFL, looking to build on a bounce-back campaign and ready to put to rest any lingering consternation about his contract. Stafford, 36, spent the offseason trying to get the four-year, $160 million dollar deal he signed shortly after leading the Rams to a championship modified to include more guaranteed money, which was not included on the final two years of the deal following the upcoming season. Although terms of the modification he and the Rams agreed to have not been disclosed, Stafford is pleased with the outcome.
EAGAN, Minn. — Minnesota Vikings cornerback Mekhi Blackmon tore his ACL during a drill in the first practice of training camp on Wednesday. Blackmon, a second-year player out of Southern California who showed flashes of promise last season after being drafted in the third round, hurt his knee during a 7-on-7 passing drill.
GOLF
The CPKC Canadian Women’s Open gets underway today at Earl Grey Golf Club in Calgary. A number of top Canadian golfers, including 2018 champion Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ontario, will tee off in groups of three this morning. The defending champion is American Megan Khang. Lydia Ko of New Zealand will be looking to win her fourth Canadian Open title.
(Canadian Press)
