Wednesday Sports: Humboldt Broncos Take Game 7 Thriller!
Photo: Marla Possberg
SJHL PLAYOFFS
The Humboldt Broncos are the final team to book their spot in Round 2 of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoffs.
Boris Kofman notched the game-winner on a Humboldt 5-on-3 6:13 into the third period, and Ben Motew was brilliant in stopping all 30 shots he faced as the Broncos downed the Weyburn Red Wings 3-0 at the E.P.A.
Humboldt moves on to face Melfort in Round 2 while the Battlefords lines up against Flin Flon.
(With files from SJHL.ca)
WHL PLAYOFFS
BLADES 4 RAIDERS 3 OT
(Blades lead series 2-1)
Easton Armstrong completed his hat trick with the game-winning goal 23 seconds into overtime, lifting the Saskatoon Blades past the Prince Albert Raiders 4-3 on Tuesday in Western Hockey League playoff action.
Trevor Wong added the other for Saskatoon, which earned its second straight victory to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series. Evan Gardner made 18 saves.
Ryder Ritchie, Aiden Oiring and Krzysztof Macias replied for Prince Albert, which got 31 saves from Max Hildebrand.
Wong put the Blades ahead 3-2 with 2:47 remaining in the second period. But Oiring pulled the Raiders even with the game-tying goal with 5:38 remaining in the third period, sending the game to overtime.
—
REBELS 4 TIGERS 3 (OT)
(Rebels lead best-of-seven series 2-1)
RED DEER, Alta. — Samuel Drancak knocked in the game-winning goal 6:31 into overtime, and the Red Deer Rebels edged the Medicine Hat Tigers 4-3.
Carson Latimer, with two goals, and Hunter Mayo provided the rest of the offence for Red Deer, which got 35 saves from Chase Wutzke.
Hayden Harsanyi, Andrew Basha and Oasiz Wiesblatt replied for Medicine Hat, while Zach Zahara stopped 32 shots.
—
WINTERHAWKS 6 ROYALS 5
(Winterhawks lead best-of-seven series 3-0)
VICTORIA — Gabe Klassen scored the eventual winner, James Stefan had a hat trick and one assist and the Portland Winterhawks narrowly edged the Victoria Royals 6-5.
Josh Mori and Josh Davies chipped in the other two goals for Portland, which can sweep the series in Game 4 on Wednesday.
Tyson Laventure, Teydon Trembecky, Justin Kipkie, Casper Evensen Haugen and Tanner Scott scored for Victoria.
—
COUGARS 4 CHIEFS 2
(Cougars lead best-of-seven series 3-0)
SPOKANE, Wash. — Zac Funk had two goals and two assists in leading the Prince George Cougars to a 4-2 victory over the Spokane Chiefs.
Hudson Thornton and Borya Valis also scored for Prince George, which has outscored the Chiefs 17-7 in the series, now needing just one more win to advance.
Ty Cheveldayoff and Hayden Paupanekis replied for Spokane.
—
BRONCOS 5 HURRICANES 3
(Broncos lead best-of-seven series 3-0)
LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — Luke Mistelbacher scored a hat trick to lift the Swift Current Broncos to a 5-3 win and 3-0 series lead over the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Josh Filmon and Conor Geekie also netted goals for Swift Current, which scored three unanswered goals to break a 2-2 tie early in the second period.
Sean Tschigerl, Dylan Sydor and Brayden Edwards replied for Lethbridge.
—
ROCKETS 5 WILD 1
(Rockets lead best-of-seven series 2-1)
KELOWNA, B.C. — Tij Iginla scored twice, Jari Kykkanen made 31 saves and the Kelowna Rockets cruised past the Wenatchee Wild 5-1.
Marek Rocak, Caden Price and Luke Schelter contributed a goal apiece for Kelowna, which won its second straight game to take the series lead.
Briley Wood scored the game’s opening goal 5:55 into the first period for Wenatchee. Daniel Hauser turned away 19-of-23 shots.
NHL
SABRES 6 CAPITALS 2
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — JJ Peterka scored twice, including the go-ahead goal, and Buffalo beat the Capitals 6-2 on Tuesday night to slow Washington’s late-season playoff push.
PENGUINS 6, DEVILS 3
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby each scored twice in Pittsburgh’s five-goal third period and the Penguins kept their playoff hopes alive, rallying for a win over New Jersey.
ISLANDERS 2, BLACKHAWKS 1
NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat and Simon Holmstrom scored in the third period to help the New York Islanders top Chicago. Connor Bedard had an assist, and Petr Mrazek made 27 stops.
CANADIENS 5, PANTHERS 3
MONTREAL (AP) — Nick Suzuki scored the tying and go-ahead goals in the second period and Sam Montembeault made 37 saves in leading Montreal to a victory over Florida.
WILD 3, SENATORS 2
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Vinni Lettieri scored the winning goal with just under seven minutes to play and Minnesota beat Ottawa to earn a crucial two points and keep their faint playoff hopes alive.
BRUINS 3, PREDATORS 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Linus Ullmark made 32 saves and had an assist on Charlie Coyle’s short-handed, game-winning goal in the third period that lead Boston to a victory over Nashville.
DUCKS 5, FLAMES 3
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Alex Killorn scored twice, Troy Terry had a goal and two assists and Anaheim snapped a five-game losing streak with a win over Calgary.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 6, CANUCKS 3
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and two assists and Vegas beat Vancouver. The defending Stanley Cup champions have won three straight and six of seven since a 6-10-1 slide that dropped them into the second slot in the wild-card race.
CFL
Former Bears and Dolphins wide receiver Chase Claypool has been put on the exclusive negotiation list of the Canadian Football League’s Sakskatchewan Roughriders, according to Pro Football Talk.
This doesn’t mean Claypool wants to sign with the CFL but that the Roughriders have first dibs if he did.
The native of Abbotsford, British Columbia has fallen off an NFL cliff in a manner of speaking.
Bears GM Ryan Poles gave the Steelers a second-round pick for him, then got a 2025 sixth-round pick back in exchange for him and a seventh-rounder in 2025 from Miami in a trade in October, 2023, after he had 18 catches for 191 yards in 10 Bears games for two seasons.
With the Dolphins after his trade in 2023, Claypool had four catches on seven targets for 26 yards.
Only three years ago, in 2021, he was in the second of strong back-to-back seasons in Pittsburgh to start his career. He eventually left there with with 153 catches for 2,044 yards and 12 TDs.
(SI.com)
WOMENS WORLD HOCKEY
The women’s world hockey championships start today in Utica, New York. The host and defending champion, the United States, will open the tournament against Switzerland in the evening. Denmark and Sweden will start things off late in the morning, followed by Finland and Czechia. Canada will begin play tomorrow against Finland.
Brad Gushue has another pair of games on deck today at the world men’s curling championship in Switzerland. Gushue’s Canadian rink won both their games yesterday to improve to 5-and-1, only sitting behind 6-and-0 Sweden in the standings. Canada plays the Netherlands and South Korea today.
NBA
The Toronto Raptors are back in action tonight in Minnesota against the Timberwolves in NBA action. Toronto dropped its 14th straight game last night, 128-111 to the Los Angeles Lakers. On the bright side, the short-handed Raptors saw the returns of starters R-J Barrett and Immanuel Quickley who had both missed stretches of time mourning the deaths of loved ones.
