Sports / In Brief

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This article was published 18/03/2024 (880 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitobans spark Alberta curlers

A PAIR of Manitobans helped spark the University of Alberta women’s curling team to a second consecutive national U Sports championship on Saturday in Fredericton, N.B.

Serena Gray-Withers of Rosewood skipped the squad to a successful defence of its crown after a 10-7 victory over the Waterloo Warriors. Brianna Cullen from Swan River is the second on the team, which went undefeated at the event.

“It feels surreal,” said Gray Withers. “We put in a lot of hard work this season, so I feel like it’s really well deserved, and we all worked really hard to be here and get this result, so I’m super proud.”

Waterloo stole single points in each of the first two ends but Gray-Withers drew for a deuce to even the score in the third end. Alberta posted threes in the fifth and seventh ends to built an 8-4 cushion.

“We really capitalized on our shots in the second half,” said Gray-Withers. “I think that’s what we were missing in the first half. The other team made some great shots, and we just weren’t doing that.”

Toronto wins 10th straight PWHL game

PITTSBURGH — Kali Flanagan had a goal and an assist and Toronto won its 10th straight game with a 2-1 win over Montreal on Sunday in a neutral-site game in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

Hannah Miller also scored for Toronto (12-5-0), which has won 11 of its last 12 games. Kristen Campbell made 17 saves.

Kristin O’Neill scored her first of the season for Montreal (10-5-3), which lost its third straight game and fell to 0-3-1 against Toronto this season. Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped 24 shots.

The game was held at PPG Paints Arena, home to the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, in front of a crowd of 8,850.

It was the second neutral-site game of the weekend for the PWHL. Boston earned a 2-1 shootout win over Ottawa on Saturday at Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit.

Remarkable reds repeat as U champs

TORONTO — Austen Keating’s goal and two assists capped off a perfect season for the New Brunswick Reds as they successfully defended their University Cup hockey championship on Sunday with a 4-0 win against the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes.

The Reds breezed through 2023-24 with a combined exhibition, regular and post-season record of 43-0, and have gone 47-0 dating back to last year’s playoff run and national championship.

In the eight-team University Cup tournament at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, the Reds eased their way to the school’s 10th title with shutout wins against Brock, the host Toronto Metropolitan University and the Patriotes by a combined score of 15-0.

Brandon Frattaroli scored twice in the final six minutes to lift McGill to a 3-2 comeback win against Toronto Metropolitan University in the third-place game.

Votto goes yard in Blue Jays debut

JOEY Votto sure knows how to make an instant impression, going deep on the first pitch he faced as a member of his hometown Toronto Blue Jays.

The veteran first baseman lined a 392-foot homer to left-centre off Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler in the first inning Sunday in Clearwater, Fla., in his inaugural MLB spring training game with Toronto, which ended in a 5-5 tie.

Granted, there was some debate about whether the ball actually went out, and Votto momentarily stopped at second base. But the umpires ruled it was a homer and he continued on his way to home.

A chance to go home is what led Votto to Toronto in the first place; he agreed to a minor league contract with the Blue Jays this month after spending 17 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds.

The 40-year-old Votto became a free agent last fall after the end of a US$251.5 million, 12-year contract with the Reds, the team that selected him in the second round of the 2002 amateur draft out of Richview Collegiate Institute in Toronto.

Canuck strikes gold in 1,000 metres

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Canada’s William Dandjinou capped his season with his first career worlds medal on Sunday, striking gold in the men’s 1,000 metres at the short track speedskating world championships.

The Montreal native narrowly won with a time of one minute 25.534 seconds.

Italy’s Pietro Sighel (1:25.555) and Luca Spechenhauser (1:26.026) earned silver and bronze, respectively.

The 22-year-old Dandjinou captured six World Cup medals across five competitions this season, including three victories in the 1,500.

Canada’s women’s relay team also came away with bronze in the 3,000 on Sunday. The quartet of Kim Boutin, Danae Blais, Rikki Doak and Renee Steenge finished with a time of 4:12.675.

The Netherlands (4:07.788) and the U.S. (4:08.061) earned gold and silver, respectively.

— staff, wire services