Gooooooooodddddd Morning!
U of M Bison Receiver Shai Ross was not included among the top 20 prospects in the September or December Scouting Bureau rankings for the 2019 CFL Draft. But the Dakota Collegiate Grad followed up his dominating performance at the March 11 Western Combine in Edmonton by winning two events, and finishing second in two others at the league’s National Combine which wrapped up in Toronto yesterday. Ross was first in the Short Shuttle (4.08) and Broad Jump events (11’05.5″), and was second in the Three Cone Drill (7.00) and vertical jump (38′.5″) while tying for fifth in the 40-yard-dash with a time of 4.63 seconds. We’ll see if any of that pays off in the final April rankings ahead of the May 2 CFL draft. Eighteen European players were also invited to compete on Sunday as part of the CFL’s 2.0 initiative.
Brandon’s Kristen Campbell completed the first “ever” perfect performance by a goalie in the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four Tournament- by backstopping the University of Wisconsin Badgers to a 2-0 win over Minnesota in Sunday’s Championship Final. Campbell stopped all 27 shots faced in that game- as well as the combined 29 she turned aside in the quarterfinal and semifinal round wins over Syracuse and Clarkson.
Sergei Bobrovsky and Robin Lehner are also coming off “clean slate Sunday’s.” Bobrovsky turned aside 21 Vancouver shots in a 5-0 Columbus win over the Canucks. And Lehner made 31 saves in the Islanders 2-0 win over Arizona. Carey Price had a goose egg going for 54 minutes and change before Carolina scored late- and then added the winner in overtime for a 2-1 win. Washington downed Philadelphia 3-1 and Chicago edged Colorado 2-1 in overtime. The extra point leaving the Avalanche two points ahead of the Coyotes and Minnesota for the last playoff spot in the West.
The Jets can lower their magic number for clinching the Central Division title to three with a win over Dallas tonight. And if the playoffs were to begin today, the Stars would be Winnipeg’s first round opponent.
Portage beat Virden 5-2 to take a two games to none lead in that MJHL semifinal series. There will be a new champion crowned in the Manitoba Major Junior League this season after the Raiders Juniors run at a three peat ended with a 3-2 loss to Stonewall — who won that quarterfinal series in five games. St. James also advanced with a 4-1 win over the Fort Garry\Fort Rouge Twins and Transcona edged St. Vital 3-2 in overtime to go up 3-2 on the Vics in that series. Nathan Hillis was the hero, scoring his second goal of the game at 15:23 of OT for the Railer Express, who host Game 6 tomorrow night.
The long, long wait is over for fans of Virginia Tech and the University of Houston. The Hokies are in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen for the first time in 52 years after a 67-58 win over Liberty. And the Cougars 35-year drought ended with a 74-59 victory over Ohio State. No. 1 seed Duke barely eked out a 77-76 win over Central Florida. And No. 2 ranked Tennessee survived an 83-77 win over Iowa. And those two narrow victories resulted in 14 Top Four seeds advancing to the sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. That tied the 2009 mark for the most since the bracket expanded.
The Toronto Raptors went zero for the weekend, following Friday’s home loss to Oklahoma City by coming up on the short end of a 115-114 score to Charlotte. James Lamb of the Hornets scored the winning bucket off a centre court buzzer beater.
Switzerland edged Sweden 9-8 in the Gold Medal Game of the World Women’s Curling Final in Denmark. Jennifer Jones rink member Jocelyn Peterman and her on and off ice partner, Brett Gallant of St. John’s won the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Fredricton and will represent our country at the Worlds next month in Norway.
Manitoba rinks skipped by Terry Ursel of Arden and Dave Boehmer of Petersfield have matching 4-1 records heading into their final round robin games today at the Canadian Sr. Women’s and Men’s Curling Championships in Chilliwack, B.C.
Bianca Andreescu plays Annette Kontaviet of Estonia later this morning for a berth in the women’s quarterfinals at the Miami Open. And the 18-year-old from Mississauga handled the pettiness of Angelique Kerber like a pro. When the two players met at the net, Kerber called Andreescu a drama queen and barely shook hands with her following the three-set loss in the wee hours of Sunday Morning. Andresscu didn’t blink an eyelash and downplayed the incident when she was asked about it later.
Paul Casey shot a one-over-par-72 during the final round for a one stroke victory at the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbour, Florida. Casey is the first back to back winner of this Tournament since it was added to the PGA Tour schedule in 2000.
The Toronto Blue Jays finished off the Grapefruit League portion of their Spring Training schedule with an 18-6, eight-inning loss to Detroit. The Jays play their final two preseason games tonight and tomorrow in Montreal against the Milwaukee Brewers before heading to Toronto for Thursday’s regular season home opener versus the Tigers.
And Rob Gronkowski is going out a winner. The New England Patriots star Tight End confirmed his retirement on social media after playing nine NFL seasons, and helping the Patriots win three Super Bowl titles.