CALGARY — Buoyed by the arm and legs of their young quarterback Dustin Crum, the Ottawa Redblacks won their second straight in overtime with a 43-41 victory Sunday over the host Calgary Stampeders.
The Redblacks (3-3) picked up their first road win and also won back-to-back games for the first time this CFL season.
“Just a lot of firsts and a confidence-booster,” Crum said. “Just to be able to know what we’re capable of when we’re playing and executing at our highest level, to be able to take that moving forward will be huge.”
A week after Crum’s late rushing touchdowns, including one in OT, spurred the Redblacks to an OT upset of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the 24-year-old was effective again in the air and on the ground Sunday.
Crum threw an interception-free 23 passes for 257 yards and a pair of touchdown throws. The Kent State alum also rushed for 63 yards, including a two-point convert.
Ottawa cashed two interceptions and a fumble by Calgary quarterback Jake Maier into three touchdowns.
“Any time you can win the turnover battle is huge,” Crum said. “You look at the scoreboard. You give up 40 points and you’re going to think your defence played bad, but them getting three turnovers for us was huge and allowed us to honestly win that game in the end.”
The Redblacks scored a pair of two-point conversions, which Crum credited to the schemes of Ottawa offensive coordinator Khari Jones.
Calgary went 0-for-3 attempting an extra two points after touchdowns.
Crum has amassed 667 passing yards, rushed for 257 and thrown four touchdown passes in just over two-and-a-half games since Jeremiah Masoli ruptured his Achilles tendon in the second quarter July 10 against Hamilton.
“As he continues to grow, and we continue to have success, it builds confidence in everybody and our confidence in Dustin,” Redblacks head coach Bob Dyce said.
Redblacks’ Ante Milanovic-Litre ran for a pair of touchdowns, including one in extra time. Nate Behar caught a touchdown pass plus the two-point convert throw in overtime to seal the victory.
Justin Hardy caught a touchdown pass and Brandin Dandridge ran an interception back for a major.
Ottawa’s Lewis Ward kicked field goals from 33 yards and 36 yards and added another three points in converts.
The Redblacks top the CFL in defending the run. Calgary took to the air Sunday while rushing for a season-low 38 yards.
Maier threw for a season-high 450 yards, including four touchdown passes and two interceptions. He was denied three times, however, attempting two-point convert throws.
Marken Michel caught a pair of touchdown passes, Clark Barnes scored his first career CFL touchdown, backup quarterback Tommy Stevens contributed a rushing major and Tre Odoms-Dukes caught a touchdown pass in OT for the Stampeders (2-4).
Kicker Rene Paredes was good from 26 yards, 32 yards and 47 yards, and made one of two converts in front of an announced 21,226 at McMahon Stadium.
“We made some explosive plays. We didn’t do too bad controlling the line of scrimmage pass-wise, but we didn’t get the running game going again,” Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson said.
“We could have won that game. We feel like we should have, but we didn’t.”
The Stampeders dropped to 0-3 at home with a second straight OT loss at McMahon.
“Winning breeds winning and we don’t want to wait until the last drive,” Dickenson said. “We’ve got to put the pedal down when we have that momentum and put somebody away. We really haven’t done that.”
Odoms-Dukes scored in OT with a seven-yard catch, but Maier couldn’t get the ball to Barnes in the end zone for an extra deuce.
Ottawa countered with Milanovic-Litre’s second major of the game on a three-yard dash. Crum’s throw to Behar for another two points sealed the Redblacks’ win.
Trailing by a point at halftime, Calgary jumped ahead 25-20 on its first possession of the second half.
The visitors pulled ahead again for a 28-25 lead heading into the fourth quarter, when Calgary punter Cody Grace cut the deficit to two points with a punt single.
From deep in their own zone following an Ottawa punt, Maier threw to Michel for a 95-yard touchdown and a 32-28 lead with eight minutes to play.
Ottawa turned the ball over on downs, but Maier was subsequently intercepted a second time when his throw was tipped into the arms of Alonzo Addae.
Crum moved the chains on a 12-play, 87-yard drive and finished with a 23-yard touchdown throw to Behar. Ottawa led by a field goal on Ward’s convert with 1:20 to play.
The Stampeders’ offence pushed into field-goal range for Paredes to force OT with his 47-yard boot.
A 26-yard Tommylee Lewis punt return and a horse collar tackle by Abdul Kanneh put the Stampeders on Ottawa’s doorstep for Stevens to finish with a one-yard plunge on Calgary’s first drive of the second half.
After Levante Bellamy blocked Richie Leone’s punt, Jordan Herdmann-Reed landed on the loose ball to give Calgary possession on Ottawa’s 48.
But Calgary’s faked field goal and a Stevens run that came up short turned the ball over on downs.
Crum then marched Ottawa’s offence downfield to cap a 72-yard drive with a 24-yard touchdown throw to Hardy. The Redblacks’ pivot then kept and ran for another two points.
Ottawa turned a pair of Calgary turnovers into a 17-6 lead early in the second quarter. The Stampeders responded with a 75-yard scoring drive that Michel finished with an over-the-shoulder catch for a 33-yard TD.
Lewis’s 33-yard punt return and Ottawa’s unnecessary roughness penalty put the ball on the Redblacks’ 36 with a minute to play in the second quarter, but the Stampeders settled for a Paredes 32-yard field goal to trail 20-19 at the half.
Maier’s fumble handing the ball off to Dedrick Mills was recovered by Redblacks defensive end Lorenzo Mauldin to start the second quarter.
Crum ran the ball 28 yards to Calgary’s doorstep, followed by Milanovic-Litre’s three-yard carry to the end zone.
Dandridge picked off a Maier pass intended for Reggie Begelton for a pick six in the final minute of the first quarter. Ward’s convert spotted the visitors a 10-6 lead.
“I think I’ve turned the ball over every game that we played in and whether I’ve responded or not, eventually we’ve got to eliminate those so that we can give ourselves some more breathing room and not feel like we have to overcome ourselves,” Maier said.
On Calgary’s second drive of the game, Maier threw downfield to Barnes for a 54-yard catch and run to the end zone.
The Stampeders led 6-3 after Paredes missed the convert. Ottawa scored a 33-yard field goal on its opening drive.
Temperature at kick off was 30 Celsius under slightly hazy skies at McMahon.
UP NEXT
The Redblacks are at home to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2-4) on Friday. The Stampeders travel to Montreal to face the Alouettes (2-3) on Sunday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2023.
MONTREAL – On a night when New York’s top line was missing in action, the bit players grabbed the spotlight and led the Rangers to a commanding 7-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
“That’s the kind of team we have,” said Filip Chytil, who led the Rangers with a pair of power-play goals Tuesday. “The guys on the top line had chances but when they don’t score we have three other lines to pick up the slack.”
The Rangers’ dominance was reflected in the amount of time they spent in the Canadiens zone and their 45-23 edge in shots.
“If you’ve watched us practice, you know that’s something we work on all the time,” said Chytil. “When we get the puck, we want to hold on to it.”
The Rangers grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals by Mika Zibanejad at the 56-second mark and Jonny Brodzinski at 2:05, but it was Montreal which pressed the play in the first minute.
“I thought we had a good start but they turned it around on us,” said Montreal coach Martin St. Louis.
Lane Hutson controlled the puck off the opening faceoff and had two early shots, both of which were blocked by New York’s Jacob Trouba.
“That was huge for us,” said Rangers coach Peter Laviolette. “We know (Trouba) can generate offence but he can come up with those big defensive plays.”
Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault exited at 11:05 of the first period after giving up four goals on 10 shots. Zibanejad, Brodzinski, Chytil and Reilly Smith all scored on the Habs’ starter.
His replacement, Cayden Primeau, stopped 33 of 35 shots, giving up goals to Braden Schneider, Kaapo Kakko and Chytil.
Nick Suzuki scored both of the Montreal goals, his first strikes of the season
“It didn’t really feel like a 7-2 game until the end there when you look up at the scoreboard,” Suzuki said. “But we obviously keep digging ourselves these holes, and against a good team like that, our details early on have to be really sharp. And we were definitely a little sleepy coming out and they jumped on us.”
Hutson led the Canadiens in ice time with 24:10 but this wasn’t one of his better games. Smith scored on a breakaway after taking the puck off Hutson’s stick and the rookie was minus-4 for the night.
After Tuesday’s morning practice, the Canadiens announced forward Juraj Slafkovsky will miss at least a week with an upper-body injury. Defenceman Kaiden Guhle missed a second consecutive game with an upper-body injury but the team said it isn’t a long-term ailment.
The injury situation didn’t get any better after Trouba flattened Justin Barron at 7:11 of the third period. Barron didn’t return to the ice but there was no immediate word on his condition.
The Rangers welcomed back defenceman Ryan Lindgren, who made his season debut after missing five games with a jaw injury.
Before the game, 14 players from the Canadiens’ team that won four consecutive Stanley Cups between 1976 and 1979 were introduced at the Bell Centre. Among them were Hockey Hall of Fame members Yvan Cournoyer, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Bob Gainey and Ken Dryden.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.
Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball has sold at auction for nearly $4.4 million, a record high price not just for a baseball, but for any ball in any sport, the auctioneer said Wednesday.
“We received bids from around the world, a testament to the significance of this iconic collectible and Ohtani’s impact on sports, and I’m thrilled for the winning bidder,” Ken Goldin, the founder and CEO of auctioneer Goldin Auctions said in a statement.
The auction opened on Sept. 27 with a starting bid of $500,000 and closed just after midnight on Wednesday. The auctioneer said it could not disclose any information about the winning bidder.
The auction has been overshadowed by the litigation over ownership of the ball. Christian Zacek walked out of Miami’s LoanDepot Park with the ball after gaining possession in the left-field stands. Max Matus and Joseph Davidov each claim in separate lawsuits that they grabbed the ball first.
All the parties involved in the litigation agreed that the auction should continue.
Matus’ lawsuit claims that the Florida resident — who was celebrating his 18th birthday — gained possession of the Ohtani ball before Zacek took it away. Davidov claims in his suit that he was able to “firmly and completely grab the ball in his left hand while it was on the ground, successfully obtaining possession of the 50/50 ball.”
Ohtani and the Dodgers are preparing for Game 1 of the World Series scheduled for Friday night.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James gave his 20-year-old son a pep talk before they rose from the Lakers bench. Amid rising cheers, they walked together to the scorer’s table — and then they stepped straight into basketball history.
LeBron and Bronny became the first father and son to play in the NBA together Tuesday night during the Los Angeles Lakers ‘ season opener, fulfilling a dream set out a few years ago by LeBron, the top scorer in league history.
“That moment, us being at the scorer’s table together and checking in together, it’s a moment I’m never going to forget,” LeBron said. “No matter how old I get, no matter how my memory may fade as I get older or whatever, I will never forget that moment.”
Father and son checked into the game against Minnesota simultaneously with four minutes left in the second quarter, prompting a big ovation from a home crowd aware of the enormity of the milestone. The 39-year-old LeBron had already started the game and played 13 minutes before he teamed up with his 20-year-old son for about 2 1/2 minutes of action.
LeBron James is one of the greatest players in NBA history, a four-time champion and 20-time All-Star, while LeBron James Jr. was a second-round pick by the Lakers last summer. They are the first father and son to play in the world’s top basketball league at the same time, let alone on the same team.
“Y’all ready? You see the intensity, right? Just play carefree, though,” father told son on the bench before they checked in, an exchange captured by the TNT cameras and microphones. “Don’t worry about mistakes. Just go out and play hard.”
Their time on court together was fast and furious, just as LeBron promised.
LeBron, who finished the night with 16 points, missed two perimeter shots before making a dunk. Bronny had an early offensive rebound and missed a tip-in, and his first NBA jump shot moments later was a 3-pointer that came up just short. He checked out one possession later with 1:19 left in the second quarter, getting another ovation.
“(I) tried not to focus on everything that’s going on around me, and tried to focus on going in as a rookie and not trying to mess up,” Bronny said. “But yeah, I totally did feel the energy, and I appreciate Laker Nation for showing the support for me and my dad.”
After the final whistle on the Lakers’ first opening-night victory in LeBron’s seven seasons with the team, father and son also headed to the locker room together — but not before stopping in the tunnel to hug Savannah James, LeBron’s wife and Bronny’s mother. The entire family was in attendance to watch history — on little sister Zhuri’s 10th birthday, no less.
Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. also were courtside at the Lakers’ downtown arena to witness the same history they made in Major League Baseball. The two sluggers played 51 games together for the Seattle Mariners in 1990 and 1991 as baseball’s first father-son duo.
LeBron first spoke about his dream to play alongside Bronny a few years ago, while his oldest son was still in high school. The dream became real after Bronny entered the draft as a teenager following one collegiate season, and the Lakers grabbed him with the 55th overall pick.
“I talked about it years and years ago, and for this moment to come, it’s pretty cool,” LeBron said. “I don’t know if it’s going to actually hit the both of us for a little minute, but when we really get to sit back and take it in, it’s pretty crazy. … But in the moment, we still had a job to do when we checked in. We wasn’t trying to make it a circus. We wasn’t trying to make it about us. We wanted to make it about the team.”
LeBron and Bronny joined a small club of father-son professional athletes who played together. The Griffeys made history 34 years ago, and they even homered in the same game on Sept. 14, 1990.
Baseball Hall of Famer Tim Raines and his namesake son also accomplished the feat with the Baltimore Orioles in 2001.
In hockey, Gordie Howe played alongside his two sons, Mark and Marty, with the WHA’s Houston Aeros and Team Canada before one NHL season together on the Hartford Whalers in 1979-80, when Gordie was 51.
While the other family pairings on this list happened late in the fathers’ careers, LeBron shows no signs of slowing down or regressing as he begins his NBA record-tying 22nd season.
LeBron averaged more than 25 points per game last year for his 20th consecutive season, and he remains the most important player on the Lakers alongside Anthony Davis as they attempt to recapture the form that won a championship in 2020 and got them to the Western Conference finals in 2023.
Bronny survived cardiac arrest and open heart surgery in the summer of 2023, and he went on to play a truncated freshman season at the University of Southern California. He declared for the draft anyway, and the Lakers eagerly used the fourth-to-last pick in the draft on the 6-foot-2 guard.
LeBron spent the summer in Europe with the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the Paris Olympics, while Bronny played for the Lakers in summer league. They started practicing together with the Lakers before training camp.
The duo first played together in the preseason, logging four minutes during a game against Phoenix just outside Palm Springs earlier this month.
“It’s been a treat,” LeBron said at Tuesday’s morning shootaround. “In preseason, the practices, just every day … bringing him up to speed of what this professional life is all about, and how to prepare every day as a professional.”
The Lakers were fully aware of the history they would make with this pairing, and coach JJ Redick spoke with the Jameses recently about a plan to make it happen early in the regular season.
The presence of the Griffeys likely made it an inevitability for opening night, even though Redick said the Lakers still wanted it “to happen naturally, in the flow of the game.”
The Lakers have declined to speculate on how long Bronny will stay on their NBA roster. Los Angeles already has three other small guards on its roster, and Bronny likely needs regular playing time to raise his game to a consistent NBA standard.
Those factors add up to indicate Bronny is likely to join the affiliate South Bay Lakers of the G League at some point soon. LeBron and Redick have both spoken positively about the South Bay team, saying that player development is a key part of the Lakers organization.
Miami forward Kevin Love, who knew all the James children — Bronny, Bryce and Zhuri — from his time as LeBron’s teammate in Cleveland, said it was “an unbelievable moment” to see father and son playing together.
“I grew up a Mariners fan, so I got to see Griffey and then Griffey Sr. But this is different, because LeBron is still a top-five player in the league,” Love said. “This game, man. It’s why we have that ($76 billion) TV deal. The storylines and the things that happen like this, it’s an unbelievable story. This is really cool to see.”
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AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed.
