Toronto pounds Minnesota with 4-0 win in PWHL playoff opening

CALGARY – Allyson MacNutt produced the biggest upset yet in a curling event that provides a stage for toppling heavyweights.

MacNutt’s team from Halifax, which will represent Canada at the 2025 world junior curling championship, defeated four-time national women’s champion Kerri Einarson 8-6 on Thursday at the PointsBet Invitational.

“So much fun. I’m freaking out,” MacNutt declared.

The round of 16 in Curling Canada’s PointsBet features junior, college, university, under-25 and club champions taking on some of the top teams in the country.

The single-knockout format of an event that offers just over $350,000 in prize money is unforgiving of early-season rust and rewarding for an unheralded team that’s hot at the right time.

The 14th-seeded MacNutt went toe-to-toe with the third-seeded Einarson at WinSport Arena.

She and teammates Maria Fitzgerald, Alison Umlah and Grace McCusker shot 84 per cent as a team to the Einarson foursome’s 74. MacNutt posted a 90 per cent to Einarson’s 71.

MacNutt led 7-6 on a miss from Einarson in the eighth end. After a blank ninth, MacNutt’s draw rubbed off a rock and rolled to the button.

Einarson’s attempted raise to remove it and score with her final throw of the 10th gave up another steal of one.

“It’s definitely tough,” Einarson said. “They played really well. They made a lot of great draws and we missed quite a few opportunities.

“We can’t take anything away from them. They played really well and we didn’t.”

MacNutt and teammates were such fans of Einarson, they asked for a group photo with her team before warm-up Thursday.

A couple hours later, it was MacNutt advancing to the quarterfinals and not Einarson.

“It’s crazy watching them on TV growing up and now, like playing against them, and beside all of these amazing teams, and just like having a great game, it’s just so insane,” MacNutt said. “I’m like, speechless right now.”

All 32 teams receive $5,000 to defray travel expenses.

A first-round win is worth $3,000, a quarterfinal is $6,000, a semifinal is $12,000 and $24,000 goes to Sunday’s men’s and women’s victors for a total take of $50,000 for those teams.

MacNutt will face Kate Cameron, who was an 8-5 winner over Jolene Campbell, in Friday’s quarterfinal.

Kayla Skrlik meets Chelsea Carey, Kaitlyn Lawes takes on Selena Sturmay and defending champion Rachel Homan is up against Corryn Brown in the other women’s quarterfinals.

Brad Gushue squares off against Rylan Kleiter, Kevin Koe faces Jordan MacDonald, Brad Jacobs plays Owen Purcell and Mike McEwen meets Felix Asselin in the men’s quarterfinals.

The 11th-seeded Asselin ousted defending champion Reid Carruthers 5-4 on Thursday evening with a tiebreaking draw-the-button that is part of the PointsBet format.

McEwen thumped national junior men’s champion Kenan Wipf 11-3, second seed Jacobs defeated college champion Jacob Horgan 9-2 and Purcell was an 11-6 winner over Aaron Sluchinski.

Einarson was without her usual front end in Calgary. Shannon Birchard, who is nursing a knee injury, was replaced by Laura Walker.

Birchard won’t be available to the team at next week’s season-opening Grand Slam, the HearingLife Tour Challenge, in Charlottetown.

“I’m not exactly sure how long she’s out for, but we’ll see,” Einarson said. “No surgery. She just needs a lot of physio.”

Krysten Karwacki has been Einarson’s lead since the eve of February’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Einarson’s regular lead Briane Harris is awaiting the outcome of an appeal of a doping violation that she says was due to inadvertent ingestion.

“Laura is a great fill-in,” Einarson said. “She’s a great addition to the team to fill in for Shannon, but it does change a little bit of our dynamics.

“We did our best with what we could do, and always a lineup change is tough.”

Skrlik beat Danielle Inglis 9-2 and Carey was a 10-4 winner over Canadian women’s club champion Abby Burgess in the afternoon draw.

Second-seeded Carey, who is skipping retired Jennifer Jones’s former team, admitted that it can be uncomfortable playing an underdog with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

“It’s big pressure on the top-seeded teams,” Carey said. “It almost can feel like a no-win situation, because if you win, everybody goes, ‘Well, yeah, of course they won.’ And if you don’t, then everybody goes, ‘Well, what’s wrong with them?'”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.

Olympic champion Maggie Mac Neil announced her retirement from swimming Thursday.

The gold medallist in the women’s 100-metre butterfly at Tokyo’s Summer Games in 2021 made the announcement in an Instagram post alongside a photo of her swimming as a child.

“The little girl above would have never dreamed this is where her love of swimming would take her,” Mac Neil wrote. “I am so grateful for all the memories, people, and places I have gotten to experience just through swimming.

“I’m excited to begin the next chapter of my life journey, as I embark on discovering who I am outside of swimming.”

The 24-year-old from London, Ont., earned a complete set of medals in Tokyo after helping relay teams to silver and bronze medals.

Mac Neil’s five gold medals at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, were the most by a Canadian athlete at a single Pan Am Games.

She was fifth in butterfly and was a member of two women’s relay teams that finished fourth at the recent Olympic Games in Paris.

“Anyone who I crossed paths with never, ever told me I couldn’t achieve my goal of going to the Olympics,” Mac Neil wrote. “It’s still surreal to be able to say I’m a two-time Olympian.”

She completed her master’s degree in sport management at Louisiana State University this year.

Born in China and adopted by Dr. Susan McNair and Dr. Edward MacNeil, Mac Neil’s mother wanted her to take swimming lessons for safety reasons because of the family’s backyard pool.

Mac Neil’s 2017 diagnosis of sport-induced asthma — which can be triggered by the swimming staples of heat and chlorine — forced a switch from longer distances to sprints.

Mac Neil became Canada’s first world champion in the women’s 100-metre butterfly two years later.

The nearsighted Mac Neil, who doesn’t wear contacts or prescription goggles, has seen multiple times a meme of her squinting hard at the scoreboard in Tokyo as she tried to decipher her result.

“I like to think it helps because I can’t see where other people are and I’m able to focus on my own race,” Mac Neil said before the Olympic Games in Paris. “That was definitely the case in Tokyo.

“I got that meme sent to me at least three times in January even though it’s been three years since.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.

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VANCOUVER – Quarterback Nathan Rourke says the B.C. Lions “have to have a sense of urgency” as they prepare for their final four games of the CFL season.

“There’s a lot of importance in these last four games,” Rourke said after practice this week. “We’ve got to get it going.”

The Lions (7-7) want to get back on track when they face the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (5-9) at B.C. Place Friday night. B.C. is coming off an embarrassing 33-17 loss at home to the Toronto Argonauts two weeks ago that left them in second place in the CFL West.

Across the country, a three-game winning streak has put the Tiger-Cats back in playoff contention in the East.

Defensive back Jamal Peters said the Ticats never stopped believing in themselves, even when they started the season with five losses.

“We kept the faith,” said Peters, who leads the team with four interceptions. “We kept believing in one another and kept working. We knew we wouldn’t ever be out of it.”

The Lions started the campaign 5-1 but are 2-6 in their last eight games. They head into the weekend two points behind the first-place Winnipeg Blue Bombers and one ahead of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

After looking strong in beating Ottawa and Montreal by a combined score of 75-35, the Lions managed just 222 total yards against Toronto. Rourke was pulled after completing six of 12 passes for 110 yards and no touchdowns.

“We’re trying to piece it together ourselves,” Rourke said in trying to explain why the Lions can be ferocious one game, then kittens the next. “At the end of the day it comes down to being able to play a complete game.

“That’s what all the good teams around the league do. They are able to play four quarters and have their offence help their defence.”

Rourke is 2-3 in the five games he has played since returning to the CFL after failing to land a job in the NFL. The Canadian-born quarterback has completed 79 of 126 passes for 1,099 yards, four touchdowns and seven interceptions. In the last two games Rourke has no touchdown passes and has thrown three interceptions.

Coming out of a bye week, Rick Campbell, B.C.’s head coach and co-general manager wanted to stop any talk of a quarterback controversy in Vancouver by saying Rourke remains the Lions starter.

“I don’t want to create any confusion,” said Campbell. “Right now this is what we’re doing. I want there to be clarity and not a debate going on.”

Veteran Vernon Adams Jr. was an early candidate as the league’s outstanding player before sustaining an injury and the return of Rourke. Adams was four of seven for 75 yards, no touchdowns and threw an interception when replacing Rourke against the Argos.

For the season Adams has completed 171 of 266 passes for 2,544 yards, 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

“We can win with either one of these guys,” said Campbell. “We’re going to go with the continuity Nathan has been playing with the last several weeks. We think we have room to improve and grow.”

One reason for the Hamilton turnaround has been Chris Jones joining the team as a senior defensive assistant after being fired as Edmonton’s head coach and general manager.

In the 10 games before Jones arrived, Hamilton allowed an average 33.4 points a game and gave up 3.5 touchdowns. In the four he has been a coach, the Ticats have given up 26.5 points a game and allowed 2.25 touchdowns.

Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell also leads the CFL with 4,044 passing yards (322 completions on 473 attempts) and 24 touchdowns.

Campbell knows Hamilton comes to the West Coast riding a wave of confidence.

“We always know we’re going to get their best shot,” he said. “Our job it to focus on us and make sure that they get our best shot.

“When they get our best shot, we’re pretty good. We need to direct all our energy and focus on ourselves.”

HAMILTON TIGER CATS (5-9) at B.C. Lions (7-7)

Friday, B.C. Place

ORANGE SHIRT DAY: The Lions celebrate their fourth consecutive Orange Shirt Day Game to pay respect to Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Players will wear special Orange Shirt Day warmup jerseys, which will be raffled off in support of the Orange Shirt Society and Indian Residential Schools Survivors’ Society (IRSSS).

HOMESTREACH: The Lions play three of their final games at home. After Friday they host Calgary Oct. 4 and Montreal Oct. 19 before finishing the season with a bye. B.C.’s lone road game is an Oct. 12 visit to Saskatchewan.

BYE BYE: The Lions are 4-2 in their last six games after a week’s rest.

DOING THE STREAK: Hamilton is looking for it’s first four-game win streak since 2022.

THREE-PEAT: Lions running back William Stanback needs just 41 yards to reach 1,000 for the third time in his career.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: The two teams have split their last six games at B.C. Place, with five of them decided in the final three minutes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.