National Sports

HIGH RIVER, ALBERTA — The windswept prairie east of the Rocky Mountains seems an unlikely spot for a hot-air balloon festival, but the town of High River, Alta., is celebrating the event's 10th year.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Wander Franco had three RBIs, Jonathan Aranda homered and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 10-5 on Thursday night in the opener of a big four-game series between playoff contenders.

SHAWINIGAN, Que. — Lorenzo Canonica scored the game-winning goal in overtime to lift the Shawinigan Cataractes to a 4-3 win over the Gatineau Olympiques Thursday.

FREDERICTON — Top-seeded Brad Gushue earned an 8-4 win over Nicholas Deagle in first-round action Thursday at the PointsBet Invitational.

TORONTO — Ilya Samsonov made a couple acrobatic saves during his first official on-ice session with the Maple Leafs.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Taylor Pendrith woke up early on Thursday morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Thoughts of his first tee shot at the Presidents Cup were running through his head, keeping him awake.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Brock Boeser believes this is his year. The Vancouver Canucks right-winger struggled at times last season while dealing with the declining health of his father, Duke, but still managed 46 points (23 goals, 23 assists) in 71 games.

With two weeks left in the regular season, the Toronto Blue Jays lead the American League wild-card standings and have a faint chance of catching the New York Yankees in the East Division race.

WINNIPEG — Kevin Cheveldayoff knows he didn’t make big changes to the Winnipeg Jets roster in the off-season, but the general manager believes hiring Rick Bowness as head coach was a "seismic" move that should pay off.

OTTAWA — Members of the legendary hockey team that defeated the Soviet Union for hockey supremacy 50 years ago have pulled off another improbable victory — a rare moment of unity in the House of Commons.