Saskatoon Stars open Esso Cup with shutout

The Saskatoon Stars spread the scoring around in their Esso Cup opener on Sunday, winning 5-0 against the Brampton Canadettes.

Grace Shirley put the Stars on the board early, scoring the only point of the first period with a power-play goal just over five minutes into the game.

Calli Arnold and Joelle Fiala each added a goal in the second period to give the Stars a 3-0 lead, and were followed by one apiece from Kaitlin Jockims and Kianna Dietz in the final period to bring Saskatoon’s total to five. Stars’ goalie Jordan Ivanco stopped 12 shots to earn the shutout.

Saskatoon takes on Quebec’s Pionnieres de Lanaudiere on Tuesday. The tournament continues until April 28 in Bridgewater, N.S.

CANADIANS UNDEFEATED IN MIXED CURLING

Saskatoon’s Kirk Muyres and his partner Laura Crocker of Edmonton are off to a 3-0 start after two days of competition at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Ostersund, Sweden.

On Sunday morning, the pair trailed Austria 1-3 after three ends, but fought back to win the Game 7-3.

They followed that victory up later that afternoon, defeating Brazil 7-5 after being tied 4-4 after six ends. The duo opened the championship on Saturday with a 12-0 win over Ireland.

Canada has one game on Monday against Guyana. The championship continues until April 28.

NIPAWIN HAWKS PULL AHEAD OF ESTEVAN

Three unanswered goals propelled the Nipawin Hawks to a 3-1 victory over the Estevan Bruins on Friday night in Game 5 of the SJHL final.

Michael McChesney got the Bruins on the board first at 2:24 into the opening period, but the scoring belonged solely to the Hawks after that.

Josh McDougall scored just past the midway point of the first period to tie the game at one. Chad McCartney and Gage Misskey each added one in the second period to put Nipawin up 3-1.

With the win, the Hawks took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 6 was scheduled for Sunday night, however, results were not available at press time.

SASKATCHEWAN WINS BRONZE IN SOCCER

Team Saskatchewan, represented by the Saskatoon Olimpia soccer team, is coming home with some bronze-coloured hardware after defeating Sporting Quebec 5-2 in the third-place game at the Futsal Canadian Championship in Kingston, Ont. on Sunday.

Saskatchewan went 2-0-1 in the round robin, qualifying them for the third-place game.

HOLY CROSS WINS JUNIOR BADMINTON TITLE

With 13 total points, the Holy Cross Crusaders claimed the junior badminton team title at the city championships last week.

In the singles competitions, Elly Yoo of Holy Cross won the girls’ division, while Josh Saban of St. Joseph won for the boys.

Doubles action saw Sarah Neufeld and Kara Mooney of Holy Cross take the top spot on the girls’ side, while Kenny Ta and Minh Tran of Bethlehem claimed the gold for boys’ division, and Dave Feng and Jewelle Lardizabal, also of Bethlehem, won the mixed division.