NHL focus on Canada hubs now

Canada has approved the NHL's return-to-play proposal that could lead to one or more cities north of the border serving as host sites for the league's 24-team playoff format.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Friday that the nation's top public health officer, and health officials in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario had signed off on the NHL plan.

The decision followed discussions with government health officials, and comes as the league enters the advanced stages of selecting its hub cities — most likely two — from a list of seven in the U.S. and three in Canada, NHL Deputy

Commissioner Bill Daly wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

Daly didn't rule out the possibility of two hubs being located in Canada from among Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton.

JAPANESE BASEBALL RETURNS

Japanese baseball managed to do what American baseball has not — play ball.

After a three-month delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the world's second-most famous baseball competition opened a season Friday that will be shortened from its regular 143 games to 120. That, of course, is twice as many as MLB figures to play — if it plays at all.

The regular season had been scheduled to start March 20. It is slated to end on Nov. 7, followed by postseason play.

It wasn't a perfect start, but all 12 league teams played. Two of the games were in open-air stadiums in Tokyo and Yokohama. They started about 30 minutes late with rain threatening.

The other four were in domed facilities in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka and Saitama prefecture northwest of Tokyo.