National Sports

KINGSTON, Ont. — Mike McEwen made the original suggestion to Curling Canada a few years ago to add a wild-card entry to the field at the national championships. The play-in game has agreed with him ever since.

MONTREAL — A year after finishing in second place, Canadian divers Jennifer Abel and Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu upgraded themselves to gold on Friday at the FINA Diving World Series.

TORONTO — David Ayres went out for a casual game of pickup hockey last week. Between work, coaching kids and suiting up as the Toronto Maple Leafs' practice goalie, the 42-year-old Zamboni driver hadn't been on the ice with friends in a few months.

TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors ruled out guard Fred VanVleet and centre Serge Ibaka for their game Friday night against visiting Charlotte. The Raptors had said Ibaka was questionable with a sore right knee prior to ruling him out.

Justin Douglas and Conor Trainor return to action for Canada this weekend at the HSBC Los Angeles Sevens.

HAMAR, Norway — Canada's Laurent Dubreuil raced to a gold medal in the men's 500-metre race Friday at the ISU world sprint/allround speedskating championships. Dubreuil, from Levis, Que., finished the race in 34.

KINGSTON, Ont. — You won't hear Prince Edward Island skip Bryan Cochrane bellowing orders to his teammates at the Tim Hortons Brier. He lets a whistle do the work.

LAKELAND, Fla. — Toronto centre-fielder Teoscar Hernandez drove in three runs as the Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers 5-4 in pre-season action on Friday.

A mistake by American president Donald Trump earned CFL player R.J. Harris plenty of social media attention Friday.

MONTREAL — Injuries are piling up for Montreal, and that's posing a serious challenge for first-year coach Thierry Henry ahead of the Impact's Major League Soccer season opener.