National Sports

LAVAL, Que. — Will Bitten erupted with a four-goal performance and the Springfield Thunderbirds trounced the Laval Rocket 6-3 Wednesday to take a 2-1 series lead in the American Hockey League's Eastern Conference final.

The Canadian women's soccer team will head Down Under for a pair of friendlies in September. Canada, ranked sixth in the world, will take on the Australia and New Zealand, co-hosts of the 2023 Women's World Cup, in Australia on Sept. 3 and 6.

VANCOUVER — Refusing to play a friendly game against Panama on Sunday was a decision the Canadian men's soccer team didn't take lightly, says Atiba Hutchinson.

VANCOUVER — A woman says a former coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps and Canadian national youth teams stole the sense of purpose she got from the game when he sexually assaulted her.

Canadian Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is putting his NFL career on hold once again.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Mike Matheny spent about 20 minutes in the dugout before his Kansas City Royals took the field against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday and tried to put what has been a miserable 20-game stretch into perspective.

CALGARY — Two Olympic divers from Canada are about to take their new partnership out for an international spin. Montreal's Nathan Zsombor-Murray and Rylan Wiens of Pike Lake, Sask.

TORONTO — Julian Champagnie has seen the rigours an NBA season first-hand from his twin brother Justin, and so has no illusions about playing basketball on the game's biggest stage. "I definitely have a lot of respect for (Justin)," Julian said.

In his long career as a curling coach, Paul Webster has always been excited to share the things he knows about the sport. The pandemic break gave him a chance to improve his listening ability too.

Canada's sport minister Pascale St-Onge says athletes should have the freedom to speak, and that non-disclosure agreements contradict the "very principle of safe sports.