National Sports

A disappointing 2016-17 season has helped turn the Prince Albert Raiders into the No. 1 club in the Canadian Hockey League.

OTTAWA — An original Ottawa Redblack is staying with the team through 2021. The Redblacks signed Canadian defensive back Antoine Pruneau to a three-year extension on Thursday.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The United States and Canada are renewing the top rivalry in women's hockey with a three-game series in February.

TORONTO — Kyle Lowry refuses to entertain suggestions that playing two-time defending champions Golden State means more than any other game.

TORONTO — Nik Ledgerwood went to Europe in 2003 in search of soccer employment. He was 18, excited and a little scared. "It was all those kind of emotions. You didn't know what to expect going there," he recalled.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Bianca Farella scored four tries and Julia Greenshields added three more as Canada won all three of its games Thursday on Day 1 of the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens.

STOCKHOLM — British-born Italian hockey player Thomas Larkin was charged with assault for blindsiding an opponent during a game last year, a Swedish prosecutor said Thursday.

TOKYO — Sheikh Ahmad al Fahad al Sabah, who has stepped away temporarily from the presidency of an Olympic umbrella group to fight a criminal court case in Switzerland, was praised by IOC President Thomas Bach on Thursday.

TOKYO — Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan will miss the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final due to a right ankle injury, the Japan Skating Federation said Thursday.

Wednesday's Games NHL Detroit 4 St.