the mad sports man

 What an opener for Canada as they beat Colombia 7-0.  Andrew Albers (7 innings), Brendan McGuigan (1 inning) and Ben Onyshko (1 inning) combined for the no hitter. Great way to open qualification. One team will qualify from this tournament and 2bd and third will play in a last chance qualifier.

 The Montreal Canadiens are into the second round after capping off a comeback against the Toronto Maple Leafs, winning game 7 3-1. Toronto was up 3 games to one and now they're golfing.  Montreal will face Winnipeg in the next round.

 This ended up the Kyle Larson show.  He led 328 of 400 laps and won every stage in winning NASCAR's longest race of the season.  Wow.  And there's another 1100 miles of racing done.

 Helio Castroneves is now a four time winner of the Indy 500 after making a ballsy pass to get to the front.  He joins AJ Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears as four time champs. He started 8th in the race. Coming up - the Coca Cola 600.

 Canada beat Italy 7-1 to get to three wins and three losses. They've improved their chances for the quarterfinals. We'll know by the end of Tuesday games whether they get there or not. Gabriela Debeus-Stafford became the first Canadian woman to: break the 2 minute barrier in the 800m, break the 4 minute barrier in the 1500m and the 15 minute barrier in the 5000m. Amazing.   I think she made the Olympic standard in one of them as well.

 And that olympian is Haley Daniels. She qualified for the c1 slalom after winning a race off.

 The Vegas Golden Knights are into the second round after beating Minnesota in game seven 6-2. They will face the Colorado Avalanche next.

 Canada picks up second win with a 4-2 win over Kazakhstan. Got themselves in the quarterfinal hunt. Right now, they sit 6th with 6 points. They need to win the last two games (Italy and Finland) and have Latvia and Kazakhstan to lose a game or two.  Canada plays Italy on Sunday.

 Last night the men's relay team qualified a spot for Tokyo.  The team will be selected at a later time.

 The Carolina Hurricanes are into the second round after beating Nashville in game six (in overtime) and the series 4-2. They will face Tampa Bay next.

 Tampa Bay Lightning are into the second round after shutting out Florida 4-0 in game six and the series 4-2. They get either Carolina or Nashville next. That series could be over tomorrow.

 With a 5-3 win in game six, the New York Islanders will be going to the second round, beating Pittsburgh 4-2.  They will start the second round in Boston.

 Canada finally wins a game, beating Norway 4-2.  Barely would be a good term here.  And how about Kazakhstan beating Germany 3-2 earlier? Wow.  Germany still leads the group, with Kazakhstan, Latvia and Finland in a three way tie for second. Yup, Canada's group has gotten interesting.  Canada plays again Friday against Kazakhstan.

 The Winnipeg Jets are into the second round after capping off a four game sweep with a 3ot win.  They will get Toronto or Montreal next.

 Another game and another loss for Canada.  This time a 3-1 loss to Germany. Canada is 0-3 and Germany has three wins. Canada plays again Wednesday vs Norway. 

 Canada lost to the USA 5-1 at the world hockey championships. Ouch.  First time ever Canada has started 0-2. Ouch.  Also Belarus beat Sweden 1-0 thus morning and Kazakhstan beat Finland in a shootout 2-1. Kazakhstan has two wins. In the NHL, Boston has knocked out Washington in five games and Colorado has swept St Louis four straight. Stay tuned for who they meet next.

 Scotland is your world mixed doubles champions after beating Norway in a good one 9-7.  Congratulations Scotland. 3 months of curling is done. It's been an adventure.

 Sweden will be going home with the bronze after beating Canada 7-4. No medals at all for Canada in any of the three disciplines. Coming up in a couple of hours has Norway vs Scotland for gold.

 Scotland just beat Canada 7-4 and will play Norway for gold at 8am tomorrow. Canada faces Sweden for bronze at 3 am. (Times are Prince Albert times). Bruce Mouat has these Canadian teams figured out. He skipped Scotland men's team at the men's worlds beating Canada in the quarterfinals there and beat them in the round robin as well as the semifinals at this tournament. The final two games of the world mixed doubles are upon us. Then no curling until the fall. It's been a wild and crazy three months.

 This surprise had Denmark beat Sweden 4-3. Gotta like these kind of surprises, even if it's against your team. And we're only in the second day of the tournament.

 The first semi final had Norway beat Sweden 7-6. Sweden was heavy on their last shot giving Norway the point. Meanwhile the Czech Republic beat the USA 8-6 and will have a team at the Olympics in February. Overjoyed would be one way to describe the Czech Republic emotions.  The USA has to go to a last chance qualifier to get to the Olympics.

 Wow. Just wow. Canada was down 5-1 to Switzerland. They won 7-6 in an extra end. (Mixed doubles are 8 ends). Did I mention that Kerri Einarson made a heck of a shot to tie it in the 8th? Did she ever. Canada gets Scotland in the second semi final at 12:30 pm. Other quarterfinal had Norway beat Italy 7-5 and will face Sweden in the other semi final. That is at 9am. USA vs Czech Republic is also at 9am. The winner of that game gets the last Olympic spot for mixed doubles in Beijing. (Canada, Sweden and Switzerland have a spot in men's, women's and mixed doubles)

 The round robin portion of the world mixed doubles championships is done. Brad Gushue and Kerri Einarson of Canada went 7-2 (finished behind Scotland). Canada will play Switzerland and Italy will play Norway in the quarterfinals at 3am Prince Albert time. Winners will face Scotland and Sweden in the semifinals. These six teams have also claimed an Olympic spot in mixed doubles (Canada will have a representative in mixed doubles, women's and men's).  First semi final is at 9am and second semi final is at 12:30pm. There is a 7th Olympic spot remaining. The USA and Czech Republic will face each other to decide that. That game is 9am. All times Prince Albert time.

 Not a good start for Canada at the world hockey championships in Riga Latvia as the host Latvians shut out Canada 2-0.  (And Latvia goes crazy).  Next game for Canada is Sunday vs the USA. That should be a good games.

 Here is your fencing team: 1. Marc-Antoine Blais-Belanger (epee) 2. Alex Cai (foil) 3. Eleanor Harvey (foil) 4. Gabriella Page (sabre) 5. Jessica Gud (foil) 6. Kelleigh Ryan (foil) 7. Maximilien Van Haaster (foil) 8. Shaul Gordon (sabre) Good luck to all in Tokyo.

 No hitter #5 was Spencer Turnbull on Tuesday night in a 5-0 Detroit win over Seattle.  He threw 117 - 77 of them strikes. He was walked two and struck out 9. #6 was earlier Wednesday night in a Yankees 2-0 win over Texas. Corey Kluber threw 101 pitches - 71 of them strikes. He gave up one walk and struck 9 out.

 Four Canadians going. They are: 1. Amar Dhesi in the 125kg class. 2. Danielle Lappage in the 68kg class. 3. Jordan Steen in the 97kg class and 4. Erica Wiebe in the 76kg class.  All going to Tokyo.

 There's a list here. 1. Jeremy Gazing joins Eugene Wang and No Zhang in Tokyo in table tennis. 2. Softball team was recently announced, including four that was on the 2008 team the had softball last. They are Danielle Lawrie, Kaleigh Rafter, Lauren Regula and Jenn Salling. 3. Stephanie Barrett gets an Olympic spot in archery.  She claimed it after winning a silver back in March. 4. Mark DeJong, Nick Matveev, Pierre-Luc Poulin and Simon MacTavish won both the k4 500m races to qualify for the Olympics. 5. Brian Malfest and Vincent Jourdenais qualified qualified as a too team at the Olympic trials in K2 100m event. 6.  Three boxers will make their debut in Tokyo. They are Myriam Da Silva (welterweight), Tanmara Thibeault (middleweight), and Caroline Veyre (featherweight). Quite the list. Congratulations to all.

 A last chance rowing competition produced 3 more Olympic spots. 1. Patrick Keane and Maxwell Latimer won the men's double sculls (6:28.53).  2. Trevor Jones came in second (behind Russia) in single sculls (7:01.48). 3. Jakub Buczek, Luke Gadsdon, Gavin Stone and Will Crothers came second behind South Africa in men's fours. Their time was 6:07.84.  10 boats have qualified for Canada for the Olympics.

 Rambauer won the 146th edition of the Preakness stakes (no triple Crown this year), winning with a time of 1:53.62.  Flavien Prat is winning jockey and Michael W. McCarthy is winning trainer.  Hopefully no steroids controversy.  Last triple Crown race is the Belmont Stakes on June 5th.

 We have our matchups set. The West was decided tonight. There, we will have Colorado be St Louis and Vegas vs Minnesota. Winners will face each other in the division final. The North has Toronto vs Montreal (first meeting since 1979) and Edmonton vs Winnipeg (first meeting since 1990 if you include the original Jets that went into Arizona). Winners will face each other in the division final.  The Central has Nashville vs Carolina and Tampa Bay vs Florida, with the winners facing each other in the division final. And the East will have Pittsburgh vs New York Islanders and Washington vs Boston. Winners face each other in the division final.  Playoffs start Saturday with Washington vs Boston.

 This season had 7 teams and a 48 game schedule. Notable news: 1. Tiny Thompson of Boston gets injured, forcing GM Art Ross to take a chance on Frank Brimseck.  Once Thompson became healthy, he was sold to Detroit. The choice to keep Brimseck would pay off. He sets a record of three shutouts in a row, and has five in six games. He finishes regular season with 10, and earning the nickname Mr Zero. 2. The playoff format gets changed. The top two teams play in a best of seven semi final. 3rd and 4th place teams play in a best of three quarter final as well as the 5th and 6th place teams. The winners of the quarterfinals play in a best of three semi final, and the semifinal winner here plays the best of seven semi final winner for the Stanley Cup.  The Stanley Cup finals are a best of seven. QF had Toronto beat the new York Americans 2-0, while Detroit beat Montreal 2-1. SF had Toronto beat Detroit 2-1 while Boston beat the New York Rangers 4-3. Stanley Cup had Boston beat Toronto 4-1.  Bo

 Switzerland has defended their title by beating Russia 4-2.  It is also their 6th title in 9 years.  Wow.  Congrats.

 It's the USA that goes home with the bronze as they beat Sweden 9-5.  Their first medal since 2006. Congrats.  Coming up shortly,the championship game between Russia and Switzerland.

 What looked like a rout, then got close, then turned into a Russia 8-7 win over Sweden.  Russia was up 6-1 at the 5th end break and hung on.  They will play Switzerland for gold at 1pm while Sweden plays the US for bronze at 8:30am.  Both times Prince Albert times.  Almost done here.

 This just ended.  Switzerland will be going to the championship game after beating the US 7-3. They will have the hammer to start. The US will play for bronze tomorrow morning.

 It will be USA vs Switzerland in one semi and Sweden and Russia in the other.  The US beat Denmark 8-7 while Sweden beat Canada 8-3.  Canada had absolutely nothing left.  They struggled the whole week and made the playoffs AND qualified for the Beijing Olympics.  Kerri Einarson isn't done yet.  Her and Brad Gushue will be heading for Aberdeen Scotland for the mixed doubles championships.  When that is done, Einarson will be needing a long break before heading back to work.  Anyways, USA vs Switzerland will be at 3pm and Russia vs Sweden will be at 7:30pm (all times Prince Albert times). Winners play for gold and losers play for bronze.

 First the quarterfinals. Denmark won their last round robin game (while Scotland lost to China). Meaning Sweden (#3) will play Canada (#6) and Denmark (#4) plays the US (#5).  Lowest seeded plays Switzerland and the highest seeded gets Russia in the semis. Quarter finals are at 9am Prince Albert time. Meanwhile the second no hitter of the week happened.  In a Cincinnati 3-0 win over Cleveland, Wade Miley threw 114 pitches (72 if them strikes), had one walk and 8 strikeouts.  Let's see who else has one.

 So here is the situation. Canada had started the world's at 1-5 and had to beat China this morning (they did) to finish 7-6. Canada and the USA needed Germany to lose to Switzerland to get a playoff spot. Switzerland won 8-3. The US and Canada join Switzerland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark in the playoffs AND also qualified for the Beijing Olympics in 2022.  Switzerland will finish first, Russia will be second and get byes to the semifinals Sweden will finish third and play in the quarterfinals. Tonight's draw will decide where Denmark, the US and Canada finish.  Denmark is the only one of the three playing in tonight's draw.  So that is that for this afternoon.  Will have an update tonight.

This time Connor Fitzpatrick and Roland Varga qualifying in the C2 1000m event. They did so by winning two C2 1000m races. Sweet.

 This one courtesy of John Means as Baltimore beat Seattle 6-0.  Means threw 113 pitches (79 of them strikes), had 12 strikeouts and no walks. Only blemish was a wild pitch on strike three allowing the runner to reach first.  So there you go.

 She won an 800m race AND made the Olympic standard of 1:59.50 ( she won with a time of 1:59.04).  Did I mention she will be going to Tokyo?  I guess I just did.

 Last night at the world womens curling championships, Switzerland scored 8 points in an end in defeating Denmark 13-4.  And 8 point end, or an 8 ender, is quite rare. So here is your rarity of the day.

 Boy, I'll say they had a weekend. 1. Meaghan Benfeito and Carli McKay won the 10m synchro diving gold and qualified for the Tokyo games. 2. Marc-Antoine Blais Belanger won the men's epee pan American zonal qualifiier.  He's going to Tokyo. 3. Lynda Kiejko qualified for the Olympics in the 10m air pistol and 25m pistol events.  4. Vincent Riendeau and Nathan Zsombor-Murray claimed bronze in the 10m synchro diving event and is going to Tokyo. So yeah it was a good weekend.

 Medina Sprint won this years edition in a time of 2:01.36.  And no disqualification.  John Velasquez is winning jockey and Bob Baffert is winning trainer. That is Baffert's record 7th Kentucky Derby win as trainer.  Next race is the Preakness Stakes on May 15.