National Sports

The Canadian Premier League kicks off its seventh season Saturday with Atletico Ottawa's Sergei Kozlovskiy and J.D. Ulanowski serving as prime examples of the platform the domestic soccer league offers. Both have a bright future.

TORONTO — Toronto FC has acquired Swiss/Spanish midfielder Maxime Dominguez on loan from Brazil's Vasco da Gama, the Major League Soccer team announced Thursday. The loan runs through Dec. 31, with a purchase option at the end.

MOOSE JAW — Canada's Brad Jacobs maintained his hold on first place at the BKT World Men's Curling Championship on Thursday with an 8-2 rout of China's Xiaoming Xu at the Temple Gardens Centre.

MONTREAL — Marie-Philip Poulin always feels honoured to represent her country on the international stage.

OTTAWA — The Ottawa Redblacks have signed head coach Bob Dyce to a contract extension through the 2026 CFL season, the team announced Thursday. Dyce, 59, of Winnipeg, begins his third full season on Ottawa's sideline.

Paul Maurice has led hundreds of meetings across a long coaching career. The video rolls. There are points of emphasis. Players get their marching orders.

Canada climbed one spot to an all-time best No. 30 in the latest FIFA rankings released Thursday. The Canadian men had reached their previous high in November after climbing four places to No. 31. They were unchanged in the end-of-year December list.

TORONTO — John Tavares put the puck in the net off a slick William Nylander feed. Mitch Marner then finished a nice setup from Auston Matthews before finding Matthew Knies with a breathtaking stretch pass that led to a breakaway goal.

SASKATOON — Ben Kindel's hat trick helped the Calgary Hitmen rout the Saskatoon Blades 6-2 on Wednesday and complete a four-game sweep in their first-round Western Hockey League playoff series.

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks went into Wednesday night’s game against the Seattle Kraken knowing that they needed every point they could get to stay alive in the NHL’s Western Conference playoff race.