 | The Buzzer is off tomorrow, so we're taking an early look at what to watch this weekend (and Friday) in international sports. Plus, another hat trick for Mikko Rantanen and more updates on the NHL, PWHL and NBA playoffs and the UEFA Champions League. | | | What to watch this weekend in international sports
| | | Here's some stuff for Canadian fans to enjoy:
Track and field: The Canadian men's relay team is back
Olympic 4x100m champions Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney are competing in the World Athletics Relays in China, their first big event since their stunning victory in Paris last summer.
Last year's World Relays in the Bahamas were a big stepping stone for the boys, who took silver behind the United States and earned an Olympic berth. This time, they'll be trying to secure a spot in the world championships in Tokyo in September.
The top two finishers in each of the four opening-round heats on Saturday at 8:25 a.m. ET get into the worlds and advance to the final on Sunday at 9:26 a.m. ET, where they'll race for the $40,000 US top prize. The other teams go to a second-chance qualifying round on Sunday at 8:32 a.m. ET, where the top two in each of the three heats receive a spot in the worlds.
Canada's opponents include the United States, which is without Olympic and world 100m champion Noah Lyles but will feature back-to-back Olympic 200m silver medallist Kenny Bednarek; Jamaica, led by Olympic 100m runner-up Kishane Thompson; and South Africa, which finished just 0.07 of a second behind Canada to take the silver in Paris.
Canada also has teams in the women's 4x100m and 4x400m after finishing sixth in both events at the Olympics, as well as the mixed 4x100m and 4x400m. The mixed 4x100 event is making its global debut and won't be part of this year's world championships, but it was recently added to the Olympic program for 2028 in Los Angeles.
You can watch the World Athletics Relays live on Saturday and Sunday from 7-10 a.m. ET on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. Here's the full schedule and here's more on the Canadian men's 4x100m team from CBC Sports' Justin Piercy.
Hockey: Sidney Crosby returns to the world championship
The men's hockey world championship usually isn't worth paying much attention to. It takes place at the same time as the Stanley Cup playoffs, and it's far from a "best on best" tournament as most star players are either still playing for their NHL teams or choose not to go.
But, after the fantastic 4 Nations Face-Off in February and with the Winter Olympics coming up next year, there's a lot of appetite for international hockey right now. And Canada's team for this world championship, which opens Friday in Sweden and Denmark, features some big names.
Sidney Crosby, who captained Canada to the 4 Nations title with five points in four games, returns to the worlds for the first time in a decade. He's joined by his Nova Scotia pal Nathan MacKinnon, the reigning NHL MVP, and Crosby's former Pittsburgh Penguins teammate Marc-Andre Fleury, who's taking a victory lap after announcing his retirement from the NHL. High-scoring youngsters Macklin Celebrini (25 goals as a rookie with San Jose) and Adam Fantilli (31 in his second year with Columbus) are also on the squad.
Each team plays seven group-stage games, and the top four in each group advance to the quarter-finals. Canada opens against Slovenia on Saturday at 6:20 a.m. ET, then plays Latvia on Sunday at 10:20 a.m. ET. The Canadians' other group opponents are France, Austria, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.
Other stuff to watch:
* Canadian golfers Corey Conners, Nick Taylor, Taylor Pendrith and Adam Hadwin are playing in the Truist Championship in Philadelphia, one of the PGA Tour's $20-million US "signature" events. With the PGA Championship coming up next week at Quail Hollow, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is sitting this one out after winning the Byron Nelson on Sunday for his first title of the year. But Rory McIlroy is back for his first individual event since his thrilling Masters victory to complete the career Grand Slam. Here's the live leaderboard.
* A bunch of Canadian tennis players are competing in the clay-court Italian Open, the last big tuneup for the French Open. Coming off his breakthrough run to the quarterfinals of the clay Madrid Open, Gabriel Diallo was eliminated in the first round in Rome today. Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, seeded 26th and 27th, have yet to see the court after receiving byes to the second round. On the women's side, No. 24 Leylah Fernandez also had a bye, while Bianca Andreescu and 18-year-old qualifier Victoria Mboko both reached the second round. Gabriela Dabrowski and her New Zealander teammate Erin Routliffe are seeded No. 1 in women's doubles.
* The Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's three Grand Tours, begins Friday and continues for the next three weeks. The Canadian to watch is Derek Gee, who finished ninth overall in his Tour de France debut last year. Gee placed 22nd in his Giro debut in 2023, and was the runner-up in both the points and mountains classifications. | | |  | Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown and the rest of the Olympic champion Canadian men's 4x100m relay team are back together for the World Relays in China. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)
| | | Quickly…
| | | Some other things to know:
1. Hats off to Mikko Rantanen.
The Stars star scored his second consecutive hat trick last night to lead Dallas to a 3-2 win at Winnipeg in the opener of their second-round series. Rantanen, who scored three times in the third period of the Stars' Game 7 comeback win over Colorado, rattled off his latest hat trick in a span of less than eight minutes during the second frame. He's the first player in NHL history with multiple three-goal periods in the same post-season, and Rantanen now leads all playoff scorers with eight goals and 15 points in eight contests. Game 2 of the Dallas-Winnipeg series is on Friday night.
Also last night, Toronto beat Florida 4-3 to go up two games to none on the Stanley Cup champs. Mitch Marner scored the decisive goal in the third period while Joseph Woll made 25 saves in place of Anthony Stolarz, who's doubtful to make the trip south for Game 3 on Friday. Encouraging/depressing Leaf fact of the day, courtesy of the Athletic's Sean McIndoe: Toronto's six wins in these playoffs make this the most successful run of the Auston Matthews era.
Tonight, the Edmonton Oilers go for their sixth straight win and a 2-0 series lead when they visit Vegas at 9:30 p.m. ET. Carolina and Washington play at 7 p.m. ET after the Hurricanes took Game 1 in overtime.
In other NHL news, the Anaheim Ducks hired Joel Quenneville for his first head-coaching job since the NHL suspended him for his handling of a sexual assault scandal in Chicago.
2. Toronto drew first blood in the PWHL playoffs.
Julia Gosling scored a pair of second-period goals to give the Sceptres a 3-0 lead, and they held on for a 3-2 win over defending Walter Cup champion Minnesota last night to open the playoffs. Britta Curl-Salemme scored for the Frost before getting ejected with 5:23 left for hitting star Toronto defender Renata Fast in the head. Fast got up on her own and stayed in the game.
The second game in the best-of-five series goes Friday night in Toronto. Tonight at 7 p.m. ET, the top-ranked Montreal Victoire open their series against the Ottawa Charge.
3. The NBA champion Celtics are on the ropes.
Boston is down two games to none to the underdog New York Knicks after blowing back-to-back 20-point leads at home. Last night, the Celtics missed 14 of their last 15 shots to lose 91-90 after New York's Mikal Bridges once again foiled Boston's final possession with a tenacious defensive play. Game 3 goes Saturday afternoon in front of what's sure to be a bonkers crowd at Madison Square Garden.
Also last night, top-ranked Oklahoma City avenged its opening loss to Denver by pounding the Nuggets 149-106. Canadian star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points on an incredibly efficient 11-for-13 from the floor and 11-for-11 from the line for the Thunder, who held Nikola Jokic to 17 points and Canadian Jamal Murray to 14. Game 3 is Friday night in Denver.
Tonight, the Golden State Warriors will be without Steph Curry for Game 2 in Minnesota after he suffered a hamstring injury in Tuesday's win over the Timberwolves.
4. The UEFA Champions League final is set.
Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain will square off for the biggest title in club soccer on May 31 in Munich after PSG defeated Arsenal 2-1 yesterday to take their two-leg semifinal. Inter advanced with a dramatic 4-3 extra-time win over Barcelona on Tuesday.
Inter has won the European Cup/Champions League title three times, most recently in 2010, and was the runner-up two years ago to Manchester City.
PSG's only previous trip to the final was in Covid-altered 2020, when it lost to Bayern Munich. This one comes in the first season after superstar Kylian Mbappé left for Real Madrid. | | | That's it for today. Talk to you later.
| | | | Not subscribed? Sign up here to get the Buzzer delivered to your inbox. Got an idea, question, comment or other feedback on the newsletter? Drop us a line at thebuzzer@cbc.ca. | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | |
