National Sports

BELFAST, United Kingdom — Bellator featherweight champion Patricio (Pitbull) Freire stopped Canadian Jeremy (JBC) Kennedy with a flurry of blows in the third round Friday in the Bellator Champions Series. The 31-year-old from Surrey, B.C.

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Canada's Cynthia Appiah captured a bronze medal Friday in a World Cup women's monobob event. Appiah, of Toronto, posted a two-run time of one minute 59.13 seconds for her first medal of the World Cup monobob season.

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball has opened a formal investigation into illegal gambling and theft allegations involving Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.

TORONTO — Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid have grown closer off the ice. The star centres sometimes skate together in the summer and now share the same agent. They also possess unique perspectives on what the other deals with as a face of the NHL.

VANCOUVER — The surging Vancouver Whitecaps are trying to strike a delicate balance.

The numbers favour the Canadian men in Saturday's high-stakes Copa America qualifier with Trinidad and Tobago in Frisco, Texas. Canada is ranked 50th in the world, compared to No. 96 for Trinidad.

In naming his roster for a crucial Copa America qualifier against No. 96 Trinidad and Tobago, interim coach Mauro Biello said the 50th-ranked Canadian men needed a "cultural reset.

OTTAWA — The Ottawa Senators signed forward Stephen Halliday to a two-year, entry-level contract Friday. The deal will start in the 2024-25 season.

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit his first home run as a Blue Jay to key a three-run second inning and Toronto defeated the Boston Red Sox 5-1 in spring training action Friday.

PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. (AP) — Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Canada matched her best score on the LPGA Tour with a 7-under 64 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship.