Sports

Alexander Semin scored on one of two Washington penalty shots Saturday afternoon and Tomas Vokoun made 30 saves as the Capitals blanked the sinking Montreal Canadiens 3-0.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves, and Evgeni Malkin had a power-play goal to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins over the host Boston Bruins 2-1 Saturday, their ninth win in 10 games.

Jan Hudec made the most of an icy slope and freezing conditions to seal a surprising victory in Saturday's World Cup downhill — more than four years after his last victory in an injury-plagued career.

The UBC-Okanagan Heat women's volleyball team made quick work of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies with a 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, 25-20) win Friday night in Saskatoon.

Outside hitter Myrte Schon was impressive on the night, tallying a match-high 15 kills and six digs for the Heat.

Photo: Contributed - Vanessa Hodak

Outside hitter Myrte Schon (13) powered the Heat past the Huskies with 15 kills Friday night.

"We played a solid match and were able to keep an even flow throughout,” says Heat coach Steve Manuel. “Myrte's been injured and playing the last few weeks with a pulled abdominal."

With the win the Heat improve to 4-13, while the Huskies are still in search of their first win at 0-17.

The men's squad came up on the short end in their match with the Huskies. The U of S extended their win streak to three matches with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-23) victory over the visiting Heat.

The Heat fall to 5-12 and now will need to win their last three games and have the 7-12 Winnipeg Wesmen lose to the 15-2 Manitoba Bisons on Saturday night to make the playoffs.

The Huskies improved to 4-13 and are one loss away from being eliminated from the playoffs.

The Heat and Huskies will meet again Saturday night in Saskatoon.

Meanwhile, the Heat's basketball teams took it on the chin Friday night at the UBCO gymnasium.

The ladies opened the night with a 74-46 defeat at the hands of the University of Victoria.

The two teams dressed in pink for the CIS WBCA Shoot for the Cure game. All 43 CIS schools with women’s basketball programs are taking part in this initiative which will raise money for fighting breast cancer.

The story was the same later for the men as the Vikes proved to be too much for the Heat, cruising to a 76-49 victory. The Heat fall to 2-13 in conference play as they prepare for tonight's rematch with the 7th ranked Vikes.

The women will open the action starting at 4 p.m. at the UBCO campus, the men will hit the court starting at 6 p.m.

You can follow both the volleyball and basketball action online at Canadawest TV.

Watch the live stream and chat online with fellow fans as the Montreal Canadiens welcome the Washington Capitals to the Bell Centre on CBC's Hockey Night In Canada.

Canada's Valerie Maltais took bronze Saturday in women's 1,500-metre World Cup short-track speedskating. The La Baie, Que., native finished with a time of two minutes and 31.351 seconds. South Korea's Ha-Ri Cho won gold in 2:31.162, while compatriot Eun-Byul Lee took silver in 2:31.223.

Photo: Contributed - Roger Tepper

Kirby Halcrow made 41 saves in a 4-0 win over Merritt.

A 41-save performance by Kirby Halcrow led the Vipers to a 4-0 whitewash of the Merritt Centennials in BCHL action Friday night in Vernon.

The Vipers reversed the tables on the Centennials, who had allowed just one goal in the three previous meetings between the two teams. Halcrow had a lot to do with that reversal, as he was spectacular at times.

Halcrow’s highlight reel included a toe save on Brandon Pfeil’s low point shot in the first period and two remarkable saves on Evan Stack shots in the second period, one of them with the paddle of his stick when it seemed that he was down and out.

Meanwhile, Lino Chimienti made some big saves of his own, especially on a Patrick McGillis short handed breakaway when the score was still 1-0.

He had a little or no chance to stop any of the Viper goals. The first came from the stick of John Knisley, who returned to the lineup after missing 13 games with an upper body injury.

Knisley’s hand-eye coordination was showcased when he took a waist high wrist shot, knocked it forward, and then batted it out of the air past a handcuffed Chimienti at 6:45 of the first period.

Adam Tambellini made it 2-0 when he pumped in a rebound on the power play at 11:38. Brett Corkey had threaded a low point shot through to the goal, where Aaron Hadley occupied two defenders and allowed Tambellini to swoop in for the kill.

There was no scoring in the middle frame, although the Vipers had five excellent scoring chances and the Cents had three, two while killing a penalty. The highlight of the period was a scuffle in the Merritt goal crease between buddies Lino Chimienti and Ben Gamache. 

Photo: Contributed - Roger Tepper

Tempers flared late in Friday's game.

As Gamache tells it, “we played summer hockey in Boston last summer and became good friends, but somebody pushed me into Lino and I ended up on top of him. We both speak three languages – English, French and hockey profanity. It was the last of the three that was spoken at the bottom of the dog pile!”

The Vipers increased their lead to four goals early in the third period. They notched another power play goal at 2:14 when Mike Zalewski hammered a high shot past Chimienti. Then at 6:21, Jedd Soleway lifted a backhand over Chimienti’s left shoulder after affiliated player Eric Chore had won a battle behind the Merritt net.

After the game, Halcrow said that he thinks “Sunday’s comeback win in Prince George has really brought this team together. I think we’re ready to take a run at a playoff spot. Pretty soon, we’ll have most of our players back, and we’ll be tough down the stretch.”

The Vipers host the Alberni Valley Bulldogs Saturday night at the Wesbild Centre.

Lindsey Vonn captured her landmark 50th World Cup career victory by winning the downhill on the demanding Kandahar course in frigid conditions on Saturday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Sam Gagner's eight-point effort in his last game has helped the Edmonton Oilers put together their best stretch in three months.

The Vancouver Canucks look to extend their lengthy shutout streak over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday afternoon at the Pepsi Center (3 p.m. ET). Vancouver (31-15-5) begins a four-game road trip looking to increase its 10-point lead in the Northwest Division over Minnesota.

The Toronto Maple Leafs look to extend their point streak to a season high-tying five games Saturday night in the nation's capital, where the Ottawa Senators will try to avoid a season-worst sixth straight defeat (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 7 p.m. ET).

The Washington Capitals come into the Bell Centre on Saturday afternoon (CBC Sports, CBCSports.ca, 2 p.m. ET) having gone 1-1-1 without Alex Ovechkin, who was sitting out a three-game suspension for a high hit.

They couldn't wait to swing the axe. The canvassing of board members was swift and decisive. As a result England will need a new captain to lead it into battle at Euro 2012. Capello will surely turn again to Steven Gerrard, who has been leading by example for years.

Canada's Devon Kershaw won a World Cup cross-country race for the first time Saturday, capturing a 15-kilometre freestyle mass start race at Moscow.

The Kelowna Rockets have reached the .500 mark for the first time since mid October.

The Rockets, who started the season 3-0 finally clawed their way back to even terms with a 2-1 victory in Prince George Friday.

The win evens the Rockets record at 23-23-2-4.

And, according to assistant coach Dan Lambert, can thank goaltender Adam Brown for making sure they got there.

Brown, the game's number one star, turned aside 26 shots in the victory.

Cody Chikie (13) and Shane McColgan (14) with the game winner midway through the third period scored for the Rockets.

Spencer Asuchak scored the lone goal for the Cougars earlier in the third.

The Rockets played Friday without PG native Brett Bulmer who was scratched due to illness.

The same two teams battle against Saturday in Prince George before the Rockets return home to host the Seattle Thunderbirds Wednesday.

The current edition of the KSS Owls toasted a team Friday they hope to emulate.

The Owls honoured the 1982 edition of the team, one which was victorious at the Interior Savings Western Canada Basketball Tournament.

In fact, they are the only KSS team to win the tournament played each year in their gymnasium.

Ranked number one in the province, the Owls advanced to the final for the second year in a row Friday beating the Pitt Meadows Marauders 66-61 in Friday's semi.

The Marauders are ranked number two in BC

The Owls jumped out to a 39-25 lead at halftime and led by 13 heading into the fourth period but had to hold off a determined Marauders squad down the stretch.

Pitt outscored the Owls 22-14 in the fourth to make the final close.

Mitch Goodwin and Braxston Bunce both hit for 19 to lead the Owls offensively. Bunce also added nine boards.

Austin Axenty chipped in with 10 points.

Trevor Severinski led all scorers in the game with 26 points and nine rebounds.

The Owls will take on Harry Ainley Titans of Edmonton in Saturday's final.

Harry Ainley, ranked number one in Alberta, advanced to the championship game with an 87-83 squeaker over White Rock Christian.

The Titans were led by Lyndon Annets who hit for a game high 28 points. Keith Gerdes added 16 points and eight rebounds.

Saturday's final goes at 7:45.

Story by Fraser Rodgers

The Penticton Vees tied the twenty-two year-old BCHL consecutive wins record in their 5-1 triumph over the visiting
Chilliwack Chiefs on Friday. The victory is the Vees twenty-ninth in a row, tying a record set by the New Westminster Royals in 1989-1990.

The game was played in front of a large and boisterous crowd of over thirty-eight hundred people at the SOEC.

Also, with the win and Merritt’s loss tonight in Vernon, Penticton clinches first place in the Interior Conference.

The visitors tried to spoil the celebration as the Chiefs opened the scoring just over three minutes into the game when Derek Huisman found the net at 3:20; David Bondra spun a pass from the corner to Huisman in front.

Penticton, looking a tad nervous in the opening minutes, regrouped shortly after and equalized on a funny bounce.

Wade Murphy scored his 30th of the season into an open goal at 6:06 of the first; the puck eluded goaltender Bryton Udy, who vacated his crease to play it behind the net. The puck ricocheted off the boards and in the slot where Murphy made no mistake.

In the middle frame, Penticton started to take over the contest, continually pressuring the Chiefs end, highlighted by long stretches of puck possession in the attacking end.

The Vees were rewarded not too long into the period; Connor Reilly blasting a one-timer past Udy at 5:46. Mario Lucia worked the puck free from the corner before finding Reilly in the slot on a nifty pass.

In the third period the Vees pulled away, scoring three goals on thirteen shots.

Penticton looks to break the BCHL record of consecutive wins Tuesday,a when they travel to the Fraser Valley and face the Chilliwack Chiefs; game time is 7pm.

Canada's Lyndon Rush and Jesse Lumsden won their first two-man bobsled World Cup gold medal on Friday.

The duo topped the podium with a two-run time of one minute 44.14 seconds, followed by Maximillian Arndt and Martin Putze of Germany. Beat Hefti and Thomas Lamparter of Switzerland placed third in 1:44.21.

"I think if we are racing in Whistler we should be one of the teams to beat," said Rush, who hails from Humboldt, Sask. "If we put down our best here it should be better than everyone else because we know the track better."

Rush and brakeman Lumsden of Burlington, Ont., were second after their first run, finishing in 52.04 seconds. They turned in the fastest run of the second heat in 52.10 seconds, beating out the field.

Rush's medal was his eighth on the World Cup circuit and second victory in the two-man event. For Lumsden it was the second World Cup medal of his career.

Lumsden, a former running back with the Hamilton Ticats, has been sledding since 2009, and raced as Pierre Lueders' brakeman at Vancouver Olympics in 2010. Lumsden and Rush teamed up at the beginning of this season.

Their first-place finish Friday moved them up to fourth in the overall FIBT standings.

"I knew we were doing well right away," said Lumsden. "There is only so much you can do in the back of the sled after the start and expect to will your team to victory. Now we just have to prepare to win tomorrow in the 4-man event. That is the baby of our team."

Newbie bobsled pilot Justin Kripps made his World Cup debut with brakeman Timothy Randall of Burlington. The duo finished in 17th spot.

Kripps' debut is the result of friend and teammate Chris Spring who was involved in a season-ending crash on Jan. 5 at Altenberg, Germany.

"I looked at this race as a great way to gain experience," Kripps said. "Chris is doing really well and posted on his website that he is cheering me on today. Even before his accident he was talking about giving up his spot at this event so I could gain World Cup experience, which speaks to his character."

Earlier in the day, world champion Martins Dukurs captured skeleton gold.

The Olympic silver medallist finished in a two-run time of 1:45.76 , while Frank Rommel of Germany and Alexander Tretiakov of Russia tied for second in 1:46.51. Alexander Kroeckel finished with the third fastest time in 1:46.78.

"This is a really tough track to stitch together two good runs," said Dukurs. "I didn't do it in the Olympic Games and at last year's World Cup. I knew I had to focus on two good runs today."

Dukurs earned a silver medal at the Vancouver Games and followed up with a bronze medal at a World Cup in Whistler last season. Dukurs has won six of seven World Cup races this season and leads the overall rankings with Frank Rommel of Germany second and teammate Tomass Dukurs third.

Canada's men's team has not won a medal yet this season. In only his second World Cup season, Calgary's John Fairbairn had a personal best performance, finishing eighth in 1:47.53 while teammates Michael Douglas of Toronto placed 11th and Eric Neilson of Kelowna, B.C., was 19th.

"I am happy with my runs because this is one of the most technical tracks in the world. The top guys make mistakes too and it feels like it gives me a bit of a chance against them," Fairbairn said.