Long-Overdue Sports Briefs

Hello, I'm Nick White bringing you the sports news you need to know. First off, we take you to the Canadian junior hockey world where the London Knights have recently come off a 1-3 weekend. First, on Friday they hosted the Windsor Spitfires and lost 7-3, which you are already aware of. Next, they travelled to Saginaw to play against the Saginaw Spirit. London lost the game 4-1. Shots on goal for the game was 37-28 in favour of Saginaw. The losing goaltender was starter Igor Bobkov who allowed the 4 goals and made 33 saves whereas the winner was starting Saginaw goaltender Mavric Parks who allowed only 1 goal and made 27 saves. Goal scorers for Saginaw were Josh Shalla with 2 and Vincent Trocheck with 2. London's only goal came courtesy of Michael Moffat. Here's the game recap. Finally on Sunday, the Knights hosted the Kingston Frontenacs in what would prove to be a thriller. Kingston rode out to a 3-0 lead after the first period on goals by Ryan Spooner, Alex Gudbranson and Nathan Moon and it looked as though London was on its way to another thrashing. However, in the 2nd period London roared back by goals from newcomer Ryan Rupert (who was acquired in a recent trade with the Sudbury Wolves for Michael MacDonald) and Tyler Brown to make it 3-2 in favour of the Frontenacs. However, the Knights weren't done. In the 3rd, Jared Knight tied the game at 3 with a goal of his own and that would be the final goal in regulation time so overtime was necessary. Overtime however, did not solve anything, so the game went to a shoot-out. In that shoot-out Michael D'Orazio delivered the winner for the Knights to make it a 4-3 final. Shots on goal for the game was 43-31 in favour of London. The Knights play next on Friday, hosting the Plymouth Whalers before travelling to Guelph on Saturday to take on the Storm. On Sunday, they will host the Sudbury Wolves to finish out the weekend. Here is the game recap for the Knights vs Kingston.

Finally we take you to the basketball court in Toronto known as the Air Canada Centre where the Raptors have been making headlines as of late. On Saturday, the team announced that a 5-player trade had been swung with the New Orleans Hornets. Going to New Orleans were Raptors Jarret Jack (the starting point guard), David Anderson, and Marcus Banks. In exchange the Hornets gave Toronto Peja Stojakovic, Jerryd Bayless, and some cash. However, the new players won't be available for Toronto until Wednesday. As a result, Sunday's game at home vs the Boston Celtics would leave Toronto with a shorter bench giving the available players more opportunities for playing time. Here is the official press release of the trade. As for the game, it was a wild thriller that saw the Raptors emerge victorious with a 102-101 final score. It was a fairly close game that first saw Boston take a 13-point lead at the end of the 1st quarter before Toronto would find their game and build a 12-point lead in the 4th. Boston however would not quit and erased that lead with a 16-1 run. Toronto however, showed grit and eventually earned the victory. Heroes for the Raptors were starting centre Andrea Bargnani with 29 points and Amir Johnson with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Next Toronto will host the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday to close out their current 3-game home-stand. The new players will be available for that game. Here is the recap for the win against Boston. Until next time, I'm Nick White. Thanks for reading!