It's a sports weekend for all seasons
Long story short... there's a lot going on
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We're in the middle of January, but there's a plentiful array of summer, winter and fall sports happening from now through Sunday. Here's a guide:
NFL playoffs
Since we sent out our Wild Card Weekend preview on Wednesday, the big news is that Baltimore star quarterback Lamar Jackson is officially out with a knee injury. That makes the Ravens a huge underdog in Sunday night's game at Cincinnati. Miami is in a similar boat at Buffalo on Sunday afternoon after QB Tua Tagovailoa was ruled out due to post-concussion issues. Saturday afternoon's matchup between so-so Seattle and surging NFC West champion San Francisco looks like a mismatch too.
The best contests should be the mercurial Los Angeles Chargers vs. the rising Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday night, an overachievers battle between the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings on Sunday afternoon and the Monday nighter featuring the Dallas Cowboys vs. Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The top Canadian players to look for are Chargers receiver Josh Palmer (72 catches, three touchdowns this season) and Dolphins safety Jevon Holland (96 tackles and a team-high two interceptions). NFL coach-of-the-year candidate Brian Daboll of the Giants was born in Welland, Ont.
NHL
The best tilt of the weekend sees league-leading Boston host third-overall Toronto on Saturday night. The Leafs could be in tough considering Auston Matthews has missed the last two games due to injury and the Bruins are 19-1-3 on home ice. Boston hadn't lost in regulation at home this season until last night, when surprising Seattle halted the streak for its seventh straight win.
Edmonton's Connor McDavid, who's on pace for the NHL's first 150-point season since Mario Lemieux 27 years ago, plays tonight at San Jose and Saturday at Vegas. Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos needs one goal to reach 500 for his career as the Lightning visit St. Louis on Saturday night.
NBA
The disappointing Toronto Raptors (19-23) are riding their first three-game winning streak of the season after beating lowly Charlotte (twice) and mediocre Portland. Toronto sits 11th in the East, one spot out of a play-in berth, as it prepares to host ninth-place Atlanta on Saturday night.
Canadian guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31 points per game — tied for third in the NBA in scoring with two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo — as his Oklahoma City Thunder head into road games in Chicago tonight and Brooklyn Sunday.
Canada's Jamal Murray is averaging 18.4 points in his return from a devastating knee injury in April 2021. Murray and the West co-leading Denver Nuggets visit Kawhi Leonard's Clippers tonight before hosting Orlando on Sunday. Murray's teammate Nikola Jokic is gunning for a third straight MVP award as the sweet-passing big man is averaging a near triple-double.
Tennis
The Australian Open starts Sunday in Canadian time zones. We previewed the first Grand Slam of the season in yesterday's newsletter, but here are some Coles Notes:
Nine-time Aussie Open champ Novak Djokovic is back after getting kicked out of the country last year for not being vaccinated. He needs one more Grand Slam title to match Rafael Nadal's men's record of 22, and they could meet in the final. Nadal is the top seed after world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz withdrew due to injury.
Iga Swiatek is the women's favourite after winning eight tournaments, including a pair of Slams, and reeling off a 37-match win streak last year. She could help fill the void left by Serena Williams' exit from the sport last fall.
Seven Canadians are competing in the singles draws, headlined by men's No. 6 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime. The 22-year-old won his first four ATP Tour titles last year, including three in a row in October, and led Canada to its first Davis Cup championship. But he's never made a Grand Slam final. Felix opens vs. fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil late Sunday night/early Monday morning in Canadian time zones. Men's No. 20 seed Denis Shapovalov and unseeded Bianca Andreescu also play Sunday.
Golf
The 2022-23 PGA Tour season teed off in earnest last week in Hawaii, where it now continues with the Sony Open. Corey Conners, Canada's highest-ranked player, finished tied for 18th last week and has placed as high as third at the Sony.
Figure skating
The main events at the Canadian figure skating championships got underway this morning in Oshawa, Ont., with the women's short program. Defending champion Madeline Schizas grabbed a comfortable lead while Lia Pereira, who's also competing in pairs, placed second. The dance event was in progress at our publish time and the pairs and men's shorts are coming up later. The free skates are Saturday. CBC Sports is streaming everything live here.
In our Canadian championships preview earlier this week, we noted that this is the final nationals for defending men's champ Keegan Messing, who's retiring at season's end. Meanwhile, his wife is due to give birth to their second child back home in Alaska on Saturday. Absent this week are Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who are Canada's top medal contenders for this year's world championships after winning the ice dance event at the prestigious Grand Prix Final last month. Gilles recently underwent an appendectomy.
Alpine skiing
Mikaela Shiffrin is sitting out this weekend's women's downhill and super-G races in Austria, which will keep her tied with fellow American Lindsey Vonn for the all-time women's alpine World Cup record of 82 wins.
The men are in Wengen, Switzerland for the classic Lauberhorn downhill on Saturday. Olympic combined medallist Jack Crawford is Canada's top podium threat. He ranks fourth in the World Cup downhill standings after reaching the podium twice last month. Wengen also hosts a slalom on Sunday. All of this weekend's alpine races are being live-streamed by CBC Sports.
WATCH | Canada's Crawford looks to carry momentum into Wengen:
Curling
The Grand Slam circuit continues with the Canadian Open in Camrose, Alta., where reigning Brier champion Brad Gushue and reigning Scotties champ Kerri Einarson each suffered their first loss in the triple-knockout format last night.
Qualifying for next month's Scotties Tournament of Hearts is underway in a number of provinces and territories. CBC Sports is streaming British Columbia's event tonight and this weekend.
Sliding
This week's bobsleigh and skeleton World Cup stop is in Germany, where Canada's Mirela Rahneva finished fourth in today's women's skeleton race to remain third in the World Cup standings. Bobsleigh events go Saturday and Sunday. CBC Sports is streaming them live.
For details on all the winter Olympic sports you can watch live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app, CBC Gem and the CBC TV network this weekend, see the full streaming and broadcast schedule here.
