National Sports

HOUSTON (AP) — Atlanta’s 6-2 victory over Houston in Game 1 of the World Series drew an average of 10,811,000 viewers on Fox, up 17.5% from the record low of 9,195,000 for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ opening 8-3 win over Tampa Bay last year.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Canadian Julia (The Jewel) Budd won her Professional Fighters League debut Wednesday, earning a unanimous decision over American Kaitlin (The Striking Viking) Young on the promotion’s high-profile final card of the season.

Kyle Beach has stepped forward as John Doe 1 in the Chicago Blackhawks' sexual assault investigation. Beach appeared on TSN's SportsCentre on Wednesday night to identify himself as the first accuser of former Blackhawks' video coach Brad Aldrich.

MONTREAL — The Canadian Elite Basketball League is expanding to Montreal. The league announced Wednesday that the Montreal Alliance begin play in 2022 at Verdun Auditorium. Montreal will be the league's ninth franchise, and its first in Quebec.

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — For the Florida Panthers, there has never been a better start to a season. The next few days, though, could change everything.

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The ECHL's Newfoundland Growlers have been suspended from playing home games at Mile One Centre pending a third-party investigation into allegations of "disrespectful workplace conduct.

Starting the rebuilding process after failing to qualify for the Rugby World Cup, Canada coach Kingsley Jones has named his roster for a November tour of Europe.

TORONTO — With the dust barely settled on the recent Summer Games, a reminder came Wednesday that the next Olympiad is fast approaching.

VANCOUVER — The Minnesota Wild knew it wasn’t going to be easy so they did everything they could to make it hard on the Vancouver Canucks.

LIVERPOOL, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA — Corryn Brown of Kamloops, B.C., scored four in the sixth and three in the ninth to beat Jestyn Murphy of Mississauga, Ont., 11-5 on Tuesday in the sixth draw of Canada's Olympic curling pre-trials.