What to watch this weekend in Canadian sports | CBC Sports

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From the gridiron to winter Olympic sports, here are a few things for Canadians to keep an eye on:

Football: It’s playoff time in Canada

Saturday is a big day for three-down football as the CFL playoffs begin and the Canadian university post-season ramps up across the country.

In the CFL, Toronto hosts Ottawa in the East Division semifinal at 3 p.m. ET, with the winner travelling to Montreal next week to face the Grey Cup champions. The West semifinal has Saskatchewan hosting B.C. at 6:30 p.m. ET for the chance to take on Winnipeg.

All eight U Sports conference semifinals take place Saturday as well. Defending Vanier Cup champion Montreal, ranked No. 1 in the country, and No. 3 Laval should be able to set up a showdown in next week’s Quebec final as they both face weak opponents. In Ontario, undefeated No. 2 Laurier faces No. 8 Queen’s while No. 4 Western plays No. 5 Guelph. No. 6 Bishop’s (also undefeated) is the class of the Atlantic while, in the West, No. 9 UBC and No. 10 Saskatchewan square off for the chance to likely face No. 7 Manitoba next week.

If you missed yesterday’s newsletter, we previewed Saturday’s Canadian football action.

Elsewhere in U Sports, the women’s rugby national championship game takes place Sunday at 2 p.m. ET in Charlottetown between UBC and Victoria. Watch it live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

Short track speed skating: Canadians go for more gold in Montreal

The ISU Short Track World Tour is in Montreal for the second straight week due to issues at the arena in Salt Lake City that was supposed to host this weekend’s stop. That’s good news for Canada, which captured six medals — including three gold — during last week’s season opener at Maurice Richard Arena.

William Dandjinou remains the Canadian to watch. The reigning men’s 1,000m world champion won gold in both the 500m and 1,500m last weekend, while Canada’s Steven Dubois took silver and bronze in those races. Dandjinou and Dubois later helped the Canadian men’s relay team win gold, and Dubois also contributed to a bronze in the mixed relay.

WATCH | Canada’s men’s short track relay team reflect on gold:

The Ice Maples, as Canada’s short trackers have been branded in the revamped World Tour (formerly the World Cup), should be in the hunt for a bunch more medals on Saturday and Sunday. Racing starts at 1:30 p.m. ET each day on CBC Sports’ digital platforms.

Curling: Homan plays for a title at the Pan Continental Championships

This event has only been around since 2022, and it’s probably best known as the one Brad Gushue called “an embarrassment” when it was held at a small local club in Kelowna, B.C. last year.

That didn’t stop Gushue from winning the men’s title for the second straight time, and he seemed poised for a three-peat after completing a perfect 7-0 preliminary round yesterday in Lacombe, Alta. But Canada lost 8-4 to Japan’s Shinya Abe in the semifinals last night, sending Gushue’s team to the bronze-medal game against the United States’ John Shuster today at 4 p.m. ET. Japan and China will play for gold Saturday at noon ET.

Canada’s Rachel Homan will face South Korea’s Eunji Gim for the women’s gold on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET after defeating China 6-5 in the semifinals today. Homan’s team is seeking Canada’s first women’s title after Kerri Einarson won the bronze game in 2022 and lost it last year.

Figure skating: A Canadian pair goes for another win in France

Canada has only two entries in this week’s Grand Prix stop in France as others take a break after competing at Skate Canada International last weekend.

The top contenders for a medal are the pairs team of Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud, who won gold in France last year. They placed third in today’s short program and will try to move up in the free skate Saturday at 2:40 p.m. ET on CBC Sports’ digital platforms. Here’s our full streaming schedule.