Skylar Ackerman and her rink from the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon claimed their first Saskatchewan women's curling championship with a 10-9 extra end win over Martensville's Nancy Martin in the Viterra Scotties final in Tisdale on Sunday.

Martin opened the game with back-to-back steals to go up 2-0 after two ends, but Ackerman responded with three in the third end to take the lead. Martin picked up two more singles in the fourth and fifth ends to go up 4-3 at the break before Ackerman picked up another three-ender in the sixth to go up 6-4. After being forced to a single in the seventh, Martin jumped out to a 7-6 lead with three in the eighth end, but Ackerman picked up three more in the ninth to go up 9-8 coming home without hammer. Martin scored one in the tenth to force an extra end, where Ackerman will get a single to pick up the victory.

Ackerman, Ashley Thevenot, Taylor Stremick and Kaylin Skinner will represent Saskatchewan at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts February 16-25 at Calgary's Winsport Arena.

Weekend AA hockey recap

Brett Stusrud scored twice as the Southwest Sports Excellence U18 AA Broncos skated to a 5-5 tie against the Regina Rangers on Friday night before picking up a 3-2 road win over the Regina Vics on Saturday. Carter Tuplin and Ryder Bradford had a goal and an assist for Swift Current in the victory.

Meanwhile, the Full Line Ag U18 Wildcats earned five of a possible six points on a three-game weekend with a 1-1 tie against the Regina Rebels on Friday, a 4-1 win over the Notre Dame Hounds on Saturday, and a 3-2 overtime win over the Prince Albert Foxes.

Also, the Graphic Edge U15 Wildcats beat the Saskatoon Comet Chargers 4-1 and Prince Albert 5-4 in overtime, the SWT U13 Broncos defeated the Regina Mustangs 6-2, and the WW Smith U13 Wildcats dropped a 4-2 decision to the Western Prairie Thunder.

In junior female hockey, the Southwest CMX Impact lost 5-3 to the Western Prairie Klippers and 13-1 to the Lumsden Lynx.

Samsonov shines as Leafs beat Kraken

Ilya Samsonov made 16 saves to pick up his first win since early December as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Seattle Kraken 3-1 in Sunday's NHL action. Auston Matthews, Nicholas Robertson and Jake McCabe scored for the Leafs.

Earlier, Tim Stuetzle scored twice and Claude Giroux and Vladimir Tarasenko scored key third period goals as the Ottawa Senators beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3. Shane Pinto returned to the Senators' lineup after serving a suspension assessed to him in October for "activites related to sports wagering." The league's investigation found no evidence that Pinto bet on NHL games.

Two Canadian teams are in NHL action tonight with Winnipeg visiting Boston and Vancouver hosting Chicago.

Lions, Chiefs win NFL Divisional games on Sunday

Jared Goff threw for 287 yards and two touchdown passes as the Detroit Lions beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-23 to advance to the NFC Championship game for the first time in 32 years. The Lions will face the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara next Sunday, after the Niners picked up a 24-21 comeback win over the Green Bay Packers on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Buffalo fans were haunted by the words "wide right" once again as Bills kicker Tyler Bass missed a potential game-tying 44-yard field goal with 1:47 left in the game to give the Kansas City Chiefs a 27-24 win in the AFC Divisional game on Sunday. Patrick Mahomes threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns for the Chiefs to advance to their sixth-straight AFC Championship game in Baltimore against the Ravens, who routed Texas 34-10 on Saturday.

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