What to watch this weekend in Canadian sports
CBC
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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
