National Sports

SAN JOSE, Calif. — From last in the league in early January all the way to the brink of their first Stanley Cup Final in nearly a half-century, it has been quite a ride for the St. Louis Blues.

CHICAGO — Following a slow start, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is showing why he's one of the top prospects in the majors.

TORONTO — Despite pre-game talk of lineup changes, Raptors coach Nick Nurse stuck with the same starting five for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final against the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday night.

CALGARY — A veteran of 10 seasons in the CFL, all with the Calgary Stampeders, Brandon Smith can't recall meeting so many new people on the opening day of training camp.

KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Mike Reilly knows he and his B.C. Lions teammates are going to get sick of each other over the next three weeks of training camp.

BRENTWOOD, Calif. — Former San Francisco 49ers centre Jeremy Newberry says vandals have destroyed nearly half of the 4,000 cherry trees recently planted at his Northern California orchard.

ROME — Rafael Nadal is right back where he wants to be.

LONDON — Canada's Jennifer Abel closed out the World Series diving season with a silver medal in the women's three-metre individual competition on Sunday. She finished second with a total score of 353.05 points for her five dives.

KURUME, Japan — Canada's Rebecca Marino defeated Japanese qualifier Yuki Naito 6-4, 7-6 (0) on Sunday to win the ITF Kurume title on the World Tennis Tour. The fourth seed from Vancouver needed one hour 23 minutes to complete the victory.

BALTIMORE — Owner Gary Barber called trainer Mark Casse for the fourth time in 11 hours since War of Will won the Preakness. Only this time, Casse was in the middle of holding court with reporters the morning after his first Triple Crown victory.