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Canada’s Jeff Batchelor airs during the 2010 FIS World Cup Snowboard Halfpipe qualification in Stoneham, Que., on Friday. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Canadian Jeff Batchelor won a silver medal at the World Cup halfpipe competition Friday to secure a spot on the Canadian Olympic snowboard team.

The Oakville, Ont., native led the Stoneham, Que., event until the final rider, Janne Korpi of Finland, beat his score.

Korpi’s teammate, Antti Autti, won bronze.

Justin Lamoureux of Squamish, B.C., came fourth, Brad Martin of Ancaster, Ont., finished 10th but still qualified for the Olympics and hometown favourite Hugo Lemay of Quebec City grabbed 12th.

Batchelor was looking for a top-five end to guarantee his spot on the Olympic squad.

Lamoureux has already qualified for the Vancouver Games.

In the women’s field, Sarah Conrad of Halifax, N.S., finished fourth, Mercedes Nicoll of Whistler, B.C., earned the fifth spot and Dominique Vallee of Squamish, B.C., came sixth.

Conrad and Nicoll have earned spots on the Olympic team.

Canada’s Olympic snowboarding teams will be announced Monday in Quebec City.

Zach Parise of the New Jersey Devils was the only player to beat Montreal goalie Jaroslav Halak on Friday in Newark. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Mathieu Darche had the go-ahead goal and an help, and Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves as the Montreal Canadiens finished a three-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Friday night.

Benoit Pouliot and Michael Cammalleri also scored for the visiting Montreal.

Zach Parise scored the only goal for the Atlantic Division-leading Devils, who have lost four of five.

Martin Brodeur, making his 28th straight start, stopped 21 shots.

Parise opened the scoring with a breakaway goal at 5:16 of the first period. Jamie Langenbrunner, deep in his own zone, spotted Parise sprinting toward the neutral zone.

Langenbrunner threaded a pass through the Montreal defence, sending Parise in alone to beat Halak with a backhander for his team-leading 21st goal.

The duo nearly connected again on a 2-on-1 break into the Montreal zone. Halak kept the deficit at one, making the stop on Langenbrunner.

That save loomed large later in the period when Pouliot tied it at 16:10. The sequence started with defenceman Andrei Markov slipping in from the point to test Brodeur with a hard shot from the left circle. Brodeur made the save, but Montreal controlled the puck.

Former Devils centre Scott Gomez set up the goal with a pass to Pouliot, who was left unchecked in the slot.

Pouliot, bought from Minnesota on Nov. 23, has nine goals in 12 games.

Darche place Montreal ahead 2-1 at 4:35 of the second period. Darche, recalled from Hamilton of the AHL on Tuesday, deflected in Brian Gionta’s shot from just inside the blue-line.

The Devils came out strong to start the third period and nearly scored the tying goal on the opening shift. Halak was sharp, denying Langenbrunner’s backhanded attempt.

Cammalleri stretched the Canadiens’ lead to 3-1 at 11:53 with his team-high 24th goal off a nice setup by Markov. Darche earned the second help.

Singer Shakira performs I’ll Stand by You. (Hope for Haiti Now)

Actor George Clooney and musician Wyclef Jean made appeals for aid as the Hope for Haiti Now telethon started on Friday.

About 200,000 people are estimated to have died in 7.0-magnitude quake and about two million Haitians were left homeless.

It is also believed that 250,000 are in need of urgent aid, including food, water and shelter.

The telethon, which started to come together just days after the quake, featured some of the brightest stars in Hollywood to raise money for charities working in the stricken country.

Celebrities such as Reese Witherspoon manned phone lines and stars such as Halle Berry spoke.

Early musical acts included:

• Alicia Keys performing Prelude to a Kiss.
• Bruce Springsteen performing We Shall Overcome.
• Stevie Wonder performing A Time For Like / Bridge Over Troubled Water.
• Shakira performing I’ll Stand By You.

Journalist Anderson Cooper talked to Pierre Alexis, who runs the Maison des Enfants, an orphanage in Port-au-Prince.

He spoke of armed robbers coming to the orphanage to steal food, and hundreds of new orphans landing on his doorstep.

Musical performances from the benefit will be sold via iTunes, with all proceeds to be donated to Haitian relief efforts.

Clooney urged Americans to donate whatever they can, whether in person, by telephone, through text messaging or online.