OLYMPIC GAMES

Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin was promoted to head of the United States Olympic men’s hockey team on Tuesday, two months after Stan Bowman resigned following the Chicago Blackhawks sexual assault scandal .

“Unfortunately, things turned out as they were and we are here today,” Guerin said on a conference call with USA Hockey Zoom. “But you know, we have a job to do and we have to stay focused and determined on it. It’s been a bumpy road to get here, but here we are and we need to focus on the job at hand.

Initially appointed assistant general manager of the United States team, Guerin replaces Bowman, who resigned in October after an investigation determined that Blackhawks officials mismanaged a player’s allegations against an assistant coach during the race to the team’s Stanley Cup in 2010. Bowman was the general manager of the Blackhawks.

Guerin’s promotion comes less than two months before the Beijing Winter Games open in February. New York Rangers general manager Chris Drury, the team’s deputy general manager, has only about a month to select a squad and possibly a backup squad, given uncertainty over whether the NHL players are withdrawing from participation due to COVID-19 protocols. Guerin emphasizes participating in the NHL.

“There are still a lot of moving elements that still need to be discussed and hopefully answers so that everyone can feel their best to send the best NHL players to the Olympics,” he said. -he declares.

BASEBALL

MLB: Justin Verlander’s one-year, $ 25 million contract with the Houston Astros has been finalized, nearly a month after both sides agreed to the deal.

The pitcher and the Astros came to an agreement on Nov. 17 subject to a successful physical exam. While the deal was reported before the collective agreement expired on December 1 and a sign freeze began, Major League Baseball and the players’ association only approved it this week.

Verlander’s deal includes a salary of $ 25 million for 2022 and a player’s option of $ 25 million for 2023 provided he throws 130 innings or more in 2022.

Verlander became a free agent after signing a three-year, $ 94 million contract with the Astros. He has only played one game in the past two seasons. He only made one start in 2020, pitching six innings on July 24 in a victory over Seattle on opening day before being placed on the injured list with his right forearm outstretched. . He attempted a comeback, but announced on September 19, 2020 that he needed Tommy John surgery and underwent the procedure on October 1.

FOOTBALL

FIRST LEAGUE: Players will undergo daily coronavirus testing as part of emergency measures approved by clubs on Tuesday to deal with the worsening pandemic in England. Two Premier League games have been called off in the past three days due to outbreaks at clubs. The league reported on Monday that COVID-19 cases had risen 350% to a record 42 infections in one week across 20 clubs from 3,805 tests on players and staff.

Britain braces for a worsening health emergency caused by the new variant of omicron, with health officials saying it is responsible for around 200,000 new cases a day, with the number of infections all doubling every two to three days. Premier League players will have to wait in their cars for the results of the daily rapid antigen test results at their clubs, which will also perform twice-weekly PCR tests on them. All players and coaches must resume wearing the mask around the clubs.

Epidemics within the squads resulted in the postponements of Brighton-Tottenham on Sunday and Brentford-Manchester United on Tuesday.

MLS: Pablo Mastroeni has been given the job of permanent head coach of Real Salt Lake, 3.5 months after taking up his role as interim coach.

The 45-year-old former U.S. National Team midfielder served as Colorado’s head coach from 2014 until his dismissal in August 2017 with a season-wide record of six wins, 12 losses and four draws.

He was an assistant coach of Houston in 2020, then was hired by Salt Lake on January 5 as an assistant to Freddy Juarez. Mastroeni was named interim coach on August 27 when Juarez was sacked with the team in sixth place in the Western Conference.

Mastroeni led RSL to eight wins, eight losses and one draw for the remainder of the regular season. The team won last place in the Western Conference playoffs and beat Seattle and Kansas City on the road before losing 2-0 to Portland in the conference final.

• Pat Noonan was hired as the sixth head coach of the Cincinnati team in just over three seasons.

The 41-year-old, who has scored one goal in 15 appearances for the United States, has been an assistant coach for LA Galaxy (2013-16), United States (2017) and Philadelphia (2018-21).

Cincinnati finished 24th, 26th and 27th overall in their three seasons in MLS. He has recorded four wins, 22 losses and eight draws this year.

Alan Koch coached Cincinnati in the lower-tier United Soccer League and stayed with her for the start of her first MLS season in 2019. He was fired in May and replaced on an interim basis by assistant Yoann Damet, and Ron Jans has was hired in August. .

Jans resigned in February 2020 after an MLS investigation revealed he used a racial slur in the locker room and made other disturbing comments. Damet took over on an interim basis and former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam was hired in May.

Stam was fired on September 27 after a streak that included one win, eight losses and seven draws in 16 games, and Under-19 coach Tyrone Marshall took over as interim coach.

General manager Gerard Nijkamp left in August and was replaced on October 4 by Chris Albright, the former Noonan boss in Philadelphia as technical director.

CAR RACE

INDYCAR: James Hinchcliffe, one of IndyCar’s most popular drivers, has said he is moving away from full-time racing in the series. The 34-year-old Canadian has said he will not be retiring and will explore other types of racing. Andretti Autosport did not renew his contract for next year.

“With over a decade of amazing memories in the bank, I’m happy to report that I’m stepping away from full-time IndyCar competition,” Hinchcliffe said on social media. “It was not a decision taken lightly and it was a decision made with the full support of my family and my closest supporters. There are many factors, both personal and professional, that led me to take that decision, but I really felt the time was right. ”

Hinchcliffe had a tough season returning to Andretti last year and only got one podium, third place on the Nashville Urban Course. His next best result was 14th on two separate occasions, in Detroit and in the season finale at Long Beach.

TENNIS

MATCH BINDING: Six Moroccan male tennis players, including four who played in the Davis Cup, have been banned in a match-fixing investigation, the International Tennis Integrity Unit announced on Tuesday.

A hearing found that the six players “were guilty of multiple offenses and various match-fixing charges, including match-fixing, receiving money for the fixing and failing to report corrupt approaches.” , the ITIA said in a statement.

“The ITIA investigation revealed that the player offenses were related and therefore were the subject of a joint hearing,” he said. The ITIA did not specify which competitions were affected.

The players have been identified as Amine Ahouda, Anas Chakrouni, Ayoub Chakrouni, Mohamed Zakaria Khalil, Soufiane El Mesbahi and Yassir Kilani. Their bans ranged from nine years to a lifetime ban for Ayoub Chakrouni.

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