410354 briefs
Senators forward Neil announces retirement
OTTAWA - Longtime Ottawa Senators forward Chris Neil is announcing his retirement. He spent 15 seasons with the NHL team, recording 250 points (112 goals, 138 assists) in 1,026 regular-season games.
The 38-year-old winger and the Senators had parted ways last spring as Neil’s role was reduced under coach Guy Boucher. He hasn’t played since the second round of last spring’s playoffs.
While he received some contract offers in the fall, Neil decided there wasn’t a good fit and decided to take the season off.
He will play in today’s alumni game marking the Hertiage Classic outdoor game.
Buchanan wins top Canadian female soccer player award
TORONTO - Defender Kadeisha Buchanan capped a remarkable campaign overseas Thursday with a domestic triumph, earning Canadian female soccer player of the year honours for the second time in three years.
The 22-year-old from Brampton, Ont., became the first Canadian international to hoist the Champions League trophy in June when Lyon defeated Paris Saint-Germain 7-6 in a penalty shootout in the final of European women’s club soccer showcase. Lyon, which had already captured the French league title and Cup, won the treble for the second year in a row.
CFL schedule stretched over additional week to increase rest
TORONTO - The Canadian Football League season will be spread over an additional week next year in an effort to promote player safety. The league announced its schedule on Thursday, two months earlier than last year. The season kicks off a week earlier on June 14, when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers host Edmonton.
The schedule stretches the regular-season over 21 weeks rather than 20 to reduce the number of short turnarounds. No team will have to play three games in 11 days, something that had been part of every schedule dating back to 2005.
The number of games to be played on less than a full week’s rest has been cut to 44, down from 51 last year and 54 the year before. The number of games played on five days rest has been cut from 21 last year to 15 this year, a 29 per cent decrease.
And every team will get three bye weeks instead of two, reducing the number of consecutive weeks a team must play.
Froome maintains innocence as rival doubts handling of doping case
LONDON - Chris Froome’s renewed protestations of innocence on Thursday were accompanied by doubts about why the four-time Tour de France champion was not immediately suspended for failing a doping test.
Froome has been ordered to explain to the International Cycling Union why a urine sample he provided at the Spanish Vuelta in September showed a concentration of the asthma drug salbutamol that was twice the permitted level.
While accepting the case is “damaging” for a sport scarred for years by doping scandals, Froome maintained Team Sky has the evidence to prove he is not guilty of cheating.