Reirden to coach Capitals
ARLINGTON, Va. — When Barry Trotz resigned, the Washington Capitals didn’t even bother with a coaching search. There was only one candidate — and he got the job. Top assistant Todd Reirden will take over the Stanley Cup-champion Capitals, promoted from the bench Friday in a move that allows Washington to maintain a sense of continuity. Reirden, 47, coached the defensemen the past four seasons, was a finalist for another NHL head coach’s job two years ago, earned a promotion to associate coach and played a substantial role in the first championship in franchise history. “We feel that the time is right for Todd to lead our hockey club,” general manager Brian MacLellan said. “Based on his coaching experience, communication abilities, his approach to the game and the respect he commands in our locker room, we feel that Todd has earned this opportunity.” Given his four-year tenure on Trotz’s staff and the leaguewide view of him as a rising star in coaching, Reirden was the only one interviewed for the job. He was hired less than two weeks after Trotz resigned and eight days after the veteran coach joined the New York Islanders.
SOCCER
› MOSCOW — FIFA plans to review a rule that resulted in Senegal being eliminated from the World Cup because it had more yellow cards than Japan, but soccer’s worldwide sanctioning body is unlikely to remove the measure. “We will review after this World Cup, we will see what the feedback and the situation is,” FIFA competition director Colin Smith said Friday, “but as it currently stands we don’t see any need to change.” The rule, in use for the first time at the World Cup, caused a stir when the last games in Group H were being played simultaneously and it became obvious it would be needed as a tiebreaker between two teams finishing equal in every other way. Japan barely attacked in the end of its 1-0 loss to Poland — preferring instead to take a safety-first approach against a team that was already out of contention — because it was due to qualify on its disciplinary record ahead of Senegal. At the time, Senegal was losing 1-0 to Colombia, which jumped from the third spot to top of the group. Previously the situation would have been resolved with the drawing of lots, which would have meant that during the game, no team would have been assured of going through in the same circumstances.
FOOTBALL
› SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah State football player has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman at a party, marking the latest in a string of similar cases at the school in recent years. Jamaal A. Evans, 19, took an intoxicated woman into a room and assaulted her on June 17, prosecutors who filed rape and forcible sodomy charges said in court documents filed Thursday. When the woman’s friend confronted him about what happened, he told her “when you’re in the moment and you want what you want, just got to do it sometimes,” and “he gave that girl what she wanted,” according to the documents. Evans told police the sex was consensual, according to documents. He said he was “a little buzzed,” but the woman didn’t seem drunk until she vomited after the encounter. Other partygoers told police the woman was acting intoxicated and her friend told police the woman was “completely incoherent” after the alleged assault. The woman told police she couldn’t remember what happened. Evans has been suspended from the team.