Canada wins Rivalry Series
Brianne Jenner and Blayre Turnbull scored, Shannon Szabados made 38 saves, and the Canadian women’s hockey team beat the United States, 2-0, Sunday in Detroit to win the inaugural Rivalry Series.
The Americans generated a lot of offense, especially during goal-mouth scrambles during a 21shot second period and in the final minutes. Savannah Harmon had a goal for the Americans negated by goaltender interference early in the third period.
Former Wisconsin star Alex Rigsby made 15 saves for the U.S.
The Americans won the opener, 1-0, on Tuesday, and Canada evened the three-game series with a 4-3 victory Thursday.
SKIING
One of the best runs of Marcel Hirscher’s career allowed the Austrian great to coast to a third slalom title at the skiing world championships on Sunday in Are, Sweden.
Hirscher suggested after the race this could be his last ever worlds – and if that is the case, he has gone out on a high.
He obliterated the field with an almost flawless first run, which gave him a lead of 0.56 seconds from Alexis Pinturault. No other skier was within a second of him.
That meant Hirscher could be more circumspect in the second leg, especially after a slip from Pinturault toward the end of his run knocked the Frenchman out of medal contention.
Hirscher got down safely, posting only the 25th fastest time for the second leg, to lead an Austrian 1-2-3 ahead of Michael Matt and Marco Schwarz.
NFL
Former Green Bay Packers executive Reggie McKenzie was hired by the Miami Dolphins as a senior personnel executive under general manager Chris Grier.
The move was the latest change in football operations for the Dolphins following a 7-9 season. Grier was given more authority last month, and Brian Flores was hired as coach to replace the fired Adam Gase.
McKenzie won the 2016 NFL executive of the year award for his rebuilding job with the Oakland Raiders after the death of owner Al Davis in 2011. But McKenzie clashed with new Raiders coach Jon Gruden and was fired in December shortly before the end of a 4-12 season.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Alison Smolinski scored 21 points and the Youngstown State women’s team routed visiting UW-Milwaukee, 67-47, at the Beeghly Center.
The Penguins held the Panthers (12-13, 7-7 Horizon League) to seven points over a 19-minute stretch to take control of the game.
The Panthers had no players in double figures. Ohio State 70, UW women 68: Dorka Juhász had 21 points and 15 rebounds as the host Buckeyes held off the Badgers at at Value City Arena.
Senior Marsha Howard scored 18 points to reach 1,000 in her career for the Badgers (12-14, 3-11 Big Ten).
HOCKEY
Adam Helwka had two goals and an assist and the visiting Milwaukee Admirals held off the Manitoba Moose, 6-5, at the Bell MTS Place.
BASEBALL
Pitch clocks are coming for spring training games.
Looking to speed the pace of play, Commissioner Rob Manfred said pitchers will have 20 seconds to deliver to the plate when teams play exhibition games in Arizona and Florida beginning this week.
The intention is to get players and umpires accustomed to the clock in the event Major League Baseball makes the rule change for the upcoming regular season.
Owners have the right to implement a clock this year without consent, but Manfred has been reluctant to initiate on-field modifications without agreement from players.