Canada wins women’s U18 hockey worlds

OBIHIRO, Japan — Maddi Wheeler scored in overtime as Canada defeated the United States 3-2 on Sunday to win its fifth under-18 women’s world hockey championship.

Wheeler, from Erinsville, Ont., drove hard to the net and jammed home her own rebound just 1:34 into overtime, giving Canada its first world title since 2014.

Danielle Serdachny gave Canada an early 1-0 lead, picking up the rebound of an Alexie Guay shot from the point.

The United States tied the game late in the second period before taking a 21 lead just over six minutes into the third. Anne Cherkowski tied the game 2-2 with less than nine minutes remaining after being set up by Gosling and Serdachny.

Goaltender Raygan Kirk finished with 25 saves in the win and earned the tournament’s most valuable player honours.

NLL announcer sorry for racial remarks

PHILADELPHIA — Announcer Shawny Hill and the Philadelphia Wings apologized on Sunday after he made racially insensitive remarks about Georgia Swarm’s Lyle Thompson.

Hill called for Thompson’s pony-tail to be cut during Georgia’s 13-11 National Lacrosse League win at Philadelphia on Saturday night.

Thompson, from Onondaga Nation, N.Y., and his brothers, Jerome and Miles, all play for the Swarm and wear braided pony-tails in tribute to their Indigenous heritage.

“2019 and the @NLLwings arena announcer saying ‘let’s snip the pony tail’ to the whole arena and fans saying they’re going to scalp me,” tweeted Lyle Thompson on Saturday night.

“I am deeply sorry for my insensitive statements during last night’s game,” said Hill. “My words were poorly chosen and were not intended as racially motivated. I understand the profound hurt my words have caused. I offer my sincere apology.

“My words do not reflect my personal beliefs, but represent a lack of knowledge on and heritage and history. I am in the process of reaching out to speak directly to the Thompson brothers in hopes of providing a direct apology.”

Kuchar starts Hawaii vacation with a win

HONOLULU — Matt Kuchar overcame three early bogeys that cost him the lead with flawless golf and two key birdies on the back nine to close with a 4-under 66 and win the Sony Open for his second PGA Tour title this season.

It wasn’t as easy as his four-shot win over Andrew Putnam might indicate.

Having made only one bogey through 54 holes to build a two-shot lead, Kuchar had three bogeys in his opening five holes Sunday and fell one behind Putnam.Tied for the lead with five holes to go, Putnam made bogey from the bunker on No. 14 and Kuchar birdied the next two holes to seize control.

Putnam closed with a 68 and moved into the top 50 for the first time in his career.

Moment of silence for NFLer’s daughter

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The daughter of Chargers defensive lineman Brandon Mebane was remembered before Los Angeles’ playoff game against the New England Patriots.

The Patriots asked fans to stand and observe a moment of silence for Makenna Mebane, who was born with a rare genetic condition known as Trisomy 13 that causes delays in development and affects several organs. She died on Jan. 3 at the age of 7 weeks.

Brandon Mebane had missed five of the past seven games, including last week’s wild-card game at Baltimore, to be with his family. He was active for the divisional playoff round game at New England and had six tackles.

Defensive lineman Joey Bosa gave Mebane a big hug after the game.

“We are dealing with this stuff here which we think is a big deal, and he’s dealing with real life problems and real issues,” Bosa said. “For him to come back and still be a part of this team means so much to all of us and it means a lot to him, too.”

Thomas 1st woman to ref NFL playoffs

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Sarah Thomas became the first woman to work an NFL playoff game Sunday as an on-field official.

Thomas was the down judge in Sunday’s divisional round game between New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Chargers.That’s a first, according to the league’s Twitter account.

Thomas was hired in 2015 and was already the league’s first female full-time official.

Terri Valenti was the replay official in Saturday’s playoff game between the Chiefs and Colts, also a first.

—

News Services