NHL opening is pushed back
Time has all but run out on the NHL’s hope to start the season Jan. 1, with the league and the NHL Players’ Association now focusing discussions on opening in mid-January.
A mid-January start date has become more realistic given the number of issues that need to be resolved before players can begin traveling to their home cities.
The two sides still need to agree on a schedule, with the current working plan featuring between 52 and 56 regular-season games. There has also been talk of a buffer being worked into the schedule in the event games are postponed.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Thursday that four teams, including the Penguins, have explored the possibility of playing some games outdoors.
Pro basketball
Some NBA teams are going to have longer-thanusual road trips this season. The league released the schedule for the first half of its truncated 72game season Friday. The schedule includes something that hardly ever would have been the case in recent years — teams taking a trip someplace and playing two games there before moving on to another city or heading back home.
• The New York Liberty will pick No. 1 for the second year in the WNBA draft. Dallas will pick second, with Atlanta third and Indiana fourth.
College basketball
Justin Lewis scored 18 points and converted a putback off a missed free throw at the buzzer as Marquette upset visiting
No. 4 Wisconsin, 67-65. Marquette’s D.J. Carton drew a foul from Wisconsin’s D’Mitrik Trice with a second left.
College football
The undefeated Buffalo Bulls are awaiting word from the Mid-American Conference as to whether they have clinched the East Division title after
their game at Ohio was canceled and declared a no contest.
• Saturday’s game between No. 11 Georgia and Vanderbilt was postponed because the Commodores’ roster fell below minimum requirements. Georgia said the postponement was due to the SEC’s COVID-19 protocols. The game was rescheduled for Dec. 19.
High school football
A Texas high school football player who ran onto the field and blindsided a referee who had ejected him from a game was charged with assault Friday and his team has been taken out of the playoffs. Senior defensive lineman Emmanuel Duron, 18, of Edinburg High School appeared in municipal court after being charged with class A assault, a misdemeanor, according to court administrator Maribel Velasquez.
Golf
Emiliano Grillo made birdie on half of the holes on his way to an 8-under 63 that gave him a four-shot lead at 13 under going into the weekend at the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Playa Del Carmen, Mexico
• Jessica Korda took a share of the lead in the LPGA Volunteers of America Classic with Anna Nordqvist and 19-year-old Yealimi Noh at The Colony in Texas.
• Jamie Donaldson took a share of the lead after two rounds at the South African Open in Sun City with a 9under 63, one shot off the course record. The Welshman made 10 birdies at Gary Player Country Club.
• Andy Sullivan shot a 4under 68 and will take a twostroke lead into the final round of the European Tour’s Dubai Championship in the United Arab Emirates.
College hockey
The Robert Morris women improved to 2-0, taking down host Lindenwood (Mo.), 4-0. Captain Lexi Templeman scored her first goal of the season while junior netminder Arielle DeSmet earned her third career shutout by turning aside 21 shots against the Lions (0-4).