Islanders captain Lee tears ACL, lost for rest of season

Guard smashed records at storied women’s program

New York Islanders captain Anders Lee will miss the rest of the season because of a torn ACL in his right knee. Lee will have surgery later this week.

“You never replace the player that you lost,” said general manager Lou Lamoriello said. “He’s our captain. He’s our leader on and off the ice and he’s the voice of the players with the coaches and management, so that’s a little different. But we have tremendous confidence in the players in this locker room, tremendous confidence in the leadership, so they will certainly take up that.”

Lee led New York with 12 goals when he was injured.

Sabres

Ralph Krueger was fired as head coach in Buffalo with the team in the midst of a 0-10-2 skid. Buffalo’s winless streak matches the third-worst in team history, and longest since losing a team-record 14 in a row midway through the 2014-15 season. Assistant coach Don Granato be the interim coach.

Wild

Defenseman Carson Soucy was suspended by the league for one game for charging Arizona Coyotes forward Conor Garland. Soucy will forfeit $23,706.90 based on his average annual salary, with the money going to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

Paige Bueckers came to Connecticut with a lot of hype surrounding her.

The freshman guard has lived up to it so far, delivering record-breaking performances and earning a spot on The Associated Press women’s basketball AllAmerican team Wednesday. She’s only the third freshman to make the AP team, joining Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris and Connecticut’s Maya Moore.

Bueckers received 28 first place votes from the national panel of 30 media members that vote each week in the AP Top 25 poll. She was joined by Dana Evans of Louisville, Aliyah Boston of South Carolina, Rhyne Howard of Kentucky and NaLyssa Smith of Baylor.

Bueckers averaged 19.7 points, 6.1 assists and shot

Notebook

nearly 54% from the field and a remarkable 47% from 3-point range. She became the first Connecticut player to score 30 or more points in three consecutive games, including a 31-point effort against South Carolina. She also set the school record for assists in a game (14).

Evans was a key to Louisville’s regular-season ACC championship. She averaged 20 points and saved her best effort for the fourth quarter when she consistently would take over games to give the Cardinals the victory.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma women’s basketball coach Sherri Coale is retiring after 25 years leading the program, the school announced Wednesday. Coale is a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and will be inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame this summer. She led three Oklahoma teams to the Final Four, and the Sooners reached the national title game in 2002. She is a fourtime Big 12 coach of the year who led the Sooners to six Big 12 regular-season and four Big 12 tournament titles. Coale finished her coaching career with a 512293 record.

Virginia

The last team to cut the nets down as Division I national champions is preparing for this year’s NCAA tournament in a way different than everyone else. Virginia is the only team not yet in Indianapolis, the site of this year’s tournament, because of a positive COVID19 test that forced the Cavaliers out of last week’s ACC tournament before the semifinals.

The Cavaliers (18-6) are seeded fourth in the West Regional and will face 13thseeded Ohio (16-7) on Saturday night. Guard Sam Hauser said Wedneday the team’s preparation has involved individual workouts and conditioning sessions and Zoom strategy calls.