UM men’s hockey vs. Orono police in Blue on Blue softball
ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine men’s hockey team will face the Orono Police Department in the second Blue on Blue softball game on Saturday at Kessock Field. The game benefits Special Olympics Maine.
The teams played in April with the hockey players taking a come-from-behind win.
Batting practice begins at 12:30 p.m. followed by a home run derby at 1 p.m. The game will start at 1:15. Fans are encouraged to attend and support the cause.
Teemu Selanne returns to Ducks on 1-year deal
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Teemu Selanne is returning for another season with the Anaheim Ducks, agreeing to a one-year contract on Thursday.
The 41-year-old Selanne is heading into his 19th NHL season, and the Finnish Flash has shown few signs of slowing down. Selanne was the NHL’s eighth-leading scorer last season with 80 points, the third-best season by a player in his 40s in league history.
Selanne is the 27th-leading scorer in NHL history with 1,340 points, and he ranks 14th in goals with 637. He’s also the Ducks’ career scoring leader after spending parts of 12 seasons with Anaheim.
“As he showed again last season, Teemu still has the drive, determination, and skill to play at an elite level,” Ducks general manager Bob Murray said. “Most importantly for us, his passion comes from not just playing, but playing for the Ducks.”
The Ducks were cautiously confident Selanne would return after his outstanding season, but spent the summer debating his future after postseason knee surgery.
“I’m very happy that my knee has recovered from surgery and is ready for the season,” Selanne said in a statement. “I’m excited and optimistic about what this team can do and thankful to have another opportunity to play in Anaheim.”
He has debated retirement each summer for the past four years since the Ducks won the Stanley Cup, but Selanne been skating daily in Anaheim in recent weeks, building his strength and testing his endurance.
Selanne’s decision to return is a huge boost to the Ducks, who open training camp on Saturday. Anaheim opens the season with a European tour that includes a game in the Helsinki area against Jokerit, Selanne’s former club.
League MVP Corey Perry and captain Ryan Getzlaf are back with the Ducks along with goalie Jonas Hiller, who believes he has beaten an apparent case of vertigo that sidelined him for much of last season.
Selanne is the scoring engine on the Ducks’ second line alongside fellow Finn Saku Koivu. Selanne was among 15 players to average better than a point per game last season, and he finished third in the NHL with 16 power-play goals.
He was clutch, too: Selanne became the first player in NHL history to score four game-tying goals in the final three minutes of a third period in the same season.
Before leaving for his summer break in Finland, Selanne said he wouldn’t consider moving his family to another city for another season — not even Winnipeg, where he broke into the NHL by scoring 76 goals as a 22-year-old rookie in his jaw-dropping 1992-93 campaign.
Selanne is the Ducks’ career leader in goals, assists, power-play points, game-winning goals and games played.
Bin Hammam loses appeal against FIFA life ban
ZURICH — FIFA has dismissed Mohamed bin Hammam’s appeal against a life ban from football for allegedly offering bribes to presidential election voters.
FIFA says its three-man appeal panel met for seven hours before upholding a July ruling by its ethics committee to expel bin Hammam.
Bin Hammam has previously said he would challenge FIFA’s verdicts at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The Qatari official must go through FIFA’s internal appeals system before taking his case to international sport’s highest court in Lausanne.
Bin Hammam, a 15-year veteran of FIFA’s executive committee, denies arranging to bribe Caribbean voters in May to support his election challenge to FIFA President Sepp Blatter. He later dropped out of the race.
Ex-Ohio State, NFL player pleads guilty in scam
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former Ohio State and NFL quarterback Art Schlichter pleaded guilty Thursday to state theft charges linked to a sports ticket-fraud scheme and apologized to a woman who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the plot.
In a deal worked out with state and federal prosecutors, Schlichter pleaded guilty to 12 theft counts and one corrupt activity count and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He also was ordered to pay more than $800,000 in restitution, although a prosecutor conceded victims were likely to never see the money.
Schlichter will appear Friday in federal court, where he faces related charges of bank and wire fraud and filing a false tax return. Schlichter has indicated he’ll plead guilty to those charges, though no date for accepting the plea has been set.
Schlichter, 51, whose professional football career was derailed by a gambling addiction, apologized Thursday to the victims of the scheme, in which he charged hundreds of thousands of dollars for sports tickets he never delivered.
“I’m sorry for all the pain I’ve caused you and all the other victims that are involved in this,” he said, his remarks at times aimed at Anita Barney of suburban Dublin, who sat in the courtroom directly behind him.
“My hope is that I can get myself together, rehab myself, do the right thing, get healthy so that I can make amends to everybody that I’ve hurt and harmed in any way,” he said. “It was never my intention setting out to hurt people.”
Schlichter said he was ashamed of his addiction.
Barney, the 69-year-old widow of a former Wendy’s Co. president, has been ruined by Schlichter, said her attorney, William Loveland. Her homes are being foreclosed and her only income is from Social Security, he said.
“He’s proven more than once he’s a predator,” Loveland said. “He’s shown no remorse for the situation he created.”
Judge Timothy Horton told Schlichter he was disappointed in his actions.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said afterward he was pleased with the convictions, while noting that many other victims remained in the wings after deciding not to file charges.
Schlichter’s attorney, Scott Weisman, said it’s taken his client hitting “rock bottom” to realize he has to change his ways. He said that one day the money will be paid back.
“Art is remorseful. Art wants to turn his life around. He wants to give back,” Weisman said.
Federal investigators say Schlichter used the money he took promising Ohio State and NFL tickets and spent it on personal expenses, gambling and to repay older debts.
Schlichter played at Ohio State between 1978 and 1981 and for the Baltimore and Indianapolis Colts and Buffalo Bills.
Hamilton’s home run slams carpet firm’s website
ARLINGTON, Texas — A Dallas carpet company has had trouble with its website much of the day, thanks to Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton.
The Rangers beat Cleveland on Wednesday night, helped by Hamilton’s grand slam. It just so happened that CC Carpet was offering free flooring and countertops to customers in September if the Rangers outfielder hit a grand slam.
Hamilton did his part and the company has to pay up. Not long after the hit, the company’s website crashed and it’s been spotty Thursday.
CC Carpet president Steve Fitzgerald says the promotion will cost his company about $500,000 but it’s covered by insurance.
Sabres D Myers signs 7-year contract extension
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Two years ago, defenseman Tyler Myers was a fresh-faced 19-year-old unsure if he was even going to make the Buffalo Sabres season-opening roster.
On Thursday, Myers’ future in Buffalo was secured through the 2018-2019 season after he signed a seven-year, $38.5 million contract extension.
“I’m very excited today to solidify a long-term spot and be a part of this organization as it grows,” Myers said. “It’s somewhere I want to be for the rest of my career. And I’m still young.”
Convinced that Myers, the NHL’s 2009 rookie of the year, has the potential to be one of the league’s elite defenseman, the Sabres wasted no time in locking up the player a year before his three-year rookie contract expired.
“We wanted to recognize Tyler not only for his abilities now, but his abilities in the future,” said general manager Darcy Regier, who opened talks only two weeks ago. “It has been nothing short of a terrific start to what I think will be an outstanding career.”
Monetary terms of the deal were provided to The Associated Press by a person familiar with negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because that figure was not released by the team.
Myers’ contract is heavily front-loaded with him set to make $12 million in 2012-13, then $6 million the following year. After making $5 million in both the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, the numbers progressively drop to where Myers will make $3 million in the final season.
At 6-foot-8, Myers is the NHL’s second tallest player behind Bruins captain Zdeno Chara. And in two seasons, the Sabres’ 2008 first-round draft pick has shown he has a fluid-skating style that belies his size, while also possessing an offensive knack.
Myers has 21 goals and 64 assists for 85 points in 162 career games. Though he struggled both on offense and defense in opening his sophomore season last year, Myers bounced back to lead Buffalo defensemen with 37 points (10 goals, 27 assists) and finish with a respectable zero plus-minus rating.
Myers acknowledged there’s many things he can improve upon, while adding the new contract allows him the opportunity develop into a team leader.
“I wanted to do that before we even started negotiating this contract,” Myers said. And he’ll have a mentor, playing alongside newly acquired defenseman veteran Robyn Regehr, who was one of Myers’ favorite players while growing up in Calgary.
Myers’ deal was reached a day before Sabres players report for the start of training camp. And it’s the latest aggressive move made by what’s become a free-spending franchise since Terry Pegula purchased the Sabres in February.
Buffalo has already made several splashes this offseason to improve a team that finished seventh in the Eastern Conference and was bounced in the first-round of the playoffs by Philadelphia in a seven-game series.
The team traded for the rights to defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and then signed him to a 10-year, $40 million contract a day before the start of free agency. The Sabres then opened free agency by signing dependable two-way forward Ville Leino to a six-year, $27 million contract.
And don’t forget the draft-weekend trade with Calgary, in which the Sabres acquired Regehr and forward Ales Kotalik.
Those moves contributed to putting the Sabres’ payroll about $3 million over the NHL salary cap, which is allowed during the offseason. That leaves the team until the start of the season next month to make moves to get below the cap.
Regier said it’s his intention to open cap space by making trades, and has already had discussions to determine what options might be available.
Pegula has made no secret of his desire to win a Stanley Cup as soon as possible, and is more than willing to open his pocketbook to reach that objective.
“I think it tells the guys that we mean business,” Pegula said of the string of offseason moves. “We had some things we needed to address, and we have a timeline. So why wait two years to do it, or three? We’ve tried to take care of immediate needs early.”
Pegula’s influence is apparent to Myers.
“As teammates, it’s in our discussions daily, how excited we are with what’s happening in Buffalo,” Myers said. “It’s amazing and motivating.”
NBA, referees agree on 5-year deal
NEW YORK — The NBA and its referees agreed to a new five-year deal Thursday, just two years after a contract dispute nearly caused the league to open the season with replacements.
A person familiar with the negotiations says the referees approved the deal last week, and owners are scheduled to vote on it later Thursday at their meeting in Dallas. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal hasn’t been approved yet.
No other details are available.
The agreement heads off the potential of two NBA lockouts. Players and owners still are working on a deal to replace the one that expired June 30.
The referees’ contracts traditionally have been for five years, but they sought a two-year deal in 2009, hoping they could quickly renegotiate when the economy had improved.
Those negotiations went poorly, with the league locking out the referees on Sept. 18, a little more than two weeks after their contract had expired. Replacement referees were used during preseason games, to the criticism of many coaches and players, before the sides agreed to a deal in time for the regular season.