Vaillancourt, Wiggins gain Husson honors
BANGOR, Maine — Husson University has announced its 2013-14 athletes of the year with field hockey standout Sabrina Vaillancourt named the Clara Swan winner and Ernest “Ray-Ray” Wiggins as the Del Merrill Award winner.
Vaillancourt is the most decorated field hockey player in program history. The Newport native was a four-time All-North Atlantic Conference honoree and became the first player to ever garner All-American status, accomplishing the feat in 2012 and 2013. She was also a three-time All-New England player, the NAC Rookie of the Year in 2010 and was selected to play in the a national all-star game in 2013.
Wiggins started all 39 career games on the defensive line for the football team and was the first Husson football player to garner a major conference award, earning Eastern Collegiate Football Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2013. He was also named an All-American in 2012. At the end of his playing career, he ranked first in program history in tackles-for-loss (46), sacks (27.5), forced fumbles (13), fumbles recovered (4) and was second in tackles (249).
Vaillancourt and Swan will be honored Friday night as part of the Husson Sports Hall of Fame ceremony at the Hilton Garden Inn.
Peterson appeals ban, Goodell recusal requested
Adrian Peterson formally filed an appeal through the NFL Players Association in hopes of reducing or eliminating a season-ending suspension levied by the league on Tuesday.
Peterson will reportedly argue that he was not granted due process or an objective hearing as outlined under the collective bargaining agreement. Under terms of the CBA, commissioner Roger Goodell would hear the appeal or assign a proxy.
In its official appeal, the NFLPA requested Goodell recuse himself from upcoming hearings related to Peterson. In a letter to players, the NFLPA claims of Goodell “it is clear that you have, by your actions, rendered yourself evidently partial and biased in this matter.”
The NFL stated that Peterson’s suspension comes as a result of “an incident of abusive discipline that he inflicted on his four-year-old son.” Peterson settled the legal matter in a Texas court when he pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of misdemeanor reckless assault earlier this month. He was indicted in September on a felony charge of injury to a child for using a wooden switch to discipline his son.
Kings’ Voynov charged with felony domestic violence
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov was charged with felony domestic violence for allegedly attacking his wife at their Southern California home last month, prosecutors said on Thursday.
The 24-year-old Russian hockey player faces a single count of corporal injury to spouse with great bodily injury stemming from an Oct. 19 altercation at their home in the Los Angeles suburb of Redondo Beach.
Voynov has been suspended indefinitely by the National Hockey League since his arrest on Oct. 20 at a Los Angeles-area hospital where his wife was being treated for injuries.
The Kings, the defending Stanley Cup champions, said in a statement the franchise supported the league’s indefinite suspension of Voynov.
Lynch to appeal $100,000 fine
The agent for Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch reportedly said Lynch will appeal the $100,000 levied against him Wednesday for failing to comply with the NFL’s media policy following Sunday’s game.
Lynch’s agent, Doug Hendrickson, told ProFootballTalk that Lynch was battered after Sunday’s game. He changed quickly, and went to the team bus.
It was then, according to Hendrickson, that Lynch realized he had left without being available to the media.