HOCKEY

Coyotes assign 18 players to Pirates’ roster after their first round of preseason cuts

The Phoenix Coyotes cut 22 players from their preseason roster Thursday after the first four days of training camp at Jobing.com.Arena in Glendale, Ariz..

The Coyotes assigned 18 players to the training camp of the Portland Pirates, their AHL affiliate, reducing the number of players in Phoenix’s camp to 35.

Assigned to the Pirates were goalkeeper Marc Cheverie; defensemen Mathieu Brodeur, Nick Ross, Garrett Stafford and Michael Stone; and forwards Mathieu Beaudoin, Spencer Bennett, Evan Bloodoff, Alexandre Bolduc, Darian Dziurzynski, Brett Hextall, Ryan Hollweg, Colin Long, Donny Maloney, Brendan Shinnimin, Jordan Szwarz, Matt Watkins and Ethan Werek.

The Coyotes have until the Oct. 8 season opener at San Jose to reduce their roster to 23 players.

• Calgary forward Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond was banned for the rest of the preseason and the Flames’ first regular-season game for hitting Vancouver forward Matt Clackson from behind in Tuesday’s exhibition game.

Letourneau-Leblond violated the league’s expanded boarding rule. Players must now make sure an opponent isn’t defenseless when a hit is delivered.

• Philadelphia forward Jody Shelley was suspended for the rest of the preseason and the first five games of the regular season for his hit on Toronto’s Darryl Boyce.

PIRATES TICKETS: Tickets for Portland’s 38 games this season at the Cumberland County Civic Center will go on sale at 9:30 a.m. Monday at the Civic Center box office and online at ticketmaster.com.

Advance-ticket prices are $14 for quarter deck, $17 for main deck and $18 for premium main deck. Student/senior pricing is $12 for quarter or main deck tickets and $13 for premium main deck.

Tickets purchased on game day are $2 more.

HURLING

PORTLAND CLUB: The Portland Hurling Club’s fall tournament will take place between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday at the Wainwright Athletic Complex in South Portland. Teams from Worcester, Mass., and Concord, N.H., will take part. There also will be youth clinics for hurling and Gaelic football. Registration begins at 1:30 p.m.

For more information, visit portlandhurling.com.

BASKETBALL

WNBA: Tangela Smith scored 25 points to lead Indiana to an 82-74 victory over Atlanta Dream in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals at Indianapolis.

• Tamika Catchings of the Indiana Fever was named league MVP. Connecticut’s Tina Charles was second, followed by Chicago center Sylvia Fowles, Seattle’s Sue Bird and Minnesota’s Lindsay Whalen.

NBA: The NBA will cancel training camps and some preseason games today after failing to reach a new labor deal with its players, a person familiar with the plan said. Training camps were expected to begin Oct. 3.

TENNIS

MOSELLE OPEN: Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated qualifier Mathieu Rodrigues 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals at Metz, France.

NASTASE TIRIAC TROPHY: Second-seeded Florian Mayer advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Carlos Berlocq 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 at Bucharest, Romania.

– From staff and news services

 

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