HOCKEY

The Maine Mariners released four players Monday following a pair of weekend exhibition games. The departure of forwards Ken Neil, Tim Kielich, Evan Schultz and Tyler Maltby reduced the roster to 24 players.

The Mariners are allowed an active roster of 21 for the first month of the ECHL season, with 18 players suiting up for games. Currently, they have three goalies, eight defensemen and 13 forwards. Opening night is Saturday at Cross Insurance Arena against the Adirondack Thunder.

BASKETBALL

NBA: The league fined Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart and forward Aron Baynes and Cleveland Cavaliers forward J.R. Smith for an on-court shoving match in their exhibition game Saturday.

NBA discipline boss Kiki VanDeWeghe fined Smart $25,000 for escalating the altercation and Smith $15,000 for shoving. Baynes was assessed $15,000 for initiating it.

• The Phoenix Suns fired General Manager Ryan McDonough barely a week before the season begins.

James Jones and Trevor Bukstein will share the GM duties on an interim basis. Jones is the team’s vice president of basketball operations and Bukstein was assistant GM under McDonough, who was under contract until 2020.

Phoenix has had four straight losing seasons and no playoff berths since 2010.

• San Antonio Spurs point guard Dejounte Murray suffered a torn ACL in his right knee Sunday, a major blow for the team.

SOCCER

MLS: Former Argentina midfielder and Chivas Guadalajara Coach Matias Almeyda has been hired as coach of the San Jose Earthquakes.

Interim coach Steve Ralston will stay in the job for the final two matches of the season. Almeyda will debut next season.

FOOTBALL

CFL: Johnny Manziel went 18 for 29 for 250 yards and an interception in the Montreal Alouettes’ 12-6 loss to the Calgary Stampeders.

The loss eliminated Montreal (3-12) from playoff contention. Calgary (12-2) extended its winning streak to three games.

TENNIS

HONG KONG OPEN: Kristina Kucova recorded her first WTA main draw victory in over a year when she beat Jelena Ostapenko 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round.

Kucova will next face lucky loser Viktoriya Tomova, who defeated Dalila Jakupovic 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (3).

SHANGHAI MASTERS: Four American players pulled off upsets. A fifth wasn’t so lucky.

Sam Querrey, Mackenzie McDonald, Bradley Klahn and Taylor Fritz all posted wins in the first round of the tournament, and Frances Tiafoe lost his match.

Perhaps the most surprising win came from the 81st-ranked McDonald, who defeated 14th-seeded Milos Raonic 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

TIANJIN OPEN: Top-seeded Karolina Pliskova needed six match points to beat Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-3 and advance to the second round.

Pliskova will next face Polona Hercog, who defeated Lara Arruabarrena 7-6 (5), 6-2.

OLYMPICS

BOBSLEDDING: The Court of Arbitration for Sport has lifted a provisional ban imposed on Russia’s Nadezhda Sergeeva, who tested positive for doping at the PyeongChang Olympics.

CAS said that a contaminated product caused the bobsled driver’s positive test for trimetazidine in South Korea in February.

– Staff and news report