J.C. Champagna scored an unassisted goal with 2:05 to play to lift the Norfolk Admirals to a 3-2 ECHL win over the Maine Mariners on Tuesday at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.
Connor Bleackley and Ted Hart had second-period goals for the Mariners (32-26-4), and Alex Rodriguez and Alex Tonge countered for the Admirals (14-38-8) after a scoreless first period.
Adam Huska stopped 32 shots for Maine, and Jake Theut made 35 saves for Norfolk
FOOTBALL
NFL: The deadline for teams to apply franchise and transition tags to free agents has been moved from Thursday to Monday by the league and players’ union. With the NFL Players Association’s members still voting on a new labor agreement the owners already have approved – that deadline was extended by two days to 11:59 p.m. on Saturday – it made little sense to have the last time to use the tags on Thursday.
By moving it to 11:59 a.m. on Monday, both sides hope to know whether they are operating under a new collective bargaining agreement or the current deal, which expires in March 2021. That contract has different parameters for franchise and transition players than does the current one.
• The union announced Tuesday that its board of player representatives elected Browns center JC Tretter as the new president of the NFL Players Association. His two-year term began immediately.
Tretter was among four players who were nominated for president. The others were Russell Okung of the Carolina Panthers, Michael Thomas of the New York Giants and Sam Acho of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but NFL Network reported Okung declined his nomination and expressed support for Thomas.
Tretter graduated from Cornell University with a degree in industrial and labor relations. He was an alternate player representative for the Browns with the NFLPA the past two years.
• Baltimore guard Marshal Yanda, the longtime linchpin of the Ravens’ offensive line, will announce his retirement Wednesday, ending a Hall of Fame career after 13 seasons in Baltimore.
Yanda, 35, was an All-Pro selection seven times and named to the Pro Bowl eight times, the most among active guards. Yanda evolved from a third-round draft pick into one of the NFL’s most respected and dominant players.
• The Steelers and Cowboys will play in the Hall of Fame Game to honor their former coaches, Bill Cowher and Jimmy Johnson, who will be inducted this summer.
The game opens the preseason schedule on Aug. 6, with Cowher and Johnson entering the hall two days later.
• The Houston Texans have signed free agents kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn and tight end Darren Fells to contract extensions.
HORSE RACING
SANTA ANITA: A report released Tuesday by the California Horse Racing Board on a spate of horse deaths at Santa Anita found that no illegal medications were used on the animals and 39 percent percent of the 23 fatalities occurred on surfaces affected by wet weather.
However, the report found no singular cause for the deaths.
The long-awaited report focused on 23 deaths as a result of racing or training between Dec. 30, 2018, and March 31, 2019. Seven more deaths occurred from April 1-June 23, 2013, but weren’t included in the report. Another seven deaths occurred at the fall meet last year, including Mongolian Groom in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on national television. The fatalities roiled the industry and led track owner The Stronach Group to institute several reforms involving safety and medication.
Nine fatalities have occurred this year at the track in Arcadia, where a decline in the horse population has led to fewer races being run.
MAXIMUM SECURITY: Owner Gary West is removing all of his horses from Jason Servis’ barn after the trainer was indicted on multiple counts of administering illegal substances and performance-enhancing drugs.
That includes 3-year-old champion Maximum Security, who crossed the finish line first at the 2019 Kentucky Derby before being disqualified for interference. Now 4, he has won four of his five high-profile races, including the Feb. 29 Saudi Cup, which at $10 million is the world’s richest horse race.
Maximum Security will be transferred to two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert. West already has one 3-year-old Triple Crown candidate with Baffert, High Velocity, along with 4-year-old Game Winner.
BASKETBALL
WNBA: Former Los Angeles Sparks General Manager Penny Toler is suing the WNBA team saying she was fired for raising complaints about inappropriate sexual relationships involving the team president and a managing partner, not for using a racial slur.
The Sparks say Toler was fired on Oct. 4 following a profanity-laced postgame tirade that included using a racial slur a few days earlier following a playoff game. In the suit filed Tuesday for gender discrimination, Toler said if she were a man, she would still be employed by the team.
Toler said her termination had more to do with retaliation “after raising complaints about the workplace conduct” of former team president Christine Simmons and team managing partner and governor Eric Holoman, “who were engaged in an extra-marital affair” during Simmons’ tenure as team president — a relationship Toler said made doing her job difficult.
SLED DOG RACING
IDITAROD: A 46-year-old musher born in England and raised in Norway is leading the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday.
Thomas Waerner of Torpa, Norway, arrived at the checkpoint in Rohn late Monday night. He and his 14 dogs stayed in the checkpoint for only nine minutes before taking off for the 75-mile run to the next checkpoint in Nikolai. This is Waerner’s second Iditarod; he finished 17th in 2015 and was named Rookie of the Year.
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