HOCKEY
Ten female officials will work games in the American Hockey League this season, the highest level that women have reached in that position in professional hockey.
Katie Guay on Saturday will become the first woman to referee an AHL game. Guay, fellow referees Kelly Cooke, Jacqueline Zee Howard, Laura White, Samantha Hiller, Elizabeth Mantha and Amanda Tasson and linespeople Kendall Hanley, Kirsten Welsh and Alexandra Clarke are among 17 new AHL officials this season.
“It’s been on our radar for a while now,” AHL president and CEO Scott Howson told The Associated Press by phone Monday. “They’ve got good experience. Whether it’s Olympics, college hockey – both men’s and women’s – they’ve done some NHL prospect tournaments. It’s just time now for them to graduate into a higher level of pro hockey.”
Many of the women participated in officiating combines run by the NHL and AHL in recent years. Guay, Cooke, Welsh and Hanley were also selected to work NHL prospect tournaments in 2019.
All 10 female officials went through a mentorship program last year run by the NHL and NHL Officiating Association, which supplemented the on- and off-ice training many got from combines.
Working in the AHL is another step toward the possibility of female officials in the NHL, much like the NFL and NBA already have.
COLLEGES
FOOTBALL: Minnesota running back Trey Potts will miss the remainder of the season with an undisclosed injury serious enough to keep him hospitalized for six days after it occurred in the last game.
Coach P.J. Fleck said Potts was “doing very well” and expected to be present at the practice facility this week to visit with the team.
• Nebraska offensive lineman Teddy Prochazka will miss the rest of the season because of a knee injury.
The freshman was hurt in the 32-29 loss to Michigan on Saturday, his second start at left tackle. Coach Scott Frost said Prochazka would have surgery next week and should return for spring practice.
• Miami quarterback D’Eriq King needs surgery to repair his right shoulder and will miss the remainder of the season, a major blow to the reeling Hurricanes and their hopes of contending in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
King was injured in the second half of Miami’s loss to Michigan State last month, a game that may end up marking the last appearance of his college career. He left the field after getting hurt, then returned and didn’t miss a series but was clearly laboring.
AUTO RACING
INDY LIGHTS: Levi Jones, a veteran sprint car driver and current USAC executive, was named director of the Indy Lights as the junior racing series readies for its transition to management by IndyCar.
Indy Lights is already a feeder system to the top open-wheel series in the United States but had been independently operated. Lights is considered the final step on the “Road to Indy” ladder and the champion each year earns a $1.3 million scholarship to use toward funding a seat in the Indianapolis 500 and other IndyCar races.
IndyCar will absorb Indy Lights and act as promoter and sanctioning body of the series beginning Nov. 1.
Jones since 2015 has worked various competition and executive positions with the United States Auto Club (USAC). He began as the national series competition director and in 2019 was promoted to USAC executive vice president.
INDYCAR: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing confirmed British driver Jack Harvey was officially added to its 2022 lineup.
Harvey had been assumed to be headed to Raha l since August, when he informed Meyer Shank Racing he was leaving at the end of his fifth season with the team. Michael Shank had built MSR around the 28-year-old driver and planned to expand to two cars next year with Harvey and Helio Castroneves.
Instead, Harvey declined a contract extension and upstart MSR two weeks ago named Simon Pagenaud as Harvey’s replacement for next year. MSR won its first IndyCar race this season, the Indianapolis 500 with Castroneves.
TENNIS
BNP PARIBAS OPEN: Top-seeded Karolina Plisova was upset by Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 7-5 at Indian Wells, California.
Haddad Maia got into the main draw as a lucky loser. She lost in the final round of qualifying and got in when No. 29 seed Nadia Podoroska withdrew with a thigh injury. Haddad Maia inherited Podoroska’s first-round bye and then beat Mayir Sherif in the second round.
Ranked 115th, the Brazilian reached the Round of 16 at a WTA 1000 event for the first time.
No. 10 Angelique Kerber defeated 20th-seeded Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.
No. 16 seed Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 champion, lost to 18th-seeded Anett Kontaveit 7-6 (5), 6-3.
On the men’s side, No. 6 Casper Ruud outlasted Lloyd Harris 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4 and No. 10 Diego Schwartzman beat Daniel Evans 5-7, 6-4, 6-0. No. 16 Reilly Opelka lost to 23rd-ranked Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-4.
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