HOCKEY
New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe has been suspended four games for elbowing New Jersey Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler in the head.
The NHL’s department of player safety announced the ban after a disciplinary hearing Tuesday, handing the well-known rookie his first suspension 10 games into his career.
Rempe, 21, had taken the league by storm by fighting four times since being called up from the minors. He delivered a couple of borderline hits, and that rough play combined with fisticuffs gave him 54 penalty minutes — just below his total ice time of 56:28.
Then came the hit on Siegenthaler on Monday night, which drew a five-minute major and a game misconduct. The league, in a video explaining its rationale for suspending four games, said Rempe flared his left elbow up and out in dangerous fashion in order to make contact rather than missing completely.
Siegenthaler was injured on the play and did not return.
Rempe forfeits $17,083 in salary as part of the suspension. He’ll miss games at Carolina, Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh and at home against the New York Islanders before being eligible to come back March 19 against Winnipeg.
• The Nashville Predators will be without defenseman Dante Fabbro for two to three weeks because of an upper-body injury.
The Predators updated Fabbro’s injury status as they recalled Spencer Stastney from their AHL Milwaukee affiliate.
Fabbro was hurt Sunday in a 4-3 overtime loss at Minnesota, playing just six shifts over 3 minutes, 8 seconds. He signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract at the NHL trade deadline for the 2024-25 season.
COLLEGES
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Clemson fired women’s basketball coach Amanda Butler after six seasons and just one NCAA Tournament appearance.
Butler went 81-106 in her six seasons, including 32-75 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Tigers were 12-19 and 5-13 in the ACC this year.
Their lone NCAA appearance came in Butler’s first season, in 2019. It was Clemson’s first March Madness appearance in 17 years and she was named ACC coach of the year for the accomplishment.
BASKETBALL
NBA: Jamahl Mosley made the Orlando Magic a contender. And the Magic want to see what the coach will do next.
Mosley and the playoff-contending Magic — on pace for their best season in 13 years — have agreed on an extension that keeps him under contract in Orlando through the 2027-28 season, the team announced.
Mosley is in his third season with Orlando. This year’s team, with All-Star second-year forward Paolo Banchero and rising star Franz Wagner leading a young core, began the day atop the Southeast Division with a 37-28 record and solidly in position for what would be Orlando’s first playoff berth since 2020.
• Stephen Curry was cleared to resume on-court activity as he recovers from his latest right ankle sprain, and if all goes well could rejoin the Golden State Warriors for practice Friday in Los Angeles.
Curry is scheduled to be examined again after the Friday workout. He will train in the Bay Area until then, missing Wednesday’s game at Dallas. The Warriors play at the Lakers on Saturday night.
An MRI on Curry’s ankle last week revealed no structural damage.
The two-time MVP was hurt late in the fourth quarter of last Thursday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls. Curry rolled the ankle driving to the basket, then limped off and headed to the locker room.
WNBA: Stanford star Cameron Brink will finish her collegiate career this season and enter the WNBA draft.
The nation’s No. 1-ranked shot blocker announced her decision on social media, two days after second-ranked Stanford lost 74-61 to No. 5 Southern California in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game in Las Vegas. The Cardinal (28-5) dropped to fourth in this week’s AP Top 25 while USC rose to third.
Brink could have returned for a fifth year of eligibility granted by the NCAA to athletes competing during the interruption from the COVID-19 pandemic.
SLED DOG RACING
IDITAROD: Dallas Seavey overcame killing a moose and receiving a time penalty to win the Iditarod, a record-breaking sixth championship in the world’s most famous sled dog race.
Seavey drove his team a half-block off the Bering Sea ice onto the frozen streets of Nome to cross under the famed burled arch finish line, a triumphant moment in a race marred by the death of three sled dogs, including two on Sunday, and serious injury to another.
The deaths prompted one animal rights organization to renew its call for the end of the storied endurance race in which a team of dogs pulls a sled across 1,000 miles of Alaska wilderness.
Seavey, 37, becomes the winningest musher in the 51-year history of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which takes the teams over two mountain ranges, across the Yukon River and along the frozen edges of the Bering Sea just south of the Arctic Circle.
TENNIS
BNP PARIBAS OPEN: Second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz avenged a previous loss to Fabian Marozsan, winning 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals as the top remaining seed in the men’s draw at Indian Wells, California.
A day after “lucky loser” Luca Nardi stunned No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the third round at Indian Wells, Alcaraz advanced easily over the Hungarian who ousted him from the Italian Open in May. Marozsan was a qualifier and the No. 135 player in the world when he upset Alcaraz — then on the verge of taking the top spot in the rankings — 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the third round in Rome.
FRENCH OPEN: Tennis fans hoping to get tickets for this year’s French Open will only be able to buy them using an official application on their phones, the French tennis federation said.
All fans attending the May 26-June 9 clay-court tournament must be equipped with a Roland Garros-named app on their phones, where the tickets will be stored.
There will be no more paper tickets, the the FFT said, adding that the initiative will reduce the time spent queuing.
The Court Suzanne Lenglen, the second-biggest court in the grounds, will also have a retractable roof this year to enable play during bad weather. The Court Philippe Chatrier — the main court — already has a retractable roof and will hold 11 evening sessions this year.
Another change for the 2024 tournament sees the qualifying rounds played on Suzanne Lenglen from May 20-24.
GOLF
MASTERS: Bernhard Langer is missing the Masters for only the second time in the last 40 years because of an Achilles tendon tear from playing pickleball.
This was supposed to be the final Masters for the two-time champion from Germany. But he disclosed the injury last month, referring to it as a “training exercise.”
Langer, who holds the PGA Tour Champions record with 46 victories, said on the “Musings on Golf” podcast that it came from pickleball.
“I play all sorts of sports to stay fit, and this was part of my fitness regime,” Langer said. “I was playing pickleball and somebody was trying to lob me. I did a few steps backward and hit an overhead, and as I landed on the ground with my feet I heard this huge ‘pop,’ very loud, like a gun shot. I knew right away it was a torn Achilles.”
Langer had surgery on his left Achilles tendon the next day. The 66-year-old German said he still plans to go to Augusta National for the Masters Club dinner for champions and visit sponsors.
He said he hopes to return to golf at the Insperity Invitational in Houston on May 3-5. “If that doesn’t happen, shortly after that,” he said.
SOCCER
FIRING: Celta Vigo has fired coach Rafa Benítez after winning just five league games this season.
The Spanish club announced the decision, thanking the former Liverpool and Real Madrid manager for “eight months of absolute dedication and total commitment” but saying he fell short of obtaining “the results expected.” His contract was to 2026.
Celta lost 4-0 to league leader Madrid on Sunday and is 17th in the Spanish league, one place above the relegation zone with 10 matches remaining.
The 63-year-old Spaniard was also fired by Premier League side Everton after 200 days in early 2022.
PREMIER LEAGUE: Antoine Griezmann is expected to return to Atletico Madrid’s lineup in the Champions League match against Inter Milan on Wednesday after recovering from an ankle injury.
Griezmann had been nursing a right ankle sprain sustained in the first leg in Italy three weeks ago. The France international practiced normally for the second straight day on Tuesday and is set to make it back to the starting 11 of Coach Diego Simeone.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Barcelona returned to the quarterfinals for the first time in four years with a 3-1 win over visiting Napoli.
Fermín López, João Cancelo and Robert Lewandowski scored for Barcelona as it advanced 4-2 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Italy three weeks ago.
Amir Rrahmani scored for Napoli, which couldn’t repeat its last-eight appearance from last season.
• Arsenal reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 2010 after beating Porto 4-2 in a penalty shootout at London, ending a streak of seven eliminations in the round of 16.
David Raya saved Galeno’s spot kick to seal the win for Arsenal, which had won the game 1-0 to level the aggregate score at 1-1.
Wendell also missed his penalty for Porto, hitting the post with his team’s second attempt at the Emirates Stadium.
PAN-AM GAMES
LIMA: Lima was selected to host the 2027 Pan-American Games, the second time in less than a decade that Peru’s capital will stage the biggest multisports event in the Americas.
Lima, which hosted in 2019, received 28 of 40 votes from members of organizing body Panam Sports to beat Paraguayan capital Asunción.
The 2027 edition was initially scheduled for the Colombian city of Barranquilla, which was removed as host because of financial problems.
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