HOCKEY
The Maine Mariners, who ended the regular season with four games against Adirondack, will be seeing a lot more of the Thunder in the coming weeks.
The Mariners and Thunder will meet in the opening round of the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs, starting at 7 p.m. Friday at Glens Falls, New York.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is at 5 p.m. Sunday in New York.
Games 3 and 4 will be in Portland, as will a fifth game, is necessary, on April 26, April 27 and April 28.
The Mariners secured the final playoff spot in the North Divsion Sunday with a 4-3 OT win at Glens, Falls, New York, after rallying in the third period with two goals. Alex Kile scored the winner in OT.
First place Adirondack won 8 of 14 games against Maine this season.
The Mariners have never won an ECHL playoff series, losing in the first round the last seasons. They missed the playoffs in their first season, 2018-19, and there were no playoffs the next two years due to COVID.
HIGH SCHOOLS
BASEBALL: Brady Inman had a walkoff single in the bottom of the eighth as Cape Elizabeth topped Noble 3-2 in an opener at Cape Elizabeth.
Poland took a 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth on a Sam Paladino fielder’s choice and a Regan Cohen sacrifice.
In their half of the sixth, Cape Elizabeth rallied with a pair of runs, courtesy of a solo home run from Gabe Harmon and an RBI triple from Andy Choi.
Harmon got the win, throwing a pair of scoreless innings, allowing one hit, fanning five and walking a pair.
FOOTBALL
NFL: Chiefs Coach Andy Reid said that wide receiver Rashee Rice, who is facing charges that include aggravated assault as a result of a sports car crash in Texas, would participate in the team’s voluntary offseason program beginning this week.
Dallas police allege that Rice, the Chiefs’ top wide receiver last season, and a friend, Theodore Knox, were driving at high speed in the far left lane of a freeway when they lost control. The Lamborghini that Rice has admitted to driving hit the center median, causing a chain reaction that involved six vehicles and resulted in injures to multiple people.
Rice turned himself in last Thursday after police issued warrants for one count of aggravated assault, one count of collision involving serious bodily injury and six counts of collision involving injury. He was released on bond.
• The Philadelphia Eagles agreed to terms with wide receiver DeVonta Smith on a three-year contract extension through the 2028 season.
The move included the Eagles picking up the fifth-year option on Smith’s 2025 season.
Smith has 240 receptions for 3,178 yards and 19 touchdowns in three seasons with the Eagles. Smith was the 2020 Heisman Trophy winner who helped Alabama win two national championships in his four seasons with the Crimson Tide.
• Three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner and the Indianapolis Colts agreed on a $46 million, two-year contract extension through 2026, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.
Buckner had eight sacks, 11 tackles for loss and 21 quarterback hits in 2023. A first-round pick by San Francisco in 2016, the 30-year-old Buckner was traded to the Colts in 2020 and enters his fifth season in Indianapolis.
TENNIS
PORSCHE GRAND PRIX: Paula Badosa battled past Diana Shnaider 6-3, 6-4 to set up a match with friend and world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka at Stuttgart, Germany.
Earlier, Sachia Vickery of the United States defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 7-6 (2), 7-5 and will next face compatriot Coco Gauff, the world No. 3.
Gauff, Sabalenka, Świątek and No. 4 Elena Rybakina all received first-round byes. Eight of the top 10 women are at the tournament.
BARCELONA OPEN: Roberto Bautista Agut earned his 399th tour-level victory by defeating Roman Safiullin 6-3, 7-6 (8) in the first round.
COLLEGES
FOOTBALL: Former college coach and administrator Steve Sloan, who played quarterback and served as athletic director at Alabama, has died at 79, his longtime friend Tommy Limbaugh told The Associated Press.
Sloan died Sunday with his wife, Brenda Faw Sloan, by his side after three months of memory care at Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital in Florida, Limbaugh said.
Sloan led Alabama to the 1965 national championship after taking over for Joe Namath, winning most valuable player honors in an Orange Bowl defeat of Nebraska.
Sloan coached Vanderbilt for two seasons and was Southeastern Conference coach of the year in 1974 before leaving to take over the Texas Tech program. He also had head coaching stints at Mississippi and Duke and finished his coaching career as Vandy’s offensive coordinator in 1990.
He worked as athletic director at Alabama, North Texas, Central Florida and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
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