Sabres Coach Don Granato has been placed in the COVID-19 protocols. Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via the Associated Press
HOCKEY
The Buffalo Sabres placed Coach Don Granato and two players in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol upon returning from the league’s holiday break on Sunday.
The team canceled its scheduled practice and announced that Granato and forwards Dylan Cozens and Mark Jankowski are asymptomatic. The Sabres have been off since practicing on Dec. 18, a day after a 3-2 overtime loss at Pittsburgh.
Buffalo entered the NHL’s holiday break on Wednesday after placing forwards Jeff Skinner, Zemgus Girgensons and Vinnie Hinostroza in the protocol.
The Sabres are scheduled to host the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.
The NHL on Friday delayed its return to play by postponing its 14-game schedule on Monday. Teams were still scheduled to return on Sunday, with games tentatively scheduled to resume on Tuesday.
The NHL entered its break with 10 of its 32 teams’ activities placed on pause.
• The NHL will emerge from an extended holiday break with taxi squads and other roster revisions to guard against more disruptions to the season.
Each team will be allowed to have a taxi squad of up to six players and to make emergency recalls from the minors if COVID-19 absences would cause anyone to play without a full lineup. Taxi squads, which were used during the shortened 2021 season, are set to be in effect until at least the All-Star break in early February.
Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confirmed the new roster rules in an email to The Associated Press on Sunday. They were first reported by Sportsnet.
WORLD JUNIORS: No. 1 overall draft pick Owen Power had a hat trick to help Canada open the world junior hockey championship with a 6-3 victory over the Czech Republic.
Earlier, Russia beat Sweden 6-3 in Group B in Red Deer, and Finland topped Germany 3-1 in Group A in Edmonton.
AUTO RACING
OBIT: Martha Earnhardt, the matriarch of one of NASCAR’s best-known families, has died. She was 91.
Grandchildren Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller said in a statement that she died Saturday night.
“As we grieve her loss and begin to imagine life without our beloved ‘Mamaw,’ we find solace in knowing she is at peace in eternal glory and in joyous reunion with her husband Ralph and sons Dale, Randy and Danny,” the statement said.
Martha Earnhardt was married to Ralph Earnhardt from 1947 until the NASCAR driver’s death. Her son, the late Dale Earnhardt Sr., was a seven-time NASCAR champion and father of of Dale Jr. and Kelley.
Martha and Ralph Earnhardt raised five children — daughters Kaye and Cathy and the three sons — in a modest home with an auto shop in the back at the corner of V-8 and Sedan Avenue in Kannapolis’ “Car Hill” community. Danny died two weeks ago at age 66.
SOCCER
EQUAL PAY APPEAL: Oral arguments in the appeal by players on the U.S. women’s national soccer team who are seeking equal pay have been scheduled for March.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Sunday the hearing will take place at 9:30 a.m. on March 7 in Pasadena, California. Under circuit court procedures, the identities of the three judges on the panel will be released publicly on Feb. 28.
“We hope 2022 will be the year of peace and health – and equal pay. We look forward to these oral arguments,” players spokeswoman Molly Levinson said in a statement.
Players led by Alex Morgan sued the U.S. Soccer Federation in March 2019, contending they have not been paid equitably under their collective bargaining agreement compared with what the men’s team receives under its agreement, which expired in December 2018. The women asked for more than $64 million in damages plus $3 million in interest under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
PREMIER LEAGUE: Jorginho scored two penalties and Romelu Lukaku netted his first Premier League goal since September to lead Chelsea’s comeback for a 3-1 victory over Aston Villa.
Lukaku’s first season back in England has been hampered by an ankle injury and the striker hadn’t scored in the league since last facing Villa 106 days earlier.
• Lucas Moura scored one and set up goals for Harry Kane and Son Heung-min as Tottenham beat Crystal Palace 3-0 in the Premier League.
Palace had failed to get the game called off after a coronavirus outbreak in the squad and manager Patrick Vieira was absent after testing positive himself.
• Manchester City isn’t short of goals in the title defense, and the champions found a way to make it unintentionally even more entertaining against Leicester.
A 6-3 victory – featuring a double from Raheem Sterling – put City six points in front at the top of the Premier League at the halfway point, with second-place Liverpool having a game in hand.
• West Ham’s slump continued as Jan Bednarek’s late goal secured a rare away win for Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday.
Bednarek’s header condemned the Hammers to a 3-2 defeat in what was only Southampton’s second win on the road this season.
• A brace from Bukayo Saka helped Arsenal solidify its position among the top four in the Premier League with a 5-0 victory over bottom-of-the-table Norwich City at Carrow Road.
• Leeds and Wolverhampton have secured Premier League approval for further matches to be postponed due to coronavirus outbreaks in squads.
Leeds’ home game against Aston Villa on Tuesday has been called off, having already had Sunday’s match at Liverpool postponed.
Wolverhampton also won’t now play at Arsenal on Tuesday, with Wolverhampton having already been prevented from hosting Watford on Sunday due to a lack of Watford players.
The Premier League has now called off 15 matches because of coronavirus issues in 2 1/2 weeks, with players having to isolate after testing positive or if they are unvaccinated and a close contact of a COVID-19 case.
FIGURE SKATING
JAPANESE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu nearly became the first skater to land a quadruple axel while easily outpacing Shoma Uno and Yumi Kagayami to win the Japanese national championship on Sunday.
Hanyu tried the jump, which unlike other quads includes an additional half rotation, at the beginning of his free skate at Saitama Super Arena in Japan. He ultimately two-footed the landing and the jump was downgraded to a triple axel, but it still set the stage for a program that included three more quads and left him with 322.36 points.
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