HOCKEY

Bob McCammon, who coached the original Maine Mariners to back-to-back Calder Cup championships in the franchise’s first two seasons and had a long career in the NHL as a coach, executive and scout, died recently at age 80.

Under McCammon’s guidance, the Mariners became the first American Hockey League team to win the Calder Cup in their inaugural season, taking the title in 1977-78. After that season, he was promoted to the NHL but served only 50 games as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers before he replaced by Pat Quinn, who had succeeded McCammon in Maine. McCammon switched positions with Quinn, and the Mariners ended that season with another Calder Cup championship.

McCammon later replaced Quinn as head coach of the Flyers in 1982 and also served as general manager, but he was fired in 1984 after his team was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the third year in a row.

He also served as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks from 1987-91, finishing his eight NHL seasons with a record of 221-224-67. His record with the Mariners was 180-110-36.

McCammon was part of three Stanley Cup championship teams – as director of player development for the Edmonton Oilers in 1987 and as a scout for the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 and 2008.

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NHL: Elias Pettersson scored twice to end a seven-game goal drought, Thatcher Demko made 31 saves and the visiting Vancouver Canucks beat the Washington Capitals, 4-2, to snap a three-game losing streak.

GOLF

PGA: Hideki Matsuyama made up a five-shot deficit on the back nine and then won the Sony Open in a playoff with one of the best shots he never saw, a 3-wood into the sun to 3 feet for an eagle to beat Russell Henley in Honolulu.

The eighth career PGA Tour victory for Matsuyama tied him with K.J. Choi for most victories by an Asian-born player.

Matsuyama hammered a driver on the par-5 18th in regulation to set up a two-putt birdie for a 7-under 63 and got into a playoff when Henley missed a 10-foot birdie putt and closed with 65.

They finished at 23-under 257. Kevin Kisner (64) and Seamus Power (65) tied for third, four shots behind.

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SOCCER

SPAIN: Real Madrid secured the Spanish Super Cup with a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao in Saudi Arabia.

Luka Modric and Karim Benzema scored as Madrid comfortably defeated the defending champions to reinforce its status as the top team in Spain this season.

Madrid has already beaten Barcelona twice – including in the Super Cup semifinals – and Atletico Madrid once, and is more than 15 points ahead of both rivals halfway through the Spanish league season.

• The Copa del Rey match suspended after an object was thrown from the stands was completed Sunday behind closed doors and without the Sevilla player who was hit in the head in what the club called an “appalling attack.”

Midfielder Joan Jordan was doing well but did not play in Sevilla’s 2-1 loss to Real Betis in a match that restarted in the 40th minute with the score tied at 1-1 from Saturday. Betis reached the quarterfinals with the victory at home.

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Jordan was taken to a hospital after being hit by a piece of PVC hurled from the stands while Betis was celebrating a goal. He underwent a series of tests and was diagnosed with a head trauma.

ENGLAND: Liverpool ended a three-match winless run in the Premier League by beating Brentford 3-0, even with its attacking options depleted by Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane being on international duty in the African Cup.

SKIING

WORLD CUP: Soaring from 29th place after the first run, Lucas Braathen of Norway scored a stunning slalom win in Wengen, Switzerland.

No skier had made such a jump up the standings to win a two-run men’s World Cup race for more than 20 years at least, according to the ski-db.com database.

Braathen sat in the finish-area leader’s box for 45 minutes looking steadily more disbelieving and then in tears before watching the last racer, Norway teammate Henrik Kristoffersen, straddle a gate within sight of a clear victory.

In the end, Braathen was 0.22 seconds ahead of Daniel Yule of Switzerland.

• Italian skier Federica Brignone was rewarded for a gutsy run as she won a women’s super-G in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria.

Brignone gained about three-tenths of a second on her rivals with an attacking and risky approach in the middle part of the Kalberloch course and finished 0.04 faster than Corinne Suter of Switzerland. Ariane Radler was 0.17 behind in third for the Austrian’s first career podium result.


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