NHL Scores
Final Montreal (Canadiens) 5 New Jersey (Devils) 2
Final Toronto (Maple Leafs) 6 Buffalo (Sabres) 3
Final Edmonton (Oilers) 4 Philadelphia (Flyers) 2
Brittney Griner is headed back to the Phoenix Mercury. Griner, who was a free agent, re-signed with the Mercury. The 32-year-old had said she would return to Phoenix in a social media post in December after she returned home from her 10-month detainment in Russia. The 6-foot-9 center last played for the Mercury in 2021 and helped the team reach the WNBA Finals. She averaged 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds that season.
Jacque Vaughn, who has coached the Brooklyn Nets into playoff position despite the trades of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving during another turbulent season for the franchise, has agreed to a multiyear contract extension.
Vaughn replaced Steve Nash early in the season and the Nets announced Tuesday they were extending his deal. Terms were not disclosed, though general manager Sean Marks said the Nets looked forward to Vaughn leading the team “for years to come.”
The Nets (34-24) are fifth in the Eastern Conference and have gone 32-19 under Vaughn, the fifth-best record in the league.
He replaced Nash on an interim basis on Nov. 1 and took the full-time position on Nov. 9 — after the Nets had discussed the position with former Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka.
ESPN’s former president, John Skipper, told a federal court in New York that ESPN and Univision had jointly bid $900 million — evenly split between the two TV behemoths — for broadcasting rights to the two most recent World Cups, including the recently completed one in Qatar.
Despite ESPN’s hefty bid for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, FIFA awarded U.S. English-language rights to Fox, which bid less.
Government lawyers say millions of dollars in bribes fed a system of clandestine, no-bid contracts that allowed corrupt soccer executives to profit from the scheme and ultimately allowed Fox to air the matches.
Prosecutors allege the payoffs enabled the former Fox executives — Heran Lopez and Carlos Martinez — to get confidential information from high-ranking soccer officials, including those at FIFA. The information helped Fox secure the U.S. English-language rights with a $425 million bid. Telemundo, a division of Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal, won U.S. Spanish-language rights for about $600 million.
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