Terrence Wallin scored twice in the second period and Greg Chase had the game-winner seven minutes into the third period to lift the Maine Mariners to a 3-2 ECHL victory over the Wheeling Nailers on Friday at Wesbanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Chase also assist on the Wallin’s second goal, tying the game at two with 1:06 remaining in the second period for the Mariners (31-23-2-1). Connor Bleackley, Jeff Taylor and Zach Tolkinen each had an assist and Connor Lacouvee made 21 saves.
Jan Drozg and Brandon Hawkins scored for Wheeling (24-23-5-0).
SWIMMING
SUN BANNED: When the hammer came down on a container holding a vial of Sun Yang’s blood, it ultimately shattered the career of China’s greatest swimmer. The three-time Olympic champion was banned for eight years on Friday, likely ending the 28-year-old Sun’s racing days before he could defend his 200-meter freestyle title at the Tokyo Games.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport found the three-time Olympic champion guilty of refusing to cooperate with sample collectors during a visit to his home in September 2018 that turned confrontational. The most vivid detail of the evidence – a blood sample rendered useless for testing by a hammer blow – left a clear impression on the judges.
GOLF
PGA: Brendan Steele made a couple of big mistakes down the stretch, and still was more than good enough to grab the outright lead at the midpoint of The Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Steele shot a 3-under 67 on Friday, getting to 5 under for the week and putting himself a shot clear of J.T. Poston (69), Lee Westwood (69) and Luke Donald (66) after the second round at PGA National.
The cut was 3 over, and most of the biggest names in the field aren’t sticking around for the weekend. Among them: Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose and defending champion Keith Mitchell. Koepka shot a 4-over 74 for the second consecutive day and missed the cut by five shots.
TIGER WOODS: Tiger Woods is taking a third straight week off by deciding against playing the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
Woods hasn’t played since his 76-77 weekend at Riviera, where he finished 68th in the Genesis Invitational while serving as tournament host. He decided against the World Golf Championship in Mexico City the following week, saying his back was stiff and he needed time to rest and train.
Woods is an eight-time winner at Bay Hill. He has played it only once since his last Arnold Palmer Invitational victory in 2013, including four straight years while going through surgeries on his lower back.
He tied for fifth, eight shots behind Rory McIlroy, when he last played in 2018.
NEW ZEALAND GOLF OPEN: LPGA major winner Pernilla Lindberg of Sweden has missed the cut in Queenstown, New Zealand after becoming the first woman to play in the 101-year-old men’s professional tournament.
Lindberg shot 1-over 73 Friday to follow her first round 9-over par 80, finishing in a tie for 151st in the 156-strong field. While she missed the cut, she surpassed her goal for the tournament – to “beat just one man” – by beating four.
CHAMPIONS: Brett Quigley birdied six of the last seven holes Friday for a 9-under 64 and the first-round lead in the Cologuard Classic in Tuscon, Arizona.
Robert Karlsson was second, making five back-nine birdies in a 65, The 50-year-old Swede is making his second career start on the 50-and-over tour. He tied for 23rd two weeks ago in the Chubb Classic in his senior debut.
TENNIS
QATAR OPEN: Petra Kvitova beat No. 1-ranked Ashleigh Barty on Friday for the first time in more than a year to play for her second title in Doha, Qatar.
Kvitova won 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in two hours and will face Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the final on Saturday. Sabalenka defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3 in their semifinal.
Kvitova had lost four straight to Barty, but this win put her ahead again in their matchups at 5-4.
DUBAI CHAMPIONSHIPS: Novak Djokovic saved three consecutive match points to beat Gael Monfils on Friday and set up a final showdown against Stefanos Tsitsipas in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Monfils led 6-3 in the second-set tiebreaker but Djokovic saved all three match points as his forehand forced errors. Djokovic converted his eighth set point when Monfils double-faulted. He cruised the rest of the way, winning 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-1.
CYCLING
WORLDS: Corbin Strong was laid up in a back brace two years ago, stitches holding together a gaping wound in his leg. He had been training on a back road when a car crash knocked him out of cycling for two months.
On Friday, the 19-year-old New Zealander was standing on the top step of the world championships podium. Strong lapped the field early in the points race on Day Three of the track cycling worlds at the Berlin Velodrome, then maintained his lead with crucial points in the intermediate sprints. He capped his dominant ride by shaking loose with Sebastian Mora and Victor Manakov to lap the field again just before the end of the race to win the gold medal.
AUTO RACING
FORMULA ONE: The virus outbreak breeding illness and fear around the globe is causing Formula One teams serious concerns about their ability to travel to races with the season set to start in two weeks.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said on Friday on the final day of preseason testing in Spain that the Italian outfit wants guarantees from F1 that its staff will not have trouble entering the host countries of the opening races in Australia and Bahrain.
Ferrari and F1 rival AlphaTauri, as well as F1 tire provider Pirelli, are all based in northern Italy, the epicenter of the Italian outbreak.
• Valtteri Bottas set the fastest lap time on the final day of testing on Friday in Montmelo, Spain, as Mercedes maintained its status of title favorite heading toward the new season.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo were right behind the Finnish driver within one tenth of a second on the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari and defending champion Lewis Hamilton put in the fourth and fifth best times, respectively, on Friday.
– Staff and news service report
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