HOCKEY
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Edmonton’s Connor McDavid won his first Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player at the league’s postseason awards show at T-Mobile Arena, the new home of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.
McDavid also won the Ted Lindsay Award, given to the league’s most outstanding performer in a vote of his fellow players. He already knew he would win the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL scoring champion. The honors capped a remarkable sophomore season for the 20-year-old center, who won his first scoring title and led the Oilers back to the Stanley Cup playoffs after an 11-year absence. The former No. 1 pick beat out fellow finalists Sergei Bobrovsky of Columbus and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby.
Boston center Patrice Bergeron won the Selke Trophy for the fourth time as the NHL’s best defensive forward, and San Jose’s Brent Burns won his first Norris Trophy as the top defenseman. Toronto center Auston Matthews easily took the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie, and Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky won his second Vezina Trophy.
Nashville’s David Poile was named the NHL’s top executive after the Predators’ first Western Conference title, and Columbus’ John Tortorella won the Jack Adams Award as the top coach.
Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson won the Bill Masterton Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. Anderson left the Senators during the season to support his wife, Nicholle, in her fight against throat cancer, but returned to become Ottawa’s career victories leader.
Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau won the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanlike play.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Vegas Golden Knights finally have some players to put on the desert ice this fall.
Stanley Cup-winning goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, defensemen Marc Methot and Alexei Emelin, 30-goal scorer Jonathan Marchessault and forwards David Perron and James Neal are among the veterans selected by the Golden Knights in the NHL expansion draft.
Golden Knights owner Bill Foley and general manager George McPhee announced their choices during the NHL’s annual postseason awards show at T-Mobile Arena, where Vegas will begin play in the fall.
CHICAGO (AP) - A severe reaction to medication for a skin disorder has put Chicago Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa’s career in doubt.
Hossa stunned the NHL on Wednesday by announcing he won’t play next season because of severe side effect from medication to treat a progressive disorder he has been dealing with for years. At 38, the veteran may have played his last NHL game in a career that many believe will land him in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
PRO BASKETBALL
CLEVELAND (AP) - Chauncey Billups once competed against the Cleveland Cavaliers as a player. He could be joining them as an executive.
Billups met with team owner Dan Gilbert for the second straight day to discuss a front-office position with the Cavaliers, who are regrouping after losing to Golden State in the NBA Finals.
Gilbert could be close to offering a job to Billups, according to a person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. Billups is the first person to meet with Gilbert since he parted ways with general manager David Griffin this week when talks about a possible contract extension broke down.
Billups was in Cleveland, but as of 7 p.m. EDT there was no official agreement in place. The 40-year-old is likely weighing whether Cleveland is a good spot for him to begin a new career, given the team’s recent upheaval and that superstar LeBron James will be eligible for free agency after next season.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Washington Wizards acquired point guard Tim Frazier from the New Orleans Pelicans for a second-round pick in the NBA draft. The deal gives the Pelicans the No. 52 overall selection Thursday night.
That was the only pick Washington had this year. Its first-rounder went to Brooklyn in the Bojan Bogdanovic deal at the trade deadline.
The 6-foot-1, 170-pound Frazier has averaged 6.2 points, 4.4 assists and 2.4 rebounds in three NBA seasons with New Orleans, Philadelphia and Portland. He has played in 127 regular-season games, making 40 starts.
Last season, he averaged 7.1 points and 5.2 assists for the Pelicans in 65 games, including 35 starts.
With Washington, Frazier could be the primary backup to All-Star point guard John Wall.
BASEBALL
NEW YORK (AP) - The Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins will play a two-game series at San Juan on April 17-18, Major League Baseball’s first regular-season games in Puerto Rico since 2010.
The commissioner’s office announced that the Twins will be the home team.
Last year, concerns about the Zika virus prompted MLB to move a two-game series between Pittsburgh and the Marlins out Puerto Rico. The games were eventually played in Miami.
MLB played regular-season games in Puerto Rico in 2001, when Texas and Toronto opened the season there. The Montreal Expos moved home games to San Juan’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium in 2003 and 2004.
COLLEGE ATHLETICS
Spending on men’s and women’s athletic programs has doubled over the past decade across all three NCAA divisions and the greatest gap between the two can be found in Division I, according to a report marking the 45th anniversary of the Title IX ruling that bars discrimination based on gender.
The 60-page report , released by the NCAA, suggests some progress has been made in a number of areas when it comes to participation, diversity and equality among college athletes, their coaches and their athletic directors. But it also found stark gaps remain even as spending has climbed to record levels.
Division I athletic departments spend on average about twice as much on their men’s programs than their women’s programs, though schools without football spend nearly the same on each (about $5 million).
The report said the difference was even greater among schools in the top-tier Football Bowl Subdivision, which spent an average of $27.3 million on men’s sports in 2015 - up from $12.8 million in 2005 - and an average of $45,000 more on male athletes than women in 2015. The average spending on women’s teams at FBS schools went from $5.5 million to $10.5 million during that same span.
PRO FOOTBALL
BOSTON (AP) - A person familiar with the situation says the New England Patriots have agreed to terms on a deal with former New York Jets linebacker David Harris.
The new two-year pact could be worth as much as $6.75 million, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal has not yet been announced.
Harris, a 2007 second-round pick from Michigan who has spent all 10 of his NFL seasons in New York, was released earlier this month by the Jets in a series of offseason moves to cut high-priced veterans. He was the franchise’s second-leading tackler.
HONOLULU (AP) - Green Bay Packers defensive lineman Letroy Guion was charged with driving under the influence of an intoxicant in Hawaii.
Honolulu police booking records show Guion was arrested in Waikiki. He was released after posting $500 bail.
Packers spokesman Aaron Popkey said in a statement that the team is aware and will refrain from making further comment because it’s a legal matter. Guion’s agent, Seth Katz, declined to comment on the arrest. He said Guion was on vacation in Hawaii and Wednesday was his birthday.
NEW YORK (AP) - New York Jets linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin was arrested on a misdemeanor assault charge.
Police say a man reported that Mauldin struck him in the eye and jaw after he accidentally splashed champagne on him at the Highline Ballroom on April 2. Police say Mauldin turned himself in Wednesday.
The 24-year-old Mauldin said last week he was “shocked” by the allegations. The Jets declined to comment. Messages left with Mauldin’s agent and lawyers were not immediately returned.
TENNIS
MALLORCA, Spain (AP) - Former top-ranked Victoria Azarenka made a winning return to tennis after a year out to have a baby - but she first had to save three match points at the Mallorca Open.
Azarenka beat Japan’s Risa Ozaki, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7) in the first-round match that started late on Tuesday but was halted due to darkness. When play restarted on Wednesday, Ozaki was serving for the match. But Azarenka broke her serve to stay alive and then fended off three match points.
Azarenka, a two-time Australian Open winner, announced she was pregnant and would step away from the courts last July. She gave birth to a baby boy named Leo in December.
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