Sports briefs
In the NHL
The coaching shuffle in Nashville is complete, with Andrew Brunette officially hired as the Predators coach on Wednesday, a little over 12 hours after the team announced that John Hynes was fired.
The moves are the first being made by incoming general manager Barry Trotz and come about six weeks after the Predators missed the playoffs.
The 49-year-old Brunette spent the past season as a New Jersey Devils associate coach under Lindy Ruff and has previous head-coaching experience.
He was promoted to interim coach of the Florida Panthers during the 2021-22 season and oversaw a team that set franchise records for wins (58) and points (122) in claiming the Presidents’ Trophy before being eliminated in the second round of the playoffs. Brunette finished second in the Jack Adams Award voting for the NHL’s coach of the year.
- The Seattle Kraken signed general manager Ron Francis to a three-year contract extension on Wednesday through the 2026-27 season after the franchise reached the second round of the NHL playoffs in its second year of existence.
Hired to be the first GM in franchise history, Francis navigated through a difficult first season and helped land the pieces that turned Seattle into a playoff team in the second year without mortgaging future opportunities or putting the Kraken into challenging salary cap situations.
“Ron has done remarkable work over the last four years and deserves this recognition,” Seattle co-owner Samantha Holloway said. “He has built a tremendous team, putting Seattle hockey on the map. He is building for long-term success and is dedicated to our city, our fans and our community.”
In auto racing
NASCAR issued its second massive penalty in as many days by levying huge fines Wednesday against Stewart-Haas Racing for a “counterfeit part” found on Chase Briscoe’s car in a secondary inspection after the Coca-Cola 600.
SHR’s No. 14 team was docked 120 points in both the owner standings and Briscoe’s driver standings, and he also was stripped of 25 playoff points. John Klausmeier, the crew chief, is suspended six races and was fined $250,000.
The penalties are the harshest NASCAR can impose under its written deterrence system. It comes a day after superstar Chase Elliott was suspended one race for deliberately wrecking Denny Hamlin on Monday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The penalties against SHR fall under rules that prohibit counterfeiting a Next Gen single source vendor-supplied part. SHR is accused of using an illegal part in an attempt to create more downforce on Briscoe’s Ford.
In college football
The organization that runs the Holiday Bowl is suing the Pac-12 Conference and the University of California Regents because UCLA backed out of the 2021 game citing COVID-19 concerns.
The San Diego Bowl Game Association is seeking a minimum of $3 million in compensatory damages in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in California Superior Court in San Diego County.
UCLA announced less than five hours before it was supposed to kick off against North Carolina State on Dec. 28, 2021, that it was pulling out of the game after three defensive linemen tested positive for COVID-19.
The bowl game organization says it lost nearly $8 million due to the cancellation, including $3.6 million in ticket revenue and $1.4 million that had to be returned to the game’s title sponsor.