Update on the latest sports

OLYMPICS

U.S. women’s hockey team strikes gold

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) — The U.S. women’s hockey team has ended Canada’s run of Olympic gold medals, but it took a shootout to do it.

Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson scored in the first extra round of the first shootout tiebreaker in Olympic women’s hockey history to give the Americans the gold medal with a 3-2 victory over their arch-rivals. Lamoureux’s twin sister, Monique Lamoureux-Morando extended the game by scoring with about six minutes left in regulation.

It was the second straight overtime in the gold medal game for these two teams, but the first shootout in Olympic women’s hockey history.

Canadian players wept as they received their silver medals, and one took her medal off.

Canada had won the previous four gold-medal games since the United States took the title in 1998 at Nagano, the first time women’s hockey became an Olympic event.

In other news from the Winter Games:

— Mikaela Shiffrin came away with a silver medal in the women’s combined, which was won by Michelle Gisen of Switzerland. Lindsey Vonn led after the downhill portion, but she skied out in the slalom.

— American David Wise has successfully defended his gold medal in the men’s halfpipe, edging teammate Alex Ferreira. Wise wiped out on his first two runs before sneaking past Ferreira on his third with a score of 97.20. Five of the first seven U.S. gold medals have come at Phoenix Snow Park.

— The United States will play Sweden for the gold medal in men’s curling after knocking out Canada 5-3 in a tense semifinal showdown. The U.S. victory is a remarkable turnaround for a team that hasn’t made the Olympic podium since winning bronze at the 2006 Turin Games. Canada won the gold medal in men’s curling at the last three Winter Olympics.

— Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky has been stripped of his Olympic bronze medal after admitting to a doping violation at the Olympics. Krushelnitsky tested positive for the banned substance meldonium.

— Reigning world champion Anna Gasser edged two-time gold medalist Jamie Anderson to win gold in the Olympic debut of women’s Big Air snowboarding. Gasser stomped the last of her three jumps, a double cork 1080 that saw the Austrian flip twice while spinning three times. Anderson led going into the final round, but the American sat down while trying to land her last jump.

— Sweden’s Andre Myhrer captured gold in the men’s slalom after heavy favorites Marcel Hirscher and Henrik Kristoffersen failed to finish the race. The 35-year-old Myhrer finished 0.34 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Ramon Zenhaeusern, who took an unexpected silver medal.

— Hungary is the surprise winner of the men’s 5,000-meter relay in the last event of short-track speedskating. It’s Hungary’s first Olympic medal in short-track and the nation’s first of the Pyeongchang Games. China earned silver and Canada took bronze.

— Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands has surprised all the favorites to win the 1,000-meter short-track speedskating title. Kim Boutin of Canada took silver ahead of 500-meter champion Arianna Fontana of Italy.

— North Korea’s 22 athletes have wrapped up their competition at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics without a finish higher than their 13th place in pairs skating. The sentimental highlight of their participation in the games was the joint Korea ice hockey team, which featured 12 players from the North. The joint team lost all of its matches.

WORLD CUP 2026 BIDS-BLATTER

Banned ex-FIFA head Blatter backs Morocco 2026 World Cup bid

UNDATED (AP) — Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter has endorsed Morocco’s 2026 World Cup bid while banned from soccer roles for financial misconduct.

Blatter tweeted on Thursday that “Morocco would be the logical host! And it is time for Africa again!” The 2010 World Cup was staged in South Africa.

Morocco is competing against a rival joint bid from the United States, Canada, and Mexico to host the 2026 competition.

Blatter’s 17-year reign as FIFA president ended in disgrace in 2015 amid the fallout from American prosecutors charging dozens of soccer officials with corruption, including World Cup vote buying.

DOCTOR-SEXUAL ASSAULT-MICHIGAN STATE

University leader hired amid Nassar fallout to donate salary

UNDATED (AP) — Former Michigan Gov. John Engler will donate his salary while serving as Michigan State University’s interim president amid fallout over a now-imprisoned sports doctor who sexually assaulted female athletes.

The university’s Board of Trustees said Wednesday that Engler’s annual salary will be $510,399. His contract was finalized this week, but he agreed his salary would go back to the school in East Lansing.

His predecessor, Lou Anna Simon, resigned in January amid criticism of the university’s handling of issues related to Larry Nassar.

The former doctor worked for Michigan State and USA. Gymnastics, which trains Olympians. More than 250 women and girls gave statements in court about how Nassar abused them under the guise of medical treatment. He was sentenced to decades in prison.

Michigan State plans to find a permanent replacement for Simon.

ESPN-NFL DRAFT-HERBSTREIT

ESPN adds Herbstreit to NFL draft coverage, replacing Gruden

UNDATED (AP) — Kirk Herbstreit will take Jon Gruden’s place on ESPN’s coverage of the NFL draft.

ESPN announced Thursday that Herbstreit will be part the opening night coverage of the first round in prime time on April 26 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Herbstreit will be joined by host Trey Wingo, draft analyst Mel Kiper and NFL analyst Louis Riddick.

Rounds two and three are April 27, and rounds four through seven are April 28.

Herbstreit is the lead analyst for ESPN’s “Saturday Night College Football” and the “College GameDay” pregame show.

Gruden left his job as analyst on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” in January to return to coaching as head coach of the Oakland Raiders. Gruden joined ESPN in 2009 and has been part of draft coverage since 2010.

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