HOCKEY
Trevor Gooch scored twice in the first period as the Reading Royals (41-16) jumped out to a three-goal lead and beat the Maine Mariners (30-30) 4-1 in an ECHL game on Friday in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Brayden Low added a goal for the Royals, while Frank DiChiara added an empty-netter in the final minute.
Pascal Laberge had a second-period goal for the Mariners.
Darion Hanson stopped 21 shots for Reading, while Jeremy Brodeur had 11 saves in relief for Maine.
SOCCER
MLS: Atlanta United striker Josef Martinez, the 2018 MLS MVP, is expected to miss six to eight weeks following knee surgery.
Atlanta United announced Friday that Martinez had arthroscopic surgery on Wednesday to clean out debris in his right knee. The procedure was scheduled after Martinez, bothered by recent discomfort, had his knee examined on Monday at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Martinez had surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in the right knee in March 2020. He needed three follow-up surgeries that year to clean out scar tissue.
TENNIS
BORIS BECKER: Tennis great Boris Becker could face a jail sentence after being found guilty of illicitly moving thousands of dollars from a bank account after he was declared bankrupt.
A jury at London’s Southwark Crown Court convicted Becker on four charges under the Insolvency Act, including removal of property, concealing debt and two counts of failing to disclose estate.
The German star was found to have transferred hundreds of thousands of pounds (dollars) after his June 2017 bankruptcy from his business account to other accounts, including those of his ex-wife Barbara and estranged wife Sharlely “Lilly” Becker.
U.S. MEN’S CLAY COURT CHAMPIONSHIP: Reigning champion Cristian Garin beat No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3 on Friday to reach the semifinals at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship and improve his career record at the tournament to 8-0.
Fritz is the highest-ranked American man at No. 13 and had won nine of his past 10 matches, including a title at Indian Wells, California, last month.
Garin claimed the Houston title in 2019, and the event wasn’t held either of the next two years because of the pandemic.
The fifth-seeded Garin, who is ranked 29th, will face John Isner or Frances Tiafoe on Saturday for a berth in the final.
The other semifinal will be No. 3 seed Reilly Opelka against Nick Kyrgios.
Opelka reached his second career tour-level semifinal on clay – he made it that far in Rome last year, too – by defeating 361st-ranked qualifier Gijs Brouwer. Reigning champion Cristian Garin beat No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3 to reach the semifinals in Houston and improve his career record at the tournament to 8-0.
CHARLESTON OPEN: Belinda Bencic rallied to beat second-seeded Paula Badosa 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 to advance to the semifinals in Charleston, South Carolina.
No. 4 Ons Jabeur also reached the final four in the season’s opening clay-court event, beating Anhelina Kalinina 6-3, 6-2.
FOOTBALL
NFL: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers bolstered their depth at running back, re-signing free agent Giovani Bernard to a one-year, $1.12 million contract.
Bernard, who spent the first eight years of his career with the Cincinnati Bengals, initially joined the Bucs as a free agent in 2021, when injuries limited him to 12 games during the regular season.
• The Chicago Bears signed veteran tight end Ryan Griffin to a one-year contract.
Griffin has 206 receptions for 2,158 yards and 14 touchdowns over nine seasons with the Houston Texans (2013-18) and New York Jets (2019-21). He has seven catches for 64 yards in four playoff games. Griffin caught 27 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns last season.
• Safety Ronnie Harrison is coming back to the Cleveland Browns for at least another season, his agent Drew Rosenhaus said.
The team and the free agent agreed to terms on a one-year contract, giving the Browns some depth at a position that has been challenging to get settled because of injuries the past two seasons.
Harrison has shown flashes of being a productive player, but the 24-year-old (he turns 25 on April 18) has also been prone to mistakes. He made 11 starts and played in 12 games last season, but was also inactive for three games.
• The Baltimore Ravens agreed to terms with linebacker Josh Bynes.
The Ravens announced the deal but did not release terms. The 32-year-old Bynes started 12 games for Baltimore last season and had two sacks.
That was the start of a third stint with the Ravens for Bynes. He played his first three seasons for Baltimore, then went to Detroit in 2014. He played a couple of seasons for Arizona in 2017 and 2018 before returning to the Ravens for one season.
He then played for Cincinnati in 2020 before returning to Baltimore again.
OLYMPICS
BOBSLED: USA Bobsled coach Mike Kohn has stepped down after four seasons, though he may remain with the national team in a different capacity.
Kohn, an Olympic medalist in bobsled at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, said that he made the decision to leave the coaching role because of a desire to spend more time with his family. The World Cup season typically takes coaches and sliders away from home for months at a time.
The U.S. won three medals at the Beijing Olympics in bobsled; only Germany, with seven, won more. The Americans also have won three gold medals at world championships since Kohn was promoted to the head coach role in 2018.
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