HOCKEY
The Maine Mariners had their three-game winning streak snapped Wednesday night, losing 5-0 to the host Newfoundland Growlers.
Ryan Chyzowski and Matteo Pietroniro scored first-period goals for the Growlers, who also got goals from Orrin Centazzo in the second period and Nick Pastorious and Gordie Green in the third.
Goalie Keith Petruzzelli made 25 saves for the shutout.
The Mariners play Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Newfoundland.
AUTO RACING
NASCAR: Jesse Iwuji, a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve, transitioned between jobs this week when he jetted out of Los Angeles following Navy drills to make it to North Carolina in time to announce his next venture: Iwuji is headed to Daytona International Speedway to begin his first full season in NASCAR with backing from Pro Football Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith and General Motors.
Iwuji will compete in the second-tier Xfinity Series and join Bubba Wallace as the only two Black drivers competing full-time at NASCAR’s national level. Jesse Iwuji Motorsports will field the No. 34 Chevrolet in a nod to Wendell Scott, who overcame widespread racism to become the first Black driver to win a Cup Series race in 1963 and also used that number.
Iwuji and Smith, a co-owner of the race team, hope to show the possibilities for minorities in NASCAR. Wallace is the only Black driver in the Cup Series, but Iwuji now makes two full-time Black drivers competing at the top level of American stock car racing.
“First there was one, now there’s two and hopefully there gets to be three, four, five, six,” Iwuji said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “It won’t grow unless people see that it is even possible. When I was growing up, people asked me ‘Why didn’t you start racing when you were a little kid?’
“Well, I didn’t see Black people. If I didn’t see anyone in there, I couldn’t envision myself in there. I saw people like me in football, so I played football.”
FORMULA ONE: The Red Bull Formula One team has secured a new title sponsorship worth around $500 million with technology firm Oracle, placing it among the most lucrative commercial deals in sports.
The five-year deal is a lift to the team ahead of the season beginning next month when Max Verstappen will be looking to defend his world title in a new Oracle Red Bull Racing car that was also revealed on Wednesday. Financial details were not disclosed but a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press it was worth around $100 million a year.
• Formula One team McLaren signed rising star Lando Norris to a four-year contract extension that locks the young British driver in through the 2025 season. The 22-year-old Norris is entering his fourth full season of F1 competition.
SOCCER
WEST HAM PLAYER FINED: Kurt Zouma was fined two weeks’ salary by West Ham and lost his sponsorship deal with Adidas on Wednesday after he was filmed kicking and slapping a cat.
An animal welfare charity took custody of Zouma’s two cats while it investigates video footage that has been shared widely on social media and led to the France international issuing an apology for his conduct.
His exact salary has not been disclosed but British media reported the fine by West Ham to be more than $300,000. The club said that apart from the RSPCA’s investigation “and pending further sanction once the outcome of that process is determined” it has fined Zouma “the maximum amount possible” – which is two weeks’ wages.
MLS: Lyon sold attacking midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri to Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire for seven million euros ($8 million).
The 30-year-old Switzerland international agreed to a three-year contract. Shaquiri will be a designated player whose salary will count only partially against the league’s salary cap.
Chicago said he is the most expensive transfer signing in the team’s history but did not specify the amount.
• Caden Clark was loaned to the New York Red Bulls for the 2022 Major League Soccer season by sister club RB Leipzig, a deal that included an option to extend.
Clark signed with the German club in June, agreeing to a contract through 2024, then was loaned back to the MLS team through the rest of the 2021 season.
CLUB WORLD CUP: Chelsea will get another chance to win the Club World Cup for the first time after beating Al Hilal 1-0 at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to set up a meeting with Palmeiras.
Romelu Lukaku’s close-range goal in the 32nd minute settled a match between the European and Asian champions.
A European team has won 13 of the last 14 finals in the intercontinental competition. The last to lose was Chelsea, beaten by Corinthians in 2012.
Another Brazilian team in Palmeiras, the south American champion, awaits on Saturday.
GOLF
SOLHEIM CUP: Two-time major champion Stacy Lewis has been appointed U.S. captain of the Solheim Cup for 2023 in Spain, where the Americans will try to end two straight losses to Europe.
Suzann Pettersen already has been chosen for Europe.
Lewis will be 38 when the Solheim Cup matches begin on Sept. 22, 2023, at Finca Cortesin, making her the youngest American captain since the event began in 1990. Lewis has been part of every Solheim Cup since 2011, four times as a player and twice as an assistant. She was supposed to play for Juli Inkster in 2019 until having to withdraw with an injury and stayed to assist. Pat Hurst picked her as a vice captain in Inverness in 2021.
BASEBALL
MINORS: Jim Riggleman was hired as manager of the Billings Mustangs of the independent Pioneer League.
The 69-year-old takes over for Joe Kruzel, who left to become a minor league coordinator with the Los Angeles Angels.
Riggleman has a 726-904 record as manager of San Diego (1992-94), the Chicago Cubs (1995-99), Seattle (2008), Washington (2009-11), and Cincinnati (2015-18).
He also managed the Reds’ Triple-A Louisville farm team (2013-14) and has been a coach for St. Louis (first base 1989-90), Cleveland (third base 2000), the Los Angeles Dodgers (bench coach 2001-04), Seattle (bench coach 2008), and Washington (bench coach 2009).
OBIT: Former MLB outfielder Jeremy Giambi died at his parents’ home in Southern California. He was 47.
Giambi, the younger brother of Jason Giambi, played for the Boston Red Sox in 2003.
SLED DOG RACING
IDITAROD: A large bull moose spent more than an hour stomping on the sled dog team of a rookie Iditarod musher in the wilds of Alaska last week – and the attack didn’t end even after Bridgett Watkins emptied her gun into the animal.
She said on Facebook Friday that the moose, after seriously injuring four of her dogs, wouldn’t leave and that the ordeal stopped only after she called friends for help and one showed up with a high powered rifle and killed the moose with one shot.
But just days later, her four dogs are on the mend and she’s back training with the others. The race starts March 5.
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