HOCKEY
Newfoundland got two goals each from Orrin Centazzo and Jeremy McKenna and cruised to a 6-1 ECHL victory over the Maine Mariners on Friday at St. John’s Newfoundland.
Zach O’Brien and Marcus Power each had four assists for the Growlers, who opened a 3-0 lead in the first period before Keltie Jeri-Leon scored for Maine with 30 seconds left in the first.
Jeremy Brodeur had 33 saves in goal for Maine.
GOLF
PGA: Sahith Theegala shot a 7-under 64 to take a two-stroke lead over defending champion Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele at firm, fast and fan-packed WM Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Koepka shot his second straight 66. He’s the last player to win the event in his first appearance, doing it in 2015 for his first PGA Tour title. Schauffele had a bogey-free 65. He tied for second last year.
Theegala, 24, had the lead Thursday night at 7 under when darkness suspended play. In front of many of the more than 175,00 fans who jammed the final holes, Theegala made a 12-foot putt to save par on the par-3 16th. He hit a wedge to 3 1/2 feet for birdie on the par-4 17th, and made a 10-footer on the par-4 18th to get to 12-under 130.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Ryan Fox shot 3-under 69 to open a three-stroke lead after two rounds of the Ras Al Khaimah Classic on Friday.
Oliver Bekker set a course record with a 62 to join five other players three strokes off the lead. Fellow South Africans Zander Lombard (63) and Justin Harding (67) are tied with Bekker along with Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal (67), and Italy’s Francesco Laporta and Australian Jason Scrivener, who both carded 69.
LPGA: Former Women’s PGA champion Hannah Green shot a 2-under 70 Friday and trails surprise leader and fellow West Australian golfer Whitney Hillier by two strokes after two rounds of the Vic Open in Barwon Heads, Australia.
SOCCER
TURNER TRANSFER COMPLETE: Arsenal has reached an agreement for American goalkeeper Matt Turner to transfer to the London club this summer from the New England Revolution, subject to a successful physical.
New England said Friday the 27-year-old is expected to join Arsenal in late June, allowing him to remain with the MLS team for half the league season and the CONCACAF Champions League. Turner has 16 international appearances and has shared the starting role in World Cup qualifying with Zack Steffen, the backup to Ederson at Manchester City.
The 6-foot-3 Turner played college soccer at Fairfield from 2012-15 and was overlooked in the 2016 MLS draft. He signed with the Revolution in March 2016 and was loaned to the third tier Richmond Kickers, who moved up to the second tier in 2017.
AUTO RACING
NASCAR: NASCAR’s top drivers have once again unified to form an independent council to gain a collective voice in decisions that affect the sport.
The Drivers Advisory Council announced on Friday is a more organized effort than a previous attempt to unify in 2014. A board of directors has been established and retired driver and current NBC Sports analyst Jeff Burton agreed to oversee the effort. The board is comprised of seven members that represent teams from the front and back of the Cup Series starting grid. Each board member will serve as a representative to a smaller group of drivers.
The board includes Denny Hamlin, the three-time Daytona 500 winner who spearheaded the first attempt at a driver council, as well as former Cup champions Kurt Busch and Joey Logano. Also selected were Austin Dillon, Corey LaJoie, Daniel Suarez and retired driver Kyle Petty, who like Burton is an NBC Sports analyst.
FORMULA ONE: Formula One extended its contract to continue racing in Bahrain until 2036, saying Friday that the Middle Eastern country holds a “very special place in our sport.”
The Sakhir-based circuit has held F1 races since 2004 and will stage the season-opener next month.
Ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix last year, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton urged the global racing series to not ignore human rights violations in the countries where it stages races. Bahrain has been accused of exploiting the series to gloss over, or “sportswash,” its human rights record.
The Bahrain GP is scheduled March 20 and the Bahrain International Circuit will also host pre-season testing. Hamilton won the race in 2021.
BASEBALL
MINOR LEAGUE DRUG SUSPENSIONS: Pitchers Joe Flores of Colorado, Lenny Polanco and Jesus Tovar of Minnesota and Alan Ramirez of Miami were suspended for 60 games each Friday following positive tests for the performance-enhancing substance Stanozolol under baseball’s minor league drug program.
All four are assigned to the Dominican Summer League.
San Francisco Giants pitcher Austin Reich was suspended for 50 games following a positive test for Amphetamine, a banned stimulant. He is assigned to High-A West Eugene.
Fourteen players have been suspended this year under the minor league drug program.
TENNIS
ATP DALLAS OPEN: Seventh-seeded Marcos Giron upended No. 1 seed Taylor Fritz – his practice partner – 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3) on Friday to advance to the semifinals in DAllas.
By defeating the 19th-ranked player in the world, No. 70 Giron scored his fifth career win in 18 chances against top 20 players to reach his second ATP semifinal. In Saturday’s semifinals, Giron will meet No. 4 Jenson Brooksby, who dispatched Australian Jordan Thompson 6-3, 6-0.
HORSE RACING
MEDINA SPIRIT DEATH: A necropsy on 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit showed no definitive cause of death.
The California Horse Racing Board on Friday released the results of the examination done after the colt collapsed and died after a workout on Dec. 6 at Santa Anita. Trainer Bob Baffert said the colt suffered a heart attack. Medina Spirit had just completed five furlongs in his second workout since finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November.
The necropsy report said Medina Spirit’s swollen lungs and foam in his windpipe, as well as enlarged spleen and congestions and mild hemorrhages in other tissues “are common in horses dying suddenly, and are compatible with, but not specific for a cardiac cause of death.”
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