Last Week around the Leagues

by Fran Stuchbury
July 6, 2021 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)

This past week the National Women's Soccer League's Portland Thorns FC signed 15-year old midfielder Olivia Moultrie to a three year contract; the ECHL Fort Wayne Komets captured their first 2021 Kelly Cup championship; the Seattle Kraken announced an affiliation agreement with the American Hockey League's Charlotte Checkers for this season; and Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi became the first WNBA player to reach 9,000 points. Highlights from this week are from National Women's Soccer League, Major League Soccer, Canadian Premier League, United Soccer League Championship, United Soccer League One, ECHL, American Hockey League, Women's National Basketball Association, Premier Lacrosse League, Canadian Football League, Major League Rugby and American Ultimate Disc League.

SOCCER

National Women's Soccer League

Portland Thorns FC have signed midfielder Olivia Moultrie to a three-year contract with an option, it was announced today. Portland acquired the rights to Moultrie from OL Reign, who held her rights as the first team on the NWSL Discovery Priority list, in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft. Moultrie, 15, began training with Thorns FC during the 2019 season and has featured in preseason competition in each of the last three seasons. In 2018-19, Moultrie played with the Thorns FC Academy U-16s team, scoring nine goals in 15 competitive matches. The following season, Moultrie appeared in matches with Portland's U-18s team, scoring eight goals in eight matches. During the 2017-18 Academy season, Moultrie played for Beach Futbol Club with the U-15s, scoring 18 goals in 27 matches.

Olivia Moultrie on joining the club. "I know this is where I'll be able to grow the most. ‚¬Â Midfielder Olivia Moultrie talks about joining Thorns FC, and the opportunity to take her game to the next level.

OL Reign announced that Farid Benstiti has resigned his position as head coach of the club with immediate effect. Assistant coach Sam Laity, who has been with the club since its inaugural season in 2013, will serve as interim head coach, beginning with tonight's match in Houston against the Dash.

Angel City FC, now's the time to soar to new heights. This is our true identity, our crest.

Verizon Save of the Week - Week 6 - Michelle Betos, Racing Louisville FC

Major League Soccer

Toronto FC announced that the club has relieved Chris Armas of his duties as Head Coach, effective immediately. Toronto FC (1-2-8, 5 points) is 0-6-1 since posting a 2-0 victory over the Columbus Crew SC on May 12. The club has yielded an MLS-worst 27 goals in 11 matches, while scoring only 13 times.

Hassani Dotson proposes to his girlfriend Petra Vuckovic at the end of Minnesota United's 2-2 draw against San Jose on July 3, 2021. She said yes!!

Columbus Crew open their new stadium, Lower.com field, to fanfare and fireworks

Canadian Premier League

Valour FC forward William Akio scores his first professional goal

United Soccer League Championship

The USL Championship announced the Team of the Week Presented by Cleer Audio for Week 10 of the 2021 regular season with Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC's Hadji Barry being voted Player of the Week after recording four goals across a pair of victories during the week's action.

United Soccer League One

USL League One Save of the Week - Bras Knighton - New England Revolution II

FC Tucson announced that the club and Head Coach John Galas have mutually agreed to part ways. Jon Pearlman, Vice President of Soccer Operations, will take over as the interim head coach with immediate effect. Pearlman previously served as head coach of FC Tucson, going 18-7-3 in 2016-17. He returned to FC Tucson in 2019 as director of soccer operations. He has more than 25 years of coaching experience - including 23 in Tucson - and has his USSF "A" License.

Major Arena Soccer League

Major Arena Soccer League Commissioner Keith Tozer announced teams will play a full 24-game schedule which will run from late November through early April of 2022, with playoffs to follow. This follows a season where 7 of 16 teams competed in a shortened regular season due to COVID-19. Fans can look forward to all member clubs participating in the 2021-22 season.

HOCKEY

ECHL

The Fort Wayne Komets captured the 2021 Kelly Cup championship with a 2-1 win over the South Carolina Stingrays in Game 4 of the 2021 Kelly Cup Finals in front of a capacity crowd of 10,477 fans at Memorial Coliseum, marking the sixth largest crowd in Riley/Cup Finals history. Fort Wayne, which was appearing in the Kelly Cup Finals for the first time in its nine ECHL seasons, has captured 10 championships in its 69 seasons of existence across the ECHL, Central Hockey League, United Hockey League and International Hockey League.

Time to raise the cup!

Komets Kelly Cup game four title-clinching highlights

The Jacksonville Icemen announced that the team has entered into a multi-year affiliation agreement with the NHL's New York Rangers and the American Hockey League's (AHL) Hartford Wolf Pack. "We are excited to partner with one of the NHL's most iconic franchises as we continue to move forward to bringing the Kelly Cup to Jacksonville," said Icemen CEO Andy Kaufmann. "We are confident the New York Rangers and the Hartford Wolf Pack will be great partners. ‚¬Â

Jacksonville Icemen Announce New Affiliation With N.Y. Rangers

The Maine Mariners Hockey Club announced a new affiliation agreement becoming the ECHL affiliate of the Boston Bruins. The Mariners had previously been affiliated with the New York Rangers since they joined the ECHL in 2018. The Mariners will be affiliated with the Providence Bruins at the AHL level. Ironically, Providence represents the original Maine Mariners AHL franchise. The AHL's Mariners were Bruins affiliates from 1987 until 1992, when the franchise was relocated to Rhode Island.

The Maine Mariners they will be the new ECHL affiliate of the Boston Bruins.

American Hockey League

The NHL's Seattle Kraken and Florida Panthers announced that they have entered into a joint agreement to place their prospects in Charlotte for the 2021-22 season. As part of the agreement, the Checkers will simultaneously host players from the Kraken and Panthers organizations. As the Checkers' primary affiliate, the Panthers will provide the head coach, Geordie Kinnear, while the Kraken will have the opportunity to provide an assistant coach. The Seattle agreement will last one season to allow for construction of a new arena in Palm Springs, California, that will eventually host the Kraken's AHL expansion franchise. The Checkers' existing multi-year affiliation agreement with the Panthers, completed in September 2020, will continue beyond the 2021-22 campaign.

The Charlotte Checkers will serve as AHL affiliate for two NHL teams in 2021-22. The Checkers' new NHL parent club, the Florida Panthers, entered into a joint agreement with expansion team the Seattle Kraken, to place prospects in Charlotte for this coming season.

North American Hockey League

The North American Hockey League (NAHL) has announced the release of the 2021-22 regular season schedule. Celebrating its 47th season in 2021-22, the NAHL is the oldest and largest junior hockey league of its kind in the United States and one of only two USA Hockey-certified leagues that operate under the free-to-play model. The NAHL is also one of the best in the world at advancing players to NCAA and professional hockey. Each of the 29 teams in the league's four divisions (Central, East, Midwest and South) will play 60 regular season games. The regular season will commence on September 8, 2021 and end on April 17, 2022.

Ontario Hockey League

The Ontario Hockey League announced the regular season schedule of games for 2021-22, kicking-off a brand new #GameON campaign in celebration of the League's return to the ice. Divisional alignment remains the same in 2021-22, with each of the League's 20 member teams playing a 68-game unbalanced schedule predominantly consisting of intra-conference play. Cross-conference matchups will occur in select instances between opponents of close geographical proximity. The OHL's three American-based teams - the Erie Otters, Flint Firebirds and Saginaw Spirit - will open the season facing each other exclusively through the end of October.

United States Hockey League

The Buffalo Sabres announced that former Green Bay Gamblers head coach Don Granato has been named the team's head coach. Granato joined the Sabres as an assistant coach during the 2019-20 season. He took over as interim coach on March 17, 2021, leading the Sabres to a 9-16-3 record. Granato joins Jon Cooper (Tampa Bay) as NHL head coaches with Gambler ties.

National Women's Hockey League

The National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) announced that the Buffalo Beauts and Minnesota Whitecaps have been sold by W Hockey Partners (WHP). The new owner is NLTT Ventures, LLC, an entity that combines NL Sports, led by Andy Scurto, and Top Tier Sports, led by Neil Leibman. As the NWHL transitions from a single entity to a joint venture ownership model, ownership groups are permitted to hold more than one club for a limited period of time. Over time, those owners are required to divest clubs until no ownership group owns more than one team.

BASKETBALL

Women's National Basketball Association

Richard Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins join Rachel Nichols on The Jump react to the WNBA's All-Star roster reveal and discuss if they are fans of the All-Star game format this season.

Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi a season-high in points (25) and 3PM (4) on her way to surpassing a milestone 9,000 career points.

LACROSSE

Premier Lacrosse League

PLL TOP 10! The Best of Atlanta - Week 3

National Lacrosse League

On Tuesday, June 29, 2021 the NLL hosted the Panther City Lacrosse Club Expansion Draft, with the league's Fort Worth team picking its inaugural players. The following are the players that were picked in the draft.

The Albany FireWolves, the Capital Region's professional Box Lacrosse team playing out of the Times Union Center beginning in December, announce that the organization has updated the team's logo. "Prompted in part by feedback from a variety of important stakeholders, we decided to redesign our logo prior to hitting the turf for our inaugural season. We are excited about our newest logo design as it brings more versatility and options to the many marketing and community relations initiatives we are planning," said George Manias, President of the FireWolves.

FOOTBALL

Canadian Football League

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have signed American quarterback Paxton Lynch. Lynch (6'7-244lbs) joins the Roughriders after spending five years in the NFL. He was selected by the Denver Broncos in the first round, 26th overall, of the 2016 NFL Draft and played five games for the Broncos over two seasons, completing 79 passes for 792 yards and four touchdowns. He went on to spend time with the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Lynch was a prolific passer at the University of Memphis, where he played for three seasons and started in all 38 games he played. As a Tiger, Lynch completed 758 passes for 8,863 yards and 59 touchdowns, with a passing efficiency of 137.0.

Though it appears a lot has changed in Edmonton since we last saw them on the field, CFL.ca's Marshall Ferguson points out the key pieces are still intact. Factor in QB Trevor Harris' familiarity with new head coach Jaime Elizondo and Edmonton should be ready to compete early in 2021.

After going 15-3, undefeated at home and winning the east in 2019, can they put it all together again? CFL.ca's Marshall Ferguson breaks it all down, previewing the 2021 Ticats.

BASEBALL

Atlantic League

Tony Cingrani and Dustin Beggs, Lexington Legends Pitchers, have had their contracts purchased by the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets, respectively. Both Pitchers signed with the Legends before the 2021 Atlantic League season. Tony Cingrani (31) was originally drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 3rd round of the 2011 MLB June Amateur Draft from Rice University. He went on to pitch for the Reds from 2012-2017 before being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Dustin Beggs (28) was drafted in the 16th round of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft by the Miami Marlins from University of Kentucky. Beggs played in the Marlins system for four seasons, reaching Triple-A (New Orleans) in 2019.

The New York Mets have purchased the contract of York Revolution pitcher Alex Sanabia. Sanabia, who has previous major league experience with the Miami Marlins, is the sixth member of the Revolution in 2021 to have his contract purchased by a major league organization. In six starts with York including Opening Day, Sanabia was 3-0 with a 2.43 ERA at the time of his contract purchase. In 33.1 innings, the right hander struck out 24 and allowed just nine earned runs. On June 9, Sanabia became the first pitcher in the 2021 Atlantic League season to throw a complete game with nine innings of one-run ball at Southern Maryland.

OTHER SPORTS

Major League Rugby

Top 5 Tries - Round 15

Biggest Hits - Week 15

American Ultimate Disc League

Top 10 Plays from Week 4

Did we miss anything newsworthy or downright fun? Have a nomination for next week's column? Contact us today and let us know.

National Women's Soccer League Stories from July 6, 2021

• Last Week around the Leagues - OSC Original by Fran Stuchbury

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.