Last Week around the Leagues
by Fran Stuchbury
August 9, 2022 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
This past week WNBA star Brittney Griner was sentenced to 9 years in Russian jail for drug-smuggling, the National Lacrosse League named Brett Frood as Commissioner and the American Hockey League team in Calgary announced it will be known as the Calgary Wranglers. Highlights from this week come from the Women's National Basketball Association, BIG3, National Lacrosse League, Premier Lacrosse League, American Hockey League, Western Hockey League, Canadian Football League, United States Football League XFL, Major League Football, Major League Soccer, National Women's Soccer League, United Soccer League Championship, International League and American Ultimate Disc League.
BASKETBALL
Women's National Basketball Association
Tom Firestone, former legal adviser at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, joins Shep Smith to discuss Brittney Griner's 9-year sentence for getting caught with drugs at a Russian airport.
Skylar Diggins-Smith fields questions from reporters following the sentencing of her Phoenix Mercury teammate Brittney Griner. Griner has been detained in Russia since March and was given a 9-year sentence on August 4th.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver issued the following statement regarding Brittney Griner: "Today's verdict and sentencing is unjustified and unfortunate, but not unexpected and Brittney Griner remains wrongly detained. The WNBA and NBA's commitment to her safe return has not wavered and it is our hope that we are near the end of this process of finally bringing BG home to the United States."
Sue Bird reflects on her 21 years in the WNBA. She addresses the Seattle Storm crowd after her final regular season home game.
Sabrina Ionescu leads New York Liberty to franchise-record 20-point comeback
BIG3
Glen Rice Jr let it FLLYYYYY
LACROSSE
National Lacrosse League
The National Lacrosse League the top professional indoor lacrosse league in North America, named Brett Frood as Commissioner. Frood joins the NLL from Stewart-Haas Racing, where he has served as President of the NASCAR team since its inception in 2008, leading all business initiatives for the championship-winning organization co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart and industrialist Gene Haas. Frood, who will begin his new role on September 1, becomes just the fifth Commissioner for the NLL since its relaunch in 1997.
President of NASCAR's Stewart-Haas Racing and former Brown University Lacrosse Captain Brett Frood named next Commissioner of the National Lacrosse League
Q&A With Incoming Commissioner Brett Frood
Premier Lacrosse League
PLL TOP 10 PLAYS FROM DALLAS
HOCKEY
American Hockey League
The Calgary Flames are proud to introduce the Calgary Wranglers as their new American Hockey League affiliate, to begin play this October. The Wranglers become the second team to don the name in Calgary following the Calgary Wranglers of the Western Canadian Junior Hockey League (WCHL), who came to Calgary in 1977. The WCHL Wranglers played in Calgary for 10 seasons, graduating such Flames alumni as Kelly Kisio, Dana Murzyn, and Mike Vernon to the National Hockey League.
The Coachella Valley Firebirds proud 32nd AHL franchise and affiliate of the NHL's Seattle Kraken revealed the team mascot, Fuego, as the newest member of the Coachella Valley community.
ECHL
The Reading Royals and the Philadelphia Flyers announced a multi-year affiliation agreement that will see Reading continue to serve as the ECHL affiliate of the Flyers. The affiliation agreement runs through the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons and includes an option for a third season.
Western Hockey League
We caught up with Seattle Thunderbirds defenceman Kevin Korchinski after he was selected seventh-overall in the 2022 NHL Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. The first WHL player selected in the NHL Draft.
Ontario Hockey League
The Oshawa Generals have announced that Derek Laxdal has been named the 35th head coach in Oshawa Generals history. Laxdal, 56, from Stonewall Man., joins the Generals after spending three seasons with the NHL's Dallas Stars as an assistant coach to Rick Bowness from 2020-2022, joining mid season in 2019-2020. Before joining the NHL Stars, Laxdal spent six seasons with the AHL affiliate Texas Stars as the head coach from 2014-2020. In 380 games behind the AHL bench, he coached to a record of 189-139-52 including a run to the Calder Cup final in 2018, losing in seven games to the Toronto Marlies.
FOOTBALL
Canadian Football League
CFL Plays of the Week - Week 9, 2022
United States Football League
New Orleans Breakers quarterback Kyle Sloter gets his first TD with the Jacksonville Jaguars!
Watch every sack from former Houston Gamblers DE Chris Odom's remarkable 2022 USFL Season. Odom recently signed with the Cleveland Browns.
XFL
XFL Showcases - BreakAway Data: Part V
Major League Football
The Major League Football league continues to make headlines since "shutting down," July 28. In the latest update from WKRG's Simone Eli on Twitter, News 5 has learned the league has "reversed" its employees paychecks from last Friday without any notice.
Indoor Football League
The Indoor Football League is pleased to announce the 2022 All-IFL First Team selections. 18 different players were selected to the All-IFL First-Team for the 2022 season. Four rookies earned First Team honors. The voting was compiled from representatives from each IFL team to recognize the IFL's best players from the 2022 regular season. The Arizona Rattlers and Frisco Fighters had the most players represented with six and five players on the First Teams ballot, followed by the Massachusetts Pirates who had three players.
The Indoor Football League is pleased to announce that Les Moss has been named the IFL 2022 Coach of the Year. Moss took over a team that in 2021 had a record of 1 win and 13 losses. To say he turned the franchise around is an understatement. Moss led the Wranglers to a 12-4 record and the second seed in the Western Conference Playoffs. Moss has over 30 years of coaching. Moss was the Head Coach of the Iowa Barnstormers in 2021, finishing the regular season with a 6-6 record.
SOCCER
Major League Soccer
Gareth Bale scores his second goal for in Major League Soccer for the Los Angeles Football Club with an incredible solo run from midfield against Real Salt Lake.
Late Golazo Sends Atlanta United past Seattle Sounders
National Women's Soccer League
The North Carolina Courage announced the club has re-signed captain and defender Abby Erceg to a two-year contract with an option for a third year in 2024. "The re-signing of Abby is very well-deserved and is great for our club," Head Coach Sean Nahas said. "She has been a staple for us and someone who has always held the standards of what it takes to be a Courage player. As a club we wanted to make sure we were able to have her here long term to continue to build on the foundation she has already helped to create. I couldn't be more thrilled to continue to work with her and have her be a part of something bigger moving forward."
Sofia Huerta (OL Reign) is the Budweiser Player of the Week for Week 12
Verizon Save of the Week Winner - Kailen Sheridan, San Diego Wave FC - Week 12
Ebony Salmon (Houston Dash) is the NWSL Player of the Month for July
United Soccer League Championship
The USL Championship announced the Team of the Week for Week 21 of the 2022 regular season with Birmingham Legion FC midfielder Bruno Lapa voted the Championship Player of the Week presented by Konami eFootball after recording the first hat trick in Legion FC's history during its 6-1 victory against Loudoun United FC at Protective Stadium.
MLS NEXT Pro
Tavares, a 41-year-old Portugal native, joins the Charlotte FC MLS NEXT Pro team after spending more than a decade at FC Porto, one of Europe's top developers of talent. Tavares was part of FC Porto's system since 2008, first joining as Academy Head Coach, followed by taking the role as assistant manager of FC Porto A and B teams and Head Coach of the B team, which competes in Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese Football.
MLS NEXT Pro will field 28 clubs in 2023 with the addition of seven MLS-affiliated clubs in its second season. The following MLS clubs will launch MLS NEXT Pro teams in 2023: Atlanta United, Austin FC, Charlotte FC, LA Galaxy, Los Angeles Football Club, Nashville Soccer Club and New York Red Bulls. Complete details, including team names, logos and venues, will be announced in the coming months. The new teams will join the 20 MLS-affiliated clubs and one independent club, Rochester New York FC, currently competing in MLS NEXT Pro.
BASEBALL
Top Plays of the Month
International League
The Worcester Red Sox (52-50) delivered the first no-hitter for a Red Sox Triple-A affiliate since 2003 and the first for the WooSox in Polar Park history, a combined hitless effort in a 12-0 win against the Durham Bulls (56-46). Michael Wacha began with night with 4.2 hitless frames, A.J. Politi tossed the next 2.1 innings and Chase Shugart had the eighth and ninth to cap off the no-no. The final out came on a diving grab in left by Devlin Granberg, who entered in the fourth.
Devlin Granberg saves the no-no!
New England Collegiate Baseball League
Logan Chambers (Tennessee) hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the #4 seed Martha's Vineyard Sharks to a 7-6 victory over the #1 Vermont Mountaineers. The Sharks sweep the 2022 New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) Championship Series and earn their first Fay Vincent Cup as league champions in franchise history.
OTHER SPORTS
Major League Rugby
The Dallas Jackals are excited to announce Steve Violetta has been named Team President. Violetta brings over three decades of executive level sports and entertainment industry experience to the Jackals. With the recent announcement of Santiago Sodini as General Manager, Violetta is the second in a series of offseason announcements for the club. Violetta has a successful history of leading organizations upward through their next levels of business evolution. Previously he led the front offices of five National Hockey League (NHL) teams: Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, Nashville Predators, Detroit Red Wings, and Edmonton Oilers. Violetta also spent time in the San Diego Padres organization as Senior Business Executive as well as the New York Yankees Staten Island Single-A development team.
NOLA Gold announced that Ryan Fitzgerald has agreed to a five-year contract extension as the General Manager of the Gold, The Major League Rugby franchise for New Orleans. "Ryan's dedicated hard work since the very beginning of the Gold and MLR greatly contributed to our success," said team owner Tim Falcon.
American Ultimate Disc League
The Top 10 plays from Week 14 of the 2022 AUDL regular season!
Did we miss anything newsworthy or downright fun? Have a nomination for next week's column? Contact us today and let us know.
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Women's National Basketball Association Stories from August 9, 2022
- Wings Vie for Season Sweep of Liberty - Dallas Wings
- Travis Porter to Perform at Halftime of Final Regular Season Atlanta Dream Home Game - Atlanta Dream
- Arike Ogunbowale Health Update - Dallas Wings
- Wings Topple Liberty to Secure Playoff Berth - Dallas Wings
- 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.
