football
Fiesta Bowl ex-CEO Junker pleads guilty
• The Fiesta Bowl’s former top executive has pleaded guilty to a felony charge to settle allegations connected to a political donations scandal.
John Junker, a 56-year-old Barberton native, pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon in Phoenix for his role in soliciting political contributions from Fiesta Bowl employees. The bowl later reimbursed employees for about $48,000 over a nine-year period.
Junker’s plea is part of an agreement reached with Arizona prosecutors.
The state felony carries a presumptive 2›-year sentence that’s also eligible for probation.
The Fiesta Bowl hosts college football’s national championship game every four years.
The scandal nearly jeopardized the Fiesta’s role as one of the four top-tier bowl groups.
hockey
Red Wings’ Datsyuk has minor surgery
• Detroit Red Wings star Pavel Datsyuk is expected to miss two weeks after having arthroscopic surgery Tuesday to remove fragments from his right knee. Datsyuk is Detroit’s leading scorer with 59 points. Detroit has won a record 23 consecutive home games.
• St. Louis Blues forward Jamie Langenbrunner will miss at least a month with a broken bone in his left foot sustained in a loss Sunday at Chicago. The team said the injury to Langenbrunner, 36, will be re-evaluated in four weeks. Langenbrunner has four goals and 17 assists in 57 games.
• Tampa Bay Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier will be sidelined indefinitely because of an undisclosed upper-body injury. Lecavalier was hurt in last Saturday night’s 2-1 win over Washington, but remained in the game. He underwent tests Monday after departing practice early.
• The Lightning acquired a first-round pick in the 2012 draft and minor-league defenseman Sebastien Piche in a three-team trade that also involved Colorado and Detroit. Tampa Bay sent forward Steve Downie to the Avalanche for defenseman Kyle Quincey. The Lightning then dealt Quincey to the Red Wings for a first-round pick and Piche.
other
Former driver says charges ‘baseless’
• Former race car driver Jeremy Mayfield says the new criminal charges against him are “baseless” and suggests he’s the target of a conspiracy involving NASCAR and law enforcement officials. Indictments by a North Carolina grand jury released Monday charged Mayfield with three counts of possessing property stolen from businesses, and a fourth charge of obtaining property by false pretense.
• Colorado Rockies pitcher Joseph Torres was suspended for 50 games under baseball’s minor-league drug program for a positive test for an amphetamine. Torres is a former first-round draft pick who is on the roster of Triple-A Colorado Springs.
• Julia Mancuso of the United States and Alexis Pinturault of France dominated the parallel slalom World Cup races on a giant ramp in Moscow. Mancuso dominated Michaela Kirchgasser of Austria in both final runs in the only city event on the Alpine circuit this season. Overall World Cup leader Lindsey Vonn, who lost to Mancuso in the semifinals, finished third.
• Striker Kris Boyd, the Scottish Premier League’s all-time leading scorer, has joined Major League Soccer’s Portland Timbers. Boyd was signed by the Timbers in late January, but his arrival to Portland was delayed while he secured a visa. Boyd, 28, scored 164 goals in a total of 296 appearances in the SPL with Kilmarnock and Rangers.
• Nikolay Davydenko had nine aces and didn’t face a break point in a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Andreas Beck of Germany to reach the second round of the Open 13 in Marseille, France.
— From wire reports
