Jan 13, 2022 4 min read

Penguins’ Jarry to all-star game

Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry has been selected for the NHL All-Star Game. Jarry will represent the Metropolitan Division.

Forward Jake Guentzel has been named the Penguins’ “Last Men In” candidate. The final skater for each division will be chosen via fan voting through Monday at NHL.com/Vote. The four “Last Men In” winners will be announced Tuesday.

The NHL All-Star Game will be a 3-on-3 tournament between the four NHL divisions, and will be held Feb. 5 at in Las Vegas.

In wrestling

Beth-Center was strong in the middle and upper weights and defeated Mount Pleasant 43-24 in a Class 2A match Thursday night.

Kyle McCollum (132), Tyler Debnar (145), Trevor Pettit (160), Jacob Layhue (172), Alston Csutoros (189) and Josh Deems (heavyweight) each had a fall for the Bulldogs.

Of Mount Pleasant’s 24 points, 18 came on forfeits. The Vikings won only two of the bouts that were contested.

• Jefferson-Morgan did not lose a weight class under 172 pounds, sparking the Rockets to a 41-18 victory over visiting Washington in a Class 2A match Thursday night.

It was the Rockets’ third match in as many nights, and their third win.

Johnny Gilbert (160) and Adam McAnany (189) had pins for J-M and Chase Frameli (152) was a winner by technical fall.

Texans fire coach

The Houston Texans have fired coach David Culley after just one season, a person familiar with the decision told the Associated Press.

His firing comes days after Houston closed out a 4-13 season with a 28-25 loss to Tennessee.

Olympic hockey team roster set

College players make up more than half of the U.S. Olympic hockey roster for Beijing, a significant increase from 2018 when the NHL also opted not to participate.

USA Hockey unveiled its 25-man roster Thursday with 15 players from college, headlined by 2021 No. 2 pick Matty Beniers of the Seattle Kraken and 2020 No. 5 pick Jake Sanderson of the Ottawa Senators. Brendan Brisson, a Michigan teammate of Beniers and a 2020 first-round pick of the Vegas Golden Knights, also was named to the team.

The U.S. skewed younger than four years ago when Troy Terry, Ryan Donato, Jordan Greenway and Will Borgen were the only NCAA players on a team made up of mostly older professionals playing in Europe. Donato led the U.S. in goals, Terry in assists, Greenway was one of the top all-around performers during the tournament and their contributions raised the trust level this time around for leaning on more college players.

Super Bowl staying in California

With the Super Bowl just one month away, preparations are in full swing for the return of the NFL’s premier event to the place where it all started.

And both NFL officials and local organizers say the championship game isn’t leaving the Los Angeles area.

The NFL has no plans to move the Super Bowl to Arlington, Texas, or anywhere else despite the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and the accompanying health precautions in California, several officials confirmed Thursday at SoFi Stadium during a media event held to mark one month before the 56th edition of the Super Bowl on Feb. 13.

In baseball

The independent Atlantic League is restoring its pitching mound to 60 feet, 6 inches from home plate and returning strike zone judgement to umpires after experimenting with moving the rubber back a foot and using an automatic ball-strike system.

The automated ball-strike (ABS) system debuted in the Atlantic League for the second half of the 2019 season and has since been tested and tweaked in the affiliated Low A Southeast league. The so-called robo-umps might still one day make it to the majors, although a move to ABS there doesn’t seem imminent.

The 61-foot, 6-inch mound appears dead. Neither the data nor feedback from players or coaches in the Atlantic League last season suggest the extra foot had much effect.

The Atlantic League will continue to use larger, 17-inch bases; anti-shift rules; and a change to extra innings that puts runners at first and second to begin the first inning after regulation and then loads the bases for innings after that.

The league also said in a statement Thursday that it will announce other rules experiments for 2022 later this spring.