Fast Break: Oilers turn to Quinn as coach
HOCKEY
Oilers turn to Quinn as coach
The Edmonton Oilers have hired Pat Quinn as coach.
The 66-year-old Quinn has been out of the NHL since being fired as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs after the 2005-06 season.
The Oilers also hired former New York Rangers coach Tom Renney and former Oilers player Kelly Buchberger as assistant coaches.
Quinn replaces the fired Craig MacTavish. He also coached Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Toronto.
The Oilers were 11th in the Western Conference last season and failed to make the playoffs for the fifth time in the past seven seasons.
Baseball
Nominee ruled on baseball
Long before she was a Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor was an umpire between baseball players and team owners.
Her decision as a U.S. District Court judge to issue an injunction against owners on March 31, 1995, ended a 7 1/2 -month strike that had wiped out the World Series for the first time in 90 years.
“We thought it was well written, tightly reasoned,” union head Donald Fehr recalled Tuesday. “She had done her homework, ran a good courtroom. The experience we had there certainly would suggest that she would acquit herself well anywhere.”
When the National Labor Relations Board went to court that March 27 seeking an injunction forcing owners to restore free agent bidding, salary arbitration and the anti-collusion provisions of an expired collective bargaining agreement, Sotomayor’s name came out of the wheel.
She held a telephone conference call with the parties, decided witnesses weren’t necessary and scheduled oral arguments. After listening to lawyers for 90 minutes, she took 15 minutes to deliberate, then spent 45 minutes reading her decision, making clear the bulk of it had been prepared ahead of time.
Softball
UW’s Lawrie player of year
Washington’s Danielle Lawrie has been named USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year.
The Amateur Softball Association of America announced that honor Tuesday in Oklahoma City during the opening ceremonies for this year’s women’s softball College World Series.
The UW junior from Langley, British Columbia, beat out Florida pitcher Stacey Nelson and Arizona State outfielder Kaitlin Cochran for the award. They are both seniors.
Lawrie thanked her father, her teammates and her coach, Heather Tarr.
Lawrie has had a stellar season for the Huskies, establishing new single-season school records for wins (37), strikeouts (472) and shutouts (19). She has more than 1,300 career strikeouts.