Keenan resigns as Panthers G.M.
Mike Keenan spent the offseason assembling a roster that he believes could vault the Florida Panthers into playoff contention for the first time since 2000. However he won’t be around to see if his moves were good enough.
Keenan resigned Sunday as the Panthers’ general manager, stepping down after a little more than two years running the team’s day-to-day operations.
Panthers coach Jacques Martin, who came to the club with Keenan in May 2004, assumes the GM duties.
The Panthers first hired Keenan as coach in December 2001, then fired him 23 months later, after Florida won only 45 of 153 games played with him behind the bench. Keenan returned to the organization in May 2004, part of a two-pronged move that also brought Martin in as coach.
The former G.M. made some stirring moves in the past year. Most notably, he opted to trade All-Star goaltender Roberto Luongo to the Vancouver Canucks in June. Acquiring forward Todd Bertuzzi, defenseman Bryan Allen and goalie Alex Auld, insisting afterward that it was the best direction for the franchise.
Softball
U.S. continues to win
Jessica Mendoza hit two home runs to lead the United States to an 11-2 victory over Australia and extend its unbeaten streak (8-0) at the world softball championships in Beijing.
Stacey Nuveman, Andrea Duran and Crystl Bustos also homered to back the pitching of Catherine Osterman.
In other second-round games, Japan edged host China 1-0 in extra innings, Canada ousted Taiwan 3-2 and Italy eliminated Venezuela 2-1.
Soccer
U.S. loses in shootout
The United States finished fourth at the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Championship, losing 6-5 to Brazil on penalty kicks after a 0-0 tie in the third-place game in Moscow.
It marked the first time the Americans finished out of the top three in 10 FIFA’s women’s tournaments.
Miscellany
Powell dominates race
Asafa Powell led from start to finish to win the 100 meters in 9.86 seconds, joining two others in big paydays at the ISTAF meet in Berlin.
Jeremy Wariner and Sanya Richards also earned just under $250,000 each by winning their events.
•Kenyan James Kwambai took control at the nine-mile mark and held on to win the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach, Va.
Kwambai, the 2005 runner-up, ran the 13.1-mile course in 1 hour, 3 minutes, 30 seconds to beat countryman Evans Cheruiyot by 19 seconds. Edna Kiplagat, also from Kenya, won the women’s race in 1:11:08.
•Greenville resident George Hincapie won a national championship in his hometown. He rode in a 121-mile race through the streets of downtown Greenville with five grueling passes over Paris Mountain to secure the national road race title in the 2006 USA Cycling Pro Championships.