Baltimore Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow on Friday according to an industry source and multiple reports.

The 27-year old — who played in the 2024 All-Star game — suffered a right oblique injury early in spring training. As he was rehabbing from that injury, he experienced discomfort while throwing and was shut down from all baseball activities.

Westburg opted for a PRP injection on Feb. 20 and was ramping up his throwing progression in Florida before getting shut down earlier this month. He met with Dr. Neal ElAttrache and team doctors on Monday before deciding to have the surgery.

Since becoming a full-time starter for the Orioles in 2024, Westburg has been outstanding when he has been on the field. He posted a .792 OPS in 107 games in 2024, hitting 26 doubles, 18 home runs and driving in 63 runs. But he fractured his right hand after being hit by a pitch on July 31 and missed nearly two months.

Westburg saw time at second base and third base in 2023-24, but became the Orioles’ regular third baseman in 2025. He hit 17 home runs in 85 games, but suffered left hamstring, left index finger and right ankle injuries.

For his career, he owns a slash line of .264/.312/.456 with a .768 OPS in 260 games.

Westburg is regarded as an above-average fielder, with a career fielding percentage of .983.

Coby Mayo, 24, has seen the bulk of time at third base for the Orioles and he is slashing .174/.242/.321 in 37 games this season.

–Field Level Media

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Justin Thomas, Keegan Bradley and Cameron Young were put on the clock early in their second round at the PGA Championship, and they didn’t understand why they were singled out.

They were far from the only ones whose round was dragging. As Thomas argued, they weren’t holding up the group behind them — they were the ones being held up. The broadcast captured Thomas and Bradley pointing to the group ahead of them on the fourth hole at Aronimink Golf Club.

“The hard part to me with the whole pace of play thing is that you, there’s so much that goes into golf and there’s so much that goes into hole to hole,” Thomas said. .”.. Are you hitting it close? Are you able to tap it in, or you have to mark it? Stuff like that — are you holding the group up or are you not — to where it’s very hard to make that call. And we just didn’t agree with it, to be honest.”

Thomas and his group hustled on the ensuing hole, and officials took them off the clock. Multiple slow shots while a player is “on the clock” can result in a one-stroke penalty, but Thomas said he didn’t feel rushed.

“I backed off on my first shot being on the clock, even,” Thomas said. “It’s just, it’s so hard out here, and that’s the last thing I’m going to do is make a mistake because I feel like I’m rushing.

“If we were, for some reason, to get in a position where I was getting, we were getting bad times and we were continuing to be on, I would have had more discussions with the rules officials to kind of plead my case.”

For the second straight day at this major championship, rounds frequently exceeded five hours and sometimes hit 5 1/2. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Englishmen Justin Rose and Matt Fitzpatrick went out as a threesome at about 8:40 a.m. local time. They were wrapping up just after 2:10 p.m.

Scheffler and some of his peers pointed to the difficulty of the PGA of America’s pin locations as one factor slowing down play.

“You just got to continue to try to hit good shots, and most of the pins today were, I mean, kind of absurd,” Scheffler said after a 1-over 71 put him at 2 under for the championship.

“They were just so far into the areas where we thought the pins were going to be, and then they just — like the one on 14 was probably the hardest pin that I’ve seen in a long time just because, I mean, there’s literally just like a spine (in the green) and they’re like, ‘Oh, we’ll just put the pin right on top of it.’ And you’re like, ‘All right, well, I’ll see what I can do.'”

Chris Gotterup had similar feelings even after carding a 5-under 65.

“I don’t think it’s unfair, but I do think for pace of play and certain aspects, there have been a couple — you know, 14 today is probably aggressive, I will say,” Gotterup said. “You’re hitting a 4-iron to a 10-foot circle, and if it doesn’t go there, it’s off the green, and if you hit it 40 feet left, you have a very hard 2-putt.”

The issue also seems to include a logistical element. With 156 total players starting off the first and 10th tees — which share a tee box — some threesomes run into each other. Players leaving the eighth hole must cross through No. 11’s tee complex to get to the ninth tee.

“Back nine requires a little bit more quality, and pace of play was incredibly slow on the back,” Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard said Thursday. “We were two groups (waiting at a time) on a couple tee boxes. It was hard to get into a rhythm. Where, on the front nine, we were on the fly.”

The pace of play frequently crops up at majors with large fields, and it’s likely to be eased Saturday and Sunday following Friday’s 36-hole cut to the top 70 and ties.

–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media

United States Women’s National Team midfielder Sam Coffey is recovering after undergoing minor knee surgery earlier this week, her club team, Manchester City, announced Friday.

Manchester City didn’t elaborate on the nature of Coffey’s injury or the surgery. The team said Coffey would “work on recovery over the summer.”

Coffey, 27, left the NWSL’s Portland Thorns for Manchester City on an $875,000 transfer fee in January. She played in 10 games and helped Manchester City win the Women’s Super League Championship.

Coffey has scored five goals in 46 matches for the USWNT and is one of the team leaders. She helped the squad win the gold medal in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Coffey will miss games against Brazil on June 6 and June 9. She is expected to be fully recovered before World Cup qualifying begins in November.

Coffey played four seasons (2022-25) in Portland and had five goals and 17 assists in 98 matches. She helped the Thorns win the NWSL title in 2022.

–Field Level Media

GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) — Mike Brown was hired for this moment.

The New York Knicks already had a coach who could take them to the Eastern Conference finals — and they fired him immediately after.

Whoever replaced Tom Thibodeau would do so knowing he was inheriting a seat that was already warm, taking an undeniable win-now job where the only way he could demonstrate he made the team better was by reaching the NBA Finals. The pressure grew even more during the season, when the owner said he believed the Knicks should play for the title.

The expectations were clear, though Brown never needed to have them explained.

“People have talked about a mandate,” Brown said recently. “Like, I’m coaching to win, so it doesn’t matter what others say. I’m disappointed if we’re not in the finals and having a chance to win it.”

He has led the Knicks back to the conference finals, where they will play either Detroit or Cleveland. They were two losses from going home in the first round in what could have been a flop worthy of a firing. Instead, he changed some things, stuck with others, and the Knicks have reeled off seven straight wins, mostly in convincing fashion.

“He’s done a great job of adjusting our team to give us the best chance to win,” center Karl-Anthony Towns said, “and the spot we’re in now is because of his courage and the trust to change what we were doing and put us in a better position.”

Brown’s resume was certainly worthy of the job. He’s a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the latter as the first unanimous winner in 2023 after leading the Sacramento Kings to their first playoff appearance since 2006, ending what was the longest active drought in North American pro sports.

But there was going to be skepticism with any hire, in part because many people weren’t sure Thibodeau should’ve even been fired. The Knicks won just one playoff series between 2001 and his hiring in 2020, and he brought them to the postseason four times in five years, culminating last season with their first conference finals appearance in 25 years.

Yet the Knicks wanted a coach with a different style. Someone who would be the boss without being bossy. Someone who would make decisions about the team without the feeling that only he got to decide.

Brown gives everyone from the front office to the players a say.

“He’s always wanted to have open dialogue since day one,” captain Jalen Brunson said. “And obviously he’s still the coach and he’s going to make the decisions and everything. But I mean, we give our opinions, and whether they’re good or bad opinions, they’re talked about and they’re decided on later.”

Brown, of course, makes the final call. And the ones he made when the Knicks faced their only adversity thus far in the postseason clearly turned out right.

Mikal Bridges was off to a terrible start against Atlanta, and after he was scoreless in just 21 minutes in Game 3, there were cries for Brown to bench the guard who had started every game in his two seasons with the Knicks.

Brown stayed the course, and there’s no sitting Bridges down now. After scoring 24 points in the Game 6 finisher against the Hawks, he averaged 17.5 points on nearly 64% shooting in the sweep of Philadelphia, all while leading the defensive effort against 76ers star guard Tyrese Maxey.

The other decision was to have Brunson, his All-Star point guard, initiate less of the offense. Instead, the Knicks have run more by positioning Towns up high and letting him find cutters. His passing has opened up more space on the floor for Brunson and others to find easier shots.

Again, there was discussion before the decision. But, perhaps showing the players’ belief in Brown, it was apparently a short one.

“The dialogue was: ‘OK, let’s do it,’” Brunson said.

Brown led the Knicks to a 53-29 record, their best since 2012-13. Yet there were stretches of mediocrity after a strong start, and a distant third-place finish in the East despite a lineup headlined by two All-Stars felt underwhelming.

Brown responded by saying teams need to go through rocky times.

“He doesn’t listen to the outside noise and he doesn’t let that affect him,” forward Josh Hart said.

Brown said that’s easy to do. He worked on title-winning teams under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio and Steve Kerr with Golden State, and he remembers people complaining about them.

“So shoot, people can talk about Mike Brown for sure,” Brown said. “But it’s my job to ignore the noise and it’s easy for me to do that because the pressure that I put on myself, that the team puts on itself, to be great or to try to be the best team in the league doesn’t even match up with what everybody else says throughout the course of the year.”

Brown said his only focus all season has been winning a championship. The way his Knicks are playing now, there’s definitely a chance.

“The mandate and all that other stuff, like, that’s what I expect,” Brown said. “That’s what I want to do and hopefully it can happen, but who knows.”

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

The NFL’s decision to put the Kansas City Chiefs in primetime windows the first two weeks of the season wasn’t meant to be a hint on how fast Patrick Mahomes will recover from knee surgery.

Mahomes tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee on Dec. 14 and has said his goal is to be back in time for Week 1 of the season. The Chiefs host the Denver Broncos on “Monday Night Football” to open the season on Sept. 14 and then play Indianapolis at home on Sunday night in Week 2.

“We didn’t know anything more than anyone else,” NFL executive Hans Schroeder said Friday.

Coach Andy Reid said on NFL Network on Friday that the NFL didn’t talk to him about Mahomes’ status, but is encouraged by what he has seen so far early in the offseason program.

“He’s doing great right now and that’s kind of how you gotta go about this,” Reid said. “People go ‘well, he’s ahead of schedule.’ Who made the schedule? Everybody’s different, let’s just take it day by day. Nobody is spending more time than he is rehabbing, he spends seven hours here going through it. He hasn’t missed a day and he wants more, all the things that are Patrick Mahomes. Let’s see where we are at as we go forward as we get a little bit closer to the game.”

Schroeder said he was “excited” about Reid’s comments and said that the Chiefs remained a popular team among the broadcasters as evidenced by their six primetime games, including a Thanksgiving night showdown against Buffalo that is typically one of the most-anticipated matchups of the season.

Kansas City, which went 6-11 and missed the playoffs last season after making three straight Super Bowl trips, also has five additional games slotted in the high-profile late afternoon Sunday doubleheader window.

“The Chiefs are an incredible story,” Schroeder said. “They’re one of the most popular teams in the league right now. They’ve been on an incredibly successful run for a number of years now, and have built a hugely popular fan base. We went into the year planning to play the Chiefs in the same number of windows. We didn’t know anything more than then you did, but we’re certainly hoping Patrick would be back Week 1. … We felt really good about it and certainly feel better after seeing Andy’s comments this morning with how Patrick’s rehab’s going.”

With Labor Day falling later this year and the NFL wanting to play a Week 1 game in Australia, the opener was moved to a Wednesday for the second time in league history.

That might not be a one-off.

The league announced a new deal with Netflix through 2029 that guarantees the streamer a Week 1 game in addition to the traditional opening game on NBC for the defending Super Bowl champion. Schroeder said that could lead to a Wednesday start to the season again.

The 2026 season opens on Wednesday Sept. 9 with Seattle hosting New England on NBC, followed by a game on Netflix the next night in the United States between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers. That game will kick off on Friday morning in Australia.

“I think you’ll see us certainly playing on a couple nights, weekday nights to start the year going forward,” Schroeder said.

The NFL played an international game in Week 1 on a Friday night the previous two seasons but can’t play again on Friday night in Week 1 until 2029 because of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 that prohibits the league from televising games on Friday night starting with the second Friday of September. The Friday of Week 1 will be on the second Friday of September again in both 2027 and 2028.

The only other time before this season that the first game of the NFL season was played on a Wednesday came in 2012 when the Dallas Cowboys visited the New York Giants. The game was moved from its usual Thursday spot that year because President Barack Obama was set to speak that night at the Democratic National Convention.

The opening game in Australia gave a heavy load in terms of travel to both the 49ers and Rams.

San Francisco will set a record this season with about 38,000 miles traveled thanks to the far-flung opener and a “home” game in Mexico City in Week 11 against Minnesota. Los Angeles is close behind with about 35,000 miles traveled this upcoming season.

The two teams will return home on Friday Sept. 11, giving them a little extra time before playing Week 2. The Rams get an extra day because they will host a Monday night game against the New York Giants before back-to-back road games at Denver and Philadelphia.

Niners coach Kyle Shanahan publicly complained about the heavy travel at the league meetings earlier this offseason and general manager John Lynch said the NFL would make some considerations for them.

San Francisco will play three straight home games following the Week 1 trip and won’t leave the Pacific Time Zone again until a trip to Atlanta in Week 7. The Niners also avoided having games on either Thanksgiving or Christmas after playing on both holidays in 2023.

“I’m sure wave a magic wand, they would move a game or two on their schedule,” NFL VP of NFL broadcast planning Mike North said. “But I assume the same is true for the other 31 teams as well. We were sensitive, we were cognizant, and think we landed in a fair place, not just for the Niners and the Rams, but hopefully for everybody.”

The days of every NFL team being guaranteed a primetime game are in the past with five teams failing to get a game in one of those high-profile windows this season.

Tennessee, Miami, Arizona, the Las Vegas Raiders and the New York Jets were all given no primetime games in the initial schedule. Those teams are five of the bottom six in terms of odds to win the Super Bowl this season after the Dolphins won seven games last season and the other four teams went 3-14.

Barring one of the teams getting flexed into a primetime window late in the season, this would be the first time since 2011 that five teams didn’t get a single primetime game.

None of those five teams has an island game in another window either.

Even the addition of Heisman Trophy winning quarterback and No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza wasn’t enough to get the Raiders into primetime.

This marks the second straight season that the team that picked a quarterback No. 1 overall didn’t make primetime with the Titans getting no games last season after taking Cam Ward first overall.

“Not to be flippant, but we don’t draft our way into primetime. We play our way into primetime,” North said.

The issue of rest disparity has gotten a lot of attention in recent years even though the NFL says its data shows the focus is overblown.

This season has a few major outliers with both the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia playing four games against teams coming off bye weeks, while 14 teams don’t do it even once. The Raiders and Los Angeles Rams each have three games against teams coming off a bye.

The Chargers will have 22 fewer days of rest than their opponents this season, the biggest discrepancy since the 2012 Eagles were at minus-23, according to ESPN.

“Rest disparity is not a thing,” North said. “You do not have a competitive advantage when you’re coming off your bye. You certainly don’t have a competitive advantage when you’re one day or two day or three days more well rested. If that data suggests that there’s a there, we will adjust.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Dustin Johnson is content to compete in the PGA Championship this weekend — and that’s about as far as he’s willing to look ahead.

When asked where he will be in 2027 in the wake of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund’s announcement that it will no longer back LIV Golf beyond this year, Johnson didn’t have much of an answer.

“I think Scott’s doing a good job,” Johnson said of LIV CEO Scott O’Neil. “I think your guess is as good as mine with what happens next year.”

In January, LIV Golf announced a multi-year extension with Johnson, the 4Aces GC captain and two-time major champion.

A 24-time winner on the PGA Tour, Johnson was one of the first players to defect for LIV Golf and became the Saudi-backed circuit’s first season champion in 2022. Johnson, 41, won the U.S. Open in 2016 and the Masters in 2020.

Johnson carded an even-par 70 on Friday that included three birdies against three bogeys. That followed an opening-round 72 to place him at 2-over-par 142 for the tournament.

“I’m happy with my game, honestly,” Johnson told reporters. “Not very thrilled with my driver. Everything else feels really good. I’m rolling it well, short game is good and obviously it’s difficult around these greens. It’s hard to judge the last few shots I hit, seemed really nice and that I hit better shots than where they ended up.

“But it’s just tough. Everybody’s dealing with it. The wind will be blowing and then all of a sudden all the way down a little bit, and that’s the difference 10 or 15 yards out here and that’s a big deal.”

–Field Level Media

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — As Chris Gotteurp ambled around Aronimink Golf Club on Day 2 of the PGA Championship, his play gave the impression that he possessed some course knowledge.

In fact, Gotterup had never seen Aronimink before Monday. He just feels at home in this neck of the woods, flighting shots into the wind on a brisk Friday morning.

“I slept in my own bed on Sunday, so I take that as a win when I can get it,” Gotterup said. “You know, it’s nice to be back wearing a sweatshirt and being in the Northeast.”

The native of Little Silver, N.J., less than two hours east of here on the Jersey Shore, carded a 5-under-par 65 to leap up the leaderboard during the second round of the PGA Championship. As of Friday afternoon, no other player has shot better than a 67 this week.

Gotterup will take a score of 3-under 137 into the weekend, very much in the mix for a major title. The 26-year-old, who’s won four times since earning his PGA Tour card in 2024, will make the cut at a fourth consecutive major.

He took many by surprise last summer after going toe to toe with Rory McIlroy to win the Scottish Open, then contending all week at Royal Portrush and placing third at the Open Championship.

“I feel like, if I’m playing well, I can compete anywhere,” Gotterup said Friday. “That’s no different here. But I think it’s just hard to say what (the Open) did for me other than build confidence. I felt like I played some of my best golf maybe ever as a pro that week, and I came in third.

“So like it’s just one of those things where you just got to keep — I feel like you got to keep putting yourself in position, and you hope that one day it breaks through and it was your time. But as long as you can keep putting yourself there, I think that’s all you can do.”

Maybe high winds are the common denominator between the British Isles and the Philadelphia suburbs this week.

Wind gusts of around 30 mph have complicated some already diabolical pin positions laid out by the PGA of America. While Gotterup’s first three birdie putts were bombs from 26 1/2, 23 and 20 feet at Nos. 11, 17 and 3, he dialed in some tight approaches on his way to birdieing the last three holes of his round.

At the par-4 seventh, his 100-yard pitch shot stopped 2 feet from the pin despite the wind. Then came the par-3 eighth, the hardest-playing hole this week. Faced with a sand-protected front-right flag, Gotterup landed his tee shot less than 5 feet away.

“Even if it’s a generic shot, if it’s blowing 30 off the right, you’ve got to be able to craft something that is manageable to get it in the middle of the green,” Gotterup said.

“I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better since turning pro at being OK with hitting it to 30 feet being a good shot, and I think there’s a lot of that out here. So I think there’s a lot of aspects of being patient, and I feel like I’ve gotten better at that, but also just being creative and being willing to execute a shot that might, you know, you might not try and pull off in a normal week.”

Gotterup, a Rutgers grad, said his parents were in attendance Friday and his girlfriend and her family came to each of the first two rounds, along with a few buddies.

“So it’s been fun in that respect. It makes it feel a little bit more like you’re at home,” Gotterup said. “For how much we’re on the road, you don’t get to feel that that much.”

His family and friends can see firsthand how Gotterup is feeling more at home at the top of major leaderboards.

“Every tournament that I’ve won has been a challenge. So hopefully give myself a challenge come Sunday,” Gotterup said. “I’m just trying to put myself there … and if it comes through, great, and if not, I’ll learn from it.”

–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media

Quinn Hughes made a tremendous impact during his half season in Minnesota, and the standout defenseman is interested in a contract extension with the Wild.

The older brother of New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes made headlines when he was traded from the Vancouver Canucks to the Wild on Dec. 12, 2025.

A captain with the Canucks, Quinn Hughes did not disappoint in Minnesota, amassing 53 points (five goals, 48 assists) in 48 games. He also led the NHL in ice-time average in the regular season (27:44 per game).

Hughes continued his production in the postseason, putting up 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in 11 games and a plus-10 rating. He led Minnesota to a first-round upset of second-seeded Dallas before the Colorado Avalanche ousted the Wild in five games.

“I really like it here. I would definitely be open to re-signing. We’ll see what (general manager) Billy (Guerin) wants to do,” Hughes said Friday. “We’re 36 hours removed (from elimination). I’m not sure I’m ready to get into details, what they would look like.”

Hughes will be entering the final season of his six-year, $47.1 million deal, but can sign an extension with Minnesota on July 1.

All three Hughes’ brothers (Luke is a defenseman with the Devils) are represented by agent Pat Brisson. Jack is signed through 2030 and there has been speculation that Quinn would sign a three-year deal so both brothers could sign with the same team in advance of the 2030-31 season.

“Between brothers, there’s so many conversations. But we haven’t had any specific (conversations) about this,” Brisson said. “Those are possibilities. I’m not going to deny the fact.”

Hughes plans on remaining in Minnesota for at least part of the summer as he decompresses from a year with three teams, including his stint as a member of the gold-medal winning United States Olympic ice hockey squad.

“I think I can say that I really like it here,” Hughes said of Minnesota. “I love the team. I love the city and the fans. Just being in that locker room, it’s a special group. It’s an amazing state, so passionate about hockey.

“From a mental aspect, a lot has happened this year. I never let myself process it or let my hair down a little bit,” he said. “It’ll be nice to just go home, process the whole year and get some rest.”

–Field Level Media

Charles Woodson Jr., a three-star safety in the Class of 2027 and son of Michigan legend Charles Woodson, will carry on the family name with the Wolverines.

He shared a message announcing his commitment to Michigan on Instagram on Friday.

The younger Woodson plays at Lake Nona High School in Orlando. The 247Sports composite also lists him as the No. 49 player in talent-rich Florida and No. 82 at his position.

He had 21 offers, two-thirds of them from power-conference programs.

247Sports called Woodson an “impact player” at Lake Nona. As a junior in 2025, he made 73 tackles, broke up eight passes and intercepted two, and made one fumble recovery. On special teams, he returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

Woodson Jr. has a lot to live up to at Michigan.

His father played in Ann Arbor from 1995-97 after being named Ohio’s Player of the Year as a high school senior.

The starting cornerback in 1995, he had a team-leading five interceptions and was named Big Ten Freshman of the year and first-team All-Big Ten.

As a sophomore, and at the request of head coach Lloyd Carr, he added in some plays at wide receiver but remained known as a cornerback. That season, he set the Michigan record for pass breakups (15) and gained 316 yards receiving and rushing on offense. He earned Associated Press first-team All-America honors.

In 1997, Woodson led Michigan to an undefeated regular season and its first national championship (shared with Nebraska) since the 1948 team — and the last one until Jim Harbaugh’s 2023 team won the College Football Playoff title. Woodson won the Heisman Trophy ahead of Peyton Manning of Tennessee. Until Travis Hunter, a two-way player at Colorado who won the Heisman in 2024, no defender had been honored since Woodson.

He went on to a Pro Football Hall of Fame career with the Raiders and Packers, playing 18 seasons.

–Field Level Media

Manon Rheaume is carrying over her trailblazing women’s hockey career into a front office role in being hired as the general manager of the PWHL’s expansion team in Detroit, the league announced on Friday.

The Canadian Olympian goaltender, and first woman to appear in an exhibition game of any of North America’s four major sports, has spent the past four years working in the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings hockey operations department. And Rheaume’s hiring represents a homecoming for the 54-year-old, who spent 11 years in a developmental role for the Detroit-based Little Caesars youth hockey girls’ program.

“She brings an unmatched resume, a championship mindset and a lifelong commitment to growing the women’s game,” said Jayna Hefford, PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations, who oversees the hiring process.

“Her experience at every level of hockey, combined with her leadership and vision, makes her the perfect person to lead PWHL Detroit into its inaugural season,” Hefford added.

Rheaume’s hiring comes a little more than a week after the league announced Detroit as an expansion team. The PWHL has since added two more franchises in Las Vegas and Hamilton, Ontario, and is planning make one more addition in growing to a 12-team league for next season.

Of the PWHL’s nine GMs now in place, seven are women.

“I’m incredibly honored to join the PWHL and help build something special in Detroit,” Rheaume said. “The city has such a deep hockey tradition, and the passion for hockey here is truly special.”

Among her first duties is preparing for an expansion free-agent signing process tentatively scheduled to begin on May 28, followed by the league’s draft, which will be held in Detroit on June 17.

Rheaume is from Beauport, Quebec, and began making her international mark in the early 1990s by signing with Trois-Rivieres of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. In 1992, she tried out for the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, and allowed two goals on nine shots in one period of a preseason game against St. Louis. A year later, she made a second preseason game appearance against Boston.

Rheaume went on to win a silver medal representing Canada at the 1998 Nagano Games, the first to feature a women’s tournament. She also won gold medals at the 1992 and ’94 world championships.

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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey