No charges in death of NHL goalie who died on July 4
No criminal charges will be filed in the fireworks-related death of Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks at a Detroit-area home during a July 4 celebration, the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office said.
The death has officially been ruled accidental, and the case is now closed, the office said.
The accident occurred Sunday, July 4, at the Novi home of Manny Legace, who was Kivlenieks’ goalie coach with Columbus. Kivlenieks, 24, died of chest trauma from an errant fireworks mortar blast. Police have said the firework tilted slightly and started to fire toward people nearby. Kivlenieks was in a hot tub and was trying to move out of the way of the firework when he was struck. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
ELSEWHERE WNBA gets high marks for diversity
A diversity report has awarded the WNBA high grades again when it comes to racial- and gender-hiring practices.
The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at Central Florida issued an A-plus to the WNBA for the league’s overall, racial and gender grades for the 2021 season. The letter grades matched the previous season’s report and marked the 17th straight year that the league earned at least an A in all three categories.
Soccer: Mohamed Salah scored twice as Liverpool won 4-1 at local rival Everton in the Premier League to become the first topflight English team to score at least twice in 18 straight matches in all competitions.
Third-place Liverpool stayed two points behind leader Chelsea, a 2-1 winner over Watford, and a point behind Manchester City, which beat Aston Villa 2-0, in what looks like a three-way fight for the title.
⏩ Paris Saint-Germain’s fourgame winning streak ended with a 0-0 draw against Nice in the French league.
⏩ Karim Benzema scored a firsthalf winner as Real Madrid edged Athletic Bilbao 1-0 to extend its winning streak to seven and increase its lead in the Spanish league to seen points over Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad.
Tennis: Novak Djokovic won his singles and doubles matches to lead Serbia into the semifinals of the Davis Cup Finals with a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Kazakhstan in Madrid, Spain.
The top-ranked Djokovic beat Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-4, then teamed up with Nikola Cacic in the deciding doubles for a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov.
Serbia reached the last four for the first time since 2017 and will face Croatia, which got past Italy on Monday.
Obituary: LaMarr Hoyt, who won the 1983 AL Cy Young Award with the Chicago White Sox, died at 66 in his hometown of Columbia, S.C., following a lengthy illness.
Hoyt went 98-68 with a 3.99 ERA in eight years in the majors. He also had 48 career complete games, including eight shutouts, and 10 saves.
The 6-foot-3 right-hander was the 1985 All-Star Game MVP, pitching three innings of one-run ball in the National League’s 6-1 victory over the AL. That year with San Diego was the only All-Star selection of his career.