SPORTS DIGEST || Former NHL President John Ziegler dies at 84

MacEachern, Phantoms beat Fighting Saints

Youngstown

Connor MacEachern scored twice as the Youngstown Phantoms won their second game in three tries after going winless in the first five games.

MacEachern scored two first-period goals as teh Phantoms built a 3-1 lead at the first intermission.

Matthew DeMelis, Trevor Kuntar Gianfranco Cassaro and Craig Needham also scored for the Phantoms (2-6-0-1).

Michael Feenstra, Ty Jackson and Matias Maccelli scored for Dubuque as the Fightings Saints (4-3-1-1) dropped their second consecutive game.

The Phantoms won’t play again until they host the Central Illinois Flying Aces on Friday at the Covelli Centre.

YSU volleyball swept by Green Bay at home

Youngstown

Margaux Thompson posted 12 kills and 13 digs as the Youngstown State volleyball team fell 3-0 to Horizon League-leading Green Bay on Friday evening at Beeghly Center. The set scores were 25-19, 25-20, 25-20.

Thompson was the only player in the match to finish with a double-double as the Penguins (7-17, 1-10 Horizon League) lost their eighth straight. Erin Kalahar had six kills, and Sarah Varcolla recorded a match-best six blocks.

Green Bay, which won its 10th straight match, got 14 kills from Taylor Wolf and 10 from Ashley Sledge.

Youngstown State will wrap up its four-match homestand on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Milwaukee.

Former NHL President John Ziegler dies at 84

Former NHL President John Ziegler Jr. has died at 84.

The NHL confirmed Ziegler’s death in a statement by Commissioner Gary Bettman. Ziegler was living in Florida. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Ziegler oversaw the league’s merger with the World Hockey Association and was eventually ousted following the NHL’s first labor disruption during his 15-year tenure.

Ziegler was the NHL’s fourth president, succeeding Clarence Campbell in 1977. Two years later, the NHL merged with the WHA by adding four teams from the upstart league, including the Edmonton Oilers.

Bettman lauded Ziegler for helping the NHL become an international league by increasing the number of European players and opening the door for Russians to compete in North America.

Ex-Wimbledon junior champ Reid, 34, dies

MELBOURNE, Australia

Tennis Australia has confirmed 2002 Wimbledon junior singles champion Todd Reid has died. He was 34.

Australian media reported Friday that Reid died Tuesday and that there were no suspicious circumstances.

Reid turned pro in 2002 after winning the junior Wimbledon title and was the No. 3 player in Australia behind Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis for the next several years.

His best year was in 2004, when he made it to the third round of the Australian Open, losing to eventual champion Roger Federer in straight sets. Reid achieved a career-high ATP Tour ranking of 105 the same year.

Reid quit tennis in 2005 after a series of injuries and illness.

Mets’ Yoenis Cespedes has heel operation

NEW YORK

Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes has undergone heel surgery, the second of two foot operations the team hopes will enable him to return at some point next year.

The team said Friday the operation to remove bone calcification in the left heel was done in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Robert Anderson also operated on Cespedes’ right heel Aug. 2.

The 33-year-old slugger was limited to 38 games this year and hit .262 with nine homers and 29 RBIs. He missed two months after a May 13 game at Philadelphia with what the Mets said was a strained right hip flexor.

Staff/wire reports