Simon Suspended for Slur

Chris Simon, a Native American with the Washington Capitals, was suspended indefinitely by the NHL on Sunday amid accusations he shouted a racial slur at a African American player on the Edmonton Oilers.

Simon made the remark to Mike Grier at the end of the Capital-Oiler game Saturday night in Landover, Md., several players and two on-ice officials said.

The league did not disclose what was said by Simon who honors his Ojibwa Tribe heritage with long hair and a tattoo.

“That’s what was strange to me, that it was someone who has his background and race,” Grier said Sunday night.

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Detroit Red Wing defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov was released from a Detroit hospital Sunday, nearly five months after suffering head injuries in a crash that had left him comatose.

Konstantinov will accompany his family to Florida to continue rehabilitation from the June 13 crash.

Chauffeur Richard Gnida was convicted of driving the limousine with a suspended license and was sentenced to nine months in jail last week. The crash which left Konstantinov and team masseur Sergei Mnatsakanov in comas for several weeks.

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Seven days after being charged with assaulting his wife, Carolina goaltender Sean Burke broke his public silence on the matter, saying he pulled her hair and pushed her on a couch--but never struck her. “I did not hit my wife and I’ve never hit my wife,” Burke said. “Yes, we’ve had some wrestling matches in the past.”

Burke, jailed on a misdemeanor assault charge after police were called to his home in Raleigh, N.C., said he spent three nights out of the house but has returned.