John Tortorella named coach of Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks hired John Tortorella to be their new coach Tuesday. Tortorella was fired by the New York Rangers after they lost to the Boston Bruins in the playoffs in five games.

Tortorella, 55, replaces former Canucks coach Alain Vigneault, who took over as the Rangers coach last week.

Tortorella has been an NHL coach since 2001. He led the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup championship in 2004.

Tortorella led the Rangers to the playoffs three times in five seasons. “To be involved with this, I couldn’t be more excited,” he said. “It’s always something I thought about and wanted the opportunity.”

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The Philadelphia Flyers are buying out the remainder of goalie Ilya Bryzgalov’s contract, saving the team nearly $6 million under the salary cap for each of the next seven years. Bryzgalov was two seasons into a $51 million, nine-year contract he signed in 2011.

Etc.: Oregon to hear NCAA decision

The Oregon Ducks are about to hear the NCAA’s decision on possible recruiting violations. The NCAA’s Division I Committee on Infractions will release a public report on the findings of its investigation and any possible sanctions against Oregon’s football program Wednesday morning. The NCAA has been looking into payments Oregon made to recruiting services, including $25,000 to Willie Lyles and Houston-based Complete Scouting Services in 2011. Lyles had a connection with an Oregon recruit.

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Demanding better public services and angered by World Cup costs, about 100,000 people are expected at a protest Wednesday before Brazil plays Uruguay in the Confederations Cup semifinals. Local officials have declared a holiday in Belo Horizonte and authorities say they are expecting confrontations with the demonstrators. Spain faces Italy on Thursday in the other semifinal.

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Mexico was on the brink of an early exit from the Under-20 World Cup after losing, 1-0, to Paraguay, while newcomer El Salvador stunned Australia, 2-1, at Istanbul. Colombia, meanwhile, got its campaign on track with a 1-0 win over host Turkey. The victory moves the South American champions to the top of Group C following a disappointing opening draw against Australia. The win also denied Turkey an early chance to advance.

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Carlos Tevez’s turbulent Manchester City career is coming to an end after the English Premier League club agreed to sell the Argentina striker to Italian club Juventus in a transfer worth up to $18.5 million.

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The Denver Nuggets officially introduced Brian Shaw as their coach, giving Shaw his first head coaching job. Shaw steps in for George Karl, the NBA coach of the year who was ousted after the team won a franchise-record 57 games, only to be bounced from the first round of the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. Shaw is a longtime assistant who has interviewed about a dozen times for head coaching positions but kept coming up short until Monday.

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Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew will not be charged in connection with an alleged bar fight last month. The Florida State Attorney’s Office filed an “announcement of no information” Tuesday, saying “based on the facts and the law, the state cannot establish the charge beyond and to the exclusion of all reasonable doubt.” Jones-Drew had been accused of punching a bouncer at a restaurant/bar in St. Augustine over Memorial Day weekend.

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Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown has canceled a speaking engagement with NFL rookies because of an illness. Brown, 77, had been scheduled to conduct a history lesson for AFC rookies on Wednesday at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

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Less than three months before the IOC vote, Tokyo received the most praise Tuesday in a technical assessment of the three cities bidding for the 2020 Olympics. The IOC evaluation report said Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid all offer “high quality” bids and present their own “unique approach” to hosting the Summer Games.

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Frank Stranahan, winner of the 1958 Los Angeles Open at Rancho Park, has died. He was 90. As an amateur, he was a runner-up in the 1947 Masters to Jimmy Demaret, finished one shot behind Fred Daly at Hoylake in the 1947 British Open and was a runner-up to Ben Hogan at Carnoustie in the 1953 British Open.