Windspeaker sports briefs

Americans hire Nolan
He's back.
Ted Nolan, an Ojibway from the Garden River First Nation near Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., has returned to the professional hockey ranks, and this time around his departure from the pros was nowhere near as long as before.
Nolan, a former National Hockey League player and coach, was hired by the American Hockey League's Rochester Americans on July 1 to be their vice-president of hockey operations.
Nolan will be working for another Aboriginal in Rochester. The Americans are owned by Curt Styres, a successful businessman from Six Nations, Ont.
Nolan was not allowed to work for another pro hockey organization this past year. After serving two out of the three years of his head coaching contract, Nolan was fired by the NHL's New York Islanders in the summer of '08. But a clause in his contract prevented him from signing with another organization until July 1 of this year, the same day his deal with the Rochester franchise was announced.
The Americans are the top affiliate club of the NHL's Florida Panthers.
Nolan is undoubtedly thrilled he didn't have to wait for years for another pro hockey job, like he had done earlier in his career.
After spending one season as an assistant coach for the NHL's Hartford Whalers during the 1994-95 season, Nolan was hired to be the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres.
He spent the following two seasons with the Sabres and captured the Jack Adams Award, annually presented to the NHL's top coach, following the '96-97 campaign.
Nolan left the Sabres' organization that off-season after a dispute with management.
He didn't return to the NHL until 2006 when he was hired by the Islanders.
In his new position, Nolan has plenty of work to do. Though the Americans are one of the AHL's most storied franchises, they are coming off a disappointing campaign.
Rochester had a 29-43-0-8 season, the second worst mark in the 29-team league.

Former Olympian dies
Roseanne Allen, a former Aboriginal Olympian, died on June 20 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. She was 55.
Allen, a cross-country skier, was one of the first Aboriginal women to represent Canada at the Winter Olympics.
She represented the country at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. Her teammates included two other Aboriginal skiers, sisters Shirley and Sharon Firth.
They were believed to be the first Aboriginals to represent Canada in the Winter Olympics. Allen, who was born in Aklavik, N.W.T., had been living in Sault Ste. Marie since 1988.
During the '72 Olympics, Allen, who was a member of the Gwich'in First Nation, helped the Canadian women's team to a 10th place finish in its three-person five-kilometre race.
Allen had also made history four years earlier in 1968. When she was just 13, she became the youngest person to win a gold medal in the five-kilometre race at the Canadian junior championships.

Aboriginal team at worlds
An Aboriginal women's lacrosse squad had some impressive showings at its world debut.
The Iroquois Confederacy club, which was dubbed Haudenosaunee, competed at the women's World Cup tournament.
The event, which ran June 17 to 27, was staged in Prague, Czech Republic.
This marked the eighth time a women's World Cup championship had been staged. A tournament high of 16 squads participated in this year's event.
But since this was the first time they had competed in the championship, the Haudenosaunee team, comprised of players from Canada and the United States, did not get to face traditional powers in the sport.
The Haudenosaunee club was not able to see how it stacks up against teams from Canada, the United States or Australia.
Instead, for its round-robin matches the Haudenosaunee team was placed in a pool with Austria and Denmark, two other nations that were making their World Cup debut.
The Haudenosaunee side blanked Austria 20-0 in its contest and also handily downed Denmark 16-2.
The Haudenosaunee team then played four playoff games at the tournament. It ended up with an official 11th-place finish after beating New Zealand 18-6 in its final match.
In an earlier playoff match, the Haudenosaunee club downed Netherlands 16-2.
As for its two playoff losses, the Haudenosaunee team was beaten 12-6 by Ireland and 12-7 by the host Czech Republic entry.
The U.S. won the gold medal, edging Australia 8-7 in the championship match. Canada also returned home with a medal, beating England 14-9 in the bronze battle.