Al Arbour, who coached the New York Islanders to four consecutive Stanley Cup championships and ranks as the NHL’s second-most winningest coach, has died, team officials announced Friday. He was 82. The cause of death is unclear, though Arbour was battling Parkinson’s disease and dementia. He had been living in Florida. Arbour transitioned from a successful 14-season NHL playing career as a defenseman to become one of the league’s all-time best coaches. Beginning in 1973-74, Arbour led the Isles to 15 playoff appearances and won 119 playoff games — an NHL record with one team — over 19 seasons. His 740 career regular-season victories with the Islanders are the most with one NHL team. He retired after the 1993-94 season, before returning to coach his 1,500th game with New York on Nov. 3, 2007. Arbour was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996. Overall, he had a 782-577-223 record, including three seasons coaching the St. Louis Blues, and ranks second on the NHL victory list behind Scotty Bowman. Arbour was born in Sudbury, Ontario, and broke into the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings during the 1953-54 season. He won Stanley Cup titles with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1962 and 1964, as well as with Detroit in 1954 and Chicago in 1961. He retired following the 1970-71 season after four years in St. Louis. He is survived by his wife Claire, and four children.
TRACK AND FIELD
Jamaican nabs title
Danielle Williams, 22, of Jamaica won an unexpected world championship title Friday in the 100-meter hurdles in Beijing in a personal best time of 12.57 seconds. Cindy Roleder of Germany and Alina Talay of Belarus took silver and bronze — the kind of podium very few could have predicted. Defending champion Brianna Rollins was 0.01 out of the medals in fourth, and Sharika Nelvis (Arkansas State) was last despite having the world-leading time of 12.34. Dawn Harper-Nelson, who won Olympic gold at the Bird’s Nest in 2008 and silver in London in 2012, crashed over the second hurdle in the semifinals, moments before Kendra Harrison was disqualified for a false start. American women had the five fastest times in the world this year, and had won half of the previous 14 world titles — only ever missing out on medals three previous times.
TENNIS
Safarova advances
• Fourth-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic held off lucky-loser Lesia Tsurenko of the Ukraine 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) on Friday in the Connecticut Open semifinals at New Haven. Second-seeded defending champion Petra Kvitova, also from the Czech Republic, faced third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the second semifinal. Safarova, from the Czech Republic, had a 4-1 leads in the second before Tsurenko rallies. “I started to rush a little bit and I was not really concentrating in the moment,” Safarova said. “She started pressing me and the whole momentum started to shift.” Safarova took a 5-4 lead, but Tsurenko, who replaced top-seeded Simona Halep in the field after losing in qualifying, staved off elimination and took a 6-5 lead.
• French qualif ier Pierre-Hughes Herbert advanced to the Winston-Salem Open final, beating 13th-seeded Steve Johnson of the U.S. 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 on Friday in the North Carolina tournament. Herbert, ranked 140th, will play second-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa or Malek Jaziri of Tunisia today in the championship match at the Wake Forest Tennis Center. Herbert will play his ninth match in eight days. He won three qualifying matches to make the main draw, then won five more to advance to his first ATP World Tour final. Johnson, ranked 49th, broke Herbert’s serve once and won 92 percent of his first serves in the first set, and broke him again to open the second set. But Herbert broke Johnson’s serve in the sixth game to force the tiebreaker, then won six of the last nine points in the tiebreaker to take the set.
MOTOR SPORTS
Stewart: Didn’t see him
• NASCAR star Tony Stewart states in papers filed in a New York court Friday that he didn’t see a young driver standing on a dirt track in upstate New York last year before he struck and killed him. Stewart states he didn’t realize Kevin Ward Jr. had been walking along the track after a crash at Canandaigua Motorsports Park on Aug. 9, 2014. Ward’s family has filed a lawsuit accusing Stewart of gross negligence, arguing he gunned his engine and put his car into a skid before hitting Ward. Stewart’s lawyer argues Ward caused his own death by getting out of his car and walking out on the track. Court papers state a toxicology report shows Ward smoked marijuana within five hours of the race. An attorney for Ward’s family did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
• Sage Karam said he has sought counseling this week from a psychologist to deal with his emotions following the death of Justin Wilson. Wilson died of a head injury Monday, a day after he was struck in the helmet by a piece of debris from Karam’s car. Karam had spun into a wall and the shattered pieces of his car littered Pocono Raceway. The nosecone bounced down the track and struck Wilson as he became the 12th car to drive through the accident scene. Karam said he’s struggled at night when he finds himself asking too many “what if” questions. He is not racing this weekend, but said it was important for him to attend the IndyCar season finale so he can receive support from the racing community.
HORSE RACING
Gus grabs Albany
Good Luck Gus split horses in mid-stretch and outran pacesetter One Sided to the wire for a half-length victory Friday in the $250,000 Albany at Saratoga Race Course. The race for 3-year-olds anchored six stakes worth $1.15 million on an 11-race program dedicated to horses bred in New York state, coming on the eve of Triple Crown champion American Pharoah’s return in the Grade 1 million Travers. Ridden by Luis Saez for his third consecutive victory on the card and second consecutive in a stakes, Good Luck Gus ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.81 over a fast main track, returning $9.10, $4.20 and $3. One Sided held on for second, paying $3.50 and $2.60. It was a length back to Bullheaded Boy, who returned $3.60 to show. Force, the 2-1 favorite in a field of six, was fourth. Sudden Surprise was a front-running winner in the $200,000 Funny Cide; 18-1 shot Jc’s Shooting Star edged Conquest Superstep to take the $200,000 Fleet Indian; She’s All Ready coasted to a victory in the $200,000 Seeking the Ante; Lubash got past 6-5 favorite King Kreesa to reverse their finish in last year’s $150,000 West Point; and The Tea Cups, ridden by Saez, won the $150,000 Yaddo by a length over Old Harbor.
CYCLING
Lindeman wins stage
Bert Jan Lindeman of the Netherlands took advantage of a mistake by Jerome Cousin of France to sprint ahead and win the seventh stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Friday, while Esteban Chaves of Colombia retained the overall race-leader’s red jersey. Cousin had led a group of five riders up the final ascent after breaking away from the pack, but within sight of the finish line his back wheel touched Ilia Koshevoy’s front tire and he lost his balance. Lindeman, 26, of Team Lotto finished in 5 hours, 10 minutes, 24 seconds. Cousin had looked strong, with the five-rider group leading the pack by more than six minutes on the climb, but while trying to time his final sprint he looked back, touched wheels and came off his cycle. Bulgaria’s Koshevoy finished second, nine seconds behind, and Italy’s Fabio Aru finished third, 29 seconds adrift. Cousin recovered to cross the line fourth. In the overall standings, Chaves leads second-place Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands by 10 seconds with Daniel Martin of Ireland third, 33 seconds behind. Chaves’ overall time is 27 hours, six minutes, 13 seconds. With temperatures reaching almost 99 degrees, the heat appeared to hamper Chris Froome’s ascent and the Tour de France winner lost 27 seconds on Chaves to sit 1 minute, 22 seconds behind overall. Today’s stage is a largely downhill 113.4-mile ride from Puebla de Don Fadrique to Murcia.