Petr Cech, often considered among the best Premier League goalkeepers of all time, will continue his netminding ways -- but this time on ice skates.

The ex-Chelsea and Arsenal keeper signed a one-year deal with the semiprofessional Guildford Phoenix ice hockey club in England on Wednesday.

"I am delighted to have the opportunity to play with the Phoenix to get the match experience," the 37-year-old Cech said in a statement released by the club. "I hope I can help this young team to achieve their goals for the season and try to win as many games as possible when I have the chance to play.

"After 20 years of professional football this is going to be a wonderful experience for me to play the game I loved to watch and play as a kid."

Guildford was founded in 2017 and plays in the fourth tier of British hockey. Head coach Milos Melicherik said the ex-Czech Republic international could make his debut against the Swindon Wildcats on Sunday.

Cech is a noted ice hockey aficionado, having played in a testimonial for former NHL star Martin Havlat in 2017.

Cech serves as a technical advisor for Chelsea, where he played 10 seasons and won four Premier League titles and the 2012-13 Champions League. After his time at Stamford Bridge, he played an additional four campaigns at London rivals Arsenal before retiring from football last year.

Oakland Raiders linebacker Vontaze Burfict's appeal of a season-long suspension for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Indianapolis Colts tight end Jack Doyle has been denied, meaning he will sit out for the rest of the 2019 season.

The league announced the decision of appeals officer Derrick Brooks on Wednesday. Brooks was appointed jointly by the NFL and the NFLPA.

Burfict was ejected in the second quarter of the Raiders' Week 4 31-24 win late last month. He was initially flagged for hitting Doyle in the head across the middle. But after the officials conferred, Burfict was thrown out.

The league said that Burfict will not be paid during the suspension, which covers the postseason as well. The league cited his repeated violations of unnecessary roughness rules in handing out the longest suspension ever for an on-field incident.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, the suspension will cost Burfict more than $1.1 million in salary and per game active roster bonuses.

NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan wrote a letter to Burfict explaining the decision when the suspension was announced on Sept. 30.

"There were no mitigating circumstances on this play," the letter said. "Your contact was unnecessary, flagrant and should have been avoided. For your actions, you were penalized and disqualified from the game. Following each of your previous rule violations, you were warned by me and each of the jointly-appointed officers that future violations would result in escalated accountability measures. However, you have continued to flagrantly abuse rules designated to protect yourself and your opponents from unnecessary risk."

While with the Cincinnati Bengals, Burfict had one suspension reduced from five games to three games in 2017 but was unable to get a reduction this time. His punishment is by far the biggest for an on-field play, topping the five games Tennessee's Albert Haynesworth got in 2006 for kicking and stomping on Cowboys center Andre Gurode's face, leading to 30 stitches.

Burfict was repeatedly suspended by the NFL for egregious hits and violating its policy on performance-enhancers. He was fined regularly for hits that crossed the line, most notably the one to Antonio Brown's head that helped motivate the Steelers to rally for an 18-16 playoff win in the 2015 season. That led to a three-game suspension to start the 2016 season.

Burfict was also fined $112,000 last season for hits on Brown and James Conner in a game against Pittsburgh.

Brooks, who heard and ruled on the appeal, played for Raiders coach Jon Gruden in Tampa Bay and it was Brooks who ended quarterback Rich Gannon's career with a then-legal helmet-to-helmet hit in 2004.

Gruden was asked Tuesday if the Raiders would reach out to the NFL to "make a case" for Burfict in his appeal.

"Yes, we're going to try to do that," Gruden said at the time. "We're going to try to make our case. I respect the league's position. They have a tough job. At the same time, we have a lot of confidence that they'll do what's right. We want Burfict back. He's already been punished. We hope he can return to playing soon."

With Burfict out, Tahir Whitehead played middle linebacker as the defensive playcaller in London in the Raiders' defeat of the Chicago Bears, and Nicholas Morrow also saw extended time.

"They played every play," Gruden said Tuesday. "They didn't come off the field. They played great. That doesn't undermine that we miss Vontaze, his leadership and his experience, play making and all that stuff. Nick and Whitehead, they didn't come off the field the other night. They played every single play. Morrow had an interception. I think Whitehead did a great job of running the show. Those guys deserve credit."

Information from ESPN's Paul Gutierrez and The Associated Press was used in this report.

President Donald Trump, in his first public comments about the NBA's relationship with China, criticized Warriors coach Steve Kerr and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich for their response to questions about the controversy.

Trump weighed in on the topic Wednesday afternoon, saying the NBA has to "work out their own situation" with China while he was critical of Kerr and Popovich, saying they "were pandering to China."

Kerr, who has been publicly critical of Trump and vocal on several social issues in the United States, said Monday that he had no comment when asked about the fallout from Rockets GM Daryl Morey's tweet last week that showed support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.

Trump ripped Kerr two days later, saying that the three-time championship-winning coach "was like a little boy, he was so scared to be even answering the question," Trump said. "He couldn't answer the question -- he was shaking 'Oh, oh, oh, I don't know. I don't know.'

"He didn't know how to answer the question, and yet he'll talk about the United States very badly."

Popovich also avoided directly discussing the specific issue regarding protests in Hong Kong, although he did praise NBA commissioner Adam Silver for his stance supporting free speech.

"I watched Popovich -- sort of the same thing, but he didn't look quite as scared actually," Trump said. "But they talk badly about the United States, but when it talks about China, they don't want to say anything bad. I thought it was pretty sad, actually. It'll be very interesting."

Warriors star Stephen Curry, who was made aware of Trump's comments about Kerr by team officials, including GM Bob Myers, told reporters that he got to "welcome Steve to the club."

Curry was singled out in tweets by Trump in 2016 after he had said he would vote no if the team were invited to the White House,

"We've obviously been really outspoken since I can remember, in terms of our organization and and all that," Curry said. "But from the league and China and just our presence there and building a business, it's an interesting situation because there's so much history involved in it.

"I don't know that history well enough to kind of speak on it or to form an opinion yet, so that's kind of where I'm at with the situation. ... I'm staying tuned like everybody else."

Many NBA coaches have remained largely mum on the current situation with China. Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni refused to answer questions on the topic after his team's game in Tokyo on Tuesday, while LA Clippers coach Doc Rivers didn't go too deeply into specifics when asked his opinion.

"I watch the way that Kerr and Popovich and some of the others were pandering to China, and yet to our own country, it's like they don't respect it," Trump said. "It's like they don't respect it. I said, 'What a difference -- isn't it sad?' It's very sad. To me, it's very sad."

Kerr is not expected to address the media until Thursday night's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves -- unless the Warriors make an exception.

Curry said he wasn't sure how this situation would affect his future plans, as he's traveled to China for the past six years. But his best advice for Kerr would be just to continue on.

"At this point, I don't know how Coach reacts -- or anybody else who gets called out like that -- so you just keep doing what you're doing for the most part," Curry said.

Silver, speaking in Japan on Tuesday, said he and the league are "apologetic" over the outcome and reaction that followed Morey's tweet, but he noted that "we are not apologizing for Daryl exercising his freedom of expression."

An NBA Cares event in Shanghai involving the Los Angeles Lakers was canceled Wednesday, just hours before it was scheduled to begin.

The NBA would say only that calling off the event, which was supposed to benefit the Special Olympics, was not its decision.

The protests in Hong Kong were sparked by a proposed extradition law that would have allowed suspects to be sent to China to face trial. Activists saw that as a threat to the legal rights that Hong Kong residents have under the current "one country, two systems" framework.

ESPN's Nick Friedell contributed to this report.

ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Braves have heard the complaints and are taking action to "reduce the Tomahawk Chop" for Game 5 of the National League Division Series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

The decision is a response to recent concerns voiced by Cardinals reliever Ryan Helsley, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation and expressed displeasure with the chop during Games 1 and 2 in Atlanta.

As part of their efforts, the Braves announced they will not distribute foam tomahawks to each seat for Game 5.

"Out of respect for the concerns expressed by Mr. Helsley, we will take several efforts to reduce the Tomahawk Chop during our in-ballpark presentation today," the Braves said in a statement.

The Braves also announced they will not play the accompanying music to the chant or use any "Chop-related graphics" on their scoreboard when Helsley is in the game.

"As stated earlier, we will continue to evaluate how we activate elements of our brand, as well as the overall in-game experience," the team's statement said. "We look forward to a continued dialogue with those in the Native American community after the postseason continues."

Helsley was informed of the decision by a reporter before batting practice, and he was pleased with the Braves' proactive stance during the series.

"I think they're taking the right steps," said Helsley, who attended Sequoyah High School in Oklahoma. "I think it's a positive thing. Fans might not like it, but maybe they can reflect back on it and see it was a good move."

The Cardinals were also pleased that their opponent listened to one of their players and acted.

"It's nice that the Braves are respectful of everyone involved, especially our player," Cardinals general manager Mike Girsch said.

Helsley has appeared in two games in the series, striking out three in 1 1/3 innings.

ATLANTA -- Fans were barely in their seats for the decisive fifth game of the National League Division Series before the St. Louis Cardinals made history, becoming the first team to score 10 runs in the first inning of a postseason game

The double-digit output against the Braves is also a record for the most runs scored in an inning in a division series or in any winner-take-all game, and it equals the most runs scored in any inning in any playoff game.

Of the four times that teams have scored 10 runs in a postseason inning, the Cardinals are the first to do so without hitting any home runs.

Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz lasted just one-third of an inning before being pulled with the bases loaded and the home team already trailing 4-0.

Reliever Max Fried didn't fare much better, walking Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty to make it 5-0 before allowing a pair of two-run doubles to Dexter Fowler and Kolten Wong.

When it looked like the Braves finally had the third out on Marcell Ozuna's strikeout, the ball got away from catcher Brian McCann, who fell down trying to retrieve it, allowing Ozuna to reach and the 10th run to come home.

The Braves missed a chance to get out of the inning after allowing just one run, but Freddie Freeman could not field a hard-hit ball that the first baseman could have turned into an inning-ending double play.

Foltynewicz was charged with seven runs on three hits and three walks, after he did not allow a run on three hits over seven innings in Game 2.

The Cardinals had just five hits in the inning, marking the first time a team scored at least 10 runs with five or fewer hits since June 2011. It's the second time this season a team scored 10 runs without hitting a homer, after the Marlins scored 11 against he Brewers in June.

To save their season, the Braves will have to break a 90-year-old record for the largest postseason comeback. In Game 4 of the 1929 World Series, the A's trailed the Cubs 8-0 heading to the bottom of the seventh before plating 10 runs in the inning to take the lead for good.

But St. Louis didn't let up, plating three more runs to set another postseason record for the most runs through three innings.

American teenager Coco Gauff is set to break into the world's top 100 for the first time after reaching her maiden WTA Tour quarter-final.

The 15-year-old, who made a memorable run to the Wimbledon last 16 in July, reached the Linz Open last eight when opponent Kateryna Kozlova retired.

Gauff has provisionally climbed to 94th in the rankings, closer to automatic qualification for the Australian Open.

She lost in Linz qualifying but entered the main draw as a lucky loser.

Following Greek Maria Sakkari's withdrawal, Gauff beat Swiss Stefanie Vogele on Tuesday and progressed again when Ukrainian Kozlova quit while trailing 6-4 4-6 0-2.

Gauff, who does not turn 16 until March, is the youngest player to reach a WTA quarter-final since Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva in January 2005.

The Austrian tournament is Gauff's first appearance since suffering a comprehensive defeat, which left her in tears, by Naomi Osaka at the US Open last month.

Gauff became the youngest player in the Open era to reach the Wimbledon main draw and was given a wildcard to play at her home Grand Slam in New York.

Although most would expect her to receive a wildcard for the Australian Open, she is on course to qualify automatically with the top 100-ranked players going straight into the main draw in Melbourne.

CONCORD, N.C. — World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series point leader Brad Sweet remains at the top of the National Sprint Car Rankings for the fifth consecutive week.

Despite a subpar weekend at Pennsylvania’s Williams Grove Speedway, Sweet, who has won 17 races this season, has a 3.298 average finish in 72 starts this year.

Sweet leads fellow World of Outlaws drivers David Gravel and Donny Schatz. Gravel has a 3.473 average finish in 70 starts, with Schatz right behind at 3.481 in 69 races.

Central Pennsylvania driver Danny Dietrich and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions titlist Aaron Reutzel round out the top five.

Reutzel and Sweet lead the country with 17 victories each.

Dietrich leads the Eastern region on the strength of 14 victories, while other regional leaders are Buddy Kofoid (Great Lakes), Billy Balog (Great Plains), Dominic Scelzi (West), Jacob Patton (Mid-America), Donny Schatz (Northwestern) and Carl Bowser. (Ohio-PA).

One hundred and 29 drivers have combined to win 369 features run through Oct. 6, with 706 drivers participating.

View the complete rankings by clicking below.

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum officials have announced that next year’s “Salute to Champion” exhibition will honor late Greg Hodnett.

The plans for the exhibit were announced during the 57th annual Williams Grove National Open at Pennsylvania’s Williams Grove Speedway. Also, Hodnett’s widow, Sherry, accepted the 2018 North American Sprint Car Poll Thomas J. Schmeh Outstanding Contribution to the Sport Award on Greg’s behalf.

The exhibit, tentatively scheduled for May 1 through Oct. 1 will feature cars from Hodnett’s career beginning in Memphis, all the way to his dominance in central Pennsylvania and points between. In addition, memorabilia from Hodnett’s career will be showcased.

Hodnett’s career began in Memphis and branched out nationally with the World of Outlaws, where he was named their rookie of the year. He accumulated over 250 wins in his career, as well as multiple championships.

“We’re absolutely honored to have Greg Hodnett as our spotlight for our annual Salute to Champion at the museum,” said National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum’s Bill Wright. “Greg had such an impact on not only what was going on on the track, but off it as well. It’s going to be a lot of fun for us to tell his story. He was dedicated to going faster every time out and used his engineering background and his experience to make it work on the track. More importantly, he was a great person. We’re excited that one of our longtime supporters, Roger Johnson, will be on board helping us with this one. Roger was an important part of Greg’s career, starting from the beginning.”

The “Salute to Champion” exhibit will be the 10th and final salute exhibit for the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum. Others honored have included Tony Stewart (2011), Jeff Gordon (2012), Mario Andretti (2013), Steve Kinser (2014), Doug Wolfgang (2015), Hall of Fame inductees at Indy (2016), Sammy Swindell (2017), Bryan Clauson and (2018) and A.J. Foyt (2019).

For more information on the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum, visit www.SprintCarHoF.com!

CONCORD, N.C. — Mike Stefanik should be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

That statement was true long before the Rhode Island native’s untimely death (see separate story here) in a Sept. 15 plane crash near Sterling, Conn.

Stefanik, 61, won nine NASCAR championships. Seven titles came in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and two in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (then Busch North) competition. In 1997 and again in ’98, he won the championship in both divisions. No other driver has won the title in both classes, let alone in a single season and in back-to-back years.

Stefanik retired following the 2014 season. He ran his first Modified Tour event in 1987 and is the winningest driver in the history of the series with 74 triumphs in 453 starts. His last victory came at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in 2013.

Also racing full-bodied cars, Stefanik won 12 times in 164 K&N Pro Series starts. During the aforementioned 1997 and ’98 seasons, he won 28 races in the two divisions. While he never won a NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race, Stefanik earned rookie-of-the-year honors in the series in 1999, when he was 41 years old.

Stefanik also won 32 times in a multitude of classes, including the Modified Tour and K&N Pro Series, at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.

He was nominated for the NASCAR Hall of Fame this year but came up just short of election. He should have been nominated and elected years ago.

Stefanik’s nine championships tie legendary modified driver Richie Evans, who raced prior to the creation of the Modified Tour, for the most in NASCAR history. More than Richard Petty, more than Dale Earnhardt and more than Jimmie Johnson — all who have won seven NASCAR Cup Series titles.

Evans was elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame as part of its third induction class in 2012.

Stefanik should already have a place in the Hall of Fame, and so should five-time NASCAR Weekly Racing Series national champion Larry Phillips and West Coast legend Hershel McGriff, among others.

Somehow, it seems winning a handful of Cup Series races in front of large national television audiences is what it takes to be recognized by many on the Hall of Fame voting panel.

Stefanik, like Phillips, did his work on short tracks in a time before social media and plentiful highlight reels.

In many ways, it seems that if it happens on a small, dimly lit track without live television, it is deemed less important than winning on Sundays on network television. It is after all the NASCAR Hall of Fame, not the Cup Series Hall of Fame, and there may not be a more pure NASCAR racer than Mike Stefanik.

Having seen more than a few of his victories when SPEED SPORT was based in New Jersey, there were few smoother racers on the track and even fewer as classy as Stefanik was off of it.

Sure, he raced hard at times, but that’s what it takes to win at short asphalt tracks on hot summer nights, and that’s what it takes to get to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

In 1997 and ’98, Stefanik won 22 Modified Tour races at 10 different tracks, ranging from quarter-mile Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway to the one-mile tracks at Nazareth (Pa.) Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the three-quarter-mile Richmond (Va.) Raceway and the road course at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l.

Throw in K&N victories at New Hampshire’s Star Speedway and the road course at Lime Rock (Conn.) Park and he won NASCAR touring series races at 12 different tracks in two seasons.

He also won seven Modified Tour races and a K&N Pro Series race at the half-mile Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut during those two seasons.

If that’s not versatility and excellence on a variety of types of tracks, it would be difficult to define what would be.

Mike Stefanik will be elected into the NASCAR Hall of Fame one day soon; it’s just too bad he won’t be there to see it.

WHEATLAND, Mo. – One year later, Will Vaught finds himself in the opposite position entering the final weekend of the Lucas Oil MLRA championship chase.

Instead of chasing, he is the one being chased, and that’s a good feeling.

“I’d a lot rather be in the situation we’re in this year, rather than last year when we were the underdog,” Vaught said in looking ahead to the sixth annual MLRA Fall Nationals, this Saturday and Sunday at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Action has been pushed back by a day due to rain and cold weather expected to enter the area by late week.

The COMP Cams Super Dirt Series Presented by Lucas Oil will combine with the MLRA for a 50-lap, $5,000-to-win feature on Saturday and a 40-lapper for $3,000 to win on Sunday.

The B-Mod Clash of Champions II will co-headline the doubleheader.

The Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods will have two sets of heat races on Saturday to help set the lineup for Sunday’s $3,000-to-win feature.

Vaught, of Crane, can almost taste his first MLRA championship. He enters the action 88 points in front of Mitch McGrath and 99 clear of Logan Martin.

One year ago, Vaught was riding a three-race winning streak into the Fall Nationals, but was still digging out of an early-season points hole and trailed Chad Simpson by 24 points.

Simpson went on to win the weekend, taking the lone feature after night one was rained out.

“The weather didn’t cooperate and our run didn’t cooperate, either,” Vaught said.

This time, Vaught has some cushion to work with where solid runs should clinch the championship. It’s conceivable that he could clinch the title by the time the checkered flag flies on Saturday.

Vaught admits that it’s difficult to dial anything back, as winning always is the primary goal. He has three MLRA feature wins in 2019 and was second to Jesse Stovall in the last event, the Larry Phillips Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway over Labor Day weekend.

“We approach every race the same,” Vaught said. “We go there to win. I catch myself sometimes trying to finish, before winning, and I don’t really like racing that way. But we do have a pretty good lead. We still need to win races, though.”

Vaught said winning his first MLRA championship “would mean a lot.”

“I’ve never been that guy who really followed a series like we have the last couple of years,” he added. “I’ve never won a series championship. It would be a good accomplishment and something to put on the resume to say we did it.”

Showing how seriously he’s taking this weekend, Vaught said he wanted to race a few times since the Larry Phillips Memorial, but decided to keep his car in the shop instead and go through it with the proverbial “fine-tooth comb.”

“We’re going into this weekend fresh and really looking forward to getting back on the track,” he said. “We’re excited to get back to Wheatland. We’ve been pretty successful there in recent years.”

The battle for second in points is razor close, with McGrath and Martin separated by just 10 points. Martin has clinched the Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Year Award, with a 255-point lead over Joseph Gorby.

The COMP Cams Series finds a tight championship battle brewing. Timothy Culp of Prattsville, Ark., leads Tony Jackson of Lebanon by 28 points. Unlike the MLRA, the Comp Cams Series does not conclude this weekend, with two November events remaining.