BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Kim Pegula's desire to grow women's professional hockey will no longer involve a relationship with North America's remaining professional league.

Hilary Knight would rather risk missing a year of playing meaningful hockey than settle for the status quo.

The star American forward is among more than 200 of the world's top female players...

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Lyndsey Fry could have continued playing hockey. She had a stellar collegiate career, a degree, an Olympic silver medal placed around her neck, so playing professionally was a logical next step.

The grueling rehab from hip surgery it would take to get back to an elite level was not all that appealing. Nor was playing in a women's professional hockey league on a less-than-livable salary — or being away from her family.

SEATTLE (AP) — The abolishment of the death penalty was voted the state's top news story of 2018 by Associated Press staff and member editors.

Other top news items of the past 12 months included the awarding of a new professional hockey franchise for Seattle, the death of Microsoft co-found Paul Allen and the end of a long-running court battle over education funding.

SEATTLE (AP) — John Barr understood it was likely a foregone conclusion and yet as NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke nearly 3,000 miles away, he found himself getting emotional watching the televisions in the packed bar.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota voters have cleared Sen. Tina Smith to fill out the final two years of former Sen. Al Franken's term.

Smith, a longtime Democratic power player who was appointed to take Franken's seat after he resigned, defeated Republican state Sen. Karin Housley on Tuesday in a special election.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith, who was appointed to take former Sen. Al Franken's seat after he resigned, won Tuesday's special election to finish the final two years of his term.

The longtime Democratic power player defeated Republican state Sen. Karin Housley, who had an energetic campaign and a name made famous by her husband's professional hockey career. Housley gave Republicans hope they could win back the office that the party lost to Franken in 2008.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey's rapidly growing sports betting market is extending its reach into a professional hockey arena, even as it adds a seventh Atlantic City casino to the fold.

Bookmaker William Hill US said it plans to open a sports lounge Thursday night at Newark's Prudential Center, where the NHL's New Jersey Devils play.

Players want a single North American women's professional hockey league. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman does, too. And now National Women's Hockey League founder and Commissioner Dani Rylan is on record saying she is working toward that objective.

"One league is inevitable," Rylan wrote in an email to The Associated Press, her strongest statement regarding a potential merger with the rival Canadian Women's Hockey League.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The Maine Mariners officially have a mascot: Beacon the Puffin.

Portland's newest professional hockey franchise announced Wednesday that Beacon will be at all Mariners home games, and the mascot will make appearances in the community year-round.

The Puffins was one of the five finalists in a contest to name the team.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Having already blazed a trail in men's professional hockey, three-time Canadian Olympic team goalie Shannon Szabados will continue her career by finally giving the women's pro game a try.

Putting aside thoughts of retiring, Szabados cited opportunity and proximity as reasons she signed with the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women's Hockey League.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Three-time Canadian National Olympic team goaltender Shannon Szabados has agreed to sign with the U.S.-based National Women's Hockey League Buffalo Beauts.

Szabados won a silver medal and was the Olympic tournament's top goalie after allowing four goals in three games at the Winter Olympics in February. She has an 8-1 record in the winter games, and also won gold medals in 2010 and '14.

Paul Fenton was hired as general manager of the Minnesota Wild on Monday, after 20 seasons in the front office with the division rival Nashville Predators.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The San Jose Sharks have signed free agent forward Lukas Radil to a one-year contract.

The 27-year-old Radil had 16 goals and 22 assists in 51 games with Spartak of the Kontinental Hockey League.

The forward represented his native Czech Republic at the Winter Olympics in February, the 2017 World Championship and the Euro Hockey Tour from 2014-18.

SECAUCUS, N.J. (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Monique Lamoureux-Morando will make her debut as an NHL Network studio analyst on Friday.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — With the top three teams in the Eastern Conference all coming out of the Atlantic Division, there's a good chance the second and third best teams in the East will play in the first round for the second straight year.

That imbalance has led some to push to abandon the division playoff format and go back to seeding teams one through eight by conference. Why stop there?

SEATTLE (AP) — Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer has been hosting hockey games for a quarter-century. Now he wants to do it on a much bigger scale.

The filmmaker of "Flashdance," ''Beverly Hills Cop" and "Top Gun" fame joined his partners — billionaire David Bonderman and Oak View Group Chief Executive Tim Leiweke — on Wednesday in discussing for the first time publicly why they're trying to bring a professional hockey team to Seattle.

SEATTLE (AP) — Fans longing for a professional hockey team in Seattle will soon be able to put down some money for season tickets.

Mayor Jenny Durkan and the Oak View Group, which is trying to bring an NHL team to the city, announced Tuesday that people can make refundable deposits for season tickets at NHLSeattle.com beginning March 1.

The deposits run $500 per ticket for season tickets or $1,000 per ticket for club season tickets, which are center ice, lower-level tickets.

SEATTLE (AP) — The group looking to bring professional hockey to Seattle has taken the next step in the pursuit of an NHL franchise.

The Oak View Group and its prospective NHL ownership group, led by billionaire David Bonderman and filmmaker Jerry Bruckheimer, submitted its expansion application with the National Hockey League on Tuesday.

"We are excited for the next steps in the process and our continued partnership with the City of Seattle," Oak View CEO Tim Leiweke said in a statement.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Hartford Whalers left Connecticut 20 years ago, but their beloved logo will now appear on vehicles gliding along the state's highways.

The Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday unveiled a new commemorative license plate that bears the former professional hockey team's green-and-blue insignia. Forty-five dollars from the sale of each plate, which usually costs $60, will benefit a new infusion and dialysis center at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford.

NEW IPSWICH, N.H. (AP) — A 10-year-old New Hampshire boy who was seriously injured in a bicycle accident received a special holiday message from a professional hockey player.

Texas businessman Tom Dundon signed an agreement Thursday to become the majority owner of the Carolina Hurricanes.

The announcement ended months of speculation as to who might buy the team from Peter Karmanos Jr., the man who brought professional hockey to the Carolinas. Throughout the process of trying to sell the franchise he purchased in 1994, Karmanos has said that any sale of the franchise would be contingent on it remaining in Raleigh.

NEW YORK (AP) — There's hope for girls and women who want to play professional hockey in the United States thanks to the New Jersey Devils.

The Devils recently announced a partnership with the Metropolitan Riveters, one of four teams in the fledgling National Women's Hockey League. The Devils will provide their practice facility for home games in Newark, assist with marketing and host a doubleheader with the Riveters on Saturday at the Prudential Center.

One of the feel-good stories in college athletics last year was University of Wisconsin men’s hockey coach Tony Granato going back to school to finish his degree while simultaneously reinvigorating a powerhouse program that had gone dormant on and off the ice.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Portland's newest professional hockey franchise won't be the Puffins, Watchmen, Lumberjacks or Wild Blueberries.

The ECHL franchise announced Friday that the winning name from a contest was the Maine Mariners. That's the same name the Portland team had from 1977 to 1992 in the American Hockey League.

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago's inspector general is alleging city workers schemed to set aside free street parking for family and friends during professional hockey and basketball games.

In a quarterly report, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson says Office of Emergency Management and Communications personnel blocked streets near the United Center and granted access to those they preferred. They directed members of the public to park elsewhere.

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago's inspector general is alleging city workers schemed to set aside free street parking for family and friends during professional hockey and basketball games.

In a quarterly report, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson says Office of Emergency Management and Communications personnel blocked streets near the United Center and granted access to those they preferred. They directed members of the public to park elsewhere.

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The Arizona Coyotes hired Steve Patterson as president and CEO on Wednesday, hoping the longtime sports executive can help solve their ongoing arena issue.

The Coyotes have sought a new arena since the city of Glendale renegotiated a 15-year lease in 2015 and lost a partner for a new arena when Arizona State pulled out of an agreement earlier this year.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Professional hockey is returning to Maine's largest city, with the relocation of an Eastern Coast Hockey League franchise from Alaska.

Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Philadelphia Flyers, announced Thursday the purchase of the Alaska Aces franchise. The ECHL franchise will assume a new name and play 36 home games starting in fall 2018 at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.