Sporting Digest: Ice Hockey

Ed Courtenay, of Sheffield Steelers, has been named the "Face to Watch" for October. The 31-year-old forward, a former NHL player with the San Jose Sharks, is in his third season with the Steelers. He dominated the Superleague scoring chart in October, with six goals and seven assists from eight games, and is top of the overall scoring table with 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists) from 14 games.

The National Hockey League is investigating reports that the Detroit Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman, the captain Steve Yzerman and the forward Martin Lapointe abused two cameramen during a game in Tampa Bay, Florida. Bowman allegedly shoved a cameraman into a stage manager and yelled obscenities, while Yzerman tried to grab a camera and Lapointe threatened and spat at a cameraman during the third period of the Red Wings' 3-2 defeat on Sunday night.

The Ottawa Senators yesterday suspended the holdout center Alexei Yashin for the rest of the season. Yashin, who is training in Switzerland, has refused to report to the National Hockey League team unless it renegotiates the final year of his contract. He was due to earn $3.6m. "Alexei has been suspended for the balance of this season," Marshall Johnston, the Senators general manager, said. "We will not consider a trade for Alexei." Yashin had 44 goals with 50 assists last year, accounting for 35 per cent of the team's scoring.