NEW YORK — NHL fans have tuned in to hockey's return to TV.

NBC's broadcast Saturday earned the highest preliminary rating for a non-Winter Classic regular-season game since 2002. The network said Sunday its regional coverage of Blackhawks-Kings and Penguins-Flyers averaged a 2.0 overnight rating. That's up 67 percent from the average for regular-season games on NBC last year.

The abbreviated NHL season opened Saturday after a lockout wiped out the first three months.

Ratings represent the percentage of homes with televisions tuned into a program. Overnight ratings measure the country's largest markets.

NEW YORK — Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals, Joe Thomas of the Cleveland Browns and Jason Witten of the Dallas Cowboys are finalists for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award.The award will be presented in New Orleans, when The Associated Press announces the winners of its annual NFL honors, including Most Valuable Player, in a two-hour prime-time special on Super Bowl eve.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Ron Fraser coached the national teams from two different countries, is a member of 10 different Halls of Fame, won two NCAA baseball championships and never had a losing record in a 30-year career with the Miami Hurricanes.He'll be remembered for so many other reasons.The longtime Miami coach — dubbed “the wizard of college baseball” — died Sunday morning after fighting Alzheimer's disease for many years, family spokesman Tony Segreto said.