Verdi honored by Hall of Fame:

The Blackhawks, in conjunction with the Hockey Hall of Fame and Professional Hockey Writers Association, announced Thursday that Blackhawks Team Historian and Daily Herald contributor Bob Verdi has been selected as the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award winner for excellence in hockey journalism. “This is great honor and I am very thankful to Rocky Wirtz and John McDonough for the opportunity to continue writing about hockey for an institution like the Blackhawks,” said Verdi. Named in honor of the late Montreal newspaper reporter, the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award was first presented in 1984 by the Professional Hockey Writers Association in recognition of distinguished members of the hockey writing profession whose words have brought honor to journalism and to the game of hockey.

Cougars win series finale:

Rattling out 12 hits and eight runs, the Kane County Cougars (26-27) had a complete offensive performance to win the series finale against the Burlington Bees Thursday night, 8-2. The Cougars’ starter, right-hander Bo Takahashi (1-1), was removed just two outs into the first inning with an apparent injury. Cameron Gann (1-2), with 3 scoreless innings and 5 strikeouts for the Cougars, earned his first professional win. The Cougars are now 4 games behind first-place Cedar Rapids.

Boomers sweep Florence:

The Schaumburg Boomers completed a three-game sweep of the Florence Freedom on Thursday, winning the series finale 6-2 at Boomers Stadium. Schaumburg notched 10 hits in the victory, their fourth straight.

Serena advances at French Open:

Serena Williams came through when she needed to, moving closer to a record-equaling 22nd Grand Slam title by figuring out a way to beat Yulia Putintseva 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 on Thursday in the French Open quarterfinals. “I kept missing. Just misfiring. Honestly, at one point I didn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel,” the defending champion said. “I guess I was not the most positive mentally, but obviously I didn’t want to stop.”

Canadiens hire former player:

Montreal has hired former Canadiens player Kirk Muller as an associate coach on Michel Therrien’s staff. Muller spent the past two seasons as an assistant with the St. Louis Blues.