E TOBICOKE, Ontario – Though Marc Savard was able to return to Boston yesterday after suffering a concussion Sunday from a blind-side hit delivered by the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Matt Cooke, Bruins [ team stats ] general manager Peter Chiarelli said the head injury hardly was minor. “It’s at least a grade 2 (concussion),” Chiarelli said last night from the NHL’s general managers meetings in Boca Raton, Fla. “It was a serious concussion.” Savard was examined in Boston by team physician Peter Asnis yesterday and most likely will be seen at some point by concussion specialist Robert Cantu, who oversaw the treatment of teammate Patrice Bergeron two years ago. Chiarelli said that more will be known about Savard’s condition during the next four or five days, but the fact that the center lost consciousness for a period is significant. At this point, Chiarelli does not know how long Savard will be out. The GM said he texted his team’s star playmaker, then told him not to text again because of the problems it can cause for people with concussions. “He told me that he felt like he was hit by a bus and that he was very, very tired,” Chiarelli said. Savard’s injury came on the eve of the GM meetings, during which one of the main topics of discussion will be hits to the head. Chiarelli said he already had spoken to NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell about the possibility of a suspension for Cooke and actually shared a ride to the Pittsburgh airport with Penguins GM Ray Shero, with the two discussing head shots. Chiarelli pointed out that though a shoulder hit to the head technically is legal, there are issues of one player targeting another, as well as the fact that Cooke is a repeat offender. The B’s GM expects Cooke to receive a forced vacation in the next few days. “There’s a definite gray area, but I think there’ll be a suspension, though I don’t now khow long it will be,” Chiarelli said. The Bruins had a small gathering at Toronto’s practice facility, but the concern for Savard was still high as the team prepared for tonight’s game against the Maple Leafs. “He’s a well-liked guy in our room,” defenseman Johnny Boychuk said. “Everyone loves him and we just want to make sure he’s OK. It was a scary scene seeing a guy go down like that. I (texted) him (Sunday) just a little bit and he seems to be fine. But I hope he gets better soon so he can come join the team.” Like his GM, Boychuk thinks a suspension should be coming for Cooke. “There are certain situations where it’s just reaction, you might stick a leg or arm out. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does happen, maybe there should be a suspension,” Boychuk said. “You can’t go around hurting guys.” The B’s did find some sympathetic players in the Maple Leafs locker room. On Saturday night, Toronto’s John Mitchell was a victim of a head shot delivered by the Ottawa Senators’ Chris Neil. Mitchell was able to play the next night, however. “It’s a very fast game, guys are big, guys are strong and when you’re moving that quick, in a split-second, some stuff doesn’t get seen out there,” Maple Leafs defenseman Dion Phaneuf told reporters after his team’s practice yesterday. “It’s disappointing when stuff like that isn’t called, but the league takes care of that off the ice. “It’s clear (Cooke) went for (Savard’s) head, but it’s not for us to comment on.”

Germany’s Thomas Bach, seen as a front-runner to replace Olympics chief Jacques Rogge, was re-elected as a vice-president of the IOC.

Olympic medallist Ben Fouhy is taking an indefinite break from kayaking. He has cited personal reasons for taking time out from a sport in which he won a silver medal in the K1 1000m event at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, a year…

Welcome back … Manly coach Des Hasler hopes Lote Tuqiri takes his time in adapting back to rugby league. AS LOTE TUQIRI steps off a plane at Sydney Airport this morning, he will be greeted by family, media crews and maybe a few diehard Wests Tigers supporters. One person who won’t be shuffling up to the former Wallaby at the bag carousel with an autograph pad in hand is Des Hasler. Instead, the Manly coach yesterday issued a welcome-home message to Tuqiri with his own flavour: predicting the Tigers’ marquee signing will struggle to acclimatise to rugby league again after eight years in the 15-man code. ”He will probably find the pace and intensity of the game hard,” said Hasler, whose Sea Eagles meet the Tigers in the NRL’s first round at the Sydney Football Stadium on Monday night. ”Playing on the wing, they’re not doing the hit-ups and the runs, but it’s still a fairly active game and a lot of work for wingers just getting back, chasing, the whole lot. He will find it a little bit foreign.” Welcome home, Lote. Having just completed a well-received, 14-match stint in English rugby’s Guinness Premiership with Leicester, Tuqiri arrives today with minimal time to prepare for his first rugby league match since 2002, the year he ended a 99-game association with the Brisbane Broncos. After flying back business-class from London, he will return to his Birchgrove home to try to shake off the jet-lag before his first training session with the Tigers. That will take place tomorrow at Concord Oval, where he will be introduced to his new teammates. Wests coach Tim Sheens has shown faith in the former Queensland and Australia league representative by picking him to start on the wing against Manly despite his long exile from the NRL. That is not quite matched by Hasler, whose team intends to exploit Tuqiri’s lack of match practice. Hasler was joking, however, when he intimated that Tuqiri might not even remember the rules. ”The plan on Lote will be to kick, trap him inside his 20 and he’ll kick straight out on the full over the sideline,” he quipped Despite predicting that Tuqiri’s transition back to league will be less than seamless, Hasler believes the return of the 30-year-old to the code in which he made his name will ultimately be successful. ”It’s not as if he hasn’t played football before,” he said. ”He’s an outstanding athlete and he’s got a lot of experience, so we will see how he comes up.” There were no surprises in the Tigers side named yesterday, with Robert Lui handed the halfback’s jumper and Tim Moltzen at fullback. Hasler brought an end to the debate over who would be given first crack as successor to Matt Orford at Manly, selecting New Zealand teenager Kieran Foran to partner co-captain Jamie Lyon in the halves.

Malaysian golf chiefs are threatening to withdraw their endorsement of the U.S. PGA’s first event in Southeast Asia over a clash of dates with an existing Asian Tour event in the country.