Sports News
May 9, 2008Here are the sports results from Friday:
QUEBEC - The Russians defeated an upstart Belarus team 4-3 in a shootout at the IIHF World Hockey Championship on Friday.
Alexei Morozov beat Belarusian netminder Vitaly Koval with a backhander for the shootout winner.
HALIFAX - The year was 1999 and Dany Heatley had a decision to make.
He wasn't invited to the evaluation camp for Canada's world junior team when the German federation called and tried to convince him to join their program instead. "We asked the question years ago when Dany wasn't at the U-20," German GM Franz Reindl said Friday. "He was not selected. We talked. We tried. We negotiated.
PITTSBURGH - Daniel Briere is making May hockey a habit. But what he'd really like is to finally play a series in June.
The Philadelphia Flyers centre is playing in the NHL's Eastern Conference final for a third straight season. This time, he's looking for a different ending after being on the losing end with the Buffalo Sabres in 2005-06 and '06-07. Several days from now, he's hoping to be shaking the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins with a smile on his face.
INDIANAPOLIS - Rookie driver Alex Lloyd was hospitalized Friday, complaining of neck pain, after hitting the wall hard during practice for the Indianapolis 500.
Lloyd, the champion last season in the IRL's developmental Indy Lights Series, completed a lap at more than 223 m.p.h. and lost control of his Dallara in the first turn. He struck the outside wall with the rear of the car and continued into the second turn.
ISTANBUL, Turkey - Nothing seems to slow down Felipe Massa in Turkey.
Two-time defending champion Massa led Ferrari's sweep of practice sessions for the Turkish Grand Prix on Friday as drivers struggled with technical problems in the deteriorating weather.
ROME - Roger Federer lost his sixth match of the year Friday, falling to 27th-ranked Radek Stepanek 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) in the Rome Masters quarter-finals.
The top-ranked Federer lost only nine matches in all of 2007. He piled up a string of defeats at the beginning of this year when he was diagnosed with mononucleosis.
BERLIN - Dinara Safina ended Serena Williams's 17-match winning streak with a 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5) victory on Friday to reach the German Open semifinals.
The 17th-ranked Russian kept pressuring Williams' backhand, the same tactic that worked a day earlier in an upset of top-ranked Justine Henin of Belgium.
MILAN, Italy - The recent domination of the Giro d'Italia by cyclists from the host nation could be about to change as an especially strong field gets set to begin the 2008 edition Saturday.
Non-Italians at the starting line in Palermo with hopes of arriving first in Milan after the 21-stage race include last year's Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, his teammate Andreas Kloden and Russia's Denis Menchov, who won the 2007 Spanish Vuelta.
MIAMI - Keith Morgan and Marylise Levesque are going to the Olympic Games in Beijing after winning medals at the Pan American judo championships.
Morgan, of Calgary, booked his ticket simply by participating in the Olympic qualifying event. He still took gold in the men's 100-kilo division by defeating Eduardo Costa of Argentina in Thursday's final.
DETROIT - The memory of their demise in the NHL's Western Conference final a year ago continues to spur the Detroit Red Wings on to greater things this spring.
"We've got a group that wants to win bad and we're determined," says coach Mike Babcock. "We've been here before and never got the job done.
LONDON - Zara Phillips, a granddaughter Queen Elizabeth, will compete for Britain in equestrian at the Beijing Olympics.
The 26-year-old Phillips was among five riders named to the equestrian eventing team Friday by the British Olympic Association.
HALIFAX - Any team looking to beat Canada at the IIHF World Hockey Championship should study tape of this game.
Norway entered as a heavy underdog against the unbeaten hosts but found itself with a chance for an upset after clogging the neutral zone and playing a tight-checking game. It wasn't pretty but it kept the Canadians at bay until Rick Nash made an incredible solo effort late to pull out the win.
TORONTO - They're sick of talking about it and really, what more is there left to say about an enigmatic offence that can't even bring home the winning run from third base with nobody out?
An out-of-nowhere three-run rally in the ninth gave the Toronto Blue Jays a chance to pull out a game they looked sure to lose Thursday, but instead they were left to once again rue missed opportunities in an eventual 8-3 defeat in 13 innings to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Brandon Webb's bank account is growing with every win.
Webb became the first pitcher in three years to win his first eight starts, pitching his 13th career complete game to help the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-3 on Thursday. The 2006 NL Cy Young Award winner struck out four and didn't walk a batter in his first complete game of the year. He hit one batter.
SAN ANTONIO - The San Antonio Spurs' Big Three congregated around the scorer's table during a timeout in the fourth quarter, not long before they put the game away for good.
Tim Duncan patted Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. They all laughed. The NBA's defending champions were not going into an 0-3 hole against the New Orleans Hornets.
BOSTON - Paul Pierce and Ray Allen found their shooting touch. LeBron James can only hope he left his in Cleveland.
Pierce scored 19 points, Kevin Garnett added 13 with 12 rebounds, and Allen broke out of a seven-quarter scoring drought with 16 points to help the Boston Celtics beat the Cavaliers 89-73 on Thursday night and take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - The flag was in a tempting location, back and left on the 13th green at the TPC Sawgrass with a pond running alongside the left side. Sergio Garcia took dead aim with a seven-iron and the ball never left its target.
This is nothing new with Garcia, who rarely struggles to make solid contact.
