Article & Journal Resources

Hockey
Penguins forward Sidney Crosby and the Detroit Red Wings are looking good as voting for the NHL All-Star Game winds down. The 20-year-old Crosby leads the league with 445,144 votes and Detroit is set to have three starters in the Jan. 27 game in Atlanta with balloting ending Wednesday. Crosby's total is more than twice as many as the next Eastern Conference forward, Vincent Lecavalier of Tampa Bay with 198,953. Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom maintained his lead in the Western Conference with 420,436 votes, and teammates Henrik Zetterberg (291,952) and Pavel Datsyuk (262,619) were the conference leaders among forwards. Vancouver's Roberto Luongo leads all goaltenders with 228,583 votes. Martin Brodeur of New Jersey leads Eastern Conference goalies with 185,003 . . . Joe Sakic will undergo hernia surgery today, and the Colorado Avalanche captain will be out of action for up to three months. Sakic has been out since Nov. 30, missing 12 games . . . New York Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro has a sprained left knee, but might miss only one game . . . Tuukka Rask stopped 23 shots and Pascal Pelletier scored twice as the Providence Bruins downed the Albany River Rats, 3-1, at the Times Union Center to improve to 25-5-2 . . . Hayley Wickenheiser, who led Canada to the women's world hockey title, was voted her country's female athlete of the year by The Canadian Press. She is the first hockey player to capture the honor since its inception in 1933.
more stories like this

* Conklin, Crosby help Pens top Sabres 2-0
* Hockey returns to outdoor roots to start New Year
* Gonchar finds net in overtime
* Flyers snap six-game skid with win over Leafs
* Comeau gets first goal as Isles top Pens
*

Continued...
Basketball
Marbury plans to return after holiday
Guard Stephon Marbury informed the Knicks he plans on returning to the team after the new year, the club announced. Spokesman Jonathan Supranowitz spoke with Marbury after Knicks coach Isiah Thomas said at practice that he did not know if Marbury would return to the team. Marbury has missed eight of the Knicks' last 12 games as he grieves the death of his father, Don. Earlier this season, Marbury left the team after a dispute with Thomas and was fined nearly $200,000 . . . Tracy McGrady will miss Houston's next two games to rest his ailing left knee. McGrady played a total of 50 minutes in Houston's last two games, a win in Chicago Dec. 22 and a loss to Detroit Dec. 23. An MRI performed Monday revealed swollen tendons in the knee but no structural damage. The Rockets play Memphis tonight and Toronto tomorrow . . . Spurs guard Brent Barry will miss up to two weeks after tearing a muscle in his left calf against Chicago Wednesday night . . . LSU senior forward Sylvia Fowles, the leading scorer (17.4 points per game) and rebounder (9.7) for the No. 8 Lady Tigers, will miss 2-4 weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on her right knee.

Players unlikely to appear at hearing
Representative Christopher Shays, a member of a congressional panel probing the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, said there is little to be gained by calling players to testify at hearings scheduled for next month. "If we went back to every player, we would have to do research every morning, noon, and night," said Shays, a Connecticut Republican. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has scheduled a Jan. 15 hearing featuring former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, author of the recent report linking more than 80 baseball players to the illegal use of performance-enhancing drugs . . . Free agent outfielder Darin Erstad signed a one-year contract worth $1 million plus incentives with the Houston Astros . . . The New York Yankees finalized a $3.75 million, one-year contract with LaTroy Hawkins, strengthening their weak middle relief with the veteran righthander. Hawkins, 35, was 2-5 with a 3.42 ERA last season for the Colorado Rockies . . . Catcher Miguel Olivo, the Florida Marlins' primary catcher the past two seasons, signed a one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals . . . Former major league player and longtime Atlanta Braves coach Jim Beauchamp died of leukemia. He was 68.
more stories like this

Miscellany
Goolagong finishes long climb to No. 1
Evonne Goolagong finally made it to No. 1, although the honor was 30 years late in coming. The Australian tennis star was told by the WTA Tour that she should have been top-ranked for a two-week period in 1976. That was a stretch in which she was in the middle of winning six tournaments, including the Australian Open and the season-ending Virginia Slims Championship. But when some tournament records were transferred to a computer in 1976, all of Goolagong's points were not entered and she never received the top ranking, the WTA said. The WTA has amended its records, making Goolagong the 16th No. 1 player since the introduction of tour computer rankings in 1975. Two weeks ago, the 56-year-old Goolagong received a trophy from the WTA that is now displayed in her oceanside home. "I'm very proud of the achievement," Goolagong told the Associated Press. "I was on a roll for that stretch in 1976. It was a great surprise to hear after all these years." . . . The governing body of men's tennis confirmed that Italians Potito Starace and Daniele Bracciali bet on tennis matches, and the players had no excuse for not knowing this was a rules violation. Starace, ranked 31st, was suspended for six weeks and fined $30,000. Bracciali, ranked 258th, was banned for three months and fined $20,000. Both suspensions begin Monday . . . Sydney yacht Wild Oats XI became the first yacht in nearly 60 years to win the Sydney to Hobart race three times in a row. Wild Oats, skippered by Mark Richards, finished the 723-mile race today in 1 day 21 hours 24 minutes. British yacht City Index was expected to finish about 30 minutes behind.