Bruins sign Dempsey, re-sign Jurcina

NHL

The Bruins went on the defensive yesterday, signing blue liners Milan Jurcina and Nathan Dempsey and left wing Pascal Pelletier. Jurcina, a 23-year-old restricted free agent, had six goals for the Bruins last season -- four over a two-game span to become the first Bruin defenseman to record consecutive two-goal games since Ray Bourque in 1990. Dempsey, 32, is a 12-year NHL veteran and had 2 goals and 11 assists in 53 games with the Los Angeles Kings last season. Pelletier, 23, had 20 goals and 26 assists in 53 games for the AHL's Providence Bruins last season . . . Ladislav Nagy, 27, was awarded a one-year, $3 million deal by an arbitrator and agreed to terms with the Phoenix Coyotes. Nagy, who missed the final 29 games last season with a right knee injury and had arthroscopic surgery Feb. 3, had 15 goals and a team-leading 41 assists last season . . . Evgeni Malkin, the No. 2 pick in the June 2004 draft, still wants to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins as soon as possible, agent J.P. Barry said, despite the announcement on the website of the Russian super league team Metallurg Magnitogorsk that the star forward has renegotiated his contract and plans to stay out of the NHL for another season . . . The Rangers and 24-year-old left wing Marcel Hossa agreed to terms on a one-year deal worth $600,000 . . . Anaheim Ducks defenseman Eric Weinrich, 39, retired after 18 years in the NHL and will join the Portland Pirates as an assistant coach. Weinrich, a Maine native, lives in Yarmouth.

Baseball

Livan Hernandez was traded by the Washington Nationals to the Arizona Diamondbacks for two 23-year-old prospects, righthander Garrett Mock and lefthander Matt Chico. Hernandez, a 31-year-old righthander, is 9-8 this season with a career-high 5.34 ERA in 24 starts. He has been hampered by a sore knee . . . Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said All-Star lefthander Scott Kazmir will be activated from the 15-day disabled list today and will start Friday in Oakland. Kazmir has not pitched since July 23 with inflammation in his throwing shoulder . . . The Cincinnati Reds acquired righthander Ryan Franklin from the Philadelphia Phillies, receiving money to pay part of Franklin's $2.6 million deal for this season and giving the Phillies a player to be named after the season . . . New York Yankees left fielder Hideki Matsui, rehabbing the left wrist he broke while diving for a fly ball hit by the Red Sox' Mark Loretta May 11, will have his wrist re-examined Friday in Tampa and could be cleared to intensify his workouts . . . Quinton McCracken drilled an RBI double with one out in the bottom of the 10th to lead the host Red Wings over the Pawtucket Red Sox, 9-8, in Rochester . . . Alexis Gomez homered four times, one more than he had hit all season, and drove in five runs to lead the Toledo Mud Hens past the Clippers, 15-8, in Columbus, Ohio . . . Lincoln (R.I.) edged Peabody, 3-1, in 10 innings in round-robin play at the New England Regional Little League Tournament in Bristol, Conn. Colchester (Vt.) shut out Glastonbury (Conn.), 6-0.

NBA

The Washington Wizards said they won't match the New York Knicks' five-year, $30 million offer sheet for restricted free agent Jared Jeffries . . . Former first-round draft pick Jiri Welsch, a former Celtic, has left the Bucks to sign with Malaga, a professional team in Spain, agent Sam Goldfeder said. Welsch, 26, averaged 4.3 points in 58 games for Milwaukee last season.

Olympics

In Vienna, Wolfgang Schwarz, who won the 1968 Olympic figure skating gold medal, was sentenced to eight years in prison for plotting to kidnap the teenage daughter of a Romanian businessman and hold her for nearly $4 million ransom. Schwarz, 59, made a surprise confession . . . Police arrested an official in Sochi, Russia, for trying to extort money from a local business owner in connection with the Black Sea city's bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Sergei Yevdokimenko, who is responsible for federal government property in the resort town, and Viktor Babiiy, director of a regional trout farm, have been charged with blackmail and soliciting bribes.

Horse racing

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott sent After Market to a wire-to-wire win in the $150,000 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Breeders' Cup Stakes at Saratoga. The 3-year-old son of Storm Cat has four wins from four lifetime starts in New York . . . Trainer Todd Pletcher said The Green Monkey, a record-setting $16 million 2-year-old purchase, will not make his long-awaited debut at Saratoga after he injured a gluteal muscle in his last workout Aug. 2 . . . Bill Boland, who as a 16-year-old apprentice jockey won the 1950 Kentucky Derby aboard Middleground, joined Carl Hanford, trainer of the famed Kelso, and champion thoroughbred Cougar II as the newest inductees into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame.

Miscellany

The University of New Hampshire football team was selected No. 2 in the first Sports Network 1-AA poll. The University of Massachusetts was ranked No. 10. Appalachian State was No. 1 . . . UMass and Holy Cross will renew their football rivalry, meeting in a home-and-home series beginning at McGuirk Stadium Sept. 1, 2007 . . . Paige Mackenzie, 23, of Yakima, Wash., Margaret Shirley, 20, of Roswell, Ga., and Mi Jung Hur, 16, of Korea fired 2-under 69s to take the lead in stroke-play qualifying for the US Women's Amateur at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore. Alison Walshe of Westford is two back at 71 . . . Jim Pomeroy, the first US motorcycle racer to win a World Championship Motocross event, was killed in a car accident Sunday near Tampico, Wash. He was 53. Obituary, Page A24.