DiPietro signs NHL record 15-year deal

Rick DiPietro re-signed with the New York Islanders yesterday, agreeing to a record 15-year deal that will pay the No. 1 goalie $67.5 million and keep him in the fold until 2022, when he would be 40. The deal is the longest in NHL history, topping the 10-year, $87.5 million contract the Islanders gave center Alexei Yashin in 2001. It is believed to be second only in length in American sports to the 25-year pact Magic Johnson signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1981. ``With a long-term deal, you're speculating what you'll be worth and what you'll be making," said DiPietro, who turns 25 next week. ``I don't think that player salaries are going to go up that much more. I mean, how much higher can they go?" Islanders owner Charles Wang and new general manager Garth Snow, DiPietro's backup last season, were involved in the negotiations. The contract is guaranteed and DiPietro will be paid in full should he retire because of injury. The top pick in the 2000 draft after his freshman year at Boston University was 30-24-5 with a 3.02 goals-against average in 63 games last season with the Islanders, who missed the playoffs after three straight appearances . . . Philadelphia Flyers center Keith Primeau will anounce his retirement this week, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Primeau, 34, has not played since October, when he suffered a concussion . . . The Edmonton Oilers re-signed winger Joffrey Lupul, acquired in the Chris Pronger deal with Anaheim this summer, to a three-year deal for $6.9 million . . . The Buffalo Sabres signed center Marek Zagrapan, their first-round draft pick (13th overall) in 2005 to a three-year deal worth about $2.3 million, and announced the hiring of former defenseman James Patrick as an assistant coach.

Sue Bird led all scorers with 20 points and Candace Parker had 12 points and 10 rebounds to lead the two-time defending champion United States to a 119-72 victory over China on the opening day of the Women's World Basketball Championships at Sao Paulo. Tina Thompson and Diana Taurasi had 17 points each and Seimone Augustus added 10 for the US . . . Dave Cowens joined the Detroit Pistons as an assistant coach, leaving his job as coach and general manager of the WNBA's Chicago Sky. A Hall of Fame center with the Celtics in the 1970s who served as Boston's player/coach in the 1978-79 season, last coached in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors from 2000-02 . . . The Miami Heat waived veteran reserve guard Derek Anderson . . . Veteran Toni Kukoc is likely to retire after failing to interest the Milwaukee Bucks or Chicago Bulls in signing him ' . . . Hall of Famer Ann Meyers is leaving the broadcast booth to become general manager of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and vice president of the NBA's Phoenix Suns.

Russia selected Mikhail Youzhny, Nikolai Davydenko, Marat Safin, and Dmitri Tursunov to face the United States in the Davis Cup semifinal in Moscow Sept. 22-24. Youzhny lost in last week's US Open semifinals to Andy Roddick, one of four US players who will play in Moscow, while Davydenko lost the other US Open semifinal to eventual winner Roger Federer . . . Defending champion Lindsay Davenport beat Russia's Galina Voskoboeva, 7-5, 6-1, in her opening match at the Wismilak International in Bali, Indonesia . . . World No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic, coming off a stunning upset loss to Feliciano Lopez in the opening round of the US Open, defeated Go Soeda of Japan in the first round of the China Open in Beijing for his 50th win this year on the ATP tour.

Lance Armstrong bristled at a report that two former teammates admitted using performance-enhancing drugs, calling it "a hatchet job to link me to doping through somebody else's admission." Frankie Andreu and another former Armstrong teammate who requested anonymity because he still works in cycling told the New York Times they used the endurance-booster EPO to prepare for the 1999 Tour de France, when Armstrong won the first of his seven titles. Neither rider has ever tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and both said they never saw Armstrong take any banned substances. "I think it's a pretty nasty attempt by the New York Times to link me to doping through somebody else's admission. You have to read way down in the article until Frankie says, `I never saw Lance do anything.' To me, this is a story about Frankie Andreu," Armstrong said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. ``The fact he took drugs has nothing to do with me."

Asafa Powell withdrew from the 100 meters at this weekend's World Cup in Greece so he can race in Japan next week. Powell set his 100 world record of 9.77 seconds the last time he ran in Athens in 2005, but his manager, Paul Doyle, said he will run only in a relay in this week . . . Wellington Dotel, an outfielder with the Seattle Mariners' rookie league team in Peoria, Ariz., was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance . . . Chris Durbin and Brian Myrow had consecutive two-out RBI singles in the first and Luis Jimenez added a solo homer in the third as the Portland Sea Dogs beat the Aeros, 4-3, in Akron, Ohio to take the first game of the best-of-five Eastern League championship series . . . The Quebec Capitales erupted for five runs in the second en route to a 7-2 victory over the Brockton Rox in the opener of their best-of-five series for the Can-Am League championship in Quebec City . . . Indiana football coach Terry Hoeppner will undergo brain surgery today for the second time in nine months and hopes to be back with the Hoosiers in 2-4 weeks. Surgeons in December removed a tumor from his right temple.