US falls to Czech Republic on late goal

May 2, 2007

Hockey
Carolina's Chad LaRose and Andrew Hutchinson scored third-period goals but Team USA fell to the Czech Republic, 4-3, on Jaroslav Bednar's late goal at the World Championships in Moscow. A goal by the Bruins' Petr Tenkrat gave the Czechs a 3-1 lead 7:51 into the third period. But LaRose's shorthanded score (13:59) and Hutchinson's power-play blast from the point (15:37) tied the game before Bednar beat the Hurricanes' John Grahame (20 saves) with 1:08 remaining in the preliminary round contest. Team USA, which earned the No. 2 seed in Group B, will face either Slovakia or Canada tomorrow in the qualification round . . . Canada coach Andy Murray defended Shane Doan after his appointment as captain became an issue in Parliament. Canada's opposition parties questioned Doan's qualifications because of allegations he made ethnic slurs toward French-speaking officials during an NHL game between Phoenix and Montreal in 2005; the NHL investigated and found no evidence Doan used ethnic slurs. "Shane Doan has answered the call whenever Canada has asked," Murray said. "He's leaving four kids to come over here. He's done enough that he probably had the right to say no, and he has never said no to Canada. He's a real Canadian." . . . Pascal Pelletier scored two goals, David Krejci added three assists, and Hannu Toivonen made 36 saves to lead visiting Providence to a 6-3 victory over Manchester, giving the Bruins a 1-0 lead in the AHL semifinals.

Baseball

Three days before he was killed in a highway wreck, St. Louis pitcher Josh Hancock was involved in a predawn accident that police treated routinely. Officers who talked with the 29-year-old reliever moments after the front of his sport utility vehicle was clipped by a tractor-trailer in Sauget, Ill., found Hancock lucid. He did not appear under the influence of alcohol, Chief Patrick Delaney said. "The officers said they felt Josh was not impaired whatsoever," Delaney said. He said Hancock did not get preferential police treatment as a ballplayer, noting the responding officer "didn't know Josh Hancock from John Doe." . . . Frank Martinez, 40, pleaded guilty to shining a high-powered flashlight at a pair of Atlanta players during an April 20 game at Shea Stadium. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail -- and banned from Mets' home games for three years -- after shining his beam at Braves pitcher Tim Hudson and shortstop Edgar Renteria from his seat behind home plate, with Atlanta leading, 7-0 . . . Frank Torre, the 75-year-old brother of Yankees manager Joe Torre, was "out of surgery and doing well" after kidney transplant surgery with an organ donated by his daughter, according to New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia Hospital officials . . . Colby-Sawyer lefthander Sean Gildea of Haverhill struck out a school-record 17 batters, but walked in the game's only run in the top of the seventh inning as the Chargers fell to Nichols, 1-0, in New London, N.H.

Tennis

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, a former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, will join the Boston Lobsters for a World TeamTennis match July 12. Two days later, Sanchez-Vicario -- whose 14 Grand Slam titles include three French Open singles crowns (1989, 1994, 1998) -- will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I. . . . Two local women's teams will be heading to Los Angeles to play in the first round of the NCAA Division 1 tournament: Boston University (13-5) will play Southern California (17-4) May 11, and Quinnipiac (12-6) will face UCLA (16-7) May 12 . . . Roger Federer will play Rafael Nadal in an exhibition today on a customized half-clay, half-grass court on the Spanish island of Palma De Mallorca. Organizers in Nadal's hometown needed 19 days and $1.63 million to create the court, which divides the surfaces by halves for a unique match in which a player can receive on clay and hit a winner on grass -- or vice versa. "The result is not the most important thing: It's about having fun out there," the top-ranked Federer said. " It doesn't always need to be crazy serious out on the match courts." Federer hasn't lost on grass in four years, a 48-match run that includes four straight titles at Wimbledon; Nadal has won a record 72 straight clay-court matches, including two consecutive titles at Roland Garros in Paris.

Miscellany

Jose Reina made two saves in a shootout as Liverpool beat Chelsea, 4-1, on penalty kicks to reach the final of the European Champions League for a second time in three seasons. Daniel Agger scored in the 23d minute as Liverpool beat Chelsea, 1-0, in the second game of the total-goals semifinal to force the shootout. Manchester United will play AC Milan today in the other semifinal with the winners meeting May 23 in Athens . . . Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway has permanently banned 14 fans from buying tickets at the track following their arrests Sunday for throwing objects on the track after Jeff Gordon's victory in the Aaron's 499 . . . Gary Player was forced to pull out of the Bank of America Championship at Nashawtuc Country Club June 22-24 because of scheduling conflicts . . . Tom Johnson, the father of Arizona State women's basketball player Aubree Johnson, died when his motorcycle was struck by a pickup truck in Tecate, Mexico, Sunday. Johnson's 15-year-old brother Jordan died in his sleep of heart failure in November while the family was in the Virgin Islands to watch Arizona State play . . . Louis Vuitton Cup racing was postponed due to strong winds off Valencia, Spain.