BU drops to No. 2; BC, NU gain ground

Boston University's stay atop the US College Hockey Online men's poll was a short one, but the fall wasn't great. The Terriers dropped to No. 2 in this week's poll behind Minnesota. BU lost Friday to Massachusetts, 5-1, but rebounded Sunday to blank Northeastern, 3-0. Boston College moved up one spot to No. 4 despite settling for a 5-5 tie with Merrimack Friday and NU also moved up one place to No. 6 despite the loss to the Terriers. New Hampshire, which allowed 16 goals in losses to UMass-Lowell and BC, dropped from fourth to No. 13 . . . St. Louis center Andy McDonald is expected to miss eight weeks after breaking his left leg during a 3-2 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens Sunday. McDonald leads the team with 18 points . . . The Colorado Avalanche signed 22-year-old center Paul Stastny to a five-year contract extension through the 2013-14 season. Stastny, whose father, Peter, is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, has registered 164 points in 164 NHL games . . . Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury will miss tonight's game against Minnesota because of an undisclosed injury.

Golden State signed leading scorer Stephen Jackson to a three-year contract extension, a deal that takes the explosive guard-forward through the 2012-13 season. Since Jackson arrived in the Bay Area in a trade with the Indiana Pacers in January 2007, he has been a major spark for the Warriors, helping the team end a 12-year playoff drought that year and reach the second round. Jackson, 30, is averaging 22.1 points per game . . . Federal regulators charged Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with insider trading for allegedly using confidential information on a stock sale to avoid more than $750,000 in losses. Cuban disputed the allegations. Story, B10 . . . Phoenix center Shaquille O'Neal has been fined $25,000 for verbally abusing an official and failing to leave the court quickly after being ejected Sunday against Detroit . . . Oklahoma City forward Desmond Mason will miss about 10 days with a sprained right elbow.

Connecticut became a unanimous choice at No. 1 while LSU's streak of appearances in the Associated Press women's Top 25 is over. The Huskies survived a scare before pulling away from Georgia Tech Sunday to remain the top choice in the poll. The Lady Tigers fell out of the AP poll for the first time since Feb. 25, 2002, a span of 117 straight weeks. It was the sixth-longest active streak in the country behind Tennessee (417), Connecticut (279), Duke (169), North Carolina (134), and Stanford (134). In the men's Top 25, North Carolina stayed a unanimous No. 1 after a season-opening 86-71 win over Pennsylvania. Connecticut, Louisville, and UCLA stayed second through fourth . . . Pete Newell, the Hall of Fame coach who won an NCAA championship with California in 1959 and an Olympic gold medal in 1960 and later tutored some of the game's greatest big men, died in Berkeley, Calif. He was 93. Newell, who had been living near San Diego, had a lung operation in 2005. Obituary, B8 . . . The University of Massachusetts announced 6-foot-5-inch guard Freddie Riley of Ocala, Fla., has signed a letter of intent to play for the Minutemen. Riley is ranked as a Top 100 player by a number of a recruiting services.

Reliever Jeremy Affeldt became the first of 171 free agents to agree to a contract, striking an $8 million, two-year deal with the San Francisco Giants. Affeldt, 29, pitched for the Cincinnati Reds last season, going 1-1 with a 3.33 ERA in a team-leading 74 appearances . . . Free agent righthander Mike Mussina will likely make a decision on whether to return for his 19th season by early next week, said his agent, Arn Tellem. Mussina won 20 games for the first time in his big-league career last season with the Yankees . . . Coming off their first winning season, the American League champion Rays announced that single-game tickets will increase between $1 and $5 depending on location . . . The Chicago Cubs will play the first exhibition games at the new Yankee Stadium April 3-4. The $1.3 billion ballpark, scheduled for completion by Feb. 17, will host its first regular-season game when the Yankees play Cleveland April 16 . . . Baseball legends and old-timers will play in a new Hall of Fame Classic June 21 - Father's Day and the first day of summer - in Cooperstown, N.Y. It will replace the Hall of Fame game, discontinued after 68 years because of scheduling problems.

Dartmouth earned a No. 16 seed and a bye into the second round of the NCAA men's soccer tournament. The Big Green (11-5-1) will face the winner of Friday's game between Colgate and host Boston College (9-8-2) Nov. 25 in Hanover, N.H. Also earning berths were Boston University (11-5-3), which will host Fairleigh-Dickinson Friday; and Harvard (11-5-0) and Massachusetts (10-7-3), who play Saturday in Amherst . . . Late-model stock car drivers will race in New Hampshire Motor Speedway's inaugural American-Canadian Tour Invitational during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 weekend next September. The ACT Invitational will be a 50-lap event with 36 starters.