Crosby (knee) will miss All-Star Game

January 23, 2009

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby will miss Sunday's All-Star Game in Montreal because of an injured left knee. Lightning leading scorer Martin St. Louis will replace Crosby on the Eastern Conference roster, the NHL announced yesterday. Crosby sat out last Friday's game because of the knee injury, and was struck twice on the left arm by pucks during a 2-1 loss to Carolina Tuesday night. Crosby, who received a record 1.7 million votes in fan balloting, also missed last year's All-Star Game because of a high ankle sprain . . . Canadiens winger Alex Kovalev (Eastern Conference) and Sharks center Joe Thornton (Western) were selected as captains for the All-Star Game . . . Flyers center Danny Briere, who has played only nine games this season, will miss at least four more weeks after having groin surgery. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren also said it is unclear if free agent Peter Forsberg would be able to return to the NHL from a foot injury that has kept him out of action since last season . . . Veteran goaltender Martin Gerber was placed on waivers by the Senators. He has until noon today to clear waivers, allowing the Senators to send him to the AHL.

Floyd Landis is coming back, and says the sport will be better for it. Landis's feel-good story came to a halt when he was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France victory following a doping scandal and protracted fight in courts around the world. He said he feels "like a kid again" knowing that his two-year ban from cycling will end next week. "In my mind, it's already behind me," Landis told the Associated Press. "I'm not dwelling on that at all." Landis was barred for using synthetic testosterone in the latter stages of cycling's showcase race three years ago. He contends the testing system is flawed, but he has no means left to fight other than to resume racing. He will ride for the OUCH cycling team and debut at the Tour of California next month . . . Lance Armstrong finished in the middle of the pack in the fourth stage of the Tour Down Under today at Adelaide, Australia. Armstrong is 39th overall, 29 seconds behind leader Allan Davis, who won today's 88-mile stage.

Another award for Michael Phelps: The record-setting swimmer was chosen the US Olympic Committee's sportsman of the year. Phelps won eight gold medals in Beijing. All-around gymnastics champion Nastia Liukin and swimmer Natalie Coughlin, who won six medals in Beijing, tied in voting for sportswoman of the year. Erin Popovich was selected Paralympian of the year and the US men's volleyball team, which won a gold medal in the aftermath of the attack and killing of coach Hugh McCutcheon's father-in-law, was team of the year. Todd Bachman was killed while sightseeing at the 13th-century Drum Tower in Beijing.

Doug Logan, the head of USA Track and Field, delivered a pointed speech to leaders in the supplement industry, accusing them of helping ruin a sport wracked with scandals involving performance-enhancing drugs. "Performance-enhancing drugs are threatening to choke the life out of the sport that I serve and love," he said at a conference in Arizona. "And in many ways, the supplement industry has been assisting in braiding the noose." Logan laid blame on leaders in both the track world and the supplement industry for the problems that have overtaken the sport the past several years. He said there had been progress: only four doping positives over the last two years in the US. But even that isn't enough in his opinion. "Despite the results in testing I just mentioned, we cannot yet assure our fans that we are running a clean sport and therein lies the tragedy," he said . . . George Mason basketball player John Vaughan, recovering from an elbow-to-the-head concussion suffered at Northeastern Wednesday night, will see a neurologist today and miss tomorrow's game against Virginia Commonwealth. Vaughan was "alert, comfortable, well-oriented, and very responsive" when examined last night by team physician Frank Pettrone, according to the school . . . Two-time MLS Cup MVP Dwayne De Rosario signed a four-year contract with FC Toronto. Financial details weren't released. The attacking midfielder, who arrived in a trade from Houston last month, has 51 goals and 42 assists in eight MLS seasons . . . David Donohue edged Timo Bernhard by 0.001 seconds to take the pole position for the 47th Rolex 24 at Daytona, breaking the Daytona Prototype track record. The race starts at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow . . . Minnesota safety Tramaine Brock has left the school because of academic reasons, coach Tim Brewster said.