U.S. junior team beats Canada
Brady Tkachuk and Kieffer Bellows found enough traction in the snow to score shootout goals and cap the United States’ 4-3 victory over Canada in Orchard Park, N.Y. It was international hockey’s first outdoor game.
Tkachuk and Ron Perunovich scored 34 seconds apart in the third period to rally the United States from a 3-1 deficit in the world junior championship game played in a steady snowfall at the Buffalo Bills’ New Era Field. Casey Mittlestadt set up all three goals for the U.S. (2-1), which rebounded from a 3-2 loss to Slovakia less than 24 hours earlier.
Bellows also scored in regulation, and goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 19 shots through overtime and all four he faced in the shootout.
Robert Thomas had a goal and an assist for Canada (2-1). By earning a point for the shootout loss, Canada still has the edge in the Group A standings in being two points ahead of the Americans.
St. Louis Blues draft pick Klim Kostin scored twice in leading Russia to a 5-2 win over Belarus in another preliminary round game.
San Antonio Spurs forward Rudy Gay will miss at least two weeks after an MRI revealed retrocalcaneal bursitis in his right heel.
Gay exited in the final minute of the third quarter during San Antonio’s 119-107 victory over Brooklyn on Thursday night. An MRI Friday morning showed the inflammation of the bursa sac over the heel.
Alexis Pinturault of France secured another World Cup Alpine combined victory when first-run leader Dominik Paris straddled a gate toward the end of his slalom run in Bormio, Italy.
For his seventh win in the discipline, Pinturault won with a 0.42-second advantage over Peter Fill of Italy.
Kjetil Jansrud of Norway finished third, 0.45 back.
The NBA has apologized and removed wording from its website referring to “Palestine-occupied territory” after complaints by an Israeli minister.
Israeli sports minister Miri Regev had sent a letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver calling Palestine “an imaginary ‘state’,” and asking for the reference to be removed from the basketball league’s website.
“We do not produce the country listings for NBA.com and as soon as we became aware of it, the site was updated,” said Kathy Behrens, the NBA’s president for social responsibility. “We apologize for this oversight, and have corrected it.”