Hockey legend Schmidt dies
Milt Schmidt, the hockey hall of famer who led Boston to two Stanley Cup championships as the center of the “Kraut Line,” served Canada in World War II and returned to the NHL to win its MVP award and two more titles as the Bruins general manager, has died, a Bruins spokesman said Wednesday. He was 98 and had been the oldest living NHL player.
Schmidt is the only Bruin in franchise history to serve as on-ice captain, coach and general manager. His Boston teams won the Stanley Cup in 1939 and ’41, and when he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force two months after the Pearl Harbor attack along with linemates Woody Dumart and Bobby
Bauer, they were carried off the ice on the shoulders of the archrival Montreal Canadiens.
TENNIS
Defending champion Novak Djokovic and topseeded Andy Murray posted straight-set wins on Wednesday to reach the Qatar Open quarterfinals.
Djokovic, a 12-time Grand Slam champion, defeated Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, 6-3, 6-4. Murray had a challenging outing against Gerald Melzer of Austria, advancing with a 7-6 (6) 7-5 win.
Chennai Open: Top-seeded Marin Cilic was beaten in the second round of the Chennai Open in India, losing to 117th-ranked Jozef Kovalik, 7-6 (5), 5-7, 7-5.
Kovalik will next face Daniil Medvedev of Russia in the quarterfinals. Medvedev advanced by beating eighth-seeded Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan, 6-4, 6-3.
Hopman Cup: Roger Federer lost, 7-6 (1), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), to 19-year-old Alexander Zverev of Germany at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia.
Federer, 35, was playing his second match since returning from a six-month layoff because of a left knee injury.
It turned out to be a winning evening for Federer and Swiss partner Belinda Bencic. Bencic beat Andrea Petkovic, 6-3, 6-4, in a singles match, and Federer and Bencic combined in mixed doubles to beat Zverev and Petkovic, 4-1, 4-2, in the Fast4 format.
SKIING
Lindsey Vonn could make her World Cup return in Austria next week, two months after undergoing surgery on a broken arm. The Alpine director of the U.S. ski team, Patrick Riml, said Vonn had resumed ski training in Colorado this week and that she planned to travel to Europe for the weekend.
SOCCER
Wisconsin midfielder Rose Lavelle has been named to the roster for USA soccer’s first training camp of 2017. Lavelle, a senior, was one of 29 players and 11 midfielders called up by head coach Jill Ellis for the event in Carson, Calif., from Jan. 13-23.
TRACK AND FIELD
Two-time Olympic decathlon gold medalist Ashton Eaton and heptathlete Brianne Theisen-Eaton have announced their retirements on their website.
Eaton, 28, hinted he might be moving on to other things after defending his title at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August. He’s the world record holder in the event. Theisen-Eaton, 28, who represents Canada, won the bronze in Rio.