Monday, April 17, 2006
Washington Capitals rookie Alex Ovechkin will be honored twice during tonight's home finale against the Atlanta Thrashers at Verizon Center, before the game for his record-breaking season and afterward when he'll be presented with a Rolex watch for winning the team's Three Stars of the Year award. The team will also recognize its fans.
Ovechkin scored his 51st goal against the Florida Panthers on Saturday to move into a tie with Joe Nieuwendyk for third place on the all-time rookie goal scoring list; with two games remaining, the 20-year-old Russian can equal or overtake Mike Bossy 's mark of 53. Teemu Selanne 's rookie record of 76 is out of reach.
Fan Appreciation Night will include a giveaway of Capitals practice jerseys to everyone in attendance, random prize drawings throughout the evening and year-in-review videos, among other things. At the game's end, selected fans will be escorted to the ice and receive jerseys worn by each player during the game.
The Capitals can end Atlanta's faint hopes of earning its first playoff bid with a victory over their Southeast Division rival. Washington concludes the season tomorrow in Tampa.
· TENNIS: It's been a long comeback for American Mardy Fish , and he's not done yet.
Two wrist surgeries last year kept him from competing much, but he proved he is finding his form, rallying from a set down to beat Jurgen Melzer , 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, to win the U.S. Clay Court Championship in Houston.
Next on his to-do list: making the main draw at Wimbledon in late June.
"It's reachable now," he said. "I need to bear down again, forget about the last two weeks and start over." . . .
In Charleston, S.C., Nadia Petrova battled stifling heat, sore legs and the temptation to retire to defeat Patty Schnyder , 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, and win the Family Circle Cup for her second straight tournament victory.
Petrova, who also won last week at Amelia Island, now has four tour victories, all in the last six months. . . .
In Spain, qualifier Nicolas Almagro won his first ATP title, beating Gilles Simon of France, 6-3, 6-2, at the Valencia Open. The 20-year-old Spaniard, ranked 77th, easily won the first set and broke his opponent again in the first game of the second set at Valencia Tennis Club.
· SOCCER: Liverpool won its seventh straight game in the English Premier League, beating Blackburn, 1-0, on Robbie Fowler 's fourth goal in five games.
Fowler scored in the 29th minute when Fernando Morientes kept the ball in play and passed to Fowler, who beat former U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel .
Blackburn complained that the goal should have been disallowed because Djibril Cisse was offside. The referee ruled Cisse was not interfering with play.
Liverpool is in third place in the league with 73 points, three behind second-place Manchester United, which has played one less game. Blackburn is sixth with 54 points, seven points behind fourth-place Tottenham and three points behind Arsenal.
· CYCLING: Maria Luisa Calle Williams of Colombia won the women's scratch race, and Theo Bos of the Netherlands clinched the men's sprint at the Track Cycling World Championships in Bordeaux, France.
Gina Grain of Canada took the silver medal, and Olga Slyusareva of Russia won bronze in the women's scratch. Slyusareva had already finished second in the points race and individual pursuit.
Bos beat veteran Craig McLean in both legs of the men's sprint. Stefan Nimke of Germany took bronze. McLean, 34, had already helped Britain win a silver in the team sprint.
· BASEBALL: Two children were injured in a scramble to grab cash being dropped from a helicopter as part of a promotion after a minor league baseball game in Comstock Park, Mich.
About $1,000 in cash was dropped Saturday from the helicopter over Fifth Third Ballpark's outfield as children lined the outfield fence.
After the cash was dropped, the children scrambled. A 7-year-old boy was trampled and taken to a hospital, while a 7-year-old girl got a bloody lip after being pushed onto the ground.
The boy, Tino Rodriquez , of Grant, Mich., suffered bruises to his chest and back, said his grandmother, Rita Rodriquez .
-- From News Services and Staff Reports
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