Lidstrom retires after 20 seasons
Lidstrom retires after 20 seasons
DETROIT — Defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom retired Thursday after 20 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, ending one of the best careers in NHL history.
The four-time Stanley Cup champion and seven-time Norris Trophy winner fought back tears as he made the announcement.
“My drive and motivation are not where to need to be to play at this level,” Lidstrom said.
The 42-year-old Lidstrom, a Swede, played for the Red Wings in each of his 20 seasons and set an NHL record by playing 1,564 games with one team. He put retirement on hold in each of the previous two years by signing one-year contracts.
“I’ve been dreading this day since I became manager in 1997,” Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said.
Lidstrom had 34 points and a plus-21 rating that ranked among the league leaders last season. He missed a career-high 11 games with a bruised right ankle and was out for another game with the flu. He had 264 career goals with 1,142 points and a 450-plus rating.
Sandusky asks court to delay sex case
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, facing trial next week on charges he sexually abused 10 boys, on Thursday asked a state appeals court to review his case and to delay the criminal proceedings against him.
The Superior Court’s online docket indicated Sandusky filed a petition for review but did not explain what he was seeking. Sandusky also asked the court to seal the document, which was not available after business hours.
The judge in Sandusky’s criminal case, John Cleland, on Wednesday denied a defense request for a continuance and a second request that would have given Sandusky the right to seek immediate Superior Court review of that decision.
Sandusky lawyer Joe Amendola, citing a gag order in the case, declined to comment on Thursday, as did a spokesman for the attorney general’s office.
Sandusky, 68, awaits trial on dozens of criminal charges alleging he abused the boys, some on campus, over a 15-year period. He has repeatedly denied the allegations and tried to delay the trial, scheduled to begin with jury selection on Tuesday and opening statements June 11.
Strained groin lands Tulowitzki on DL
DENVER — The Colorado Rockies placed All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki on the disabled list Thursday because of a strained left groin.
Tulowitzki felt pain after running out of the batter’s box when he grounded out to second base during the Rockies’ six-run sixth inning against Houston on Wednesday. He left the game after that, and the Rockies placed him in the 15-day DL Thursday.
Tulowitzki underwent an MRI on Thursday and the team was awaiting the results.
The Rockies have struggled in May, going 6-18 before winning their last three against Houston. Tulowitzki has been instrumental in those three wins, going 4-for-8 with a home run in a doubleheader sweep Monday. He had a double in Wednesday’s game to extend his hitting streak to nine games.
He is hitting .388 during the streak and has raised his average to .287 in his last 24 at-bats.
Clemens turns to former manager
WASHINGTON — Defense attorneys used a former baseball manager and a massage therapist to argue that Roger Clemens didn’t change much physically late in his career, as they try to undercut the government’s case that the pitcher turned to performance-enhancing drugs to prolong his time in the big leagues.
The massage therapist, Cheryl Redfern, who treated Clemens from 1995 to 2003, testified Thursday that she never saw acne on Clemens’ body or noticed any changes in his upper body — two possible byproducts of steroid use.
In his 40s, when most players are retired, Clemens continued to pitch at a high level, especially with the Houston Astros from 2004-2006. His manager during most of that time, Phil Garner, said the pitcher’s performance didn’t change over those years.
But the numbers don’t support that: In Clemens’ first year with Houston, he won his seventh Cy Young Award and posted an excellent 2.98 earned run average. In his second year with Houston, when Clemens turned 43, his ERA dropped by more than a run, to an extraordinarily good 1.87.
Clemens is charged with lying to Congress in 2008 when he said he never took steroids or human growth hormone. His lawyers are trying to demonstrate that Clemens used smarts and hard work — not performance-enhancing drugs — to post age-defying numbers.
Former NBA star Jack Twyman dies at 78
CINCINNATI — Basketball Hall of Famer Jack Twyman, one of the NBA’s top scorers in the 1950s who became the guardian to a paralyzed teammate, has died. He was 78.
Twyman died Wednesday at a Cincinnati hospice of complications from an aggressive form of blood cancer, his son, Jay Twyman said Thursday.
“He died peacefully with family members at his side,” said Twyman, of Rye, N.Y.
Jack Twyman played for the University of Cincinnati and spent 11 seasons in the NBA with the Rochester and Cincinnati Royals.
He averaged a career-high 31.2 points per game in the 1959-60 season, playing in six All-Star games.
In 1958, after teammate Maurice Stokes was left paralyzed after a head injury suffered during a game, Twyman became his guardian to help Stokes receive medical benefits.
Twyman later worked as a television analyst on NBA games. His most famous work as an announcer came in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA finals between the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers, when he stopped himself mid-sentence during the pre-game to announce that he saw injured New York center Willis Reed coming through the player tunnel. It had not been known whether Reed would be able to play because of an injured thigh muscle, but he went on to lead New York to a 113-99 victory.
Twyman scored 15,840 points in his career and was inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983.
Nicks plans to play on opening day
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Wide receiver Hakeem Nicks insists that a recent broken foot will not keep him out of the New York Giants’ season-opener against the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 5.
Speaking on a telephone conference call a week after breaking his right foot, Nicks said his healing process should be quicker than the 12 weeks estimated by doctors. However, he is not going to push it and risk re-injuring it.
Nicks broke the fifth metatarsal of his right foot last Thursday running a hook pass pattern during the team’s second organized team activity. The four-year veteran had surgery the next day, with Dr. Robert Anderson inserting a screw into the broken bone.
With a 12-week recovery scenario, Nicks would be ready to return in mid-August, days after the Giants return from training camp at the University at Albany.
“The doctor said that he had people come back as early as four weeks, six weeks to eight weeks,” Nicks said. “It really just ranges.
“We just don’t want any setbacks. So we are going to take it — the team wants to take it — 12 weeks. That is what they are giving us. So I think that is what we are going go by, what the team gives us. But my goal is always to come back earlier.”
From wire sources