Briefs

Roenick rails on NHL players union

By wire services
Published June 27, 2005

PHILADELPHIA - Speaking his mind never has been a problem for Jeremy Roenick .

And given a chance to field a few questions on the status of the ongoing contract negotiations between the players union and the NHL, the Flyers' star center did just that at a charity golf tournament in Presto, Pa., hosted by Pittsburgh Penguins owner-player Mario Lemieux during the weekend.

In speaking to the media, Roenick criticized the players union for not taking the deal the NHL offered in February and for ignoring the voice of a few players who stressed that the offer was better than the contract they are close to signing.

"The deal in February beats the (bleep) out of the deal we're gonna sign in July," Roenick said.

"Unfortunately, we had to go through a whole year to realize all the (bleep) that was going on throughout the whole year and not realize we just had to get a game on the ice," he said. "And we've hurt our league, we've hurt the reputation of our league and we've hurt the integrity of our league by sticking up for something that might not have been the right thing to do."

TRACK

Gatlin sweeps sprints

Justin Gatlin cemented his status as America's fastest human by winning the 200 meters, becoming the first man in 20 years to sweep the sprints at the U.S. track and field championships in Carson, Calif.

A day after winning the 100, Gatlin turned it on down the stretch to win the 200 in 20.04 seconds. The last man to win both races at the U.S. meet was Kirk Baptiste in 1985. Tyson Gay , just out of Arkansas, was second in 20.06, followed by Olympic gold medalist Shawn Crawford in 20.12.

SOCCER

U.S. trims Canada

Lori Chalupny and Christie Welsh scored first-half goals and the United States women's soccer team beat Canada 2-0 in an exhibition in Virginia Beach, Va.

Chalupny scored in the 12th minute after Aly Wagner 's corner kick was deflected to her 19 yards out. It was Chalupny's second goal for the national team (5-0-0), which hasn't allowed a goal this year.

Welsh scored in the 35th minute when Canadian goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc deflected Abby Wambach 's shot, but the ball went to Welsh in front of the goal and she tapped it in to make it 2-0.

CONFEDERATIONS CUP: Argentina beat Mexico 6-5 on penalty kicks in Hanover, Germany, setting up a showdown with World Cup champion Brazil. The title game between the South American powers is Wednesday in Frankfurt while the Mexicans face host Germany for third place the same day in Leipzig.

MLS: Chris Rolfe had a goal and an assist to lead the host Chicago Fire past Real Salt Lake 3-1.

ET CETERA

BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Brazil's Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes won the World Championship title in their first season playing together, defeating Switzerland's Sascha Heyer and Paul Laciga 22-20, 21-12. Germany's Julius Brink and Kjell Schneider took third place.

BOXING: Mexico's Martin Castillo (29-1-0) defended his WBA super flyweight title with a unanimous decision over Japan's Hideyasu Ishihara (16-4-1) in Nagoya, Japan.

COLLEGES: Hugh Seyfarth , an assistant women's coach at Miami (Ohio) University, was named men's coach at Florida Southern College.

HORSE RACING: Wild Desert , with Pat Valenzuela aboard, held off King of Jazz to capture the 146th running of the Queen's Plate, the first jewel of Canadian thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown, in Toronto.

OLYMPICS: The slogan for the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be "One World, One Dream." It was chosen from 210,000 proposals in Chinese, French, Spanish, Portuguese and other languages, officials for the Beijing Olympic Committee said.

[Last modified June 27, 2005, 01:06:04]