BERN, Switzerland — The United States blew a three-goal lead in the third period and lost 6-5 in overtime to Sweden on Wednesday at the ice hockey world championship.
However, a single point was enough for the Americans to win Group C and avoid facing Russia just 18 hours later in a second- round match on the same rink.
“To win the group is huge. We didn’t want to play (today),” U.S. coach Ron Wilson said.
Kristian Huselius of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets scored 1:59 into the extra period to secure the extra point, after the U.S. had led 5-2 with less than 12 minutes to play. Avalanche defenseman John- Michael Liles scored for the Americans, who face France on Friday.
Hart finalists announced.
Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is a finalist for a second straight Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player.
Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings were also among the finalists. The winner will be revealed June 18.
• Philadelphia Flyers captain Mike Richards will have surgery Friday to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder, and also needs surgery on his left shoulder. He faces 10 to 12 weeks of rehabilitation.
Five athletes identified in Beijing doping cases
LONDON — National sports bodies in Bahrain, Italy and Germany confirmed that 1,500-meter champion Rashid Ramzi, road race silver medalist Davide Rebellin and rider Stephan Schumacher tested positive for the new blood-boosting drug CERA in retests of their Beijing Olympics samples.
Greek race walker Athanasia Tsoumeleka and Croatian 800-meter runner Vanja Perisic were the other track athletes who tested positive. The sixth athlete is a weightlifter whose name has not been released. If their backup “B” samples also come back positive, the athletes face being disqualified, stripped of medals and banned from the next Olympics.
• Olympic champion sprinter Usain Bolt was in a car crash in Jamaica, but police and his manager said he was not seriously injured.
Footnotes.
Buzz Peterson is returning for a second stint coaching the Appalachian State men’s basketball team. Peterson, who went 79-39 in four seasons at ASU between 1996-2000, replaces Houston Fancher, who was fired last month.
• Indiana receiver Kellen Lewis, a second-team all-Big Ten selection as a quarterback in 2007, has been dismissed from the football team for an undisclosed violation of team rules.
• Swiss skier Daniel Albrecht left a hospital in Bern, Switzerland, saying he wants to return to top-level racing after a crash that left him comatose for three weeks.
• Defending champion Manchester United, getting a 18th-minute goal from defender John O’Shea, defeated visiting Arsenal 1-0 in the first leg of an all-English European Champions League semifinal.
• Fourth-ranked Andy Murray lost for only the fourth time this year, upset by Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 in his opener at the Rome Masters.
The Associated Press
