TORONTO — Darren McCarty, a veteran of 15 NHL seasons who won four Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings, announced his retirement Monday.
McCarty, who spent 13 seasons with the Red Wings, appeared in 758 career games, recording 127 goals and 1,477 penalty minutes. He scored the Cup-winning goal in the 1997 Finals against Philadelphia to end Detroit’s 42-year title drought. He also helped the Red Wings hoist the Cup in 1998, 2002 and 2008.
McCarty, 37, played in only 13 games last season before becoming a free agent and was not signed this past offseason.
“It was a great ride,” McCarty said. “I appreciate what the game has given me, and I’m happy with what I was able to accomplish as a hockey player, but now I’m excited for the next chapter.”
Patrick reaches NASCAR deal
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Danica Patrick reached a deal to enter NASCAR with JR Motorsports and is expected to announce a partial Nationwide Series schedule at a news conference today in Phoenix.
Last week Patrick signed a three- year contract extension with Andretti Autosport to stay in the IndyCar series, but its schedule gives her enough time to also try NASCAR.
It’s not clear how many races she will drive in NASCAR’s second-tier series for team owners Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Hendrick.
Jones’ medals to be allocated
LONDON — Nine years after the 2000 Games, the International Olympic Committee is set to allocate some of the five individual medals — three gold and two bronze — Marion Jones won in Sydney with the aid of performance-enhancing drugs.
At a two-day meeting starting Wednesday in Lausanne, Switzerland, the IOC executive board will decide to hand out Jones’ gold in the 200 meters and bronze in the long jump but not give Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou the 100-meter gold because she was at the center of another drug scandal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
While the gold medal will remain vacant, third-place finisher Tanya Lawrence will move up to the silver and fellow Jamaican Merlene Ottey from fourth to bronze. Thanou would keep her silver, meaning Lawrence would get a duplicate medal.
Footnotes.
Duke freshman guard Andre Dawkins has left the basketball team to be with his family in Virginia after his sister’s death in a weekend car wreck. The West Virginia State Police said 21-year-old Lacey Dawkins died Saturday morning as a passenger headed to the Duke-St. John’s game in Durham, N.C.
• The Chicago Cubs said Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg will manage Triple-A Iowa next season.
• Organizers of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race said they’ve lost nearly $1 million in funding over the past year and that is forcing them to cut the prize money for the 2010 race from $610,000 to about $525,000.
• The British Grand Prix will stay at Silverstone after Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone and the track’s owners agreed to a 17-year deal.
The Associated Press
