Canada Names Roy As Starting Goalie

Patrick Roy, who was the most valuable player in the Montreal Canadiens’ 1986 and 1993 Stanley Cup triumphs and won a third championship in 1996 with the Colorado Avalanche, was designated Canada’s starting goaltender by Coach Marc Crawford.

Crawford is also Roy’s coach in Colorado, but the decision is tough to dispute because of Roy’s reputation as a big-game goalie.

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Center Sergei Fedorov hasn’t played a game since June 7, when the Detroit Red Wings completed a sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup finals. Having reached an impasse with the Red Wings on a new contract and having asked them to trade him--a request they are reluctant to grant--he agreed to join the Russian Olympic team to keep his skills sharp and to seize the unexpected chance to win an Olympic medal.

“This could be my season,” he said, “but I don’t want to get into that side of the story. . . . It’s the Olympic Games; who wouldn’t want to play?”

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King center Jozef Stumpel flew to Nagano to join the Slovakian team only to discover he had been left out of the lineup for Tuesday’s game against Kazakhstan. In losing, 4-3, Slovakia lost its hope of advancing to the second round.