U.S. Team Can Take Fifth in Junior Hockey

The United States defeated former champion Canada, 3-0, Friday in the World Junior Hockey Championships at Helsinki and earned the right to play Sweden for fifth place.

Sweden defeated Kazakhstan, 5-1.

Finland and Russia reached the championship game. Finland defeated Switzerland, 2-1, in one semifinal game and Russia downed the Czech Republic, 5-1.

Mike York scored for the U.S. team on a power play at 5:59 of the first period, Joe Dusbabek scored at 19:21 of the second, and Jeff Farkas scored into an empty net with 35 seconds remaining.

The U.S. junior team, a silver medalist last year, posted only its third victory in 23 games against Canada at the World Championship level.

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Pernilla Wiberg, the Swedish star who won the World Cup overall women’s ski title last season, might sit out the Winter Olympics because of two broken ribs.

The fractures were revealed in X-rays taken at Stockholm, several days after Wiberg took a hard fall in a race at Lienz, Austria.

Although it is not generally dangerous to compete with broken ribs, the pain of the injury could inhibit her performance.

The Olympics are Feb. 7-22 at Nagano, Japan.

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Kara Salmela beat the field for a second time in a 15-kilometer race at Jericho, Vt., giving her the overall lead and a good shot at winning a spot on the U.S. Olympic biathlon team.

Meanwhile, Andy Erickson won the 20-kilometer race, but Dan Westover retained a slim lead in the overall competition for a berth on the Olympic team.

Salmela finished the course in 55 minutes, 35.7 seconds with five penalties, giving her a point average for the first three events of 101.97. Five women will qualify for the Olympic squad.

Among the men, Erickson finished the course in 1:04:00.4 with four penalties and a point average of 95.54. But Westover, who finished fifth in Friday’s race, maintained a one-point lead over the field in the overall rankings with a 99.55. Erickson was sixth overall. Four men will be on the Olympic team.

The final day of competition to determine who will represent the United States in Nagano will be held today.

Miscellany

Former All-Ivy League defensive tackle Mitch Marrow was ineligible to play in five football games that Pennsylvania won this season and the team must now forfeit them, a school panel concluded Friday.

The panel ruled that Marrow was a part-time student after he dropped a class in September, and he should not have played in eight games. Penn won five of those games.

The forfeitures, believed to be the first in the history of Penn football, would drop the team’s record from 6-4 to 1-9. The move has been approved by the Ivy League but must still be ratified by the NCAA, Penn and Ivy League officials said.

Australia’s swimming coach, Don Talbot, is expecting top performances from Chinese swimmers at the World Championships on Wednesday at Perth, Australia, despite reports that Chinese officials are pessimistic.

“It would be stupid of us to assume that they’re not going to be strong and we have to expect they’re going to produce their absolute best,” Talbot said.

Talbot dismissed Chinese Coach Zhou Ming’s downbeat assessment of his team’s hopes.

“You can’t believe a word they say,” Talbot said. “There’s so much game-playing going on. It’s mind-boggling and it just makes a farce of the whole sport.”

The New South Wales state government reportedly will have to find another $325 million to stage the 2000 Olympics.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that all government departments will be ordered to cut normal spending to pay for the extra costs, most of which are for additional transport, police, health and other services needed for the games.

Dennis Conner, 55, will be aboard his boat Toshiba for the first time in the Whitbread Round the World race, taking over as skipper for the 1,270-nautical mile fourth leg from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand, that starts Sunday--the shortest leg so far. Britain’s Paul Standbridge, who replaced Chris Dickson after the first leg, will continue as co-skipper.

Sweden’s EF Language, with half an American crew that includes Paul Cayard as skipper, has won two of the first three legs and is the overall leader among the nine Whitbread 60s.

Names in the News

Penn State quarterback Mike McQueary’s car was sideswiped by a truck while driving on an interstate in Orlando, Fla., but he was uninjured.

McQueary was in Orlando for the Citrus Bowl, which Penn State lost to Florida, 21-6, on New Year’s Day.

There was about $1,200 total damage and McQueary was able to drive his vehicle away from the accident. The truck had to be towed.

The driver of the truck, Timothy Parker of Orlando, was ticketed for careless driving.

Jim McElroy, the leading pass receiver for UCLA this season, has entered the 50-meter dash at the 38th annual Los Angeles Invitational indoor track meet, organizers said.

After a one-year absence, the Los Angeles Invitational meet is returning on Feb. 7 at the Sports Arena.

John Bateman, who coached Rutgers to its first perfect season in football, has died at 83.

Bateman, who compiled a 48-37-1 record from 1960 to 1972, including a 9-0 mark in 1961, was inducted last year into the National Football Foundation’s College Hall of Fame.

The Colorado Rockies re-signed left-handed relief pitcher Bruce Ruffin to a minor league contract, bringing back the team’s career save leader.