Flyers Sign Vanbiesbrouck to a Two-Year Contract

Free-agent goalie John Vanbiesbrouck signed a two-year contract Tuesday with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Vanbiesbrouck, 34, spent the last five seasons with the Florida Panthers and was a member of Team USA at the 1998 Winter Olympics. He was 18-29-11 with a 2.87 goals-against average in 60 games for the Panthers last season.

In 717 NHL games, the Detroit native has a 306-285-90 record with a 3.12 goals-against average.

Florida took Vanbiesbrouck from the Vancouver Canucks in the 1993 NHL expansion draft. Vancouver had picked him up in a trade with the New York Rangers, for whom he played parts of 11 seasons from 1981 to 1993.

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Center Bobby Holik, who led the New Jersey Devils with 29 goals but ended his season with a 16-game drought, has re-signed for three years.

It is believed the deal is worth $7.5 million. Holik, who was a restricted free agent, earned $714,000 last season.

Football

The Cincinnati Bengals signed free-agent quarterback Neil O’Donnell to a four-year contract worth $17 million.

O’Donnell, a former Pittsburgh Steeler starter who was cut by the New York Jets last month, will challenge Jeff Blake for the Bengals’ starting job.

The Seattle Seahawks apparently are about to ensure that one of their greatest defensive players remains with the team.

ESPN has reported that six-time all-pro defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy has agreed to a three-year contract extension worth $17 million, including a $6-million signing bonus.

Former UCLA running back Skip Hicks signed a three-year contract with the Washington Redskins. Hicks was the team’s third-round draft pick.

Jurisprudence

Jurors in New York said they do not believe they can reach a verdict in the insurance-fraud case against boxing promoter Don King, setting the stage for a possible second mistrial.

The first trial in the long-running federal case against the flamboyant promoter, who is accused of cheating Lloyd’s of London out of $350,000, ended in a hung jury.

The judge sent the jurors home and told attorneys to return today to discuss the situation.

Florida State wide receiver Peter Warrick was arrested after police were called to break up a large crowd that became unruly at a fast-food restaurant in Tampa.

Warrick, 21, was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence, both misdemeanor charges, officials said. He was released Monday morning on $600 bond after spending several hours in jail.

Former North Carolina basketball player Makhtar Ndiaye was convicted of assaulting a Chapel Hill man after the two got into an argument over the man’s driving. Ndiaye got a 30-day suspended sentence and was ordered to pay $200 in fines and court costs.

As local officials unveiled a proposed settlement they say the Oakland Raiders turned down, the football team filed a counter-complaint to the lawsuit brought by the city and Alameda County last year.

Oakland and the county sued in September, seeking to stop the Raiders’ alleged interference with a deal to sell the Coliseum’s name, as well as to bind the team to a contract requiring it to stay for 13 more seasons.

The Raiders’ cross-complaint claimed, among other things, breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation.

Alan Eagleson, once one of hockey’s most powerful figures as a player agent and founder of the NHL Players’ Assn., was released from jail after serving six months of an 18-month sentence for fraud in Toronto.

He pleaded guilty in Boston in January to three counts of fraud and theft involving players’ insurance premiums and was fined $1 million.

A day later, he pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud in Toronto. Those charges involved skimming Canada Cup advertising and tournament money from a brewery, Hockey Canada and the players’ union.

Tennis

Top-seeded Jason Stoltenberg of Australia, down a break in the third set, rallied to defeat Stefano Pescosolido of Italy, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5, in the first round of the Miller Lite Hall of Fame tournament at Newport, R.I. . . . French Open finalist Alex Corretja of Spain beat German qualifier Oliver Gross, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, in the opening round of the Swiss Open at Gstaad. . . . Fourth-seeded Magnus Larsson of Sweden was upset by Spain’s Fernando Vicente, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0, in the opening round of the Swedish Open at Bastad.

Names in the News

A year after taking a chunk out of Evander Holyfield’s ear during their heavyweight championship fight, Mike Tyson becomes eligible Thursday to seek a return to the ring.

Nevada’s top boxing official said he has heard nothing from Tyson or his new advisors about seeking reinstatement.

Al Couppee, the quarterback on the 1939 Iowa football team that featured Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick, died of a stroke in Laguna Hills.

Gerry Astorian, 73, swimming coach at UCLA from 1959-1963, died of a heart attack in Oklahoma City on Sunday.