Peca, Islanders Reach Terms on New Deal

Michael Peca, acquired by the New York Islanders in a trade with Buffalo in June, signed a five-year, $20-million contract Wednesday.

Peca, who sat out last season in a dispute with the Sabres, will make $3 million, $3.25 million, $4.25 million, $4.25 million and $5.25 million in each respective year. The center came to the Islanders in a trade for forwards Tim Connolly and Taylor Pyatt.

Peca appeared in 400 regular-season games for Buffalo and had 102 goals, 127 assists and 384 penalty minutes.

Alexei Yashin is the only unsigned Islander, and General Manager Mike Milbury hopes to get that deal done soon in an effort to end the team’s seven-year postseason drought.

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The Dallas Stars traded right wing Grant Marshall to Columbus for the Blue Jackets’ second-round draft choice in the 2003 NHL draft. Marshall had 13 goals and 24 assists for the Stars last season .... Steve McKenna, a free-agent forward and former King, agreed to terms with the New York Rangers. .... Forwards Robbie Earl of Los Angeles and Brett Sterling of Pasadena were named to the 45-man roster of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. The program, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., provides intensive coaching and competition for players who are considered college and pro prospects. .

Winter Sports

Hermann Maier’s health is improving after his serious motorcycle accident, and Austrian team officials expressed hope the World Cup skiing champion might be able to compete at the Salt Lake City Olympics.

Doctors changed the dressing on Maier’s broken lower right leg and his upper arms, and described an “unimpeded healing process.” It was also reported that Maier’s painkiller dose was reduced and his initial kidney problems were “reduced to a minimum.”

Maier broke his right leg and damaged muscle tissue when he collided with a car and landed in a ditch last week.

University Games

Andrew Pierce and Demetria Washington swept the men’s and women’s 400 meters to help the U.S. win four gold medals in track and field at the World University Games in Beijing. Pierce won in 45.34 seconds and Washington won in 51.22.

Anthony Famiglletti won the 3,000 steeplechase in 8:21.97, and Miguel Pate won the long jump with a leap of 26 feet 53/4 inches for the U.S. team’s other victories. In swimming, Clay Kirkland won the men’s 200 freestyle in 1:50.03, and his U.S. teammates Peter Marshall, David Denniston, Andrew Haidinyak and Scott Vonschoff won the 400 medley relay in 3:39.49.

Boxing

Lennox Lewis says he won’t fight again if he loses his rematch with World Boxing Council-International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman.

“If I can’t win this fight, why should I go on?” the 36-year-old Lewis said at a news conference for the Nov. 17 bout.

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Lewis, a prohibitive favorite when he was knocked out in the fifth round by a Rahman right hand April 22 in South Africa, is a 3-1 favorite to win the title back at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

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Undefeated junior featherweight Roger Gonzalez (16-0, 12 knockouts) from Fontana will fight in Southern California for the first time in two years tonight when he faces Jauquin Candelario (6-8) of Mexico in the co-main event of a six-bout boxing card at the Irvine Marriott. First bout is scheduled for 7:30.

Miscellany

A federal grand jury indicted two former Memphis high school football coaches in a recruiting scandal involving former Alabama lineman Albert Means, who was cleared by the NCAA to play for the University of Memphis.

Lynn Lang, former head coach at Trezevant High, and his former assistant, Milton Kirk, were charged with conspiracy, bribery and extortion, and warrants were issued for their arrests.

Means, a former Parade All-America defensive lineman at Trezevant High, transferred to Memphis in January after playing last fall at Alabama. He left the school after hearing allegations that Lang and Kirk sold his talents to Alabama for $200,000.

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Mario Zagallo, a former Brazilian soccer star and the only person to win four World Cups as a coach or player, was hospitalized overnight in Rio De Janeiro for an irregular heartbeat. Zagallo, 70, is coaching a Brazilian club and will miss its next two games.

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The Charlotte Hornets signed guard Cory Hightower, a free agent who was selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the second round of the 2000 NBA draft after leaving Indian Hills Community College following his sophomore season. Hightower’s rights were traded to the Lakers in June of 2000, but he didn’t make the team.

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Eric Brown, 27, a three-year assistant at Cal State Northridge, was announced as an assistant coach with the USC men’s basketball team by Coach Henry Bibby.

The NCAA expanded the Division I soccer championships to 48 men’s teams and 64 women’s teams.