U.S. Hockey Team to Stay in Village

After trashing dorm rooms in Nagano, the U.S. Olympic hockey team will get a chance to behave better in the Olympic Village at the Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

USA Hockey officials said Wednesday that the team, high-priced NHL stars and all, will share renovated college dormitories with athletes from around the world next year.

Spokesman Chuck Menke said having the players stay with about 2,500 athletes and 1,000 coaches at the University of Utah is an important part of the Olympic experience.

Chairs were broken and fire extinguishers were discharged in the Olympic Village suite where the U.S. players stayed at the 1998 Winter Games in Japan. One extinguisher was thrown from the fifth floor into a courtyard.

B.J. MacPherson of the San Diego Gulls minor league hockey team, who suffered a dislocated neck during a game last month, took some steps on his own this week, the club said.

Jurisprudence

Carlton Martin, the son of banned Michigan booster Ed Martin, was sentenced in Detroit to 18 months in federal prison for his role in a gambling ring.

Martin, 37, also was fined $30,000 and might be found liable for unpaid taxes. He could have received a shorter sentence, even probation, but he did not sufficiently cooperate with federal authorities seeking information on the gambling ring and his father’s links to former Michigan basketball players, prosecutors said.

David Casper, the son of two-time U.S. Open champion Billy Casper, was sentenced in San Diego to more than 100 years in state prison for a 1999 crime spree that included burglarizing his parents’ home and stealing a family car.

Former boxing champion Dave Hilton Jr. will remain behind bars in Montreal for a sexual assault conviction after his bid for bail was postponed. His lawyer asked the court to appeal the seven-year sentence his client received in April.

Police raided a hotel in San Remo, Italy, where four teams competing in the Giro d’Italia cycling race were staying, reportedly part of a race-wide probe into alleged doping violations.

The ANSA news service reported that the massage therapist for one team was led away by officers.

Earlier, Pietro Caucchioli won the 17th stage of the three-week race and Italian compatriot Gilbero Simoni retained the overall lead.

Miscellany

The women’s basketball team at Oregon under former coach Jody Runge was “on the brink of collapse” because of her abrasive style, according to an investigation by an outside law firm. Runge resigned April 30 after the report was issued by Kansas firm Bond, Schoeneck & King.

Former Czech tennis stars Petr Korda and Karel Novacek made a surprise comeback in doubles, resuming careers cut short by drug bans with a 7-6, 6-2 loss to countrymen Michal Tabara and Radek Stepanek in the first round of a tournament at Prostejov, about 150 miles from Prague.

Ronald Siler of Cincinnati, Juan McPherson of Cleveland and Anthony Thompson of Philadelphia reached the quarterfinals of the World Amateur Boxing Championships at Belfast, Northern Ireland. . . . Former heavyweight contender Francois Botha scored a unanimous decision over David Bostice in a 10-round bout Tuesday night at Las Vegas.

Olympic gold medalist Jonathan Edwards won comfortably over a strong triple jump field at Milan, Italy, with a leap of 57 feet 7 1/2 inches.

Football

Receiver Ike Hilliard of the New York Giants is considering surgery on his injured right foot, a procedure that would require three months of recovery time, the team said. . . . The St. Louis Rams signed linebacker Brian Allen, their third-round pick in this year’s draft, to a three-year contract. . . . The Cincinnati Bengals and free-agent cornerback Carlton Gray have agreed to a two-year contract, pending a team physical. . . . The Philadelphia Eagles signed A.J. Feeley to a three-year contract, making the announcement as the rookie quarterback recuperated from an emergency appendectomy in Philadelphia. . . . CBS Sports signed a six-year contract extension to broadcast college football’s Sun Bowl through 2006. . . . In what could be a huge blow to North Carolina’s basketball program, two-sport athletes Julius Peppers and Ronald Curry have indicated they will focus on football.