Richter Decides It’s Best to Remain With Rangers

Goalie Mike Richter agreed to terms Thursday with the New York Rangers, the only NHL team he has played for.

Richter, 35, was 24-26-4 in 55 games last season, finishing with a 2.95 goals-against average, a .906 save percentage and two shutouts.

Technically, the Rangers are signing Richter away from the Edmonton Oilers, who acquired his rights from New York on Sunday night, hours before he became an unrestricted free agent.

The Oilers will receive a compensatory draft pick that the Rangers would not have been eligible for had Richter signed elsewhere.

Injuries have caused Richter, the winningest goalie in Ranger history, to sit out 37 games the last two seasons.

He needed reconstructive surgery on his left knee after the 2000 season, which caused him to sit out the first five games the next season. Then, in February 2001, he injured his right knee and was sidelined the final 23 games.

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The Columbus Blue Jackets upgraded their blue line by signing free-agent defensemen Scott Lachance and Luke Richardson.

Lachance, 29, had one goal and 10 assists in 81 games with Vancouver last season, but the 6-foot-1, 215-pounder had a plus/minus rating of plus-15.

Richardson, 32, has 15 years of NHL experience. The 6-4, 210-pounder had one goal, nine assists and a plus-18 rating in 72 games with Philadelphia.

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Right wing Randy McKay, a free agent who split last season between New Jersey and Dallas, signed a two-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens.

Motor Racing

A lightning strike on the grounds at Daytona International Speedway left eight people in need of medical attention.

Track officials said employee Walter Williams and race fans Richard Santora, Alfred and Mary Greene and Dwayne and Derek Decoux were treated and released at care centers at the track.

Qualifying for Saturday night’s NASCAR Winston Cup Pepsi 400 was later postponed and rescheduled for today at 7 a.m. PDT because of heavy rain.

Two other fans, Brian and Tina Decoux, were taken to nearby Halifax Medical Center, where they were treated and released.

About 1 p.m. PDT, a strong thunderstorm swept through Daytona Beach, drenching the raceway and halting Winston Cup practice.

Miscellany

A man surrendered to police in the shooting death of a 20-year-old during a robbery at the home of Orlando Magic guard Troy Hudson.

Kenthaddeus Taylor, 25, was charged with second-degree murder and attempted home invasion after he told investigators that he was involved in the shooting death Sunday of Carrick Reid, said Lt. Gary Calhoun, a Maitland (Fla.) police spokesman.

Hudson was not at the house during the robbery and shooting.

Taylor was booked into the Orange County Jail and held without bond.

Calhoun said investigators had been looking for Taylor since he was released from Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach on Sunday night after being treated for gunshot wounds to a hand and hip.

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Matthew Emmons of the United States came from behind to defeat Espen Berg-Knutsen of Norway to win the world championship in the rifle, prone position, from 50 meters at Lahti, Finland.

Berg-Knutsen led with 598 points out of 600 going into the final, but Emmons shot his last few rounds well and Berg-Knutsen faded to third.

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Olga Dovgun of Kazakstan tied the world record in winning the women’s rifle, prone position with 597 points.

U.S. crews had mixed fortunes in second-round races in the Temple Cup for college eights at the Henley Royal Regatta at Henley-on-Thames, England.

Harvard defeated University College of Dublin by one length and Marist beat England’s Reading University by three-quarters of a length.

However, Orange Coast College, which won its first race Wednesday against Bristol of England by four lengths, lost to Queen’s University of Belfast by 2 3/4 lengths. Colgate lost by one length to England’s Oxford Brookes University and Yale lost to the University of London by a length.

Russia held off the United States for a 6-5 victory, its first win of the season in World League water polo, at the National Aquatic Center at Los Alamitos. Russia and the U.S. go to 1-2 in league play and will meet again in the U.S. season finale on Saturday night.

Passings

Earl Francis, the opening-day starter for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1963 and a rookie on their 1960 World Series championship team, died Wednesday following a long illness.

Francis, who was 66, died in the intensive care unit of UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he was being treated for diabetes.

Francis was 16-23 with a 3.77 earned-run average in six major league seasons.