Bruins Sign Goaltender Potvin

Former King Felix Potvin agreed to a contract Wednesday with the Boston Bruins, who hope he will be the front-line goaltender they lacked last season.

Potvin joins his fifth team for his 13th NHL season.

“Felix has been a solid NHL goaltender for a number of years,” Bruin General Manager Mike O’Connell said. “He’s won playoff rounds, and he gives us another veteran with experience.”

Potvin, 32, spent more than six seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs before going to the New York Islanders, Vancouver Canucks and Kings. He has a career record of 254-252-79 with a 2.78 goals-against average and 28 shutouts in 607 games.

He played 42 games for the Kings last season with a 17-20-3 record, 2.66 goals-against average and three shutouts before a knee injury Jan. 28 ended his season.

The Bruins have not won a playoff series since 1999. Potvin’s career playoff record is 35-37 with a 2.64 goals-against average and eight shutouts in 72 games, including appearances in the conference finals with Toronto in 1993 and 1994.

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New York Ranger goalie Mike Richter will officially retire today, nearly 10 months after he was sidelined because of a second concussion.

Richter, 36, spent his entire 14-year NHL career with the Rangers. The popular goalie led the team to the Stanley Cup in 1994 -- the Rangers’ first NHL title since 1940 -- and leaves with more than a dozen club records.

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Top young players from the Mighty Ducks, Kings, San Jose and Phoenix will compete in an NHL rookie tournament, which begins today at the HealthSouth training center in El Segundo.

The Ducks and Kings begin round-robin play tonight at 7:30. San Jose and Phoenix play at 4 p.m. Games continue Friday and Sunday. The tournament concludes with a championship game Monday at 7:30 p.m.

A one-day ticket costs $10.

Pro Basketball

Rick Carlisle was hired as coach of the Indiana Pacers, three years after the former assistant was bypassed in favor of Isiah Thomas.

Carlisle, coach of the Detroit Pistons the last two seasons, was fired by the Pistons in May. He was the first choice for the Pacers after new President Larry Bird, his former Boston teammate, fired Thomas last month.

The Pacers last season got off to the best start in their 27-year NBA history but faded after the All-Star break, losing in the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive year under Thomas.

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Minnesota Timberwolf draft pick Rick Rickert will play for Slovenian team KRKA during the 2003-04 season. The Timberwolves tendered him a contract offer to retain his rights.

College Basketball

The USC men’s basketball program is in a holding pattern regarding the possible transfer of former Fordham player Glenn Batemon, a 6-foot-11, 360-pound center who received his release from the Rams last spring.

Batemon, who averaged 10.4 points and 5.6 rebounds in 26 minutes while shooting 50.5% from the field as a sophomore last year, started all 28 games for Fordham, which finished 2-26, 1-15 in Atlantic-10 Conference play.

If Batemon enrolls at USC -- he has until the end of the week or can do so at the semester break and would not be eligible to play until next year in either case -- he would join another Fordham transfer at USC in junior power forward Jeff McMillan, who sat out last year under transfer rules but is eligible to play this season.

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The NCAA formally notified Auburn it is investigating possible major rules violations in the men’s program, including accusations of improper offers to recruits.

Miscellany

Kenyan Olympic medalist Bernard Lagat tested positive for a banned performance enhancer and did not run in the 1,500 meters at the track and field world championships, although his absence at the time was attributed to illness.

Lagat tested positive for erythropoietin, or EPO. Kenyan track authorities learned of the result four days after the start of the world championships in Paris.

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Formula One driver Ralf Schumacher left a hospital in Milan, Italy, a day after his car flipped over during testing at the Monza racetrack.

Schumacher planned to return to his home in Salzburg, Austria, to rest and is expected to race in the Sept. 14 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, said Thomas Hofmann, who represents the Williams-BMW driver.

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Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a warrant seeking the extradition of former Baylor basketball player Carlton Dotson from Maryland.

Dotson is accused of murder in the death of Patrick Dennehy, his former teammate.

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Former Australian rugby player Anthony Mundine won the vacant World Boxing Assn. super-middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Antwun Echols of the United States at Sydney. Mundine’s only loss in his 20 fights was to Sven Ottke of Germany in a title challenge in December 2001.