U.S. Rallies Past Latvia in Hockey

Mark Parrish had two goals and the United States rallied to defeat Latvia, 3-1, Tuesday at the World Hockey Championships in Innsbruck, Austria.

The victory clinched a second-round berth for the Americans.

Doug Weight also scored for the Americans, who will play two-time defending champion Canada for first place in the team’s group finale Thursday.

In other games, Canada routed Slovenia, 8-0, and Switzerland defeated Kazakhstan, 2-1, in Vienna.

The Czech Republic also secured a berth in the next round with a 2-0 victory over Germany in Vienna, but Jaromir Jagr left halfway through the game after apparently breaking the little finger on his left hand after being slashed.

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Doug Palazzari resigned as executive director of USA Hockey nine months before the Turin Olympics. Palazzari said Monday he “lost the confidence of some of the members of our executive committee.”

College Football

Kick-off times for four of USC’s 12 football games this fall have been set.

The Trojans’ Sept. 24 Pacific 10 Conference opener at Oregon will begin at 4 p.m. and will be televised by ABC.

Other games: Oct. 15 at Notre Dame, 12:30 p.m. on NBC; Oct. 29 vs. Washington State, 12:30 p.m. on ABC; Dec. 3 vs. UCLA, 1:30 on ABC.

UCLA announced that two of its home games will be televised by ABC. The Sept. 17 game against Oklahoma, with a scheduled kickoff of 12:30 p.m., and the Nov. 12 game against Arizona State, with a scheduled kickoff of 4 p.m., have been picked up by the network.

Tennessee quarterback Rick Clausen, a former Woodland Hills Taft High standout, fell about 10 feet off a walkway Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn., but was not seriously hurt.

Wisconsin tailback Booker Stanley was suspended from the team after his Saturday arrest at a weekend street party in Madison. Stanley was charged with battery, disorderly conduct and resisting or obstructing an officer.

Pro Football

Kellen Winslow Jr.’s use of a motorcycle might have violated standard NFL contract language that prohibits players from engaging in dangerous activities.

Cleveland could require Winslow to repay a $4.4-million signing bonus he received in March.

The 21-year-old tight end suffered internal injuries and damage to his right shoulder and right knee in an accident that sent him flying over the handlebars of his motorcycle.

Houston signed linebacker Zeke Moreno, a former USC standout. Moreno, who spent the last four seasons with San Diego, played in nine games last season before going on injured reserve.

Auto Racing

Dale Earnhardt Jr. called Jimmie Johnson an “idiot,” and blamed the Nextel Cup series points leader for causing a 25-car accident Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway that wiped out half the field.

“If there was one idiot out there it was him,” Earnhardt said. “To be honest about it, I think Jimmie Johnson caused about all the wrecks out there.”

Johnson deflected criticism.

“I think that our wreck on Sunday was a racing incident,” Johnson said. “If you took one of those components out of what took place to start that big wreck, it wouldn’t have happened. It’s hard racing. You’re an inch and a half apart from one another, cars bouncing all over.”

College Basketball

USC Coach Tim Floyd landed his sixth recruit -- and third big man -- of the late signing period when the Trojans received long-awaited paperwork from College of Southern Idaho’s Abdoulaye Ndiaye, a 6-foot-11, 220-pound center from Dakar, Senegal. Ndiaye, who originally signed with San Diego, averaged 9.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and shot 64.2% from the field as a sophomore at CSI and also visited Florida State and Georgetown.

Eric Brown, who spent the last four seasons at USC as an assistant, has been hired as an assistant at Iowa State.

West Virginia center Kevin Pittsnogle declared himself eligible for the NBA draft but won’t hire an agent. Pittsnogle has until June 21 to withdraw from the draft and retain his final season of eligibility. The draft is scheduled for June 28.

Tennis

The U.S. Davis Cup team will travel to Belgium shortly after the U.S. Open for a playoff, Sept. 23-25, to avoid relegation from the World Group in 2006. It landed in this spot because of a 3-2 first-round loss to Croatia in March at the Home Depot Center.

Rafael Nadal overtook Roger Federer for most wins on tour this season with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Mikhail Youzhny in the first round of the Rome Masters. Nadal is 36-6. Federer, who pulled out of the Rome tournament because of foot injuries, is 35-2.

Kim Clijsters beat Yuliana Fedak, 6-1, 6-0, at the German Open in Berlin. Since returning from a 10-month injury layoff, the Belgian has won 18 of 19 matches.

Soccer

Luis Garcia’s disputed goal put Liverpool into the final of the Champions League in a 1-0 victory over Chelsea at Liverpool, England.

U.S. national team player DaMarcus Beasley is expected to be out three to six weeks because of a minor ligament tear in his knee. Beasley, who plays for the Dutch team PSV Eindhoven, will sit out today’s Champions League semifinal against AC Milan.

Miscellany

Larry Cochell, who resigned Sunday as Oklahoma’s baseball coach after using a racial slur while praising an African American player, is scheduled to undergo heart surgery.

Cochell, 65, said the procedure was necessary to reduce a 70% to 80% blockage in one coronary artery and a 60% blockage in another. The blockages were discovered Monday.

Top-seeded UCLA (30-0) will play Wagner (23-7) in the first round of the NCAA women’s water polo championships next week at Ann Arbor, Mich. Fifth-seeded Loyola Marymount (28-6) will play Hawaii (20-9).

UC Irvine closer Blair Erickson is one of 13 players who earned initial invitations to try out for the U.S. national baseball team this summer. The sophomore is 1-2 with a 1.35 earned-run average and seven saves.

Passings

Ann Schroeder, longtime prominent San Diego area amateur golfer and wife of 1949 Wimbledon tennis champion Ted Schroeder, died April 13 after a lengthy illness. She was 81.