THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
SPORTS
7B
NHL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Carolina Hurricanes' Sergei Samsonov (14), from Russia, tries to score as Toronto Maple Leafs' goalie Jonas Gustavsson, left, defends during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C. Thursday Hurricanes' Tuomo Ruutu (15), from Finland, and Maple Leafs 'lan White (7) look on at right.
Hurricanes rally win in overtime
BY JOEDY MCCREARY
Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. — Tuomo Ruutu and Jussi Jokinen scored in the shootout and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied from three goals down to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 on Thursday night.
The latest meeting of the NHLs worst teams had a wild finish. Ian White put the Maple Leafs ahead 5-4 with 29.9 seconds remaining, but Erik Cole tapped in a rebound with 2.9 seconds left to force overtime.
After an uneventful overtime, Ruutu and Jokiken beat Jonas Gustavsson with wrist shots and Manny Legace stopped Phil Kessel and Lee Stempiak to preserve his first victory with the Hurricanes.
Gustavson finished with 40 saves — and assisted on Alexei Ponikarovsky's third-period goal
- for Toronto, which picked up points for the first time since Nov. 7, having lost four straight in regulation since.
When these teams last met two weeks ago, the Hurricanes were
in the midst of their club-worst-tying 14-game winless streak and lost to the Maple Leafs to claim the indignity of being the worst team in the NHL. Since then, Carolina lost two goals to injury, including franchise cornerstone Cam Ward, and Legace was brought in to stabilize things for a while.
The situation in the standings hasn't improved much for either team: Carolina entered winless in 15 of its last 16 and haven't won a game in regulation since Oct. 9. The Maple Leafs came in with a lengthy slump of their own, having won only once since their previous visit to Raleigh. The teams entered with a combined record of 6-23-10, and each had 11 points — four behind Anaheim.
Early on, anyway, Toronto seemed determined to stop its slide, scoring 61 seconds in — the quickest goal Carolina has allowed this season — on its second shot of the night, then pushed its lead to 3-0 when Grabovski whipped in a rebound in the final moments of the period.
LPGA
Wie withdraws from championship
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RICHMOND, Texas — Michelle Wie withdrew from the season-ending LPGA Tour Championship because of a sprained left ankle Thursday, a few hours after Lorena Ochoa shot a 6-under 66 in breezy conditions to take a one-shot lead over Reilley Rankin.
The 20-year-old Wie, fresh off her first LPGA victory last week at Ochoa's tournament in Mexico, shot a 72 in the afternoon. She limped through her round on the gimpy ankle that she sprained during the Solheim Cup in August.
"I wanted to do everything I could do to fight through the injury." Wie said in a statement. "It
bothered me last week in Mexico, but I was able to play through the pain. I realized today that I wouldn't be able to continue to play through it."
Wie drew the largest galleries at the Houstonian Golf and Country
Club and she was 3 under through 12 holes. Her ankle gave way on the 13th tee, and she stumbled backward, sliced her tee shot into the rough and took her first bogey.
She bent over in apparent pain on No. 14 and slipped again hitting her tee shot to the par-3 17th. Wie smacked her right leg and yelled an obscurity as the ball sailed right and rolled into the water. She made a double bogey to slip back to even par.
Wie went for treatment after her round and withdrew about an hour later.
"I wanted to do everything I could do to fight through the injury."
"I want to make sure that I'm being smart with it," Wie said. "I will return home to have it looked at by my doctors and follow their advice for treatment."
The first round was suspended because of darkness at 5:25 p.m., with four groups still on the course.
Ochoa teed off in the morning, before the wind picked up.
She was four shots ahead of Jiyai Shin (70) on the leaderboard, but the 21-year-old South Korean leads Ochoa by eight points in the race to become the tour's player of the year. To earn the honor for the fourth straight year, Ochoa must win this week or finish no worse than third and hope Shin places out of the top 10.
MICHELLE WIE
professional golfer
Shin and Ochoa started on the back nine and both were 2 under after three holes. Shin added birdies Nos. 13 and 15 to move to 4 under.
Both players bogeyed the difficult 17th, then picked up birdies early on their second nines. Ochoa added birds on Nos. 6, 8 and 9, capping her round with a 15-foot
putt and a modest fist pump.
"Tomorrow is a new start," Ochoa said. "I'm going to play like I'm a few shots behind and continue being aggressive and give myself chances to win on Sunday."
Ochoa is feeling
more relaxed this week after deating with the demands of playing the tournament host.
"Last week was a little bit tough in many different ways with all the things to do and all the pressure," she said. "Everything is a little bit easier, if you compare it to last week."
Shin bogeyed two of her last four holes as the wind strengthened. She is trying to sweep the rookie and player awards. Nancy Lopez is the only player to win both in the same season, accomplishing the feat in 1978.
Shin and Ochoa are also in a virtual dead heat for the Vare Trophy, given to the player with the season's lowest scoring average.
"I played 2 under, which was not bad in the wind," Shin said. "Lorena, she played really good, a 66. But we still have three more rounds. I will just focus on my game and try my best for three more days."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michelle Wie reacts after missing a birdie put during the first round of the LPGA Tour Championship. Wie withdrew from the tournament because of an injury.
NCAA BASKETBALL
Gophers win despite missing player
BY DAVE CAMPBELL
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — Freshman Rodney Williams had 17 points, six rebounds and four steals in his first career start, helping 24th-ranked Minnesota pull away from Utah Valley in the second half of a 76-51 victory on Thursday.
Al Nolen's steal and wraparound pass to Williams for a fast-break dunk over the pursuing defender got the crowd going a little. Five minutes later, Williams was fouled trying use the baseline for a slam and fell hard on his side. He made both free throws, though, and on his next two drives he chose layups instead as the Gophers began to exert themselves.
Missing senior leader and top scorer Lawrence Westbrook to a stomach virus, the Gophers (3-0) finished 5 for 19 from 3-point range and were outbounded 34-29 by a team in its first year as a full-fledged Division I program.
Damian Johnson had 15 points, six rebounds, three blocks and two steals, though, to lead another strong defensive effort. Minnesota had 30 points off 26 Utah Valley turnovers, and five Gophers turnovers only gave the Wolverines (1-2) two points.
Williams had one more dunk in him at the end of another fastbreak fueled by this active defense coach Tubby Smith pushes his teams to play. That pushed Minnesota's lead to 73-51 with $2 \frac{1}{2}$ minutes left.
Jordan Swarbick led Utah Valley with 11 points and Tyray Petty had eight points and nine rebounds, giving Minnesota plenty to work on before playing 11th-ranked Butler next week.
The Wolverines fell behind 41-26 early in the second half when the Gophers appeared poised to run away with the game. Utah Valley didn't wilt, though, with peppy point guard Eric Dearden rushing to the rim for layups and Petty and Swarbick muscling for position underneath.
Minnesota's Colton Iverson, left, guards against a shot by Utah Valley State's Kevin Woods II (5). Minnesota beat Utah Valley despite the absence of senior leading scorer Lawrence Westbrook.
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