Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — HOCKEY U.S. beats Switzerland

Jack Campbell made 22 saves and the United States remained unbeaten at the world junior hockey championship with a 3-0 victory over Switzerland on Sunday in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Chris Kreider, Matt Donovan and A.J. Jenks scored for the Americans (2-0), who opened the tournament with an equally impressive 7-3 victory over Slovakia on Saturday. Benjamin Conz made 46 saves for Switzerland (0-1). “He played great. I was getting a little nervous there,” Campbell said. “It was one of those games where the other goalie is standing on his head while I didn’t get too many shots. ... We were lucky to bury a few on him in the end.” With a partisan crowd behind them, the Swiss were the stronger team in the opening period, generating more scoring chances. Sven Ryser had a chance to put Switzerland ahead, but Campbell stopped him on a partial breakaway with six minutes remaining. “Obviously it’s very disappointing.We were really close,” Swiss captain Luca Sbisa said. “I think we showed a lot of positives tonight. If we had put one or two in, it would have been a different game.” Kreider, a Boston College product and New York Rangers draft pick, was the only player to beat Conz in the first 40 minutes. He deflected in Cam Fowler’s point shot on a power play at 5:51 of the second period. Conz appeared to be screened on the shot. Conz was sensational from that point on - the Americans fired 38 shots on goal over the final two periods. But the Swiss couldn’t convert their chances, and Donovan gave the U.S. team a 2-0 lead with 7 minutes left. Jenks put the game out of reach four minutes later. The next game for the United States is Tuesday against Latvia, which lost to Slovakia 8-3 Sunday. Switzerland faces five-time defending champion Canada today. Canada was a 16-0 winner over Latvia on Saturday.In Group B in Regina, Oliver Ekman Larsson and Anton Rodin each had two goals and an assist to help Sweden beat Austria 7-3. Jacob Josefson, Mattias Ekholm and Andre Petersson also scored for Sweden (2-0-0), which got 24 saves from Anders Nilsson, a New York Islanders draft pick. Austria (0-2-0) got goals from Alexander Pallestrang, Dominique Heinrich and Konstantin Komarek, and Marco Wieser made 47 stops. In the late game, Finland overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Czech Republic 4-3. Sami Vatanen scored twice, and Teemu Hartikainen and Joonas Rask added goals for Finland (1-0). The Czechs (0-2) were coming off a 10-1 loss to Sweden on Saturday.

Former NHL MVP Peter Forsberg is on defending champion Sweden’s Olympic squad for the Vancouver Games. The veteran center was selected for the 23-man Olympic team announced Sunday by Coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson. Forsberg has won two Stanley Cups with the Colorado Avalanche and was the NHL’s MVP in 2003. He now plays for Swedish team Modo but has dealt with nagging ankle and foot problems for several years. Gustafsson said he is not worried about Forsberg’s injuries ahead of the Olympics. The Swedish roster also includes Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson and Nicklas Lidstrom, the winner of six Norris trophies as the NHL’s top defensive player with the Detroit Red Wings. Forsberg helped Sweden win gold at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, scoring the clinching goal in a penalty shootout against Canada. In the 2006 Olympic final, he set up the last goal to secure a 3-2 victory over Finland.

BOXING Final proposal offered

Promoter Bob Arum delivered what he said would be his last proposal Sunday to salvage the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., which has been on life support over a blood testing dispute. Under Arum’s proposal, the Nevada Athletic Commission would have the final say in how much testing there would be for the fight and when it would take place. Preparations for the fight would go forward and there would be three blood tests - none within 30 days of the fight - unless the commission decided otherwise at a mid-January meeting. “We will go along with what the Nevada commission decides. We will give them a blank check,” Arum said. “We want this fight to go forward.” Arum said Pacquiao’s side would go no further than the proposal, and that he will begin negotiations today with Paul Malignaggi for theMarch 13 date the megafight was supposed to take place on. The director of the Nevada commission and Mayweather’s representatives did not immediately return phone calls Sunday. If the fight is not held March 13, there is still a chance it could happen in September after the two have other fights.

HORSE RACING Lava Man fades in comeback

Thoroughbred racing’s richest ever claiming horse Lava Man led for most of his attempted comeback in Sunday’s San Gabriel Handicap at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., but faded to last with blood splattered on his rear hooves as Proudinsky emerged to win the race for the second consecutive year. The 8-yearold gelding, who earned more than $5 million after being claimed by trainer Doug O’Neill for $50,000, had retired 17 months ago with ankle problems, but underwent a radical new set of stem cell procedures to re-grow lost cartilage. He and jockey Tyler Baze sped gamely to the lead,but were overcome in the stretch by all six opponents. O’Neill said Lava Man had a bleeding gash on his leg after the race but it didn’t seem to be hurting him, and he thinks the gelding just got tired. O’Neill said he would talk to owners Steve, Tracy and Dave Kenly, and Jason Wood before deciding on the gelding’s future. In 2006, Lava Man became the first horse to win the Santa Anita Handicap, Hollywood Gold Cup and Pacific Classic in the same year. He won three consecutive Gold Cups, from 2005-2007 and also won the ’Big Cap in 2007. Proudinsky and jockey Rafael Bejarano, meanwhile, took the lead at the top of the stretch and held off charging favorite Loup Breton by a neck for the victory. Trained by Humberto Ascansio, who took over for Bobby Frankel when the Hall of Famer died of cancer in November, Proudinsky covered 1 1 /8 miles on turf in 1:46.91 and earned $90,000 for his seventh win in 22starts. The 6-year-old German-bred has earned $1,195,953 in his career. He was second in the San Gabriel in 2007 before winning last year for Frankel. Proudinsky paid $5.60, $2.80 and $2.20. Loup Breton paid $2.80 and $2.20. Acclamation paid $3 to show. Earlier Sunday, 2-year-old filly Evening Jewel won her first stakes with a come-from-behind victory in the $100,000 California Breeders’ Champion Stakes, beating Warren’s Jitterbug by three-quarters of a length.

SKIING

Walchhofer leads training

Michael Walchhofer led the opening training session Sunday for the World Cup downhill on the knee-jarring Stelvio course in Bormio, Italy. The Austrian finished in 2 minutes, 3.25 seconds. Andrej Jerman of Slovenia was second, 0.16 seconds behind, and Christoph Gruber of Austria was third, 0.71 back. Downhill World Cup leader Didier Cuche of Switzerland placed sixth. Walchhofer won back-to-back downhills on the Stelvio on consecutive days three years ago and has posted seven podium finishes in all. Another training session is scheduled for today, followed by the race Tuesday. Overall World Cup leader Benjamin Raich and Bode Miller are skipping the race.