Off the wire

HOCKEY

Stars’ Peverley collapses

Once Rich Peverley collapsed on the Dallas bench, neither theStars or visiting Columbus Blue Jackets felt up to finishing the game. With the Blue Jackets leading 1-0 early in the first period on Monday night, play was quickly halted when Peverely had a heart problem while on the bench. Play was halted 6:23 in as Peverley was quickly carried down the tunnel. A public address announcement was made several minutes later that Peverely, 31, conscious and taken to a hospital. A hush fell over the crowd during the lengthy delay between the time play was stopped and when the game was called off. There was no immediate announcement of when the game would be made up. Peverley’s wife, Nathalie, accompanied him in the ambulance to UT Southwestern St. Paul University Hospital. Peverley missed the preseason and the season opener because of a procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat, a condition diagnosed during a training camp physical. He made his Stars debut on Oct. 5 against Washington. Peverley sat out last week’s game at Columbus because of an irregular heartbeat. He had felt strange after last Monday’s game and couldn’t fly.But Peverley then played in Dallas’ next two games before Monday. Both teams skated off the ice after Peverley’s collapse. The Stars didn’t go directly through the tunnel next to their bench, but through a door at the south end of the rink. As Stars Coach Lindy Ruff turned to seek medical help from the stands, players from both teams tried to attract the officials’ attention by banging their sticks on the boards and the ice. In 62 games this season before Monday, Peverley had seven goals and 23 assists. He was acquired last July from Boston with forward Tyler Seguin and defenseman Ryan Button for forwards Loui Eriksson, Reilly Smith and Matt Fraser, and defenseman Joe Morrow. The Stars are scheduled to play at St. Louis today, but Ruff wouldn’t speculate on whether the team would seek to have that game postponed.

FOOTBALL Seahawks re-sign DL Bennett

Michael Bennett gambled last offseason that playing on a one-year deal in Seattle would pay off in the future with the long-term contract he always wanted. He was proven to be correct. Bennett now has a Super Bowl title and a new four-year contract that will keep him with the Seahawks. Bennett was considered one of the top free agents in the NFL after a breakout season with the Seahawks where he led the team with 8 1/2 sacks and a fumble return for a touchdown, proving to be a versatile option as a defensive end and defensive tackle. But he never made it all the way to the start of free agency today after the Seahawks came up with a satisfactory deal. Terms were not announced by the team. Pro Football Talk reported Bennett’s deal was worth about $28.5 million with $16 guaranteed. Bennett said there were other teams offering more money, but the guaranteed amount was most important. Bennett was thought to have been strongly pursued by Chicago, where he had a chance of joining his brother, Martellus, with the Bears. But he ultimately decided to return to Seattle. Bennett signed with Seattle last offseason for $3 million after playing his first four seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have made their choice at outside linebacker, and it isn’t LaMarr Woodley. A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press the Steelers will part ways with the former Pro Bowler, a move that hardly serves as a surprise after fifth-year linebacker Jason Worilds agreed to accept a “transition player” tag last week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the move is not yet official. Woodley, 29, will likely be designated a post-June 1 salary cap cut, but is free to sign with another team when the new league year begins today. By postponing the move until after June 1, the Steelers would free up about $8 million in salary cap space in 2014. The money saved will likely go toward signing the team’s selections in the NFL Draft in May. Woodley will, however, count $8.5 million against the team’s cap number in 2015. Woodley signed a six-year, $61.5 million contract in 2011, but has struggled to remain healthy. He missed at least three games in each of the last three seasons as hamstring and other lower body issues kept him sidelined for long stretches.

The New York Jets parted ways with wide receiver Santonio Holmes, cutting the talented but injury-plagued playmaker after four seasons. The move, which had been expected, saves the Jets $8.25 million, which Holmes was due to make as his base salary this season. He was also scheduled to have a $10.75 million cap number, a lofty total for a one-time Super Bowl MVP who has struggled with injuries and inconsistency the last two seasons. Holmes, who turned 30 last Monday, had 23 catches - the second-lowest total of his career - for 456 yards and 1 touchdown in 11 games last season. He missed five games midway through the season with a hamstring injury.

BASKETBALL Kansas’ Embiid out

Kansas center Joel Embiid is expected to miss the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Embiid got a second opinion on his ailing lower back from a specialist in Los Angeles on Monday, and the school said the physician confirmed the original diagnosis of a stress fracture. The school said Embiid’s treatment for the injury makes him “unlikely to play in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.” A potential top choice in the NBA Draft should he choose to declare, Embiid sat out Kansas’ final two regular-season games, a home victory against Texas Tech and a road loss against West Virginia. The Jayhawks had already clinched the outright Big 12 title.

TENNIS Sharapova upset

Camila Giorgi upset defending champion Maria Sharapova 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., giving the young Italian her first victory over a top-five player. Ranked 79th in the world, Giorgi, 22, made it through qualifying to play Indian Wells for the first time. She improved to 3-2 against top-10 opponents. Andy Murray outlasted Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4, while four-time tourney champion Roger Federer defeated 27th-seeded Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 7-6 (7), 7-6 (2).

TRACK AND FIELD Pistorius ill during testimony

Hunched over, throwing up into a bucket by his feet and retching loudly, Oscar Pistorius was vividly reminded at his murder trial Monday in Pretoria, South Africa, of the gruesome injuries he alledgedly inflicted on his girlfriend when a pathologist described how the Olympian fatally shot her multiple times with bullets designed to cause maximum damage.

The testimony by Prof. Gert Saayman, who performed the autopsy on Reeva Steenkamp’s body, was so graphic that it was not broadcast or reported live on social media by journalists under an order from Judge Thokozile Masipa.

Saayman methodically listed the extent of the three main gunshot wounds Steenkamp suffered on Valentine’s Day last year when she was shot by the double-amputee runner in the right side of the head, the right hip and the right arm through a toilet cubicle door.

The pathologist said Steenkamp, 29, was hit by special Black Talon bullets and that the head shot from Pistorius’ 9 mm pistol was probably almost instantly fatal, causing brain damage and multiple fractures to her skull.

Bent over while sitting on a wooden bench, Pistorius threw up when Saayman reached his right hand up toward the right side of his own head to show the entrance and exit wounds in Steenkamp’s skull.

Masipa briefly halted the testimony to ask chief defense lawyer Barry Roux to attend to his client. The judge later asked whether Pistorius was able to understand the proceedings as he sat with hands clasped over his ears, his body heaving.

“Is your client fine?” the judge asked Roux.

Roux replied: “It’s not going to be fine.”

Roux said Pistorius’ reaction was not going to change. A dark bucket with a handle was placed at his feet.

Pistorius threw up at least two other times and cried. He is charged with premeditated murder for killing Steenkamp and could face up to life in prison if convicted. The prosecution contends the shooting followed a loud argument between the couple. The defense maintains that he shot her by mistake, thinking she was an intruder.

If convicted on the murder charge, Pistorius, 27, could be sent to prison for at least 25 years before the chance of parole, the minimum time someone must serve if given a life sentence in South Africa. The judge will ultimately deliver the verdict and decide on any sentence. South Africa has no trial by jury.