December 31st

CANADA'S STREAK SNAPPED, USA 3-0

Sweden ended Canada's winning streak in the world junior hockey championship at 20 on Saturday, beating the three-time defending champions 4-3 on Tobias Forsberg' goal with 7 seconds left.

Also Saturday in Liberec, Tyler Ruegsegger, James vanRiemsdyk and Mike Carman scored to help the United States improve to 3-0 in Group B with a 3-2 victory over Russia.

Eric Moe, Tony Lagerstrom and Moller added goals for Sweden, the Group A leader at 3-0. Claude Giroux, Brad Marchand and Shawn Matthias scored for Canada (2-1).

In the other Group A game, the Czech Republic beat Slovakia 5-2. In Group B, Finland routed Kazakhstan 5-0.

The schedule Monday has Russia playing Switzerland at 8am Central Time, followed by USA vs Finland and Canada vs Denmark at Noon.


MCCARTY BEGINS COMEBACK WITH FLINT GENERALS

Former NHL forward Darren McCarty, whose hard-working and physical style of play made him a fan favourite in Detroit and Calgary, plans to begin a comeback attempt with the Flint Generals.

The 35-year-old plans to practice with the International Hockey League team on Monday but must be cleared by the NHL before playing, the Generals announced Saturday.

The Red Wings bought out McCarty's contract in 2005 following a lockout that forced the cancellation of the 2004-2005 NHL season.

He was on Detroit's 1997, 1998 and 2002 Stanley Cup championship teams and he went on to play for the Flames, but he missed most of 2006-2007 recuperating from a hernia injury, and was not re-signed and became a free agent.


CANADA REMAINS UNDEFEATED AT SPENGLER CUP

Canada posted a 4-2 win over Adler Mannheim of Germany on Sunday at the Spengler Cup hockey tournament in Davos, Switzerland.

With the score 2-2 in the third period, Dale McTavish and Simon Gamache each scored for Canada, which finished the round-robin with a perfect 4-0 record.

Ryan Keller and Andre Benoit also scored for Canada, and Sebastien Caron, replacing NHL veteran Curtis Joseph, started in goal for the Canadians.

Canada plays Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the tournament's championship game on Monday. Canada defeated the Russian club 3-2 earlier in the competition.

Canada has appeared in six of the previous seven championship games, winning the Spengler Cup in 2002 and 2003.

Overall, Canada has won the Spengler Cup 10 times (1984, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003) since first taking part in the tournament in 1984.

The Spengler Cup, held annually since 1923, is the oldest professional international hockey tournament in the world.


DENIS CLEARS WAIVERS, SENT TO AHL

The Tampa Bay Lightning sent Marc Denis to AHL Norfolk over the weekend after the goaltender cleared NHL waivers. The 30-year-old Denis was 1-5-0 with a 4.05 goals-against average and .859 save percentage in 10 games with the Lightning this season. He became the odd man out after Tampa recalled rookie netminder Karri Ramo. Johan Holmqvist is the other goalie for the Lightning.

Denis is earning $2.8-million this season and will make $3-million next season, the final year of his deal.


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