Nate Schmidt, of the United States, left, congratulates Sean Farrell after he scored the team’s fourth goal during the group B Hockey World Championship match between Norway Tuesday in Tampere, Finland. Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva via AP
HOCKEY
The United States secured a quarterfinal spot at the ice hockey world championship on the last day of group play Tuesday at Tampere, Finland. It only gets harder from here.
The U.S. knew it would qualify before stepping onto the ice against Norway, thanks to Sweden’s 1-0 win over Latvia earlier in the day. With the pressure off, the U.S. beat the Norwegians 4-2, with two assists from Alex Galchenyuk, to get back into the groove after its loss to the Czech Republic the day before.
Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman, a former UMaine player, played only the first period for the USA, stopping all nine shots he faced.
That sets up a tricky quarterfinal against in-form Switzerland, which beat Germany 4-3 in a shootout to qualify with seven wins from seven games, the only team still unbeaten. Denis Malgin had a goal and an assist for Switzerland and leads the tournament with 12 points, and goaltender Reto Berra made 24 saves and shut out Germany in the shootout.
Canada eased to a 7-1 win over France as Pierre-Luc Dubois had two goals and an assist and Drake Batherson had four assists. Canada will take on Sweden in the quarterfinals, three months after they met at the same stage of the Olympic tournament, with Sweden winning that game 2-0.
Two goals in the first period set host nation Finland on course to beat the Czech Republic 3-0 as Jussi Olkinuora made 24 saves for the shutout.
Finland goes on to play Slovakia in the quarterfinals in a repeat of their Olympic semifinal game in February, and the Czech Republic takes on Germany.
• Finland is expected to host the men’s hockey world championships two years in a row after teaming up with Latvia in a bid to stage the 2023 tournament that was stripped from Russia because of the war in Ukraine.
The Finnish city of Tampere, one of the host cities of this year’s competition, is bidding with the Latvian capital city of Riga, which was the host in 2021.
The International Ice Hockey Federation said Tuesday that the Finland-Latvia bid was unopposed after a rival application by Hungary and Slovenia was withdrawn. The IIHF said that was because the Hungarian hosts of the bid “did not receive the governmental guarantees.”
An IIHF congress is scheduled to confirm Finland and Latvia as hosts on Friday.
BASKETBALL
WNBA: Elena Delle Donne scored 15 points to reach 4,000 for her career and the Washington Mystics beat the visiting Atlanta Dream 70-50.
Delle Donne entered needing 15 points to become the 40th player to reach the milestone. She was 7 of 13 from the field and had three of Washington’s seven blocked shots.
Washington took control in the third quarter, outscoring Atlanta 20-8 to help build a 54-33 lead.
Kennedy Burke added 13 points for Washington (6-2), which was without Coach Mike Thibault due to personal reasons. Alysha Clark scored 11 points and Ariel Atkins had 10.
Rookie Rhyne Howard, the league’s leading scorer at 20.5 points per game, missed all nine of her shots and was scoreless in 29 minutes for Atlanta (4-3).
• Marina Mabrey scored 20 points, Allisha Gray had 17 points and eight rebounds, and the Dallas Wings beat the Connecticut Sun 85-77 for their fourth straight road victory.
• Aerial Powers scored 12 of her 18 points on free throws and the Minnesota Lynx held off the visiting New York Liberty, 84-7.
Powers added nine rebounds and two blocks for Minnesota (2-6). Kayla McBride scored 15 points and made four free throws in the final 15.9 seconds to preserve the victory.
Sylvia Fowles finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds, and Moriah Jefferson scored 12. The Lynx outscored New York 27-13 at the foul line and picked up their first home win in their third try.
Natasha Howard had 23 points to lead the Liberty (1-5).
• Candace Parker had 16 points, six rebounds and seven assists, Azura Stevens added 15 points, and the Chicago Sky beat the visiting Indiana Fever, 95-90.
Parker, coming off her second career triple-double on Sunday, also had three steals and three blocks, shooting 6 for 9 from the field.
Courtney Vandersloot had 14 points, six rebounds and seven assists for Chicago (4-2). Kahleah Copper and Allie Quigley each scored 12 and Dana Evans had 10 points.
Mitchell scored 25 points for Indiana (2-7), which has lost five games in a row.
AUTO RACING
INDY 500: Miles Teller feels the need, the need for speed – and the “Top Gun: Maverick” actor will get it as the honorary starter for what should be the fastest Indianapolis 500 in history.
Teller will wave the green flag for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.
The 35-year-old Teller stars as Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, son of beloved late navigator “Goose,” in the long-awaited sequel to “Top Gun.” The film will be released nationwide Friday, two days before the 500.
GOLF
SENIOR PGA: Former Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker has pulled out of the Senior PGA Championship after testing positive for the coronavirus.
Stricker revealed his positive test on Twitter, saying he was “super bummed” and that it was “just a small setback.”
Stricker was out of competition for six months because of a virus that he says doctors never fully identified. He became ill last fall, about a month after leading the Americans to a record blowout (19-9) over Europe at Whistling Straits in his native Wisconsin.
He was hospitalized and lost some 25 pounds. Stricker has said he wonders if the illness was a reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine because he has regular health checks and annual blood work.
He was coming off a victory in the first of five majors on the PGA Tour Champions schedule, two weeks ago at the Regions Tradition. This would have been his fourth tournament in five weeks since he returned to golf.
COLLEGES
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Louisville has added Milt Wagner as its men’s basketball director of player development and alumni relations, reuniting the Cardinals’ scoring great with former teammate and first-year head coach Kenny Payne.
Wagner, whose 1,834 career points rank sixth all time in program history, was a starter on Louisville’s 1986 NCAA championship squad while Payne was a freshman. He helped the Cardinals reach three Final Fours from 1981-86 and his No. 20 jersey hangs in the rafters of the team’s KFC Yum! Center arena.
The Cardinals’ Hall of Famer won an NBA championship in 1988 with the Los Angeles Lakers during a 13-year professional career before going on to work as an assistant at Auburn and UTEP and coordinator of basketball operations at Memphis under John Calipari.
BOXING
MIDDLEWEIGHTS: Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin will complete their memorable fight trilogy in September.
Alvarez and Golovkin will resume their rivalry Sept. 17 after a four-year break, promoters Matchroom Boxing announced. Alvarez already said he intended to take the fight while speaking at his invitational golf tournament in Naucalpan, Mexico, on Monday.
The fighters met in 2017 and again in 2018 for two highly entertaining matchups. They fought to a split draw in the first bout, and Alvarez won a narrow majority decision in the second meeting.
CYCLING
GIRO d’ITALIA: Czech cyclist Jan Hirt won the tough 16th stage of the Giro d’Italia for his first grand tour victory and Richard Carapaz kept the pink jersey as the race headed into a final week in the high mountains.
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