In Brief

ICE HOCKEY

Winter Classic may heat
Crosby-Ovechkin rivalry

Pittsburgh is making a strong push to play host to the NHL's next Winter Classic on Jan. 1, matching the league's two signature stars in the Penguins' Sidney Crosby and the Capitals' Alex Ovechkin at Heinz Field.

The Penguins played in the first Winter Classic played on U.S. ice in Buffalo in 2008, but the Crosby-Ovechkin rivalry has become so big that the NHL is believed to be favoring a second Penguins appearance in four years.

Also: Stockton's Matt Robinson scored a hat trick -- including the winning goal with 1 minute remaining -- as the Thunder beat the Wranglers 6-5 in an ECHL game in Stockton, Calif.

Chris Neiszner, Alex Bourret, Greg Collins, Barry Goers and Adam Miller scored for the Wranglers (32-29-8, 70 points).

UNLV SPORTS

Men's swim team 21st
at NCAA championships

Kier Maitland earned honorable mention All-America honors with a 10th-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle as the Rebels men's swim team finished in a tie for 21st at the NCAA championships in Columbus, Ohio.

Maitland's time was a season-best 14 minutes, 55.95 seconds.

Texas claimed the team title.

Also: The Rebels women's tennis team improved to 14-0 at home with a 4-3 victory over Boise State at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

Nives Pavlovic, Adrienn Hidvegi and Anna Maskaljun won at Nos. 3-5 singles for UNLV (14-2).

The Rebels women's track and field team finished eighth at the Cal-Nevada Championships in Los Angeles, paced by wins from the 400-meter relay team and sprinter Shahnel Woodley.

Woodley won the 100 meters in 11.95 seconds and teamed with the 400 relay team of Chauncey David-Jacobs, Candise Maxwell and Emily Blok to win in :45.51.

MISCELLANEOUS

Findlay Prep standouts
named to PARADE team

Findlay Prep senior basketball players Cory Joseph and Tristan Thompson have been named to the PARADE All-America Team.

Point guard Joseph took first-team honors. Thompson, a power forward who has signed with Texas, was a second-team pick.

Both players also received McDonald's All-American honors and were named to the Jordan Brand Classic rosters.

Also: Rafael Nadal, who hasn't won a tournament in 10 months, showed some of his old championship swagger by rallying past wild card David Nalbandian 6-7 (8), 6-2, 6-2 in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla.

Andy Roddick reached the final 16 by beating Sergiy Stakhovsky, and No. 12 Juan Carlos Ferrero beat John Isner.

Advancing to the women's fourth round were Grand Slam champions Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, Caroline Wozniacki, and defending champion Victoria Azarenka.

Two-time Super Bowl QB Ben Roethlisberger is not expected to join his Pittsburgh Steelers teammates this week for voluntary offseason workouts, a team spokesman said.

Trainer Bob Baffert says he is "90 percent sure" that Lookin At Lucky will stay home to run in next weekend's $750,000 Santa Anita Derby rather than the Arkansas Derby a week later.

Endorsement pulled ahead of heavy favorite Conveyance on the final stretch for an upset victory in the $800,000 Sunland Derby at Sunland Park, N.M.

Yuriorkis Gamboa retained his WBA featherweight title with an unanimous decision over Jonathan Victor Barros of Argentina.

Gamboa is undefeated in 18 fights, but had to go to the distance for the first time in handing Barros his first defeat in 30 bouts in Hamburg.