Sports Briefs: Avalanche sign captain Sakic to one-year contract

DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche signed Joe Sakic to a one-year, $6 million contract yesterday after he decided to play a 20th season in the NHL rather than call it a career.

Because the Democratic National Convention is taking place this week at the Pepsi Center, the Avs' home, the team said it wouldn't hold a news conference until next week.

Sakic, 39, the team's captain, was coming off his most difficult season, having missed 38 games after hernia surgery before returning to the lineup to help the team reach the playoffs after a one-year absence.

But unlike a year ago, when he signed a one-year, $6.75 million deal on the day after the season ended, Sakic left town this spring unsure whether he had worn the blue and maroon sweater for the last time.

As an unrestricted free agent, Sakic could have fielded offers from other teams but told his agent he would play for the Avalanche next season or not at all.

More hockey

■ Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic agreed to a four-year contract extension with the San Jose Sharks yesterday, keeping Vlasic, one of the team's best young players, with the Sharks through the 2012-13 season.

Vlasic had two goals and 12 assists while playing in all 82 regular-season games for the Sharks last season, just his second full NHL season. He was third on the Sharks with 85 blocked shots while playing more than 21½ minutes per game.

Vlasic, who first made the Sharks' roster as a 19-year-old in 2006, will make $735,000 next season.

Baseball

■ General Manager Dayton Moore of the Kansas City Royals said he met with outfielder Jose Guillen after Guillen confronted a heckling fan on Tuesday night.

Guillen had to be restrained by catcher Miguel Olivo, third-base coach Luis Silverio and others when a fan down the right field line harassed Guillen in the fourth inning of a 2-1 loss to the Texas Rangers.

This is Guillen's fourth public outburst this season. He has called his teammates "babies" during a 12-game losing streak in May, made profanity-laced comments in June saying he could "care less about" fans who were booing him, and had to be separated from pitching coach Bob McClure on July 5 in a clubhouse confrontation in Tampa Bay.

■ No. 2 draft pick Pedro Alvarez refused to sign his contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the players' association filed a grievance yesterday saying that the Aug. 15 deadline was unilaterally extended by Major League Baseball without the union's permission.

The Pirates announced early on Aug. 16 that Alvarez, a power-hitting third baseman from Vanderbilt, agreed to a minor-league contract with a $6 million signing bonus. The Pirates said his agent, Scott Boras, told the team Alvarez wouldn't report unless the deal was renegotiated. Boras said the agreement was reached after the midnight deadline for draft picks to sign on Aug. 15.

Alvarez was placed on baseball's restricted list.

Basketball

■ Oregon officials say an autopsy shows that Kevin Duckworth, a former Portland Trail Blazers center, died when his enlarged heart failed.

Duckworth died Monday at 44 on the Oregon coast, where he was on a goodwill tour for the team.

The Oregon State Police said yesterday the autopsy concluded that Duckworth died of "hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with congestive heart failure."

The police statement says the heart disease had combined with high blood pressure to result in "marked enlargement of his heart which had been failing for some time."

■ Joe Crawford, the Los Angeles Lakers' only selection in the NBA Draft last June, signed a contract with the Western Conference champions yesterday.

Crawford, the 58th pick, averaged 11.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists in four years at Kentucky, where he played in 127 games, 76 of them starts.

Crawford, 22, a 6-5 guard, ranked fourth in the SEC in scoring as a senior with a team-leading 17.9-point average, and then averaged 11.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists in six Summer League games for the Lakers last month.

■ Guard Monta Ellis of the Golden State Warriors will be out at least three months after severely spraining his ankle during an offseason workout.

Ellis, who got a six-year contract extension worth $66 million from the Warriors this summer, sprained his ankle and tore a deltoid ligament while working out at his home in Jackson, Miss., Warriors spokesman Raymond Ridder said.

Ellis underwent surgery yesterday to repair the ligament. Ellis' ankle will be immobilized for six weeks, followed by at least six weeks of off-court rehab before the guard can return to basketball workouts.

Ellis will miss training camp and the Warriors' preseason schedule, which includes a trip to China, along with at least the first month of the regular season.

Ellis averaged 20.2 points, five rebounds and 3.4 assists last season, all career bests for the winner of the NBA's most-improved player award in 2006-07.

■ The Milwaukee Bucks and the Golden State Warriors will travel to China in October to play two exhibition games, the NBA and Chinese Basketball Association said yesterday.

The NBA China Games tips off with the Bucks and Warriors meeting on Oct. 15 in Guangzhou and Oct. 18 at the Beijing Olympics Basketball Arena.

■ Margo Dydek, a 7-2 center who holds the WNBA record for blocked shots with 811, signed with the Los Angeles Sparks yesterday.

Dydek, a 34-year-old center and the first pick in the 1998 WNBA Draft by the Utah Starzz, has averaged 10 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots in 289 career games.

The Sparks play for the first time since the Olympics break tonight, facing the Sacramento Monarchs in the first of three home games in a five-day span.

■ Oklahoma City's new NBA franchise has finally set a date to announce its name and team colors.

The team said yesterday that it would unveil the name and colors simultaneously on its Web site and at a downtown event Sept. 3.

Clay Bennett's ownership group has applied for trademarks for six names: Thunder, Energy, Wind, Marshalls, Barons and Bison.

Oklahoma City television station KOCO has reported that the choice will be Thunder, but Bennett has refused to comment on what the name will be.

The former Seattle SuperSonics announced on July 2 that they would be moving to Oklahoma City.

■ Svetlana Abrosimova became the latest former University of Connecticut player to sign with the WNBA's Connecticut Sun.

Abrosimova, who helped UConn to a national title in 2000, signed a free-gent contract yesterday with first-place Connecticut (16-10). She joins former Huskies Barbara Turner, Asjha Jones, Tamika (Williams) Raymond and Ketia Swanier on the Sun's roster.

To make room for Abrosimova, the Sun waived rookie guard Jolene Anderson, who played in 24 games and averaged four points.

Abrosimova averaged over seven points during the Olympics, helping Russia to a bronze medal.

Miscellaneous

■ Mike Candrea, the Arizona softball coach whose bid to lead the United States to a second gold medal ended with a loss to Japan in the Beijing title game, stepped down yesterday as coach of the national team.

Candrea had guided the Americans since 2002 and went 17-1 in Olympics play. The only defeat was a 3-1 loss to Japan in the gold-medal game last week.

The United States won the first three Olympics after the sport was added for the 1996 Atlanta Games. The sport isn't on the program for the 2012 London Olympics.

Candrea has led Arizona to eight NCAA titles.