Tampa Bay wins hockey's Stanley Cup
TAMPA, Fla., June 8 (UPI) -- Tampa Bay captured the first Stanley Cup in its 12-year history Monday with a 2-1 victory over Calgary in Game Seven of the NHL Finals.
Ruslan Fedotenko, who missed Game Four of the series due to a head injury, scored both goals to help the Lightning complete a three-year transformation from last-place team to NHL champion.
Dave Andreychuk watched the final 22 seconds from the penalty box but ended a personal 22-year championship drought. As Tampa Bay captain, he took the Stanley Cup from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.
"I'm so proud of my guys," Andreychuk said. "We worked all year long."
Calgary's furious third-period comeback fall short. The Flames came within one win of their first Stanley Cup since 1989. It would have been the first championship by a Canadian team in 11 years, but Calgary managed just one goal over the final 102 minutes, 44 seconds of the series.
Payton's disappearing act draws fine
LOS ANGELES, June 8 (UPI) -- The day after Game One of the NBA Finals, Gary Payton gave the media exactly what he gave the Los Angeles Lakers -- virtually nothing.
Payton refused to talk to the media Monday afternoon, drawing a fine from the league and explanations from coaches, teammates and opponents for his behavior both on and off the court.
As the Lakers completed their practice at the Staples Center, Payton walked off the court toward the locker room. When asked if he was going to talk, he snarled, "In a minute," without looking back.
That was the last anyone saw of him. About 50 media members encircled Payton's podium waiting for him to return until about 10 minutes remained in the 30-minute session, when Lakers spokesman John Black announced, "He's not coming out."
An NBA spokesman said Payton was fined $5,000 for failing to make himself available to the media.
Payton scored three points on 1-of-4 shooting Sunday.
Injured Clijsters won't play at Wimbledon
BRUSSELS, June 8 (UPI) -- Belgium's Kim Clijsters, the world's second-ranked women's tennis player, says she will miss the Wimbledon Championships because of a wrist injury.
"It's healing slowly, but there's no way I would be able to give myself a chance of competing there at the level I need to be at," Clijsters said Monday.
The Wimbledon event begins June 21.
The Daily Telegraph in London said the Belgian star, who was beaten in the semifinals last year by Venus Williams, will be replaced as the top seed at Wimbledon by French Open winner Anastasia Myskina of Russia.
Clijsters, ranked only behind her countrywoman, Justine Henin-Hardenne, injured her left wrist in March. She is a right-hander but hits a two-handed backhand.
The injury kept her out of the French Open.
"The injury was progressing well," Clijster's coach, Mach Dehous, told VRT Radio in Belgium. "Totally unexpected, a cyst emerged which was not on the previous scan. It occurs in about one case in 20. Doctors are checking now how to treat the wrist."
Biffle wins rain-delayed MBNA America 200
DOVER, Del., June 8 (UPI) -- Greg Biffle won his third NASCAR Busch Series race of the season Monday at the rain-delayed, caution-filled MBNA America 200.
Biffle started his Ford Taurus seventh Saturday before rain delayed the event for almost six hours. Only 28 of the 200 laps were completed before officials scheduled the restart for Monday.
The 2002 Busch Series champion but now a Nextel Cup regular, Biffle grabbed the lead for the first time with 21 miles left and won by 1.772 seconds.
"Brad (Parrott, crew chief) told me early on, 'Just take it easy, take it easy," said Biffle, who averaged 87.934 miles per hour. "Then we made some adjustments to the car and it took off."
Biffle held off Martin Truex Jr. and David Green for his 14th career victory. It was his second Busch Series win here.
Truex led the most laps with 75 in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo and finished second.
