■ Hockey
Japanese goalie called up
Yutaka Fukufuji, who is seeking to be the first player born and raised in Japan to play in the National Hockey League, has been called up by the Los Angeles Kings. The 24-year-old from Hokkaido, Japan, was promoted to the Kings from the Manchester Monarchs, Los Angeles general manager Dean Lombardi announced on Friday. Fukufuji was likely to get his first opportunity to suit up in an NHL uniform yesterday when Los Angeles hosted Dallas at the Staples Center. Fukufuji has not appeared in any games for the Monarchs this season as he had been backing up Jason LaBarbera.
■ NFL
Banned sprinter tries out
Olympic and world sprint champion Justin Gatlin worked out for the Arizona Cardinals this week, his second tryout for an NFL team. Gatlin, who faces an eight-year ban from athletics following a positive doping test, worked out for Cardinals officials on Tuesday, team spokesman Mark Dalton said on Friday. Gatlin, who has not played football since high school, worked out for the Houston Texans on Nov. 28. The 24-year-old sprinter still shares the world 100-m record of 9.77 seconds, but that will be wiped off the books once his penalty becomes official.
■ Baseball
Wells agrees to extension
All-Star center fielder Vernon Wells and the Toronto Blue Jays agreed on Friday to a US$126 million, seven-year contract extension through 2014, the sixth-largest deal in Major League Baseball history. "How can you not be happy?" Wells said during a telephone interview several hours before terms of the deal were finalized. "Like I said, my family comes first. Obviously this gives me an opportunity to set my family up for a couple of generations. That's the biggest part of this thing," he said.
■ Baseball
Bagwell retires
Houston's all-time home run leader Jeff Bagwell announced his retirement on Friday after 15 years in the US major leagues, all with the Astros. Bagwell's announcement comes less than two months after the Astros declined to exercise next year's option on his contract. "Physically, I can't do it anymore," Bagwell said at a news conference on Friday. "I wish I could play and try to win a World Series in Houston, but I'm just not able physically to do it."
■ Hockey
Penguins offer withdrawn
Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie has withdrawn his offer to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins, the NHL team confirmed on Friday. Balsillie had reached an agreement in October to buy the club from the current owners, including former Penguins great Mario Lemieux, for about US$175 million. But Balsillie, whose company makes the popular BlackBerry wireless messaging device, issued a notice of termination to the club on Friday. "We were hopeful that this was going to come to a conclusion any day," Pittsburgh CEO Ken Sawyer said.
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