NHL votes to return to pre-lockout schedule

The NHL has chosen to go back to its pre-lockout schedule next season, deciding on what was called by one team official “a compromise� between the current format and a desired, at least in some quarters, home-and-home series between every team.

This decision came Thursday at the league’s Board of Governors’ meeting in Pebble Beach. There will be six divisional games for each team (24), four games inside the conference but outside the division (40), and one game against each team in the other conference (15).

Lastly, the three remaining games will be something of wild-card contests for the teams. For instance, it would foster more games between the Canadian-based teams.

“It’s kind of like everything else, it’s not quite what everybody wanted and or didn’t want and a little of both,� said Kings President and General Manager Dean Lombardi, who attended the meetings.

The NHL showed substantive research that fans wanted to see every team, Lombardi said.

But a Ducks’ review of their season-ticket holders in an on-line survey showed that their fans were happy with the current system, which features eight games against divisional opponents.

“And we were expecting a dramatic clamor for change and we didn’t get it,� Ducks General Manager Brian Burke said. “Our fans like the divisional games.�

The board also approved the proposed sale of the Predators to a group led by Nashville businessman David Freeman, pending the close of the deal.

WINTER SPORTS

Albrecht’s victory is his first in World Cup

Daniel Albrecht won a super-combi in Beaver Creek, Colo., for his first career World Cup victory.

Bode Miller finished fourth, more than one second slower than Albrecht. Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety of the U.S. finished eighth.

Michelle Kelly won the season-opening World Cup women’s skeleton race, beating Mellisa Hollingsworth by .39 seconds in Calgary, Canada. Paul Boehm won the men’s race in a combined time of 1 minute 54.22 seconds.

Vincent Defrasne and Martina Glagow won the men’s and women’s World Cup biathlon openers at Kontiolahti, Finland.

BASEBALL

Posada and Yankees finish $52.4-million deal

Catcher Jorge Posada and the New York Yankees finalized a four-year, $52.4-million deal that will keep the catcher with the team through the 2011 season.

HBO Films is planning to turn a best-selling book about Barry Bonds’ alleged steroid use and the federal government’s wide-ranging probe into performance-enhancing drug use in sports into a movie, according to Lance Williams, a reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle who co-authored “Game of Shadows.�

JURISPRUDENCE

Howe files suit in marketing dispute

Gordie Howe has sued two former associates, saying they misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars from his marketing company.

The former hockey star’s lawsuit said Del Reddy of Auburn Hills, Mich., and Aaron Howard of Kalamazoo, Mich., also defamed him by saying his company was financially troubled.

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Quincy Carter has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of possessing marijuana in Shreveport, La.

He was fined $300, put on six months’ unsupervised probation and given a suspended a 30-day jail term.

MISCELLANY

Galaxy to play tournament in Hawaii

David Beckham and the Galaxy will take part in another Major League Soccer-created tournament in February.

The league announced plans for a four-team tournament in Hawaii that will match two MLS squads against Japan’s league cup champion and a team from Australia’s A-League. The inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship exhibition tournament, a two-day, two-doubleheader event, will take place one month before the start of the 2008 MLS regular season.

The Galaxy kicks off the tourney with a game against Gamba Osaka of Japan on Feb. 20.

Welterweight champion Kermit Cintron has ligament damage in his right hand and will not be able to defend his International Boxing Federation belt against unbeaten Paul Williams on Feb. 2, according to Cintron’s promotion company.

He was hurt in a title defense last Friday at Staples Center.

Germany’s top cycling team lost another major sponsor when car maker Audi said it was pulling out of its contract.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was selected the most popular NASCAR driver for the fifth straight year, drawing more than 1.5 million of the over 3.8 million votes cast online.

Ryan Lochte beat Michael Phelps by 1.24 seconds with an American-record time in the 200-yard individual medley, touching in 1:40.08 seconds at the U.S. short course national championships at Atlanta.