Rangers Hope Low, Messier Will Change Their Fortunes

Ron Low is the new coach of the New York Rangers and he will get some immediate help.

The Rangers called a news conference for this morning to announce the signing of Mark Messier, the captain of their 1994 Stanley Cup championship team.

The Rangers haven’t been to the playoffs since Messier, their former captain, left as a free agent in 1997.

Terms of Messier’s contract weren’t disclosed, although the New York Daily News reported earlier this week that it’s worth $11 million over two years.

Low, who signed a multiyear deal, quit in Edmonton last year when his contract expired and he wouldn’t re-sign for the same salary.

“I didn’t want to be the lowest-paid coach in the league anymore,” Low said.

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Dany Heatley, the NHL’s No. 2 draft choice, announced that he will return to Wisconsin rather than join the Atlanta Thrashers after meeting with team officials. . . . Rob Ray signed a one-year deal to stay with the Buffalo Sabres a month after the team refused to pick up his contract’s option year, which means he likely will earn significantly less than the $800,000 he would have been due. . . . The Dallas Stars have signed checking center Shaun Van Allen and goaltender Rick Tabaracci to two-year contracts. Van Allen reportedly will make $550,000 a season. . . . The closing on the sale of the New Jersey Devils to an affiliate of YankeeNets was postponed until the end of July.

Miscellany

On the same day Cory Erving was remembered at a memorial service, preliminary tests indicate the 19-year-old might have been using cocaine just before his death, although the medical examiner stressed the early results are “not completely reliable.”

Erving, the youngest son of basketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving, was the subject of a nationwide search that ended with the discovery of his body and car in a pond less than a mile from his home in Kissimmee, Fla.

A test for cocaine on water in Cory’s bladder was positive, but further tests on his liver, lung, heart, kidney, brain and skeletal muscles are needed before anything can be determined conclusively, said Dr. Thomas Beaver, Volusia County’s medical examiner.

Oregon basketball Coach Ernie Kent will meet today with Notre Dame officials to discuss the school’s men’s basketball coaching job vacated by Matt Doherty, who left for North Carolina. . . . The University of Minnesota will not impose more sanctions against its men’s basketball program for academic fraud unless the NCAA forces it to, university general counsel Mark Rotenberg said.

Michael Nunn’s bid for a showdown with light heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. hit a setback when a hand injury forced him to call off his Saturday fight with Clinton Woods in London.

Clemson sophomore D.J. Trahan defeated Jerry Strege, 5 and 4, in the first round of match play in the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship at Portland, Ore. Defending champion Hunter Haas also advanced, edging B.J. Staten, 1-up. Last year’s runner-up, Michael Kirk of South Africa, beat Edward Parnell, 5 and 3.

TYR Sport, a swimsuit manufacturer in Huntington Beach, plans to file a grievance with the U.S. Olympic Committee over the ban of high-tech bodysuits at the Olympic trials.

An assistant baseball coach for a youth team has been accused of breaking an umpire’s jaw with a punch last month in Hollywood, Fla., during an argument between innings. Orlando Lago, a 36-year-old assistant baseball coach with the Hollywood Police Athletic League, was to surrender Wednesday and face aggravated battery charges, his lawyer Steve Burk said.

Bats and balls used in college baseball won’t change through the 2001 season while more tests are performed.

Tennis

Top-seeded Chris Woodruff, named to the U.S. Davis Cup team, lost to 18-year-old Mardy Fish, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4, in the second round of the Hall of Fame Championships at Newport, R.I.

Woodruff, the defending champion, was one of four seeded players eliminated at the only grass event in the U.S.

Australia’s Scott Draper defeated second-seeded Gianluca Pozzi, 6-4, 6-4; Peter Wessels of the Netherlands beat sixth-seeded David Prinosil, 6-4, 7-5; and Germany’s Jens Knippschild defeated No. 8 Laurence Tieleman, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Gaston Gaudio of Argentina upset third-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, 6-4, 7-6 (3), in the rain-soaked Swiss Open at Gstaad. Defending champion Alberto Costa, seeded fourth, defeated Austria’s Stefan Koubek, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Second-seeded Nicolas Kiefer of Germany defeated Spanish qualifier Alex Calatrava, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2). . . . Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia lost to Austrian qualifier Markus Hipfl, 6-4, 6-4, in the second round of the Swedish Open at Bastad. American Jeff Tarango, seeded No. 6, defeated Christian Ruud of Norway, 6-3, 6-4.

Andrea Jaeger, whose Silver Lining Ranch in Aspen, Colo., benefits children with cancer, has been named the 14th annual recipient of the United States Sports Academy’s Jackie Robinson Humanitarian Award. She will receive the award Aug. 2 at a dinner benefiting her charity at La Costa, site of the Acura Classic, a women’s pro tennis tour event.

For information on attending or purchasing tables, call (760) 438-9220. Dinner tickets include tickets to evening matches Aug. 2.