area

area

Prep hockey

ERIE, Pa. — The Mooney/Ursuline Thunder high school hockey club tied Harborcreek Sunday, 6-6.

Ryan Demyen, Brian Styers, Josh Charleton, Brian Helbley, Phil Tate and Dean Macklen scored for Mooney/Ursuline.

Tyler Emery, Demyen and Tate each had two assists.

Indians caravan

BALTIMORE — The annual Cleveland Indians press tour caravan will make a stop at Antone’s Banquet Center Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Players Shin-Soo Choo and Michael Brantley, manager Eric Wedge and announcer Tom Hamilton will appear at the event that benefits Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley.

The event will feature a question and answer session, a buffet dinner and a live auction.

For tickets call (330) 746-9122.

Pirates caravan

YOUNGSTOWN — The Pittsburgh Pirates caravan will appear at the Butler Institute of American Art on Jan. 28 for a noon luncheon.

The team’s caravan will appear at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in New Castle, Pa. on Jan. 29 at 6 p.m.

Scheduled to appear at the Butler are third baseman Andy LaRoche, outfielder Nyjer Morgan, pitcher Jeff Karstens and hitting coach Don Long.

Pirate broadcasters Greg Brown and Steve Blass and the Pirate Parrot will accompany the players.

For tickets to the Butler appearance, call (330) 743-1107 ext. 122.

Later on Jan. 28 the caravan will travel to the Boardman Dick’s Sporting Goods at 6 p.m. where autographs will be free.

Players Morgan, Karstens and Neil Walker along with Long, Brown and Blass are scheduled to appear at the Scottish Rite show.

For tickets call 1-800-buy-bucs.

Racing banquet

HERMITAGE, Pa. — Champions from the 2008 season were honored at Mercer Raceway Park’s banquet Saturday night.

The track champions were Rod George (Sprint Cars), Frank Guidace (Modifieds and Late Models), Bud Watson (Mod Lites) and Dillon Kineston (Mini Stocks). Also Max Blair was awarded the Northeast Touring Series championship.

nation

Big A Handicap

NEW YORK — Yet Again, the longest shot in the four-horse field at 8-1, rallied from last to beat Are We Dreamin by 23‚Ñ4 lengths Sunday in the $66,120 Affectionately Handicap for fillies and mares at Aqueduct.

Orlando Bocachica was aboard for trainer Karl Grusmark as Yet Again angled three wide into the stretch, zipping past the fading Spritely and Are We Dreamin. The 4-year-old earned her sixth win in 22 starts, running the 1 1-16 miles in 1:45.28 on the fast track.

Yet Again paid $19.40 and $5.10. Are We Dreamin returned $3.40. Spritely, the 3-5 favorite was third, followed by Rap Tale.

There was no show wagering.

world

World yacht race

SINGAPORE — Spain’s Telefonica Blue embarks on the fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean round-the-world race, one of eight yachts leaving Singapore on Sunday for Qingdao, China.

The leg is about 2,500 nautical miles and expected to take from 10 to 12 days to complete. Race organizers expect this stage to be the one of most dangerous, with sailors likely to meet cold weather and large waves on the way to northeast China.

Telefonica Blue won the third leg last month, closing the gap on overall leader Ericsson 4 of Sweden during a 1,950-nautical-mile stage from Kochi, India to Singapore.

Armstrong comeback

ADELAIDE, Australia — Lance Armstrong made a cautious return to professional cycle racing Sunday, finishing 64th among 133 riders in a 30-mile criterium in downtown Adelaide.

More than 138,000 people watched Armstrong return from three years of retirement and begin a campaign to win his eighth Tour de France title.

He stayed well back in a tight field throughout Sunday’s race on a winding circuit around leafy Rymill Park, following team instructions to avoid any chance of crashing.

Armstrong will compete in the six-day Tour Down Under, which starts Tuesday. The criterium does not count toward Tour overall standings.

Ivanovic, Roddick into second round

MELBOURNE, Australia — After struggling in her first match at the Australian Open since losing last year’s final, Ana Ivanovic finished with a flourish in a 7-5, 6-3 win over Julia Goerges.

Fifth-seeded Ivanovic was broken once in each set but fended off five other break points before finishing with consecutive aces against Goerges, a German ranked No. 107 and playing only her fourth major.

Ivanovic lost the 2008 Australian final to Maria Sharapova, who is not defending her title because of an injury, and then won the French Open to move into the No. 1 ranking midway through the year.

Vindicator staff/wire reports