Avalanche

FREDERICK -- A scheduled Single-A Carolina League doubleheader between the Frederick Keys and Salem Avalanche last night was rained out with the Keys leading 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning of the opening game.The postponement leaves the teams with doubleheaders tonight and tomorrow night, starting at 6: 05.Wady Almonte drove in the only run with a two-out double. The game will be picked up at that point.Pub Date: 7/31/96

The Washington Capitals were one of the busiest teams Friday when the doors to the 2011 NHL free agent market opened, as general manager George McPhee sent goalie Semyon Varlamov to Colorado for a pair of draft picks and added three veterans to the lineup. In signing role player and former Capitals captain Jeff Halpern, two-way defenseman Roman Hamrlik and a big-bodied, hard working winger in Joel Ward, Washington elevated the leadership in a still-young dressing room and filled holes in the roster that will be left by the departure of up to five unrestricted free agents.

Washington -- With the check-kiting scandal gnawing like a terrier on the ankle of the House of Representatives, that body's designated ethicists displayed an ingenuity that might better be invested in solving the nation's problems than in covering up Congress'. They devised the following rococo rule:The public would be permitted to know the names of those members who in eight different months of a 39-month period wrote bad checks to the House bank totaling more than the member's next month's paycheck.

1 Presidential: appointment: If Louisville beats UConn (8:30 p.m., ESPN), the White House should prepare for a visit from Angel McCoughtry (left). 2 Look at me: Maybe Alex Ovechkin can ask his new buddy LeBron James to check out him and the Caps against Atlanta (7 p.m., Comcast SportsNet). 3 Not done yet: Somehow, Charlotte, at nine games under .500, is still in the NBA playoff hunt, so the Bobcats' game against the 76ers (7 p.m., CN8) is a big one for them. 4 Who's the best?

DENVER -- Wonder how NHL players are getting ready to make the transition from pro teammates to Olympic rivals? Ask the Colorado Avalanche, which is sending nine players -- most in the league -- plus coach Marc Crawford to the Winter Games.In the 19 hours it will take to travel to Nagano, Japan, they will go from being highly paid professional athletes to being members of opposing national teams, living in the Olympic Village and playing for love of country, prestige and a gold medal."I think the whole experience is very, very positive," said Crawford, the head coach of Team Canada.

WASHINGTON -- The Washington Capitals got two goals, from Donald Brashear and David Steckel in the third period, and Olie Kolzig made 18 saves in a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche last night. The game was scoreless until Brashear scored 2:51 into the third period. Matt Bradley skated from behind the net and directed a pass to Brooks Laich, whose shot from the left circle was tipped past Jose Theodore by Brashear. With 3:59 left, Steckel tapped the puck off a Colorado defender and past an out-of-position Theodore, who made 21 saves, for a 2-0 lead.

DENVER -- On the day of groundbreaking for the MCI Arena in Washington, the Capitals didn't get much done in Colorado.Driving star goaltender Jim Carey out of the game early in the second period, the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Capitals, 4-2, last night. A crowd of 15,589 watched at McNichols Sports Arena.The defeat ended Washington's three-game winning streak that included a 4-3 victory Tuesday night in Dallas."For the most part, we didn't play typical Capitals hockey," said forward Keith Jones, the star of the game last Friday when the Caps handled the Avalanche, 3-1, at home.

A Baltimore County mountain climber who escaped death Thursday in an avalanche on Mount Rainier in Washington state yesterday questioned whether anyone could tell who or what caused the slide that injured him and seven others, one fatally."

DALLAS -- The celebration began before the second period was complete.The party poured over into the second intermission, the entire third period, and long into a sticky Texas night.Game 7 of the Western Conference finals was never really in doubt. The Stars outclassed their gutsy opponent, the Colorado Avalanche, in every aspect of the game. They had to win the last two games to advance and end the scrutiny and probing that has surrounded their rise to the NHL's elite.They did it, and did it with panache, finishing off the Avalanche, 4-1, last night at Reunion Arena, ending what was a terrifically entertaining and well- played series.

DENVER -- In a city mourning the shooting deaths of students at a suburban high school, the Colorado Avalanche yesterday postponed its opening two NHL playoff games and the Colorado Rockies called off a second straight baseball game.Citing ownership sentiment that "we have to act like all these kids are our kids," Avalanche general manager Pierre Lacroix said his team and the San Jose Sharks will not play the first two games of their best-of-7 series last night and tonight here as scheduled.

BEIJING - The danger is far from over in the mountainous terrain where last week's earthquake struck, with the risks of landslides, avalanches and flooding growing higher as the summer rainy season begins, Chinese officials said yesterday. The warning came as the death toll from the May 12 quake rose to 51,151, with nearly 30,000 people still missing. More than 5 million are homeless and may not be able to rebuild their houses any time soon, or ever, because of the instability of the terrain.

When he was 3, St. Paul's goalie Tyler Kapp talked his father, Tom, into buying him an action figure of Colorado Avalanche Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy. Kapp learned to skate and was in goal the next year. On Friday, Kapp, who has a 3.2 grade point average, led the Crusaders (16-1-1) to the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference championship with a 9-2 win over St. Mary's. In his second season on varsity, he finished 14-1-1 with a .940 save percentage, allowing 1.5 goals per game.

WASHINGTON -- The Washington Capitals got two goals, from Donald Brashear and David Steckel in the third period, and Olie Kolzig made 18 saves in a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche last night. The game was scoreless until Brashear scored 2:51 into the third period. Matt Bradley skated from behind the net and directed a pass to Brooks Laich, whose shot from the left circle was tipped past Jose Theodore by Brashear. With 3:59 left, Steckel tapped the puck off a Colorado defender and past an out-of-position Theodore, who made 21 saves, for a 2-0 lead.

Tim Thomas stopped 31 shots for his first shutout of the season and Marc Savard broke a scoreless tie in the second period as the host Boston Bruins earned a 2-0 victory over the Washington Capitals last night. Zdeno Chara added a power-play goal in the third period for Boston, which has won two straight after a six-game losing streak. Alex Ovechkin, second in the NHL with 30 goals, had a seven-game point streak end, being held without a point for just the seventh time this season. Washington, coming off a home-and-home sweep of Eastern Conference-leading Ottawa, lost in regulation for the first time in six games.

DENVER -- It was a heck of a drive for a plate of pasta. Visiting friends in Colorado for the holidays, Mike Watts and his father decided on a whim to take a spin to the mountains for lunch. They made it to a Ruby Tuesday's about 60 miles west of Denver. Then the winds kicked up. Twenty-four hours later, they were still stranded. "It's a mess," groaned Watts, 20, speaking by phone from a shelter in the town of Silverthorne. Nearly 3,000 travelers were trapped in the high country from early Sunday evening through late yesterday after gusting winds - and the threat of avalanches - forced authorities to close a 70-mile stretch of the Interstate 70 highway.

Moves Baseball MLB -- Fined and suspended Rockies manager Clint Hurdle one game for arguing with umpire. ANGELS -- Activated IF Erick Aybar from 15-day DL. ORIOLES -- Purchased contract of P Rob Bell from Triple-A Norfolk. Released P Paul Shuey. Designated P Sendy Rleal for assignment. PADRES -- Purchased contract of C Colt Morton from Double-A San Antonio. RANGERS -- Called up P Luis Mendoza from Double-A Frisco. Transferred P Akinori Otsuka from 15- to 60-day DL. TIGERS -- Activated P Kenny Rogers from 15-day DL. Football 49ERS -- Signed DT Atiyyah Ellison.

DETROIT -- Playing as if they were petrified at the thought of playing Game 7 of the Western Conference finals at Denver, the Detroit Red Wings finished off the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche, 3-1, last night to earn their second trip in three years to the Stanley Cup finals.The Red Wings will be trying to win their first cup since 1955 when they face the Flyers in a best-of-seven series that begins Saturday in Philadelphia. In their previous trip to the finals in 1995, the Red Wings were routed in four games by the New Jersey Devils.

John Seibert is a whitewater kayaker, a small-plane pilot in Alaska, and for the past 35 years a back-country skier. He is a risk-taker, but he's no fool. The 54-year-old geophysicist has attended many avalanche safety courses and learned what an avalanche-prone mountainside looks like. So as he skied across a steep slope in British Columbia's Selkirk Mountains in January with 20 companions and a professional guide, he said, "There was nothing that I saw on that slope that even set off the slightest alarm bell in my head."